Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether parent's play participation and children's friendly play initiative affect children's executive function through children's play flow. Methods: The survey was conducted on 376 children between the age of 3 and 5 their parents in Daegu city and Gyeonsang province. Data were collected through the questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation analysis, and path analysis with SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 23.0 programs. Results: The major results were as follows. First, There were significant differences in parent's play participation, children's friendly play initiative, children's play flow, and executive function according to the children's age and family income. Second, parent's play participation and children's friendly play initiative indirectly affected children's executive function through children's play flow. Conclusion/Implications: This study highlights how children's play affects executive function. Also, the findings of this study will contribute to designing various programs that can promote parent's play participation, children's friendly play initiative, and play flow, which affects the children's executive function.