Play is an integral part of development in early years. Play actually is work to children because it is through it they learn skills that enhance their development in the different domain. This study investigated Practitioners understanding of play in early years. It is a cross sectional study of 193 Nursery and lower Primary school teachers in 15 schools in North Senatorial District in Southern Nigeria. The Instrument used for the study was Play and Learning Questionnaire which was developed and validated by the researcher. The results showed that most practitioners agreed that play is important in early years but about 47.7% believe that play does not improve learning. It was recommended that there is the need for retraining of teachers in early years of the place of play in learning and learning activities.