Drawing on the work of Vygotsky on scaffolding play and research on teacher intervention and mature forms of play, we have developed a teacher guide about play which frames children's role and scenario development and provides a teacher play intervention schema. The research question explored in this study is "How does a teacher guide, focusing on socio-dramatic and imaginative play, shape in-service and pre-service teachers' play practices?" Data are collected through planning documents, journal reflections and videos. Findings suggest that the specific guide was employed in a threefold way by the teachers: to reflect on their involvement in children's play; to document children's learning and development, focusing on role and scenario development abilities; and to plan curricula changes and play activities. This study confirms that teachers need explicit pedagogical support to begin to develop sophisticated epistemology on play and implement play pedagogy.