The purpose of this study is to investigate what role and place the free play has in a preschool, and what role teachers have in the free play. I have chosen to research the problem with an ethnographic approach, where I have been included as a part of the studied group. Through interviews with teachers, observations of free play and conversations with children I have sought to find answers to my following research questions:

-What role do teachers consider they have in the free play?-What are the children's view of the teachers'role in the free play?-How important is the environment for the free play?-How do teachers relate to the free play?

I have chosen to do research in my study based on the communication theory. The communication theory was developed by Gregory Bateson after he studied the children's interaction and communication in the play. In Sweden, Birgitta Knutsdotter Olofsson is our main researcher in play and a strong advocate for the value of free play in children's development. Knutsdotter Olofsson have found that communication theory was a theory that described the essence of play best. By analyzing my data, I have come to the conclusion that the teachers consider that the free play is important. In the free play, the children are able to control what they want to do and who they want to play with. The teachers say that the free play is the children's own play, and through the free play the children develop social skills. The teachers also believe that the free play has received a secondary role after the mission preschool have to work from, based on the guidelines the Swedish National Agency for Education put up. The teacher's role is important in children's free play, and it can look different depending on the play situation and environment.