The importance of guiding activities lies in their approach to what and how early education is carried out, both in terms of content and strategies in the teaching and learning processes at this educational level. Therefore, in order to investigate the conceptions about exploration of the environment as a guiding activity in early education, a qualitative and documentary-type research was developed in which research developed in the educational field in the last 5 years was used as data in order to explore from which perspective this guiding activity has been implemented. The information analyzed showed that the exploration of the environment is usually focused mainly on natural or material aspects, neglecting the importance of the social, cultural and symbolic environment in which children live. This limitation has prevented this activity from being effective in the treatment of cultural diversity, which is a common reality in most educational institutions. This demonstrates the need to include the cultural and symbolic dimension in this activity to achieve the objectives of early education.