AS CRIANÇAS E O BRINCAR: NARRATIVAS E PRÁTICAS NO COTIDIANO DA EDUCAÇÃO INFANTIL DE UM CMEI DO MUNICÍPIO DE GUARAPUAVA/PR

Abstract

Playing is a social activity that acquires essential importance in the first years of life, because it represents the children’s opportunity of taking ownership of the world, interacting with people and resignifying their existence. Historically discussions and reflections about this subject have happened from the perspective of the adults, who usually take their point of view and interpretations to think about practices and playful experiences. Taking it into account, this research had as an overall objective to understand how children experience the act of playing in early childhood education. As specific objective, we list: reflecting on the view of children as historical, social and competent individual capable of narrating the phenomena in which they participate; exploring playing as a social action and a key element of meaning in childhood; learning the main interests of children regarding playing in the context of an educational institution; getting to know how children occupy their spaces to play; understanding how children interact in playful situations. The study embedded in the discussions of the Studies Group and Research in early childhood education/Gepedin, was based on a qualitative approach and grounded in Sociology of Childhood, in the studies of Corsaro (2011), Sarmento (1998; 2005) and Pinto and Sarmento (1994); to discuss narratives, we rely on the authors Girardello (2015; 2020), Tebaldi and Carvalho (2023), Kishimoto, Santos and Basílio (2007), Abramowicz and Rodrigues (2014); on the subject of ethics and research with children in the reflections of Kramer (2019), Fernandes and Francischini (2016), Fernandes (2016), Machado and Carvalho (2020), Barbosa (2014), Corsaro (2011); finally, to discuss play, we rely on Borba (2007), Ferreira (2021), Brougère (1998) and Sarmento (2004). The research analyzed 15 children from 3 to 4 years old who study at a Municipal Center for Early Childhood Education located in Guarapuava/PR- Brazil. As strategy of investigation, we based our approach on research with children and used observations of moments of play situations, group discussions, the production of photographic records and the review of photographs taken by those children for group dialogue. The results of the research showed that children’s narratives about playing in Early Childhood Education are linked to the interactions that children build with each other, through experiences that they live at the facilities of the educational institution and in the relationship they develop with toys available. By listening to them and observing the connections they established with their classmates, with the space and materials, it was possible to recognize how valuable playing is for human development and taking ownership of the world.