A TYPOLOGY OF INDIGENOUS PLAY ACTIVITIES IN PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN RURAL SIAYA COUNTY, KENYA

Evans Mos Olao, Khaemba Ongeti, Mary Kerich

Abstract


Play is widely recognised as central to early learning. However, classroom practice in many rural Kenyan pre-primary schools tends to favour Westernised activities, while rich indigenous forms remain visible yet unevenly documented and poorly planned. This paper identifies and describes the types of play activities practised by learners in rural pre-primary schools in Siaya County, Kenya, and shows how these plays are organised, resourced, and situated in everyday school life. A qualitative, multi-site field design was employed, with purposive sampling used to select 6 rural schools 12 female teachers, 7 education officers, and 2 community elders. Data sources comprised semi-structured interviews, non-participant classroom observations (one per teacher); and teachers’ reflective journals. Data were thematically analysed, with triangulation across sources and careful attention to cultural and linguistic context during transcription and translation to enhance trustworthiness. The findings revealed four play types that characterise daily practice: physical and rule-based games (for example ajua, kora, katolo, goyo rulo, ng’ielo); socio-dramatic and role-imitation (enacting family and community roles in Dholuo); musical-rhythmic-chant games (circle songs, call-and-response, body percussion); and manipulative play (modelling, building and weaving with sticks, seeds, leaves, clay, tyres and bottle tops). This paper concludes that indigenous play in these settings is not peripheral but a central engine of participation and learning, binding joy, culture and collaboration while exercising language, memory, coordination, problem-solving and creativity. It recommends that schools adopt a school-wide plan for integrating indigenous play into weekly routines, including protected time for learner-led, teacher-scaffolded play across the four types, a strengthened pipeline for indigenous play through regular engagement with community elders, and brief observation rubrics and play portfolios to document learning gains.

Keywords


indigenous play, pre-primary education, play-based learning, creativity, oral traditions

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v13i7.6903

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