Play and Finding Your Inner Child: A Conversation with Greg from “Can I Go and Play Now?”

The Journey into Play

Greg’s professional story began in an unexpected place — a scrap store. “We’d collect leftover materials like card, fabric, and plastic, then take them to schools so children could create freely,” he recalled. It was this hands-on creativity that first inspired him, long before he became a teacher. A formative trip to Reggio Emilia in Italy deepened his understanding of child-led learning and the power of imagination. After starting his teaching career with seven to eleven-year-olds (Key Stage Two in the UK), Greg was invited to move into reception, teaching four- and five-year-olds — and that, he says, changed everything. “I began to see that play was something absolutely incredible, and I just went on an adventure into it. I’ve never looked back.”

Play as Who We Are

Greg’s books — Can I Go and Play Now?, School and the Magic of Children, and Love Letters to Play — were written as love letters to childhood. “Play isn’t what we do,” he told

me. “It’s who we are.” He believes every adult carries an inner child within them — his, he says, is “Little Greg.” When he works or plays with children, it’s this inner child who comes alive. “That’s what I help adults to reconnect with,” he said. “It’s about dialoguing with your own inner child so that you can really be with children — not just supervise them.”

The Vulnerability and Healing in Play

Our conversation turned to the therapeutic power of play. I shared how, in my work, many children struggle to play because that part of them hasn’t been nurtured. Greg agreed. “We’re all born curious,” he said. “That curiosity becomes playfulness — but it needs to be encouraged.”

Play, he believes, is deeply connected to regulation. “Play resets our nervous system,” he explained. “When we’re in chaos, play can bring us back to calm. But if a child is stuck in survival mode, they can’t play. They need a nurturing adult who can model what play looks like — and that starts with us unlocking our own playfulness.” He added something profound: “Play therapy isn’t just for the child. It’s for the adult too. Because when we play with children, our own nervous systems are healing alongside theirs.”

When Structure Stifles Imagination

We discussed how structured, goal-driven play in schools and homes has replaced open-ended exploration. “There’s less and less time for children to just be,” Greg observed. “The education system pushes outcomes — reading scores, phonics, data. But you can’t have a ‘unique child’ and a ‘good level of development’ in the same breath. They’re contradictions.” He spoke passionately about how this system teaches children that play is a reward for good behaviour — something they earn by pleasing adults. “That’s deeply damaging,” he said. “Because play isn’t a reward. It’s our birthright. It’s who we are.”

Unlearning the Adult Messages

Many of us, Greg explained, carry “unfiltered messages” from our own childhoods — ideas like you must sit still or don’t make a mess. These messages, often absorbed without question, shape how we interact with children. “When we tell a child, ‘You mustn’t fiddle,’ that’s not about the child — that’s about us,” he said. “It’s our inner child repeating what we were once told. Real play asks us to stop, reflect, and ask — who is speaking here: my frightened inner child, or my adult self who understands it’s okay for things to be messy?”

Rediscovering Childhood in Education

Greg works with schools across the country, helping teachers reimagine what play and learning can look like. He encourages them to step away from rigid “schemes” — pre-written teaching programs designed for children they’ve never met — and instead build playful, creative connections with the children in front of them. “It’s not about abandoning learning,” he clarified. “You still teach phonics and times tables. But you teach them in a way that fits you and your class. Education should be a shared adventure, not a performance for approval.”

He sees play not as the opposite of learning, but as its foundation. “When children play, they’re inventing, creating, problem-solving. They’re bringing something from deep within themselves into the world. That’s how learning sticks.”

The Lost Art of Loafing

One of Greg’s most striking ideas is the importance of loafing — the space to do nothing, to daydream, to be bored. “We’re losing the art of being bored,” he said. “But through boredom comes creativity.” He spoke of the culture of constant productivity — even for children — where being ‘on task’ is praised. “We need to let children not know what to do sometimes,” he said. “That’s when they dig inside themselves and discover something new.”

Play as Connection

Ultimately, Greg’s message is one of connection — between adults and children, between teachers and learners, and between each of us and our own inner child. “All children want,” he said, “is time with loving adults who see them for who they are. We teach best when we see children as companions, not projects. Because childhood doesn’t end at five — it stays with us for life.” His hope is simple and profound: “That every child — and every adult — can rediscover that play is not something we grow out of. It’s something we grow through.”