A importância do brincar na primeira infância: aspectos psicológicos, históricos e sociológicos

Abstract

This Undergraduate Thesis analyzes the importance of playing in early childhood and its structural impacts on the child's emotional, social, and cognitive development. Faced with a current scenario marked by hyper-structured routines and overstimulation caused by technological resources and screens, spontaneous play has often been neglected and reduced to purely instrumental and pedagogical tasks. As a general objective, this investigation seeks to understand the global and formative impacts of the playful act through the intersection of different developmental sciences. Methodologically, a bibliographical research of qualitative and interpretive nature was carried out, grounded on the dialectical confrontation of consolidated theoretical materials. The theoretical framework is supported by the classical and contemporary psychological matrices of Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and Donald Winnicott, in addition to the pedagogical and philosophical contributions of Maria Montessori, Humberto Maturana, and Gerda Verden-Zöller. The results reveal that symbolic play marks the transition to representational thought, the toy acts as a zone of proximal development and organizer of higher psychic functions, and the act of playing, both collective and solitary, promotes the flourishing of creativity and self-regulation in the transitional area. It is concluded that playing constitutes the biological and emotional foundation of childhood, configuring itself as an indispensable language, an existential dimension, and an inalienable right for the integral formation of the human subject.