Teachers' perspectives of play differ widely because of social and cultural influences that can be seen in their values and beliefs about play in different countries. In a global community, sharing educators' knowledge of play and their perspectives of how to educate children through the use of play would be appropriate and complementary in understanding early childhood education in different countries. To understand the meaning of play, American, Japanese and Taiwanese early childhood pre-service teachers' perceptions of play were examined. The participants consisted of 25 American pre-service teachers, 25 Japanese pre-service teachers, and 25 Taiwanese pre-service teachers. Qualitative analysis of the data yielded four themes for play: learning and development; social skills; creativity; and children's work. There were three themes regarding the meaning of adults' play: being both similar to and different from child's play; preventing stress; and enjoying interacting with others. One theme of enjoyment emerged for the understanding of playfulness. More American and Taiwanese participants agreed that play relates to learning and development than their Japanese counterparts. Japanese and Taiwanese participants viewed play as being more than learning and development, while none of their American counterparts did. Both Japanese and Taiwanese participants claimed that although play can support children's development and learning, children should enjoy play for the sake of playing. One theme that differentiated the groups was the notion that play is children's work. While several American and Taiwanese participants mentioned this slogan, this was not the case for the Japanese.