section_path: Development and learning/Anji play
section_name: Anji play
paragraph_text: Anji play
  
  Anji play (安吉游戏 in simplified Chinese, 安吉遊戲 in traditional Chinese) is an educational method based on children's self-directed play in outside spaces, using simple tools made of natural material. The teachers and instructors only observe and document the children's independent play. The method was created by Cheng Xueqin and is organized as two hours of free play during which the children choose the available material they want to use and build structures to play.
  
  While planning, experimenting, building, and using the structures to play, the children have the opportunity to interact with peers, to think critically about what may work, to discuss the plan, and organize the construction work. The process is observed and recorded by the teachers and instructors without intervention, even in instances of possible risk.
  
  Before and after the two hours of play, the children have the opportunity to express their plans and discuss with their peers. After the play, they get the opportunity to draw, write or explain what they did. Then, they watch the videos recorded the same day and explain how they played and comment on each other's creations.
  
  Anji play is also called "true play" and its guiding principles are love, risk, joy, engagement, and reflection. This method of self-initiated and self-directed play is applied at the pre-schools (children from three to six years old) in Anji county, East China.