SNAIL TRAIL: PROTAGONISM AND INTERACTION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION THROUGH UNSTRUCTURED MATERIALS

Abstract

This article reports on the development and application of the pedagogical activity titled "Trilha dos Caracóis" (Snail Trail). Developed in an Early Childhood Education Center with a group of 20 children, the intervention sought to offer an alternative to the early schooling model, relying on Early Childhood Education as an intentional space for play. The overall objective of the proposal was to integrate socio-interactive experiences, notions of mathematical literacy, and children's agency. The methodology was based on the stages of Design Thinking (Brown, 2010) and the principles of heuristic play (Borges; Figueira, 2021), using the children's book Ten Shy Snails (Galloway, 2012) as a triggering pedagogical device, with data collected through qualitative participant observation. As a practical proposal, an itinerant spiral-shaped trail was structured, consisting of ten sensory stations organized with unstructured materials, conceptualized as "loose parts" (Pestana, 2020). The observed results indicated that the intentional disposition of space and materials acted as a mediator of interactions, favoring autonomy, imaginative exploration, and peer negotiation. It is concluded that the use of unstructured materials proved to be viable for stimulating active investigation by children in the school environment and for grounding pedagogical practices aligned with Early Childhood Education guidelines.