Use of Natural Media for Early Children's Early Writing Skills

This study aims to evaluate the use of natural media in improving initial writing skills in group a aged 4-5 years. Natural material media was chosen as the focus of the research because of its potential to provide diverse sensory experiences and stimulate the development of children's motor skills. The research method used was a quasi-experiment with a control group and a treatment group. The treatment group received intervention using natural media, while the control group received conventional learning. The data collection instrument consisted of an initial writing ability test, observation of children's involvement, and interviews with teachers. The research results were analyzed using descriptive statistics and tests of differences between groups. The findings of this research indicate that the use of natural media has a positive impact on the early writing abilities of children aged 4-5 years. Children in the treatment group showed significant improvements in aspects of fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination, while the control group showed more limited improvements. The implications of the results of this research can provide recommendations to educators and parents to consider using natural media to support the development of children's early writing skills. In addition, this research can be a basis for further research in the context of using natural media for early childhood learning.


INTRODUCTION
Education is a human right of every Indonesian citizen and for this reason, every Indonesian citizen has the right to obtain quality education by their interests and talents.Education is an effort or activity that is carried out in a deliberate and planned manner to change or develop the desired behavior.Regular and directed education will have a good impact on every human being.
Early childhood education {PAUD} based on Minister of Education and Culture Regulation Number 146 of 2012 article 1 concerning the 2013 Curriculum; Early Childhood Education is a level of education before basic education as a coaching effort aimed at children from birth to 6 years of age.This is done through providing educational stimuli to help physical and spiritual growth and development so that children are ready to enter further education.Thus, Early Childhood Education is the foundation for a child's further development.
Early writing ability in early childhood is one of the important skills that needs to be developed from an early age.Young children who have good initial writing skills can make the learning process easier in the future.Apart from that, early writing skills are also related to children's language and creative thinking abilities.However, not all children can develop initial writing skills easily.Early childhood children need learning methods and media that are appropriate to their level of development.
Interesting, creative and fun learning media can help increase children's interest and motivation in learning to write, but based on the author's experience and monitoring results in the process of learning to write early in childhood in group A PAUD Shekinah Waisai often experience obstacles, so that the learning stages others experience problems, and the cause is the desire to learn to write and count for young children.They are less interested in formal and monotonous learning, so the author feels there needs to be a method used in learning methods for young children to accelerate comprehension and memory for young children.Therefore, the use of natural materials as a medium for early writing learning in early childhood is very important.
Natural material media has unique qualities that can enrich children's learning experiences.Apart from that, the use of natural media can also help develop children's fine motor and cognitive abilities.Group A in Shekinah PAUD Raja Ampat Regency is an early age group aged between 3 and 4 years.At this age, children are experiencing a rapidly developing stage of fine motor and cognitive development.Therefore, the use of natural media can help accelerate the development of early writing skills in young children.In this case, appropriate and effective strategies are needed in using natural media to improve initial writing skills in group A at Shekinah PAUD, Raja Ampat Regency.With the right strategies, it is hoped that children can develop their initial writing skills in a more fun, creative and effective way.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Early childhood education {PAUD} based on Minister of Education and Culture Regulation Number 146 of 2012 article 1 concerning the 2013 Curriculum; Early Childhood Education is a level of education before basic education as a coaching effort aimed at children from birth to 6 years of age.This is done through providing educational stimuli to help physical and spiritual growth and development so that children are ready to enter further education.Thus, Early Childhood Education is the foundation for a child's further development.

