Influence of Learner Participation in Creative Activities on Socio-Emotional Development among Early Childhood Development and Education Learners in Bungoma South Sub-County, Kenya

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@article{1720176,
      author = {Mbone Emily Amudavi, Janet Nabiswa, Florence Wanjala},
      title = {Influence of Learner Participation in Creative Activities on Socio-Emotional Development among Early Childhood Development and Education Learners in Bungoma South Sub-County, Kenya},
      journal = {Iconic Research And Engineering Journals},
      year = {2026},
      volume = {10},
      number = {1},
      pages = {3257-3265},
      issn = {2456-8880},
      url = {https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1720176.pdf},
      abstract = {The early years constitute a critical window for socio-emotional development, and creative activity is widely regarded as one of the principal means through which young children learn to express feeling, regulate behaviour and relate to others. Kenyan research on the early years has nevertheless concentrated on cognitive and academic outcomes, leaving the socio-emotional contribution of creative activity in Early Childhood Development and Education centres comparatively unexamined. This paper reports the first objective of a larger study and examines how learner participation in varied creative activities influences socio-emotional development in Early Childhood Development and Education centres in Bungoma South Sub-County, Kenya. A mixed methods design was adopted. Stratified random sampling was used to select thirty two public and thirty two private centres, and structured questionnaires were administered to sixty four teachers, thirty two from each category. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Version 25, with frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations computed for the Likert-scale items. The findings show broad agreement that participation in creative activities strengthens socio-emotional development, with an overall mean of 4.05 on a five-point scale. On emotional expression, 40.6 percent of respondents strongly agreed and 37.5 percent agreed, giving a combined agreement of 78.1 percent against 17.2 percent disagreement. Teachers in private centres recorded consistently higher means than those in public centres, 4.21 against 3.88 overall, and 4.22 against 3.72 on emotional expression. The study concludes that creative activity functions as a mechanism of socio-emotional development rather than as an ornament to the curriculum, and that the public and private differential reflects conditions of implementation rather than differing beliefs about its value.},
      keywords = {Creative Activities, Early Childhood Development and Education, Emotional Expression, Learner Participation, Socio-Emotional Development.},
      month = {July},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV10I1-1720176}
  }