Fantasia, imaginação e criação: os contos de fadas no contexto da escola

Abstract

The present work consists of a research on the attribution of fairy tales for the integral development of children in the school context. It aims to reflect on the relevance of this type of children's literature for children in the early years of elementary school, with respect to the contexts of fantasy, imagination, and creation that fairy tales offer them. This research arises because of the importance of stories for child development and also for the formation of readers. Fairy tales, which are part of the vast field of children's literature, were chosen because they are stories that have crossed generations, have changed over time, and yet continue to delight children. The methodology used for this work involved a bibliographic research that comprised a literature review related to the proposed theme, which included the review of books, documents, and articles. The following fairy tales were also read and analyzed: “The Three Little Pigs” by Joseph Jacobs, “John and Mary” by the Brothers Grimm, and “The Ugly Duckling” by Hans Christian Andersen. The main authors used for the theoretical basis of this research were: Abramovich (1997), Bettelheim (2007), Coelho (2000), Corso and Corso (2006), Vigotski (2009), Wolf (2019), and Zilberman (2003). The results demonstrate the importance and relevance that children's literature has in children's lives because of fantasy, imagination, and creation. Fairy tales stand out in this regard because they are stories rich in these contexts, which further enhances their contribution to child development, to learning at school, and to the formation of readers. We conclude that, because it is an almost exclusively school stage, childhood needs fantasy, imagination, and creation, so that the child can build its own identity as a subject, to find its place in the world and to learn, and fairy tales have the necessary “tools” to help children in this process.