REPRESENTATIONS AND APPROACHES OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURA IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Abstract

Children’s Literature, with its literary and playful dimensions, establishes connections between imagination and reality through the reader’s experience with the text, thereby contributing to the educational process in Physical Education by fostering the understanding of bodily movement culture. The aim of this study was to analyze the representations and approaches to the relationship between Children’s Literature and Physical Education within academic production. This is a systematic review that was guided by PRISMA recommendations, with searches conducted in the CAPES, SciELO, ERIC, and BDTD databases. The results indicated the presence of interdisciplinary practices involving Children’s Literature, Physical Education, and other fields of knowledge as a means of overcoming curricular fragmentation; the scarcity of literary works addressing intrinsic contents of Physical Education; the relevance of collaboration between generalist teachers and Physical Education specialists; the concentration of studies in Early Childhood Education, with a shortage in Elementary Education; the limited promotion of children’s active participation in interdisciplinary practices; and the contributions of such practices to children’s holistic development. It is concluded that, although there are initiatives linking Children’s Literature and Physical Education, the topic remains recent and underexplored, revealing gaps related to teacher education, the development of interdisciplinary practices that encompass the full scope of Physical Education content, the scarcity of studies in Elementary Education, and the need for greater literary production aligned with School Physical Education.