Horseplay is rough, boisterous play or fooling around, the kind of physical goofing off that often gets kids in trouble at school. When you and your friends start wrestling in the hallway, shoving each other playfully, or tossing someone's backpack back and forth, that's horseplay.

The word is often linked to the way horses play together in a field, rearing up, bumping, and chasing each other around. Like horses, kids engaged in horseplay aren't trying to hurt anyone (they're just having fun), but someone might still get hurt accidentally. That's why teachers and parents often shut down horseplay: what starts as playful pushing can end with someone crashing into a desk or getting an elbow to the nose.

Horseplay often happens when kids have a lot of energy and are being very active together.