Comparative Effects of Indoor and Outdoor Play-Based Activities on Preschool Children’s Social-Emotional Development in Nigeria

This study investigated the comparative effects of indoor and outdoor play-based activities on preschool children’s social-emotional development in Nigeria. Four research questions and four corresponding hypotheses guided the study. A pre-test, post-test quasi-experimental design was employed with 96 preschool children selected from a target population of 12,600 private nursery school children in Ethiope East Local Government Area, Delta State, Nigeria. Participants were assigned to an indoor play-based activity group, an outdoor play-based activity group, and a control group. The intervention lasted eight weeks, with sessions conducted twice weekly for forty-five minutes. The Preschool Social-Emotional Development Observation Checklist, consisting of 18 items, was used to assess social-emotional development; while the face and content validity were established by three experts in early childhood education, and the instrument demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.874). Descriptive statistics, paired sample t-tests, ANOVA, and ANCOVA were used for data analysis. The analysis acknowledged significant baseline inequalities among the groups and used ANCOVA to statistically control for these differences. Findings revealed that, after controlling for pre-test inequalities, participants exposed to outdoor play-based activities demonstrated significant improvements in social-emotional development, while no significant changes were observed in the indoor play or control groups. The study recommends, amongst others, the integration of structured outdoor play-based activities in preschool curricula to enhance social-emotional development.