Research Monograph

Play is the most cherished and meaningful activity that children engaged in for the majority of time in a day. One of the most multifaceted and multifunction types of play is pretend play or also known as symbolic play. Pretend play is a type of play that involves mental representations where an object or individual is represented with another object, or individual that is either physically there or absence. Pretend play has been known to be a vital factor for myriad development and learning through studies conducted with children globally, however, there is still a dearth of information available in the context of Malaysia. This could be due to several factors including the absence of pretend play literatures and references, as well as assessment instruments available in Malay language for usage in Malaysia. Therefore, the study was formulated and conducted to develop a pretend play assessment and activities guideline book by employing a mixed methodology research design. The Design and Development Research (DDR) approach was adopted in this study involving three phases: (i) needs analysis, (ii) design and development, and (iii) evaluation for developing and evaluating the usability of both pretend play assessment and activities guidelines book. From the needs survey conducted with 115 early childhood educators and 85 parents of children aged 2 to 6 years old indicated that they need an assessment of pretend play instrument and activities guideline book for assisting them in promoting children’s pretend play. The assessment kit and guidelines book were designed and developed in Phase II based on video recording observation of children aged between 2 to 6 years old engaging in play activities both in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) centres and at home. Educators and parents reported that both pretend play assessment kit and activities guideline book are understandable and usable in assisting them to promote children’s pretend play.