This version of the course guide is provisional until the period for editing the new course guides ends.

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Movement and Play in Early childhood education

Code: 101998 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Early Childhood Education OT 4

Contact

Name:
Francisco Cortes Ferrero
Email:
francisco.cortes.ferrero@uab.cat

Teachers

Francisco Cortes Ferrero
Carolina Nieva Boza

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

This subject is the continuation of the “Corporeal and Psychomotor Education in the schools of Early Childhood Education I” (3rd course) and II (4th course), reason why it is necessary to have reached the competences and contents worked in these two areas, and in this way, they will be able to take this subject.


Objectives and Contextualisation

This subject adopts as a basic axis the play and movement at the age of 0 to 6 years, focusing on knowing the ways of playing of children of these ages as well as the movement needs that arise from them. It also focuses on creating and designing of game scenarios, considering the needs of each age, space and material.

-   Targets:

• Expand knowledges about the evolution of children’s play in the corporeal area during the first six years of life.

• Detect the movement needs of these ages in relation to body play.

• Design “game scenarios” as well as choose appropriate materials and contexts for body play.

• Use observation and documentation as research and reflection on the teacher’s intervention.

 


Competences

  • Acquire habits and skills for cooperative and autonomous learning and promote the same in pupils.
  • Be familiar with the music, plastics and body language curriculum at this stage as well as theories on the acquisition and development of the corresponding learning.
  • Consider classroom practical work to innovate and improve teaching.
  • Critically analyse personal work and use resources for professional development.
  • Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the aims, curricular contents and criteria of evaluation of Infant Education
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the evolution of the fundamentals of early care and the bases and developments that make it possible to understand the psychological processes of learning and personality construction in early childhood.
  • Develop educational proposals that promote perception and musical expression, motor skills, drawing and creativity.
  • Express other languages and use them for educational purposes: corporal, musical, audiovisual.
  • Promote and facilitate early infant learning, from a global and integrative perspective of different cognitive, emotional, psychomotor and developmental dimensions.
  • Promote awareness of artistic expression and artistic creation.
  • Promote the autonomy and uniqueness of each pupil as factors of education in emotions, feelings and values in early childhood.
  • Take account of social, economic and environmental impacts when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
  • Understand how to use play as a didactic resource and design learning activities based on the principles of play.
  • Work in teams and with teams (in the same field or interdisciplinary).

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse and make critical contributions in different examples of classroom practices.
  2. Critically analyse personal work through self-evaluation processes.
  3. Design and create educational scenarios for play and movement in response to aesthetic criteria.
  4. Develop educational proposals in which play and movement play a central role and considering this global perspective.
  5. Express, through personal observations, reflections and perceptions regarding children's play.
  6. Know the basics of the corporal expression curriculum at this stage as well as theories on the acquisition and development of learning related to the subject.
  7. Know the basics of the corporal expression curriculum at this stage as well as theories on the acquisition and development of relevant learning.
  8. Knowing how to use personal resources for learning as well as knowing how to create contexts that foster independent learning.
  9. Produce educational proposals that promote the perception and expression of motor skills and creativity, using other languages such as music and plastics.
  10. Propose viable projects and actions to boost social, economic and environmental benefits.
  11. Understand the evolution of child development and use this knowledge to develop an educational proposal.
  12. Use play as a teaching resource, as well as designing learning activities based on principles of play.
  13. Using different languages (body, music and audio-visual) to express the learning acquired in the subject.
  14. Working as a team using body work sessions.

Content

• Body play between the ages of 0 and 6 years.

• The needs of movement in early childhood.

• Scenarios, materials, and contexts for body play.

• Reflection on the teacher’s intervention in the playful action and corporal of the children.


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
practical work and practical field 30 1.2 2, 1, 7, 6, 11, 9, 4, 5, 14, 13, 12
Type: Supervised      
Supervised 75 3 2, 11, 3, 9, 4, 12
Type: Autonomous      
Autonomous 45 1.8 2, 1, 7, 6, 11, 3, 9, 4, 5, 14, 13, 12

The student is the protagonist in the teaching-learning process, and the following methodology has been planned under this premise.

