摘要：The activities carried out with the child 0 - 2 years, as the play are vitals for the development of perceptions, movements, postures and intelligence contributing to the acquisition of psychomotor and cognitive skills. The family has played an important role in providing this tool, but today, in Brazil, the children in this age group have attended the Early Childhood Education institutions. Thus, the objective of this research was to determine the meaning given by professionals from the nursery to the activities to play of the age group 0 - 2 years. Participated a total of 128 professionals working in municipal nurseries of a medium-sized city of São Paulo. They were asked about the importance of play and toy for children 0 - 2 years and how it is offered in the nursery routine. The answers were analyzed based on qualitative data analysis technique and enhanced with concepts of thematic analysis. They were organized in themes importance of play; proposals for toys and games; organization of time, space and materials for activities to play; participation in the activities of play. The results indicate that: 1) the activity of play is considered important by the participants for both the development and the learning; 2) teachers are responsible for organizing this activity focused on educational planning; 3) they report that playing at this age is difficult, especially with the smaller, because of the nursery routine of the organization. Therefore, this work contributes to the design of the activities of play, more suitable to the needs of the public attended, aiming at the global development of the baby.
