The importance of games and playful activities in early Childhood Education

This paper aims to discuss the importance of playing in a child's development process, establishing knowledge-building through playful activities, games, and toys. Playful activities provide conditions for different kinds of knowledge to be built and rebuilt, thus contributing to the development of playfulness in the teaching-learning process. The result showed that the school values playful learning and considers it necessary for all children. It was possible to conclude that the activities conducted by the teacher were valued because she must guide students and activities taken, and this requires an understanding of their direction. Playfulness provides new ways of teaching and involves the professionals' capacity-building, achieving quality education and, above all, taking part in the learning process. As a main feature, this paper includes theme-related theoreticians' contributions to understanding how important it is for teachers to clearly know the role of games and playful activities in children's development, taking it into account that games and playful activities have become indispensable elements to teaching practice.