This course will propose the use of the Service-Learning (SLL) methodology. It involves addressing a real need identified by an institution/entity and providing a solution or service to the entity. Service-Learning is now a widely recognized methodology that allows students not only to address real-life cases but also to integrate students into environments where they can develop their professional careers in the future.

 

The training activities carried out in this course can be directed, supervised, and autonomous:

- The directed activities are led by the professor or by the students themselves. They are carried out in the Faculty's facilities and during external visits to spaces dedicated to young children in both formal and informal education.

There will also be various collaborations with professionals from the world of Early Childhood Education who will share their experience with us.

The directed activities will be "body practice sessions" in the Faculty gymnasium and in the field practice spaces. For the different sessions, complementary and/or additional theoretical material (articles, book chapters, videos, etc.) will be provided, which students must review beforehand or afterward.

The "body practice" sessions are work spaces for experimenting, deepening, analyzing, contrasting, debating, reflecting on, and evaluating the subject content, but above all, for experiencing these contents on their own bodies and as future teachers. They are carried out through activities such as case studies, analysis of material (readings, videos, etc.), group dynamics, cooperative work, problem-solving, using the student's own body experience in practical activities, discussion-debates based on lived body experiences, etc.

- Activities supervised by the teacher outside of the classroom include individual and group tutoring, mostly virtual, which should serve to support the student in their learning process by guiding tasks, resolving difficulties, and monitoring their learning progress.

- Independent work is work completed by students independently to develop skills and achieve the course objectives.

- Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) will be used, utilizing a variety of activities such as: article reading, document analysis, surveys, bibliographic searches, presentations, implementation of proposals, reflections on process and progress, evaluation of proposals, etc.

 

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Informative article (individual work) 30% 0 0 2, 1, 6, 5, 8, 12
Preparation and application of a game scenario (group work). 25% 0 0 2, 1, 7, 6, 11, 3, 9, 4, 10, 14, 12
The art of accompanying children's play (individual work) 40% 0 0 9, 5, 8, 13, 12
Valuation report (individual work) 5% 0 0 2

  • Continuous Assessment Activities:

1. Informative article (30%); Individual work toward a practical experiential session conducted in the course.

2. Development of a play scenario (25%). Group work using a SL methodology where different body play scenarios will be planned and implemented.

2. Assessment report (5%): final individual diagnosis of the course in relation to its methodology and assessment.

4. The art of accompanying children's play (40%). Individual reflective work based on the theoretical and practical content of the course related to play, movement, and the role of the adult.

 

This course includes both continuous and single assessment. The single assessment activities that the student must submit are:

- The "Informative article" activity (30%).

- In-person theoretical and practical test on "the design and implementation of a body game scenario" (30%).

- Theoretical oral exam on "the different types of body play" (40%).

 

The continuous and single assessment requires attendance at a minimum of 80% of the seminar and laboratory sessions, regardless of the reasons for the absence (justifications presented in the case of absence will only serve to explain the absence; under no circumstances will they be an excuse for not attending).

A student who, despite participating in the sessions, does not submit any course work (individual or group) will be considered NA (Not Assessable).

 

It is highly advisable to attend the various field trips that will be held at the formal and non-formal education levels in municipalities near the Faculty. These field trips will be held during the course schedule, with the student's own travel arrangements.

To pass the course, students must pass each of the four assessment activity blocks. It is also absolutely necessary to demonstrate an attitude compatible with the teaching profession: activelistening, respect, participation, cooperation, empathy, kindness, punctuality, non-judgment, argumentativeness, and appropriate use of electronic devices (cell phones, computers, etc.). It is also essential that students demonstrate responsibility and thoroughness in independent work, actively participate in classes, demonstrate critical thinking, and demonstrate behaviors that foster a friendly, positive, and democratic environment that respects gender, cultural, and other differences. Furthermore, specifically during practical sessions, students must wear sportswear to be able to carry out all the proposed activities and demonstrate a willingness and active participation. All gym equipment must be treated with care and respect, leaving it in perfect condition and organized after use. If any objection arises, each group is responsible for returning it directly to the outside containers immediately after the class ends. If any of these attitudinal requirements are not met, the course grade will be a 3.

To pass this course, students must demonstrate good general communicative competence, both orally and in writing, and a good command of the language(s) of instruction listed in the course guide. Therefore, in all activities (individual and group), linguistic accuracy, writing, and formal presentation will be taken into account.

