Play is a vital part of our lives. In a child’s formative years, play is a powerfull and productive way of learning about the world. When the child grows and develops, the way in which he/she plays changes clearly. In this essay I will explain how and why this change occurs. I will look at how play is defined in different theoretical perspectives and discuss the features and functions of play. I will explain how play is relevant with the child’s degree of maturational development and explain how the child’s physical, intellectual, linguistic, emotional and social developments are inter-related through play. I will describe how this maturational development is connected to the child’s ability to engage in increasingly complex and social play.

First of all, “what is play?” First of all being a universal feature of human life, it is difficult to define. Wardle defines play as a freely chosen activity which is "non-literal, self-motivated, enjoyable and process oriented. Critical to this definition is the non-literal, non-realistic aspect. This means external aspects of time, use of materials, the environment, rules of the play activity, and roles of the participants are all made up by the children playing. They are based on the child's sense of reality" (Wardle, undated); with the key point being that all aspects of the play are based on the child’s sense of reality. Hughes and King describe play as “a process that is freely chosen, personally directed and intrinsically motivated” (Hughes and King in McLeod-Brudenell & Kay, 2008, p.192). In my opinion, play is an activity that a child chooses to do him/herself for enjoyment. The desire to enjoy and explore our world is present in all of us throughout our lives and in play we choose activities to satisfy this desire. And also play is the way of child represent his/her understanding of world.

Children engage in