The purpose of this thesis is to study five pedagogue’s view of the free play and their view of the importance of the free play for children´s learning and development.

 I have chosen to use a qualitative research method in the form of interviews with five pedagogue´s from a preschool. The main research questions asked were:

• What have the pedagogues of view on the free play?
•  How important believe the pedagogue that the free play is for children’s learning and development? 

What has emerged in the study is that educators have a positive view of the free play. They believed that the free play is important for children´s skills. This is also shown in the literature as presented in the research survey.

The result of the importance of play for children´s learning and development according to educators is that children learn to use imagination, social interaction with one another and show empathy and sympathy. The results also showed that the free play may have barriers that lead to conflicts among the children. Most educators felt that their presence is important to support and develop the play.