How Play Works is an important contribution to the effort to restore child-initiated play and learningùa book for teachers; early childhood specialists and social workers; preschool, kindergarten, and elementary program directors; school leaders; and other professionals who want to create and preserve play-rich classrooms and programs for young children. In clear, direct language, the book lays out the findings of more than 50 years of research on the central role of open-ended play in young children's cognitive, physical, social, emotional, and moral developmentùresearch that is largely unknown among today's younger teachers and school administrators. It offers practical, first-hand advice and strategies from the leading practitioners of play-based education on how to negotiate the multiple challenges, both educational and political, of nurturing and defending play in schools.