Students must be able to express themselves fluently and accurately and must demonstrate a high level of comprehension of academic texts. An activity may be returned (not assessed) or failed if the teacher considers that it does not meet these requirements.

 

  • Continuous assessment dates:

- The activity "Development and Implementation of a Game Scenario" (group work) will be submitted: from March 3 to June 2 (Tuesday group) and from March 5 to June 18 (Thursday group).

- The "Informative Article" activity(individual work)will be submitted: May 5 (Tuesday group) and May 7 (Thursday group).

- The "The Art of Accompanying Children's Play" activity (individual work) will be submitted: June 9 (Tuesday group) and June 11 (Thursday group).

- The "Assessment Report" activity (individual work) will be submitted: June 16 (Tuesday group) and June 18 (Thursday group).

Grades for each assessment item will be communicated within 20 business days of submission. Students who wish to review their grade must do so at 15 days of submission during the tutoring schedule established by the faculty for this subject.

 

  • Single Assessment Dates:

Students who are participating in the single assessment must submit the commercial article activity on June 2 (group 1) and June 18 (group 2). 

The other two in-person tests will be held on the same day, June 2 (group 1) and June 18 (group 2).

 

  • Retakes:

Retakes will be carried out based on the four evaluation activities carried out following the same timing. This will be the following:
Both "Elaboration and application of a game scenario" and "the dissemination article on game and movement" will be on the 23rd (Tuesday group) and the 25th of June (Thursday group). While the retake of the work on "the art of accompanying the child" will be on the 30th of June (group 1) and the 2nd of July (group 2).

To participate in the retake, students must have previously been evaluated in a set of activities whose weight is equivalent to a minimum of two-thirds of the total grade for the subject.

For students with a single assessment, the dates for retakes will be June 30 (group 1) and July 2 (group 2), with the difference that they will retake the entire subjectin a single day.

 

The assessmentactivities must be original and of their own or the group's own creation (where applicable) exclusively. Therefore, it is considered that it has not been self-produced when the work is prepared with non-original and exclusive elements by the student (such as those generated with Artificial Intelligence tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot, etc.).

Therefore, in this subject the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is not allowed in any of its phases.

Any work that includes fragments generated with AI will be considered a lack of academic honesty and the subject will be failed in its entirety without the option of reassessment.

Teachers will be able to carry out specific validations to guarantee authorship and the acquisition of skills in the event of suspicion of academic fraud.

 

Copying and plagiarism are intellectual thefts and, therefore, constitute a crime that will be sanctioned with a zero for the entire subject. In the case of copying between two students, if it is not possible to know who has copied from whom, the sanction will be applied to both. We would like to remind you that a "copy" is considered a work that reproduces all or a large part of the work of another colleague. "Plagiarism" is the act of presenting all or part of a text by an author as one's own, that is, without citing the sources, whether published on paper or in digital form on the Internet. You can find the UAB's documentation on plagiarism at:

http://wuster.uab.es/web_argumenta_obert/unit_20/sot_2_01.html

Before submitting evidence of learning, you must check that the sources, notes, textual citations and bibliographical references have been written correctly following the UAB regulations:

https://ddd.uab.cat/pub/recdoc/2016/145881/citrefapa_a2016.pdf http://wuster.uab.es/web_argumenta_obert/unit_20/sot_2_03.html

 

Students enrolled for thesecond time in thesubject must make the same submissions as everyone else, as they will not have the option of only taking a Synthesis Test.

 


Bibliography

The bibliography used in this subject considers the gender perspective.

