Play is essential to children's growth and development. For many years, theorists have defined play as active, engaging, and interactive. Play has been identified as a way in which children communicate and learn. Such skills are important as children interact and communicate with their family members, teachers, peers, and the community at large. This study was designed to examine preschool teachers' beliefs regarding their role in young children's play and identify perceived barriers preventing teachers from engaging in children's play. Preschool teachers from Early Head Start and Head Start participated in focus groups to reflect on their beliefs and experiences joining young children's play. Pre- and post-focus group questionnaires were also administered and discussions were analyzed for patterns and themes. Qualtrics was utilized in this research study to gather quantitative demographic research data. Comparisons of professional development questions were analyzed to determine teachers' participation in children's play experiences, the circumstances in which teachers participate, what teachers hope to gain in this research study, and if participating in the study influenced their beliefs and practice regarding their role in children's play. Atlas.ti 9 was also used in the study to measure qualitative data to examine teacher's focus group discussions. The focus group discussions were transcribed, coded, categorized and examined for emergent themes. These findings suggest that there were an overall consistency on the role of the teachers during children's play. All participants agreed that play is essential for children's growth and development. The findings also suggest that all of the study participants support the use of scaffolding as a means of furthering children's development. The implications of the study suggest a larger sample size for future study, future research on scaffolding and conversations with children, and future research on play in relationship to scaffolding. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]