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Description: For decades, much contention and debate has dominated the literature as researchers have attempted to understand and define play. However, ‘in the urge to categorise and define play, we may be in danger of overlooking the fact that children have their own definitions of play’ (Wood & Attfield, 2005, p.7). Although attempts have been made to capture key stakeholders’ perspectives of play, these have centred on adult-centric descriptions from the perspectives of educators and parents (Bubikova-Moan et al., 2019; Breathnach et al., 2016; Pyle et al., 2017; Warash et al., 2017). Instead, Howard (2019) emphasises the need to focus directly on children’s perspectives of play, in an effort to deeply understand this complex and elusive construct, in line with a children's rights-based approach (United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2009; United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989; 2013). In moving towards a child-centred conceptualisation of play, it is essential that the views of all children are valued. This is of particular importance for autistic children whose play has been described from a ‘deficit’ perspective since Kanner’s (1943) seminal observations including behaviour that is ‘abnormal” (Jarrold, Boucher & Smith, 1993; p.295), “impoverished” (Riguet, Taylor, Benaroya & Klein, 1981; p.440) and “inappropriate” (Sigman & Ruskin, 1999; p.75). Indeed, little if any, research has examined autistic perspectives of play or indeed examined the play of neurotypical and neurodiverse populations. As a result, this research seeks to develop a child-centred, all-inclusive, understanding of play and add to the emerging body of evidence surrounding children’s perspectives of play. Understanding how children view play may, in turn, support the development of more robust research evidence and subsequently inform future policy and practice in the field of inclusive early childhood education (Howard, 2019).