Helen Alison Stallibrass (nee Scott) grew up in the country, the eldest of five children. In the years before World War II she was a student/assistant to the research staff of the Pioneer Health Centre in Peckham, London. The influential program of this family club cum research stations was known internationally as The Peckham Experiment. Mrs. Stallibrass is at present a member of the Executive Committee of the Pioneer Health centre Ltd. which offers a consultative/advisory service and provides information about the Peckham Experiment. The address of the Pioneer Health Centre Ltd. is 7, St. Bride Street, London, EC4.For Fourteen years, Mrs. Stallibrass, the mother of five children, ran a pre-school play group in the front room and back garden of her own house. She thus became acquainted with a large number of the neighbouring children of all ages and was able to watch them growing over a long period. Her notebooks from these years helped in the writing of this book.

• * Introduction The Spontaneous Play of Healthy Children * What do we mean by play? * Choice of play at the Pioneer Health Centre * Choice of play in a pre-school playgroup * Some minute-to-minute records of childrens play * The play of babies The nature of natural play * Why and how babies learn * Learning Activity 1sensory motor * Learning Activity 2social * Learning Activitybecoming oneself Necessary provision for play * Then and now * The role of the adult in the playgroup * Conclusion

Helen Alison Stallibrass (nee Scott) grew up in the country, the eldest of five children. In the years before World War II she was a student/assistant to the research staff of the Pioneer Health Centre in Peckham, London. The influential program of this family club cum research stations was known internationally as The Peckham Experiment. Mrs. Stallibrass is at present a member of the Executive Committee of the Pioneer Health centre Ltd. which offers a consultative/advisory service and provides information about the Peckham Experiment. The address of the Pioneer Health Centre Ltd. is 7, St. Bride Street, London, EC4.For Fourteen years, Mrs. Stallibrass, the mother of five children, ran a pre-school play group in the front room and back garden of her own house. She thus became acquainted with a large number of the neighbouring children of all ages and was able to watch them growing over a long period. Her notebooks from these years helped in the writing of this book.

• * Introduction The Spontaneous Play of Healthy Children * What do we mean by play? * Choice of play at the Pioneer Health Centre * Choice of play in a pre-school playgroup * Some minute-to-minute records of childrens play * The play of babies The nature of natural play * Why and how babies learn * Learning Activity 1sensory motor * Learning Activity 2social * Learning Activitybecoming oneself Necessary provision for play * Then and now * The role of the adult in the playgroup * Conclusion