“El dibujo infantil para favorecer el desarrollo emocional en niños de educación inicial”

Abstract

The present research aims to determine the significance of children's drawing in promoting emotional development within early childhood education. The research adopts a qualitative approach, employing bibliographic analysis, description, and non-experimental, inductive-deductive methodology. Through an exhaustive literature review, epistemological foundations were developed regarding the benefits of childhood drawing in the emotional development of children. Psychoanalytic, humanistic, and sociocultural perspectives highlight the potential of scribbling and spontaneous artistic creation to access the turbulent infant psyche, strengthen attachment, convey shared emotional meanings, and stimulate multiple dimensions of development. Furthermore, a critical analysis of empirical evidence enabled the identification of several challenges hindering the adequate development of emotional skills during the preschool stage, such as difficulties in modulating intense emotions, anxiety before certain events, challenging social interaction, somatization of psycho-emotional discomfort, and deficits in assertively communicating subjective needs. Based on these findings, a methodological guide was designed and validated for kindergarten teachers, comprising 13 playful activities to apply drawing for educational purposes, promoting the identification and expression of emotions, their regulation in the face of frustration, introspection, empathy, and positive social interaction skills. The proposal represents a tangible contribution to optimizing the benefits of childhood drawing, usually neglected in contemporary parenting and early education programs, and has been validated by experts.