Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction / Sue Rogers -- Play and pedagogy : a conflict of interest? / Sue Rogers -- It's about power : researching play, pedagogy and participation in the early years of school / Jo Ailwood -- The challenge of play for early childhood educators / Sue Dockett -- "We are hunters and gatherers of values" : dramatic play, early childhood pedagogy, and the formation of ethical identities / Brian Edmiston -- Revisiting Vygotskian perspectives on play and pedagogy / Elena Bodrove and Deborah J. Leong -- Exploring culture, play, and early childhood education practice in African contexts / Kofi Marfo and Linda Biersteker -- Play and pedagogy framed within India's historical, socio-cultural, pedagogical and postcolonial context / Amita Gupta -- Learning through play in Hong Kong : policy or practice? / Doris Cheng Pui-wah -- Meeting at the crossroads : postmodern pedagogy greets children's aesthetic play-culture / Faith Gabrielle Guss -- Deconstructing the metaphysics of play theories : towards a pedagogy of play aesthetics / Hae-Ryung Yeu -- Digital play in the classroom : a twenty-first century pedagogy? / Tim Waller -- Taking play seriously / Liz Brooker.

Bringing together a collection of chapters from international experts in the field of early childhood education, this book seeks to explore how play in the early years is valued as a means of learning.