Influence of television watching on pre-school children’s choice and use of play materials in Kenyenya, Kisii, Kenya

Abstract

There is real concern from researchers and the general public about the influence of mass media, particularly television, on preschool children’s choice and use of play materials. The purpose of this study was to establish the influence of television watching on pre-school children’s choice and use of play material in Kenyenya Sub-county in Kisii County. The objectives of the study were to find out the type of TV programs children frequently watch while at home; to assess the content in the programs children frequently watch while at home; to establish the time spent by children while watching TV programs at home and to determine the relationship between the programs children frequently watch and their choice and use of play materials at school. The study employed the Social Learning Theory proposed by Bandura which states that children learn social behaviour by observation and imitation of role models. Survey research design was used as the findings could easily be generalized on the whole population of the sub-county. The study targeted a population that consisted of 900 pre-school children aged between three and six years from 60 pre-schools and 180 pre-school teachers in Kenyenya Sub-County. Stratified random sampling was used to sample the pre-schools and the children who took part in the research study. Questionnaires and an interview schedules were used in the study for data collection. Piloting was done in 10% of the study population in order to determine the validity and reliability of the instrument that were used for data collection. The minimum threshold for social sciences research (Cronbach reliability) of α=.8723 was obtained. It was established that children watched various TV programmes which were action oriented. It was also established that majority of the learners spent long hours watching preferred programmes during weekends and holidays. Based on the findings of the study it was recommended that the ECDE county director in the Kisii County government should organize for workshops, seminars and conferences to sensitize all preschool teachers on the choice and use of play materials that could be influenced by watching TV programmes at home by children