Play is an indispensable part of a child's life. The modern understanding of the child recognizes that the child learns through play. The play takes place in all the communities and cultures in this world. What is different from culture to culture is the structure, complexity and conditions in which it takes place. In order to understand the meaning of play, one must also take into consideration the political and social context of the state, which also reflects the beliefs and attitudes of its inhabitants. The beliefs and attitudes that prevail in a particular society will affect the play and learning of that society's children. This paper raises the question of how certain cultures value the play and learning of early childhood and preschool aged children. A review of the relevant literature analyzed play and learning across cultures (New Zealand, Chile, China and Sweden) based on their national curricula and research conducted in those countries, compared with the Croatian National Curriculum for Early and Pre-School Education (2014). The analysis shows that in the analyzed countries the play is considered important for the overall development of the child and that the connection between play and learning is indisputable, which is also indicated in the documents of individual countries, but its implementation differs.