The early childhood profession needs to establish a different discourse to describe what has been referred to as "play" in early childhood. The authors draw from literature on inquiry theory to provide a theoretical lens for discussion and offer a model for inquiry through the Project Approach for the early childhood setting. The authors posit that early childhood educators need to clarify and extend the definition of play by distinguishing between play that occurs outside of the classroom as opposed to play that occurs as part of classroom curriculum. Further, educators need to develop the language for analyzing acts of inquiry and articulating these processes to parents and the public. An examination of the inquiry process of one preschool learner offers one way to begin articulating classroom inquiry and demonstrates how each instance of inquiry is a complex, reflective, and semiotic act.