The Relationship Between Frequency of Participation in Play Activities and Kindergarten Readiness

Abstract

This correlational study examined the relationship between the frequency of participation in specific play activities prior to the kindergarten year and the performance of school readiness skills as measured by the Daberon-2 Screening Device for School Readiness. A researcher-adapted Kindergarten Questionnaire was used to elicit information from parents about the frequency of their child's engagement in 19 different play activities. Ten of the play activities, most notably those considered fine motor in nature, correlated significantly with subsections of the Dabron-2. Although constraints in the design of the study limit generalization to other populations, the results suggest that frequent engagement in specific types of play is associated with enhanced performance of kindergarten readiness skills.