The purpose of the study was to investigate the importance of playing on the early childhood education in Eldoret West District, Kenya The specific objectives of the study were to determine the profile of the respondents in regards to: age, gender and academic level, to investigate the importance of playing in regards to academic achievements, problem solving, social and egoistic competence confidence building and health development and to identify the hindrance to children's playing the methods used to data collection were questionnaires to the teachers and focus groups discussions with the parents.
The finding indicated that playing had positive effect on the performance of early childhood children, playing helps children learn how to solve problems: it also indicated that children who play learn to be confident and it indicated that lack of enough playing materials was the major hindrance to children play . Government should make sure early childhood centers have enough and strong playing materials before they are licensed. The community and parents should be sensitized about the importance of playing so that they also participate in children's playing activities. Schools should make sure they fulfill what is the curriculum by involving children in playing activities.
