Abstract
This article discusses the formative and artistic potential of anthotype in early childhood education, understood as an alternative photographic process that articulates art, science, and nature, mobilizing aesthetic experience, sensoriality, and playfulness in artistic creation. It develops a bibliographical and reflective investigation, grounded in Ana Mae Barbosa's triangular approach, with emphasis on the axes of contextualization and enjoyment, analyzing the historical trajectory of photography up to its insertion in the field of contemporary art, as well as the resignifications of anthotype in the practices of artists, educators, and researchers. The analysis showed that the anthotype technique shifts the focus from the final image product to the creative process, approaching conceptions of childhood that value play, curiosity, and the production of meaning by children. By engaging with normative documents on early childhood education, the study indicated that anthotype can constitute a playful possibility for expanding sensitive and aesthetic experiences in the context of daycare. As this is a theoretical study, the article does not present empirical results, but it outlines avenues for future research with young children, suggesting anthotype as a practice of poetic creation and a blending of photography, nature, and childhood.