ABSTRACT
The book starts by defining play and then moves on to introducing the ideas of some of the people whose thinking and writing have been influential on educators, researchers and writers. Here you encounter some of the professional language or ‘jargon’ associated with the subject. Each such term or phrase is given in italic script and explained in the text that follows. This means that by the end of this chapter you should have a framework on which to build a more complex and nuanced understanding of what is meant by play and of why play matters.
