Play is essential to development because it contributes, among other developments, to cognitive development to children and youth. Play also offers an ideal opportunity for parents to engage fully with their children. Despite the benefits derived from play for both children and parents, time for free play has been markedly reduced. The recent report from head teachers, class teachers and parents of children in schools in Kenya indicates that these children have been exhibiting increased learning difficulties, inability to solve simple problems associated with socialization and control of emotions, many cases of truancy, dropping out of school and aggressive behavior. This paper embarks on assessing the influence of play on cognitive development among primary school children at Kihingo Division, Njoro Sub-County of Nakuru County in Kenya. This study was guided by social cognitive theory and it targeted teachers and pupils from 18 public primary schools in the study area. Stratified random sampling design was adopted to sample 154 pupils from the 18 schools. Nasiuma’s formula was used to come up with an ideal and an appropriate sample size for the pupils. Questionnaires and interview schedule were used as the key data collection instruments. Questionnaires were used to collect data from the teachers while interview schedules were used to collect data from the pupils. Data was analyzed by use of descriptive statistics with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 24) tool. Data was presented in graphs, pie chart and tables. From the findings the researcher concluded that children who are more engage in play are more decisive in their actions compared to less active children. From the findings, the researcher concluded that children who are more engage in play are more decisive in their actions compared to less active children. Playful children are more creative and innovative compared to less active children. The study recommends that the government and other education stakeholders partner to provide enough play and instructional materials to primary schools.