THE GAME AS A PLAYFUL STRATEGY AIMED AT MEANINGFUL TEACHING

Abstract

Play as a playful strategy aimed at meaningful teaching represents a pedagogical alternative that transforms the school experience into an active, emotionally stimulating, and cognitively profound process. Various educational theories, such as Piaget's structuralism, Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, and the Play-Based Learning (BBL) approach, have demonstrated that play not only promotes psychomotor, social, and linguistic development but also enables the construction of knowledge through exploration, trial, and error. This strategy places students as the protagonists of their learning, promoting autonomy, creativity, and motivation. Play, as a derived technique, incorporates playful elements into formal learning environments, generating collaborative, affective, and flexible spaces that stimulate critical thinking and teamwork. Its effective implementation requires teacher training, the design of contextualized teaching resources, continuous assessment, and educational policies that recognize the value of play as a legitimate tool. From this perspective, this essay-style article aims to analyze play as a playful strategy for meaningful teaching, highlighting its theoretical foundations, its benefits for cognitive and socioemotional development, and the necessary conditions for its effective implementation in the classroom, in order to contribute to meaningful teaching.