Revised | Originally Published: July 3, 2021 @ 4:24 pm

“Is it play?” may seem like an easy-to-answer question, but it’s not. A lot of things that look like play are, in reality, play-like activities that do not meet the definition of real play.

This checklist is based on characteristics of play outlined by Peter Gray on his Freedom To Learn blog and his book, Free To Learn, and is intended to help users differentiate between real play and play-like activities. An activity that checks all the handout’s boxes contains all the ingredients of play.

Download The “Is It Play?” Checklist Handout

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Click the image below for more about Peter Gray’s 5 Conditions Of Play, which are the basis for the above handout.

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