A ANALYST AT THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY AND GAMES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Abstract

The study on the importance of play in early childhood education is a very broad topic. This research aims to identify the contributions and how the teaching and learning process takes place in early childhood education through play. Specifically, it aims to analyze, within the educational context, the playful activities proposed for early childhood education; investigate how the act of playing is integrated into the pedagogical practice of daycare teachers; and report the perception of teachers regarding the facilitators and obstacles to the use of playfulness in the process of constructing knowledge in young children. The work is relevant, since reflecting on playfulness is still a topic questioned by many educators at a time when children in daycare are beginning to be seen as thinking beings, capable of transforming and altering the environment in which they are inserted. The National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) guides a set of essential learning experiences based on the curricular organization in six fields of experience: the right to coexist, play, participate, explore, express oneself, and know oneself as a way to achieve learning objectives and interact in society (BRASIL, 2018). In this sense, the use of playfulness to permeate pedagogical work with young children is evident, contributing positively to their full development. On the other hand, the teacher must be aware of their important role, acting as a mediating teacher and making the child the protagonist of their own story. The research was developed with a qualitative-quantitative approach and descriptive character, involving nine early childhood education teachers from two schools in the interior of Pernambuco: five from the Júlia Oliveira School, located in the city of Santa Cruz do Capibaribe, and four teachers from the Raimunda Daycare Center in Brejo da Madre de Deus, both in the Agreste region of Pernambuco. A questionnaire with open and closed questions was used as a data collection instrument. After data collection, all the material was read, the main information was compiled, and a descriptive analysis of the information obtained was carried out. The results were presented through graphs and tables obtained from the questionnaires applied to the school teachers. The results were analyzed and discussed according to the conceptions of theorists in order to validate the study's conclusions. The results indicate that 100% of the teachers participating in the research use playfulness in their pedagogical practice and, therefore, in order for the respondents to spontaneously justify this option, they were asked why playfulness, such as games and play, permeates their work in the school. It was found that: 40% responded that they incorporate the content into a playful practice for better understanding by the students. Regarding this, Gulinelli (2008, p. 10) states that the use of playfulness can allow for a pedagogical approach that enables the production of knowledge, learning, and development, because, by playing, the child learns new concepts, acquires information, and experiences healthy growth. 34% use playfulness to stimulate students' interest. As Sant'Anna and Nascimento (2001, p. 20) clearly explain, playfulness has come to be understood as that which awakens pleasure, since it stimulates creativity and the development of knowledge. In this way, the teacher is responsible for the systematization of the learning process, being able to provide children with a dynamic and enjoyable way to learn, since education through playfulness proposes learning through play. 22% said they use playfulness through concrete materials. Turrioni and Perrez (2009, p. 61) also confirm the importance of concrete material as an ally in the teaching and learning process, stating that concrete material plays an important role in learning, since it facilitates observation and analysis, develops logical, critical and scientific reasoning, and is essential for teaching. On the other hand, Rau (2007, p. 49) and Luckesi (2018, pp. 16-17) emphasize that "to be used as a pedagogical resource, playfulness needs to be significantly contextualized for the student through the use of concrete materials and attention to its historical context." That is, when defining the game or playful activity, the teacher needs to know the functionality of the chosen resource, its applicability, and the relationship that this resource can have with the content being worked on and the intended educational objectives. 4% for making classes fun. This observation refers to what Fortuna (2000, p. 160) suggests: "The classroom is a place to play if the teacher manages to reconcile the pedagogical objective with the student's desires." However, when working with playfulness, it is necessary to find a balance between fulfilling its pedagogical functions and contributing to the development of subjectivity for the construction of an autonomous and creative human being. The research  The study questioned the availability of materials offered by the school to support teaching, aiming to ensure the use of playfulness as a suitable strategy for a dynamic and fun teaching and learning process, fostering a creative and challenging environment. The results showed that 45% of the participants answered yes; 44% said no, and 11% responded that they are partially offered. Despite the difficulties in obtaining resources for playful activities, it is believed that the effort and creativity of the teachers prevail over all these barriers, since in some situations they mentioned using their own personal budget to buy some necessary materials. Throughout the research, teachers were asked about the playful activities they usually use, and they spontaneously reported: painting; music; circle songs; storytelling; puppet theater; games; experiments and motor skills challenges to stimulate motor and visuo-motor coordination, either through dance, or the use of modeling clay, or cutting and pasting; mimes; ludopedagogical games such as, for example, with colorful interlocking logic blocks, or wooden blocks for stacking, or number and vowel puzzles, colorful dominoes, bottle bowling, hula hoops and many games made with recycled materials, always aimed at developing creativity, imagination and communication. All participants in the research affirmed that they plan based on research and guidelines from the Municipal Department of Education and school coordinators. Some mentioned the importance of meetings so that successful experiences of colleagues can be shared and thus also applied in other classes. Planning is, therefore, a way to set goals and objectives to be achieved. Following a plan is an essential part of how the teacher organizes their work, considering what they want to achieve. The teacher can reflect on their intentions and actions, whether in Early Childhood Education or any other stage of education, as they can extract various important pieces of information that can assist them in planning with the class, considering their needs. The practice of planning depends on several factors, such as the conception of education, the curriculum, and knowledge. Just like planning, evaluation is also of paramount importance in the teaching and learning process, because it is through evaluation that the teacher can analyze the results of their practice, either to verify whether their teaching strategies were well applied or whether the students achieved learning in a meaningful way. Considering the responses obtained, it is observed that the teachers carry out continuous evaluation daily, in a procedural, gradual manner, and mainly without promotional purposes, as should occur in early childhood education. The conclusion of the study reinforces the importance of playfulness for the learning of young children, contributing to their physical, mental, and intellectual development. Through the analyses and discussions of the results obtained, it was perceived that there are still difficulties that prevent teachers from carrying out differentiated activities through games and play, since a large part of the interviewed teachers do not receive the necessary teaching materials and end up buying them with their own resources. It is up to the teacher to appropriate theories, methods, techniques, and teaching resources so that they can, through their competence, establish a relationship of autonomy in their work, creating proposals for pedagogical intervention and making use of personal resources and knowledge available in the integrated context, knowledge, sensitivity, and intentionality to respond to real, complex, and differentiated situations, always focusing on the learning and development of children in Early Childhood Education.