Brincar e imaginar: o que nos revelam as brincadeiras das crianças de 2 e 3 anos?

Abstract

This paper has as its aim the theme of games and imagination in Early Childhood Education, coming from concerns that arose after the curricular internship in Early Childhood Education, developed in the Pedagogy Degree course at the Federal University of the Southern Frontier, Erechim Campus/RS, with a Nursery I class, from a private school in the same city. The objective is to investigate the way in which imagination permeates the games of children aged 2 and 3 in the school environment, taking into account the historical and legal paths of Early Childhood Education, as well as the guiding axes of the pedagogical practices that make up the curricular proposal of the stage, interactions and games, and the aspects that characterize the development and learning of children in Nursery I. To this end, the methodology used was of a qualitative nature, using bibliographic research, with analysis of the existing literature on the subject; documentary analysis of legal documents and records and documentation produced during the internship; and research with children, as the records analyzed were produced with them during the internship. Thus, the study is structured into three chapters. The first deals with the methodological process of the research. The second shows the historical path taken by Early Childhood Education, highlighting the trajectory of recognition of the stage as an integral part of basic education and with its own curriculum. And, finally, the third chapter deals with the aspects and characteristics of the development of children aged 2 and 3, discussing the transition from heuristic play to imaginative play, analyzing the data produced throughout the development of games and interactions between children in the Early Childhood Education internship. Based on the research, it was possible to understand that imagination permeates games at various times, whether individually or in the interactions of children among themselves, with adults, with materials and/or with the environment. In games, children show what they know and want to know about the world, constructing and reorganizing their knowledge, hence the importance of listening carefully and sensitively, understanding the ways in which very young children appropriate the world and knowledge.