Early Childhood Care and Education (3-6 Years) and the Role of Traditional Games: An Exploratory Study of Jammu and Kashmir

Education is a lifelong endeavour that starts in the womb and lasts until death. It helps the individual to develop full potential by allowing to control the environment of his/her own successful life and living. The foundation of education begins in one’s very early childhood and lays the foundation for later stages of educational progression. Nowadays, a growing number of children in early childhood spend a great deal of time in playing electronic games rather than traditional games. Parents and educators are concerned about the current trend because they strongly believe that traditional child games develop more skills than modern electronic or video games. A traditional game can be beneficial in all aspects of early childhood development, including physical or motor, social-emotional, moral, cognitive, and linguistic development. The present study aims at illustrating the importance of traditional Kashmiri games in ensuring the balanced development of children’s personalities. The data used were taken from the books, personal sources, journal articles, newspapers, websites, government records, etc. which is mainly qualitative in nature. The results showed that traditional games can have a positive effect on children's motor, linguistic, cognitive, social, and emotional development.