Memories of playful childhoods in the training for teaching in early childhood education

Abstract

This article aims to reflect on memories of playful childhoods as a relevant component in the process of teacher’s in Early Childhood Education. It is assumed that the mobilization and constitution of collections of ludic images and memories of play help create bounds between adults and children in relation to their founding experiences of childhood, and contribute to teacher’s training. A set of legal and theoretical frameworks for play as a child's right is presented in this article, revealing how public policies relate to childhood in regard to this theme. These frameworks resonate in the training of teachers of Early Childhood Education, providing a basis for pedagogical practices and theories. The importance of play is related to childhood cultures, constituted as networks of meanings that children weave through play and interaction with the world. In this perspective, the article addresses the dimension of play and playfulness as a reference for teacher training in Early Childhood Education, rethinks ideas about play and children's culture, questions the distancing of contemporary adults from the play scene, and presents excerpts taken from the memories of pedagogy undergraduates in experiences of rememorating their childhoods. This is a theoretical study of qualitative nature, resulting from an investigative process with an interpretative and descriptive narrative approach.