There has been little research on play undertaken in the UK from the child's perspective. This article is based on a year long ethnographic study of children's role play in school. It draws on two main sources of data. First, data from the children concerning their perceptions of role play, what they liked and disliked about it, and secondly observational data of how the children responded to the role play contexts provided for them by adults. The project found that far from being passive recipients of classroom pedagogy, the children were active constructors of their learning environments. (Contains 2 footnotes.)