There's an obvious answer to why free play is important, which is fun. And that is the best thing you can give a child, is having fun. It is what makes a child, even an adult for that matter, feel good about themselves, is having fun. So that's the basic answer that I give first to free play. But what a lot of parents and a lot of adults don't realize is that that's one of the best places for a child to learn. Obviously, when a child is having fun, they're more open to finding out what's going on around them as opposed to when they're sad, or upset or frustrated. But also, there are challenges that come around when your child is free playing. Other kids that are playing around them don't necessarily want to play the certain games that they want to play. Or if they're playing the same game, they don't want to be played in the same manner; or simply a child pushes them or said something to them that they don't like. How your child responds to that is learned through free play, more than any other time in a child's life. As long as there are adults around helping guide those situations, your child will learn a great deal.