play in early childhood education x inclusion: beyond make-believe

This book reflects on the importance of toys and games in the process of training, guiding and including children with special educational needs in early childhood education. The aim was to discuss the benefits that playful activities bring to the daily life of early childhood education classes in conjunction with the activities planned by the institution’s teaching team. We pointed out the contributions of these activities to the child’s biopsychosocial development, and to this end, we used a qualitative approach with bibliographical and field research, using observation and records as techniques, as well as semi-structured interviews, and monitoring the children during the activities proposed by the team of early childhood education teachers at the UFPA School of Application. After analysing the data, we concluded how important play activities are in the interaction, socialisation and inclusion of children with special educational needs, as well as the need to have specialised educational care rooms and a multidisciplinary team in the context of early childhood education at the UFPA School of Application.