O direito de brincar na infância: a escuta atenta das crianças no cotidiano da educação infantil

Abstract

This paper is part of one of the authors’ master’s dissertation and addresses issues related to playing, assuming that children are subjects of rights. In this sense, the research presents what children have to tell us about playing. The research was developed from the cultural-historical approach, defining the role of play in child development. The work’s main objective was to survey what children think about playing and what their preferences are. The methodology was that of qualitative research, with 21 individual interviews, five conversation circles, photographic records, and a field diary about the playing moments in the daily life of an elementary public school. As a result, it was possible to expand the concepts about the children’s participation in early childhood education, based on children’s opinion and not only the adult’s, allowing the researchers to reflect on the spaces and times destined to play in this school period. This paper brings two episodes of conversation circles and a drawing by one of the subjects, emphasizing precisely the importance of careful listening to children and the production of drawings, such as those made after the conversation.