PENGARUH KEGIATAN PRACTICAL LIFE TERHADAP KEMANDIRIAN ANAK USIA 4-5 TAHUN DI TK CIKAL CENDIKIA BANGSA ISLAMIC MONTESSORI KARAWANG

Abstract

As one dimension of social-emotional growth in the early years, independence calls for deliberate stimulation between the ages of four and five. Initial classroom observations at TK Cikal Cendikia Bangsa Islamic Montessori Karawang revealed that 60-70 percent of children in this age range had not yet reached an adequate level on the independence indicators being tracked, namely self-care, responsibility, initiative, basic decision-making, and confidence. The present study set out to measure how practical life activities influence independence among four- to five-year-olds at the school. A quantitative, pre-experimental One Group Pretest-Posttest Design was applied to 10 kindergarten pupils, with data gathered through observation using an instrument confirmed valid (r > 0.468) and reliable (α = 0.945). Nine practical life sessions made up the intervention, covering dressing, arranging eating utensils, putting on and removing shoes, and tidying toys. The Shapiro-Wilk normality test and a paired sample t-test in SPSS 26 were used to analyze the data. The average independence score climbed from 60.8 at pretest to 80.5 at posttest, a 32.4 percent gain. The paired sample t-test produced t = -8.713 with Sig. (2-tailed) = 0.000 (<0.05), leading to the rejection of H0 in favor of H1. Taken together, these results indicate that practical life activities exert a positive, significant influence on the independence of four- to five-year-olds at TK Cikal Cendikia Bangsa Islamic Montessori Karawang, lending support to their adoption as an effective strategy for building independence in early childhood.