Educational Quest: An Int. J. of Education and Applied Social Sciences Vol 7 l Issue 2 l August 2016 71 Play: World of Children Abha Shree and P.C. Shukla Department of Education, Mizoram University, Aizawl, India Faculty of Education (K), Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India ABSTRACT Play is referred to as the language of children because they can communicate their thoughts and feelings in ways that they express verbally. The impulse to play is innate and its characteristics are fun, uncertainty, challenge, fexibility and non-productivity. All children have the right to play regardless of ability, ethnicity, or gender. Play can happens indoors or outdoors, with or without the oversight of adults, in everyday spaces, in environments designed for play and in places chosen by children. The right to play is child’s frst claim on the society because it ofers an excellent opportunity to ensure that all children in an area of all ages, gender, and abilities, participate in fun activities. This paper deals with the comprehensive overview of play, types of play and benefts from diferent angles. Play is focal point to the early year’s foundation stage and seen as a key way in which children learn and develop. It helps a child to develop physical skills, cognitive concepts, language and social skills. It is performed for no external goal or reward, and is a fundamental and an integral part of wholesome development not only for particular children but also for the society. The broad category of activities that are covered by the term play include swinging, chasing, climbing, sliding, running, dancing, clay modeling, building with blocks, dressing up, and role playing. Everyone has a responsibility to ensure that children are able to play every day and have quality play environments in which to play. Keywords: Play, types of play, benefts of play Access this article online Publisher Website: http://www.ndpublisher.in DOI: 10.5958/2230-7311.2016.00021.0 Address for correspondence Department of Education, Mizoram University, Aizawl, India. E-mail: abhashree16@gmail.com Froebel (1903) wrote, “play is the highest development in childhood, for it alone is the free expression of what is in the child’s soul…. children’s play is not mere sport, it is full of meaning and import” (p. 22). The play process enables the acquisition of information about the world and the exploration of ideas which encourage the development of fexibility and creative problem solving. Play arises from children’s innate need to express them, to explore, learn about and make sense of their world, and that its benefts for children derive from them. Play is biological, psychological and social necessity, and is fundamental to the healthy development and well- being of individual’s society. We can be sure that all happenings, pleasant or unpleasant, in the child’s life, will have repercussions on her dolls. (Piaget 1962) Early pioneer of children’s pedagogy and creator of the concept of kindergarten, Friedrich Froebel held a strong belief in play as a substantial part of a child’s development.