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Few names in the history of
education carry the influence and legacy of Jean Piaget. The Swiss psychologist
and epistemologist revolutionized our understanding of children’s cognitive
development by showing that they are not passive receivers of information, but
active builders of knowledge. What many may not know is how deeply his ideas
intersect with the arts—especially with theater. This article invites you on an
inspiring journey through these connections, revealing how Piagetian principles
can be powerfully applied to the world of theater, particularly in early
childhood education. Parents, educators, and artists alike will discover new
paths to transform learning into a living, emotional, and creative experience.
According to Piaget,
children go through cognitive development stages—from the sensorimotor to the
formal operational stage—each marked by specific mental structures and ways of
understanding the world. These stages are not rigid but dynamic, constructed
through interaction between the child and their environment. This is precisely
where theater emerges as an ideal educational tool: it offers a safe, playful,
and symbolic space where children can explore roles, emotions, and situations
that help them assimilate and accommodate new information. Pretend play, for
instance, is far more than entertainment—it’s a powerful cognitive reorganizing
process, as recent studies from Harvard University and the University of São
Paulo on theater and cognition have demonstrated.
In theatrical play,
children experience others' perspectives, expand their emotional vocabulary,
and strengthen their symbolic thinking. Piaget emphasized symbolic language as one
of the greatest achievements of the preoperational stage. When a child embodies
a character, they are constructing meaning, processing experiences, and
creating more complex mental structures. A practical example: when a child
plays the role of a doctor, they grasp social roles, develop empathy, and
expand their linguistic and emotional repertoire. It’s no wonder that
innovative schools around the world—such as Reggio Emilia in Italy and Project
Zero in the United States—have incorporated theater into the curriculum as an
essential language of expression and knowledge construction.
Educator and writer
Antônio Carlos dos Santos, a strong advocate of affective pedagogy and theater
in childhood, reinforces this bridge between Piaget and the stage. In his extensive
collection of children's literature and the methodologies he created—such as
TBMB (Mané Beiçudo Puppet Theater), MAT (Mindset, Action, and Theater), and ThM
(Theater Movement)—he demonstrates how theater can serve not only as art but
also as a science of human development. In TBMB, for example, puppets represent
everyday conflicts, inviting children to reflect on values, emotions, and
solutions. The stories are designed based on Piaget’s cognitive development
stages, respecting each age group’s capacity for comprehension and symbolic
understanding.
MAT, on the other
hand, is a methodology that integrates positive mindset, concrete action, and
theater as a formative process. It allows children to move between imagination
and reality, working through complex concepts using embodied and emotional
experiences. This active experience aligns closely with Piaget’s idea that
learning happens through action—“to understand is to invent or reconstruct by
rediscovering.” When a child performs, they are not merely memorizing lines;
they are internalizing concepts, reinterpreting life experiences, and
developing essential executive functions such as working memory, cognitive
flexibility, and self-regulation.
ThM (Theater Movement)
focuses on expressive movement as a form of cognition. Through movement, the
child gives meaning to the world. Piaget recognized the role of motor
development as the foundation for cognitive growth. ThM brings this into
contemporary understanding, showing that the body is both language and thought
in motion. In children’s performances inspired by this approach, we witness
kids solving spatial problems, building narratives through gesture, and
expressing complex emotions without speaking a word—all of which are
spontaneous, joyful, and deeply educational.
Beyond cognition,
theater strengthens socio-emotional development, another area increasingly
valued in modern education. Yale University’s Center for Emotional Intelligence
emphasizes the importance of active methodologies that promote empathy,
self-awareness, and social skills. Theater provides that emotional territory
where mistakes are part of learning, where each child is heard and valued, and
where diverse perspectives are welcomed. This resonates strongly with Piaget’s
moral development theory, which saw cooperation and justice as foundations of
ethical reasoning in children.
It’s worth noting how,
throughout history, many educators and artists intuitively understood this
connection. Maria Clara Machado, founder of Brazil’s modern children’s theater,
used to say the stage was a classroom for the heart. Augusto Boal, creator of
the Theater of the Oppressed, often spoke of theater’s transformative power.
Both, without necessarily citing Piaget, affirmed that children learn not only
through sight and sound, but through their entire being: body, emotion,
imagination, and reason.
Parents and educators
can take advantage of these connections in their daily lives. Organizing short
dramatizations at home or at school, reading stories with intonation and
expressiveness, creating puppets with recyclable materials and encouraging
make-believe are simple, accessible and extremely effective practices. The
children's literature of Antônio Carlos dos Santos is an excellent starting
point; his works combine engaging narrative with psychological and pedagogical
content, promoting the child's integral development.
Jean Piaget’s pedagogy
and theater intertwine deeply, offering adults the chance to see childhood with
renewed perspective—not as mere preparation for adulthood but as a rich,
complex, and meaningful present. Theater, by giving shape to a child’s
imagination and emotions, becomes a bridge to authentic knowledge—one that is
built with the body, with affection, and with lived experience.
Let us, then, as
parents, teachers, and artists, cherish these connections. Because, as Piaget
said, “the principal goal of education is to create people who are capable of
doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done.” And
theater, when integrated with early childhood development, offers just that:
the possibility of nurturing human beings who are creative, sensitive,
cooperative—and profoundly human.
Access the books by Antônio Carlos dos Santos on amazon.com or amazon.com.br
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