The integration of playful approaches and story circles to build intercultural competence for children: a pedagogical intervention (La integración de enfoques lúdicos y círculos narrativos para desarrollar la competencia intercultural infantil: una intervención pedagógica)

ABSTRACT Intercultural competence (IC) is a necessary competence that each global citizen needs to develop in the era of globalization with more different socio-cultural groups living together so as to avoid conflicts and ensure peace. Intercultural competence is not innate, nor can it be built in a short time; instead it takes time to be formed and develop. In order to do that, an intervention integrating playful approaches with story circles was designed. While play brings pleasure for participants and helps them to build their relationship and live in the cultures that appear in their play, story circles provide time for sharing personal stories to build mutual understanding and empathy as well as to practise listening, which are some goals of intercultural education. This paper presents theoretical and empirical evidence to integrate play and story circles to help children develop their IC in early childhood education, as well as steps and methodological precautions to carry out the intervention.