A importância do brincar na educação infantil para o desenvolvimento integral da criança: contribuições do pensamento de Vygotsky, articulada às contribuições de outros autores

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the importance of play in the integral development of children in early childhood education, based on the historical-cultural perspective of Lev Semionovitch Vygotsky, articulated with the contributions of other authors. Starting from the understanding that play constitutes an essential activity for the formation of higher psychological functions, the research highlights the role of playfulness as a mediator of learning and promoter of cognitive, social, emotional, and cultural development. The investigation was developed through a qualitative bibliographic review, encompassing classic and contemporary authors such as Vygotsky, Kishimoto, Winnicott, and Piaget, as well as normative documents such as the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC, 2017) and the National Curricular Guidelines for Early Childhood Education (DCNEI, 2009). The results show that play, far from being mere entertainment, is an educational phenomenon that fosters autonomy, creativity, and children's protagonism. The analysis also points to the importance of teacher mediation in conducting intentional playful pedagogical practices, capable of transforming play into a structuring axis of learning. It concludes that valuing playfulness is an indispensable condition for the integral development of the child and for the construction of a humanizing Early Childhood Education, which recognizes childhood as a time of discovery, imagination, and the constitution of knowledge.