METHODOLOGY Research Design
This research is quasi-experimental, researchers do not have the freedom to manipulate subjects, meaning that random groups are usually used as a basis for determining treatment and control groups.According to Setyo (1997: 36) experimental research is usually recognized as the most scientific of all types of research because researchers can manipulate treatments that cause something to happen.According to Consuelo (1993: 93) experimental research is the only research method that can test hypotheses regarding causal relationships.
The research design used in this research is "One Groups Pretest-Posttest Design", namely a research design that contains a pretest before being given treatment and a posttest after being given treatment.In this way, it can be known more accurately, because it can be compared with what was done before being given treatment (Sugiyono, 2001: 64).
This research activity aims to assess differences in the influence of the use of natural materials on initial writing abilities in group A PAUD Shekinah Waisai or test hypotheses about whether or not there is an influence of the treatment given.Through this experiment, researchers want to find out that the use of natural media is beneficial in the early writing abilities of PAUD students.
One Groups Pretest-Posttest Design Formula: 01 x 02 Figure 3.1 Pre-Experiment One Group Pre-test-Post-test Design formula Information : 1. O1 is the pre test / control group 2. X is treatment 3. O2 is the post test / experimental group The technique that the author will take is, first, form a group of students and then give a number writing test without using natural materials and will be given an assessment, the author will form a group of students and then give a number writing test using natural media and will be give an assessment., from the test results will be assessed the speed of time and the correctness of the test results obtained and will be assessed.

General Description of Research Locations
This research was conducted in the odd semester at Shekinah Waisai Early Childhood Education, Raja Ampat Regency, 2023/2024 academic year.Shekinah Waisai Paud is located on Jalan 30 behind the old BUMD office/Abid Sejahtra shop, Waisai City district.The facilities and infrastructure that support the learning process in schools include: 1. Group Room A: 1 room 2. Group B Room: 1 room 3. Principal's room: 1 room 4. Supporting Facilities: Laptop, sports equipment, speakers, yard, toilet/bathroom, play equipment outside and inside the classroom.The children's room is equipped with tables and chairs, wall clocks, state symbols, children's book lockers, drinking water containers, and children's games.Then the principal's room is equipped with a table, chairs for the principal and also for guests, a cupboard, and a place for drinking water.The number of educators and education staff at Shekinah Waisai Preschool is 5 people in the class.

Pre Cycle Description
This research was conducted at the Shekinah Waisai Preschool with 14 children using natural media for children's early writing skills.This research took place over 2 weeks in October 2023, namely the first week and the second week.The cycle is carried out in 2 meetings.The data needed in this research is quantitative and qualitative.Data collection was carried out by direct observation during the learning process in the form of documentation of learning activities.The researcher is an observer in this research and is assisted by a collaborator.The observation tools created by researchers are guided by the development of the ability to match image patterns.
Researchers consider that the development of the ability to match picture patterns is said to be successful if at least an average of 80% of all children present can master the ability to match picture patterns, and on average all children in the class fall into the category of developing according to expectations.This classroom action research was carried out in two cycles, which were deemed to meet the researcher's satisfaction in achieving the desired results and overcoming existing problems.Based on table 4.2: 1.In the aspect of how to hold a matching tool, out of 15 children, 13 children got a score of 2 and 2 children got a score of 1.Thus, the achievement score for how to hold a matching tool is 1.8 or 35%. 2. In the aspect of matching, out of 15 children, 15 children got a score of 2.
The achievement score for matching is 2 or 40%.3.In the neatness aspect, out of 15 children, 9 children got a score of 2 and 6 children got a score of 1. Thus the achievement in the neatness aspect was 1.6 or 30%.

Description of the Results of Each Cycle
The results of this research were obtained from each action carried out through several stages contained in cycle I and cycle II.The results of this research are the results of research on evaluations carried out through observations by researchers regarding the use of natural materials for writing skills and matching picture patterns in group A at Shekinah Waisai Preschool, Raja Ampat Regency for the 2023/2024 school year.This research uses qualitative data analysis to analyze teacher and child activities, as well as quantitative and qualitative analysis to analyze learning outcomes and responses from peers.In carrying out this research, 2 cycles were used.Each research cycle consists of 4 stages, namely : 1. Planning, 2. Implementation, 3. Observation, 4. Reflection.

Table 1 .
Child Research at the Pre-Cycle Stage