  1. Aucouturier, B. (2022). El juego espontáneo en la escuela maternal. Graó.
  2. Aucouturier, B. (2018) Actuar, jugar, pensar. Puntos de apoyo para a práctica psicomotriz educativa y terapéutica. Graó.
  3. Bruchner, P. (2017). Bosquescuela. Guía para la educación infantil al aire libre. Ediciones Rodeno.
  4. Calmels, D. (2004). El cuerpo en la escritura. Ediciones Novedades Educativas. 
  5. Calmels, D. (2010). Juegos de crianza: el juego corporal en los primeros años de vida. Biblos.
  6. Calmels, D. (2018). El juego corporal. Paidós.
  7. Cebrián, B., Martín, M.I., & Miguel, Á. (2013). Cómo trabajar la motricidad en el aula. Cuñas Motrices para infantil y primaria. Miño y Dávila.
  8. Cunill, C., Masó, M. & Rabasseda, M. (2024). L'infant que es desplega. Cos, psique i espiritualitat. Graó.
  9. Ferrer, R. (2013). La presentació dels materials. In-fàn-cia: Educar de 0 a 6 anys, 194, 12-13.
  10. Freire, H. (coord.) (2020). Patios vivos para renaturalizar la escuela. Octaedro.
  11. Freire, H. (2010). Educar en verd. Graó.
  12. Garcia-Debesa, D. (2021). El ioga a l'escola. Octaedro.
  13. Gallardo-Vázquez, P., Gallardo-Basile, F.J. & Gallardo-López, J.A. (2021). Fundamentos teóricos de la educación emocional. Claves para la transformación educativa. Octaedro.
  14. Hanscom, A. (2016). Equilibrats i descalços. Angle Editorial.
  15. Hueso, K. (2019). Jugar al aire libre. Plataforma Actual.
  16. Jubete, M. (ed.) (2010). Espais i temps per al joc (3a ed.). Temes d'Infància.
  17. Lesbegueris, M. (2014). ¡Niñas jugando! Ni tan quietitas ni tan activas. Biblos.
  18. Lleixà, T. & Nieva, C. (2020). The social inclusion ofimmigrant girls in and through physical education. Perceptions and decisions of physical education teachers. Sport, Education and Society, 25,(2), 1-14.
  19. Martínez-Mínguez, L., Palou, S. & Anton, M. (2016). El joc corporal com a base de tots els jocs. En M. Edo, Blanch, S. i M. Anton, El joc a la primera infància (pp. 124-140). Octaedro.
  20. Martínez-Mínguez, L., Forcadell, X., Moya, L., Heras, G., Bru, E., Llecha, M., Sánchez, C., Pérez, M. & Anton, M. (2017). 8 idees clau sobre l'educació del moviment, Guix d'Infantil, 91, 31-35. 
  21. Moreno, J. A. (2002). Aprendizaje a través del juego. Ediciones Aljibe.
  22. Núñez, G. (2014). Però el cent existeix: els ambients d'aprenentatge a l'escola. In-fàn-cia: Educar de 0 a 6 anys, 198, 32-33.
  23. Pérez, M. & Morales, L. (2019). Psicomotricitat i vida quotidiana. Revista Guix d'Infantil, 98, 13-16. Rischer, P. (2003). El jardí dels secrets. Barcelona: Temes d'Infància.
  24. Ruiz de Velasco, M.A. i Abad,J. (2011). El juego simbólico. Graó.
  25. Ruiz Omeñaca, J. V. (2011). El cuento motor: En la Educación infantil y en la Educación Física escolar: Como construir un espacio para jugar, cooperar, convivir y crear. Editorial Wanceulen.
  26. Sassano, M. & Bottini, P. (coord.) (2018). Jugarse jugando. Reflexiones acercadel juego corporal en Psicomotricidad. Miño y Dávila.
  27. Stern, A. (2017). Jugar. Litera.
  28. Sugrañes, E., Alòs, M., Andrés, N., Casal,S., Castillo, C., Medina, N. & Yuste, M. (2012). Observar para interpretar. Actividades de la vida cotidiana en educación infantil. Graó.
  29. Velázquez, C. (2013). La pedagogía de la cooperación en Educación Física. Editorial Kinesis.
  30. Velázquez, C. (2015). Enfoques y posibilidades del aprendizaje cooperativoRevista Tándem. Didáctica de la Educación Física50, 25-31.
  31. Velázquez, C. (2016). Desafíos físicos cooperativos: relato de una experiencia. Revista Tándem. Didáctica de la Educación Física, 53, 54-59.
  32. Vila, B. & Cardo, C. (2005). Material sensorial (0-3 años). Editorial Graó.
  33. Wild, R. (2012). Etapas del desarrollo. Herder.

 


Software

No specific PC program or APP is needed for this subject.

 


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PCAM) Field practices 1 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(PCAM) Field practices 2 Catalan second semester afternoon