GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

The study investigated the impact of outdoor and indoor play on physical development of pre-school pupils in Akwa Ibom State. The population of this study comprised of all pre-school pupils in Akwa Ibom State. The study adopted Expost-Facto research design while stratified random sampling was used in selecting the respondents. The instrument for data collection which was tagged “outdoor and indoor play on physical development of pre-school pupils questionnaire” (OIPPDPP) was administered to the respondents and used for the study. The instrument was designed by the researcher, vetted by the supervisors, researcher’s consultant and a lecturer in test and measurement in the Faculty of education before the reliability test was conducted with 40 respondents. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis. From the results of the data analysis, it was observed that there is remarkable impact of outdoor and indoor play on physical development of pre-school pupils in Akwa Ibom State. There is also remarkable joint influence of play and nutritional intake on physical development of pre-school pupils in Akwa Ibom State. The conclusion revealed that physically playing with your child teaches social skills while enjoying good exercise. Your child will learn to take turns and accept winning or losing. It was therefore recommended that active play and walking as a routine in the daily lives of young children should be encouraged to help prevent obesity. Opportunities for spontaneous play should be required in young children in order to increase their physical activity.