The authors present the results of a multi-year qualitative study of play-based teachers in the USA. These teachers were often under pressure to alter their curricula in order to conform to more rigid and traditional educational approaches, pressure which has only increased under the present federal administration. The contextual factors surrounding play-based curricula in the early grades of elementary school in the USA are discussed, and the strategies used by these teachers to resist making changes to the curricula against their professional judgment are described in detail. Implications for the field of early childhood education are presented.