Adults often become anxious when children are thought to be purposeless or off-task. Where children have experienced traumatic situations, they may need specialist support in their free-flow play, which mainstream teachers are not trained to offer. The word ‘play’ is too broad to be useful, but has an important traditional place in the early childhood curriculum. Free-flow play saves the child from being pinned down and constrained in development, and so enables children to operate at their highest levels and to integrate everything they know. The future requires the minds of those who have free-flow played: who have developed through wallowing in ideas, feelings and relationships, and who are technically proficient. The richer the free-flow play, the richer the subsequent products. The beneficial results will be seen in paintings, models, creative writing, dances, musical composition, mathematical thinking, etc. as well as in sports and games performances.