Parenting views toward the functions of play activities in supporting pre scholars’ learning in Mbeya district

The study examined parenting views toward the functions of play activities in supporting preschoolers’ learning in Mbeya District, Tanzania. The study investigated the parents and teachers’ participation in young children’s play and learning, play activities taking place in child’s learning environments, and benefits of play activities in preschoolers’ learning environments, Qualitative approach and phenomenological research design were employed to inform the study findings. Purposive sampling and simple random sampling were used to select 10 parents, 06 preschooler teachers, and 08 child caregivers and 120 children (three to five years of age). In data collection interviews, observation check list and focus group discussion was used to gather information for the study. Also thematic analysis was used to analyze data. Research findings revealed that, the implementation of young children’s play activities in families and school centers was met with poor participation of parents and teachers in child’s play which did not encourage young children in learning process. Parents and teachers showed that they knew a lot about their intervention but did not appear to offer their guidance and support the learning as would be expected. Furthermore, the findings showed that there were few plays and learning activities such as ball kicking, running, singing, drawings, counting and reading taking place due to the shortage of play facilities in the centers. Also child’s play benefits were theoretically explained by, parents, child caregivers and teachers but in reality they didn’t practice effectively to support child’s learning. The research findings also revealed that, toward modifying children’s learning at home and schools centers is a growing problem among families with children and pre primary teachers. There is a need for parents and teachers to have positive attitude toward young child’s play activities in order to improve their learning process. The study recommended that, play activities should be revised in the context of children’s learning in order to prepare them for good adulthood with good personalities in their communities.