Juego y desarrollo socioemocional en la primera infancia: significaciones imaginarias

Abstract

This study aimed to interpret the imaginary meanings that four- and five-year-old boys and girls construct about play and whether these impact their socio-emotional development. Social imaginaries are defined as symbolic creations that structure social experience and mobilize actions. In this sense, the study considers that the construction of representations, ideas, desires, and feelings that children develop in relation to their experiences with play constitutes a tool for the development of socio-emotional skills. The search for these constructions led the research to be framed within the qualitative paradigm with an interpretative approach, suitable for describing, collecting, interpreting, and reflecting on the social imaginaries that children construct in their school experience. This involved developing a methodological strategy centered on educational ethnography. The data collection techniques included interviews, observation, and iconographic workshops, which allowed gathering information from the students' perspective to identify representations, desires, and feelings about play and its socio-emotional development. These categories, in the process of data analysis and interpretation, helped to account for the imaginary meanings, such as those related to paths of play, the game itself, and the bright social connections and intertwined emotions within play.