Lekens betydelse för barns lärande och utveckling : Hur leken kan främja barns lärande och utveckling

Sammanfattning: The role and meaning of play for children’s learning and development has been clear in preschool teacher’s education. The purpose of this study is to contribute knowledge on the experience of preschool teachers on how play can promote children’s learning and development. The study makes use of the qualitative method wherein five pre-school teachers were interviewed.  The results from this study showing that based on their experiences, the preschool teachers have seen and described play as a safe place to develop social interactions. The preschool teachers show how play is actively used in the preschool for learning and development to promote the children's learning and development, which contributes linguistically, empathically, motoric ally and not least promotes their independence. The results showed that they use play as a tool in planned play and activities with didactic questions for learning based on interesting topics for children and for children's developmental needs. It is important that preschool teachers understand the difference between free play and planned play and how these contribute to children's learning and development. The preschool teachers make it clear based on their experience that they have an important task to challenge children in everyday activities in a fun way. Furthermore, the results show that the pre-school teacher's presence and active listening are important in children's play