Free play is a powerful tool that contributes to cognitive, social, emotional and physical development, as well as fostering autonomy, creativity and the capacity for innovation. It is through free play that babies learn in an active and meaningful way, building knowledge based on their direct experiences and interests. Furthermore, it is an essential way of managing emotions, which helps develop self-control and emotional regulation. Therefore, this work is based on the following question: how do educators conceive and include free play in their pedagogical practice? In this sense, this is a proposal for a multiple case study, since it involves research in a daycare center, where community is essential. Its general objective is to understand the adult educator's conception and stance on free play and the impact of this on the autonomous activity of 2-year-old babies within the 8 de Março Municipal Creche, located in Ibura, in the municipality of Recife. Furthermore, we have the following specific objectives: 1) Identify whether and how free play is included in the educator's pedagogical practice and how he conceives it; 2) Investigate the configurations of babies' free play considering the educator's attitudes; 3) Analyze the possible attitudes of the educator in relation to babies’ free play. The theoretical basis of the research lies in the concepts of active pedagogies, based on Craidy and Kaercher (2012), Fochi (2013), Horn (2017), as well as the importance of daycare based on the foundations of Oliveira (1988) and the discussions about care and education contained in the DCNEI (Brazil, 2010). For the theoretical basis, about free play broadly related to the Pikler Approach (1969, FALK, 2021, 2022; SOARES, 2020; KÁLLÓ E BALOG, 2021). A qualitative investigation was used, which aims to interpret and understand the topic studied (MINAYO, 2002). As a methodological procedure, we used videographic records with the aim of observing the various issues that arise while babies play, in addition to semi-structured and projective interviews carried out with the educator. The observation was carried out with children from group II of the aforementioned CMEI. We had as inspiration for the analysis of the collected data, the Piklerian proposal regarding the care and education of babies, based on autonomous activity, within their free play (MOZES, 2016) and also the discursive textual analysis that has as a priority to examine discourses in different contexts (MEDEIROS, 2017). As a result, we found different postures from the educator, depending on her need to act and different configurations of babies' free play.