Peer-reviewed article
PLAYING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Elitânia da Silva, Clemilde Amaral Ramos, Maria Antônia da Silva Mendes, Franciele Trevizan Tramontina, Jessica Maria da Silva ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This peer-reviewed study examines the role of play in early childhood education and development. The research highlights that play is essential for children's learning, allowing them to develop reflection, autonomy, and creativity. Play supports both mental and physical development, helps children manage fears and insecurities, and builds social skills including respect for rules. The study argues that early childhood education should integrate playful activities as a core part of teaching to create meaningful and enjoyable learning experiences.
Key points
- Play enables children to reproduce daily life experiences and develop reflection and autonomy
- Playful activities are fundamental to both mental and body development
- Play facilitates social interaction, helps children face fears and insecurities, and builds knowledge
- Play supports development of imagination and teaches respect for rules
- Playful activities should be integral to early childhood education teaching processes
Limitations
The document provides a conceptual overview of play's importance but does not report empirical findings, measurements, or specific evidence of outcomes. No information is given about which countries the study relates to, the sample studied, or the methodology used to reach these conclusions.
Abstract
Play is an essential form of communication and learning for children, allowing them to reproduce their daily lives, develop reflection, autonomy and creativity. Through play, children face fears and insecurities, interact socially and build knowledge in a playful way. This study highlights the importance of playing in child development, showing that playful activities are fundamental to both mental and body development. In addition, play helps in socialization, respect for rules and development of imagination. Early childhood education should incorporate the playful as an integral part of the teaching process, promoting significant and pleasurable learning.