Os corpos em movimento na creche: a centralidade do movimento expressivo na educação de bebês e crianças pequenas

Abstract

The expressive body movements of babies and young children are directly related to their perceptions and knowledge of themselves, their limitations, the environments they inhabit, and their social and emotional experiences. Through movement, children explore, play, make discoveries, and learn, relying on relationships of trust in adult-child interaction, which occurs in the sensitive and attentive performance of the teacher. This work aims to investigate the benefits resulting from the inclusion of proposals that use expressive and playful body movements in Early Childhood Education, with a special focus on daycare centers. The research aims to analyze the impacts of body approaches in the daily routine of Early Childhood Education, understanding playful body practices as fundamental for the physical and emotional well-being of children, with short- and long-term repercussions. It is based on the understanding that expressive movement is a natural form of communication present from birth and, therefore, it is essential to guarantee space and freedom for children's bodies to express themselves. The investigation also proposes to reflect on the role of the teacher as a mediator of these experiences, promoting practices that integrate care and education, respect the possibilities and needs of children's bodies and value children's protagonism. Through reflections and analyses of work carried out by teachers, the aim is to understand how body movement can be incorporated in a meaningful way into the school routine, contributing to an education that embraces the diversity and integrality of child development.