Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum - the content on Victorian toys (changes beyond living memory) is no longer relevant.

In the last few years, opportunities for play in Key Stage 1 classrooms have been considerably reduced. Play is now often regulated to Friday afternoons and filling in activities when children have completed their work. With increasing pressures on the timetable, play is not always seen as a valuable activity in its own right. This neglect of play is regrettable since young children can learn so much through play activities. The following article describes how play activities were included within the topic of toys which was being studied by a year 1 class.