Let`s Play: Teaching Strategies for Playful Learning

Through virtual hands-on activities, illustrations from classroom and online practice, and experimenting with playful learning and teaching tools both online and in-person (when possible), participants will explore ways to bring more playful learning into their contexts. Whether participants are on an organization-based team or virtual team of individuals coming together to learn, the course’s team-based structure provides educators with important opportunities for peer feedback and collaboration. Teams work in small study groups with other teams facilitated by a coach experienced in teaching playful learning approaches.

The course will explore the following key questions: What does learning through play look and feel like? How can a shared understanding of learning through play enhance a learning experience? How can educators create conditions in which playful learning can thrive? Discussion will consider the opportunities and challenges of incorporating play into the classroom and will draw on teacher-researcher practices developed through the Pedagogy of Play research initiative at Project Zero and partnering educators in Denmark and South Africa.

Course Details

• The course is designed for team-based learning, with educators individually engaging in the material and trying out ideas in their classrooms and also working as part of a team to share and reflect on their experiences in classrooms with the ideas and concepts and complete team assignments.
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  • Individual educators who register for the course on their own will be placed on a team of 3-4 other educators who have also registered for the course as individuals.
  • Educators who are signing up with other colleagues, sign up as a team and work individually and together in the course.
• During each of the 4 sessions, educators should anticipate spending 2.5-3 hrs on the course including a required 75 - 90 mins team meeting. Non-team meeting time will involve brief readings, preparation for the meeting, completing 1 individual and 1 team assignment per session and posting to the course site, and reviewing/responding to other teams of teachers learning in the same online study group.
• Participants are supported by facilitators experienced in pedagogy of play concepts and ideas and using these in their teaching. Facilitators respond to assignments and questions and support the overall team learning throughout each session. The course instructors work with facilitators to support the learning of all teams and, after each session, provide a reflection to clarify overall concepts and ideas and support teams as they push their learning further. (5) Participants who complete the course will receive certification of 12 hours of professional development hours.

Course Designers & Instructors

Instructor: Megina Baker

Megina has over twenty years of experience as an early childhood teacher, teacher educator, and education researcher, both in the United States and in Sweden. Megina holds a Ph.D. from Boston College in Curriculum and Instruction, and degrees from Tufts University and Cornell University in Early Childhood Education and Human Development, respectively. She is currently a Program Developer for the Boston Public Schools Department of Early Childhood, where she designs curriculum and professional learning for early childhood educators in Boston's Universal Pre-K programs - building on prior work with PZ colleague Ben Mardell in writing the integrated, play-based Focus on K2 curriculum. Prior to joining BPS, Megina was Director of Teaching and Learning at Neighborhood Villages, a systems-change non-profit dedicated to supporting childcare programs in Boston, where she helped to co-design a teaching and learning support system and a playful curriculum for toddlers. A former faculty member at Boston University, Megina mentored student teachers in the Early Childhood program, taught courses on playful learning, early childhood curriculum, and pedagogical documentation, helped to found the BU Institute for Early Childhood Well-Being, and collaborated with former PZer Stephanie Cox Suarez to run the Documentation Studio. She is a former board member of the Boston Area Reggio-Inspired Network and sits on the Editorial Board of Voices of Practitioners, a National Association for the Education of Young Children journal focused on teacher research. Megina is co-author of several books: Children at the Center: Transforming Early Childhood Education in the Boston Public Schools; Reclaiming Accountability in Teacher Education; and A Pedagogy of Play: Supporting Playful Learning in Classrooms and Schools.

Co-Designer: Jen Ryan

Jennifer Oxman Ryan is a senior project manager and researcher on Project Zero’s Pedagogy of Play (PoP) initiative. Funded by the LEGO Foundation, PoP is engaged in playful participatory research methods to investigate playful learning and what it means to embrace play as a core resource for how children learn in school. Jennifer has been with Project Zero since 2006, having worked previously on Agency by Design, the Good Play project, and Qualities of Quality: Excellence in Arts Education and How to Achieve It. Her current research interests include play, arts and maker-centered education, school/community partnerships, and professional learning communities. Jennifer co-designed and co-instructed PZ-HGSE’s online course, Teaching and Learning in the Maker-Centered Classroom, exploring the promises, practices, and pedagogies of maker-centered learning. She has published in various venues, and her recent book Maker-Centered Learning: Empowering Young People to Shape their Worlds was published by Jossey-Bass in 2016. 

Co-Designer: Ben Mardell

Ben Mardell is the project director of the Pedagogy of Play, a collaboration with the LEGO Foundation and the International School of Billund, exploring how play can have a central part in children’s learning in school. Ben has been associated with Project Zero since 1999, initially as a researcher on the Making Learning Visible (MLV) project and helped co-author Making Learning Visible: Children as Individual and Group Learners and Making Teaching Visible: Documentation of Individual and Group Learning as Professional Development. After continuing his work as a preschool and kindergarten teacher, Ben returned as a researcher on MLV and co-authored Visible Learners: Promoting Reggio-Inspired Approaches in All Schools. Ben publications include From Basketball to the Beatles: In Search of Compelling Early Childhood Curriculum and Children at the Center: Transforming Early Childhood Education in the Boston Public Schools. When not at PZ, Ben enjoys playing with his family and participating in triathlons.

What past participants are saying:

“The course’s indicators of play gave me a fresh perspective on my teaching and will inform my educational practice.”

“Taking the course really heightened my awareness of the power of play in learning; building empathy, cultivating the imagination, and using laughter and creativity to fuel connection.”

“As we began to pilot principles from the course, we saw the joy of learning come to life. I was able to see so many skills I had been helping my students develop, and many more I didn't even know they had.”

Online Course Schedule

Orientation and course site introduction for the mini courses is available no later than two days prior to the course launch.

• All participants will receive email invitations to the course site three days prior to the course start. The required review of the course policies assignment is available during the “Getting Ready” self-guided orientation to the site.
• Remember, if you joined the course as an individual and not as a member of an already formed team, you will be placed on a virtual team and will be sent an email introducing you to your virtual team members no later than 4 days prior to the course launch.
• We strongly recommend all teams schedule their weekly, required 60- 90 minute team meetings prior to the start of the course. Usually scheduling team meetings toward the end of each week is most helpful so all members have time to complete assignments in advance of the meeting.

Let’s Play

• Week 1: Opens Monday, April 21
• Week 2: Opens Monday, April 28
• Week 3: Opens Monday, May 5
• Week 4: Opens Monday, May 12
• Course Closes: Sunday, May 18

Who Should Participate

Required Course Textbook

This course does not have a required textbook.

Tuition, Discounts, and Scholarships

Tuition

• For Mini Courses (4 sessions, 4 weeks), tuition is $310 per person registering as a member of a team, and $395 per person registering as an individual who will be placed (by Project Zero) on a virtual team.

Scholarships

PZ professional learning scholarships cover 50-70% of a course’s tuition for eligible educators. Scholarship applications must be submitted and accepted prior to registration; if you would like to apply for a scholarship, please do NOT register for the online course until you have been approved for a scholarship. Please note: Scholarships are limited and awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.

To review scholarship criteria and apply for a scholarship, please use the In-Depth Course Scholarship Application link.

Registration

Confirmation and Payment

Registration confirmations are sent automatically from the registration software. Please keep these emails as they include your receipt of payment for documentation as well as your confirmation number should you need to access your registration in the future.

Payments are accepted via credit card or invoice for payment by check or wire transfer. Confirmation of registration does not confirm full payment if participants selected to pay other than by a credit card. All required paperwork and payments must be completed (or evidence provided of payments in process) by the registration deadline. For participants whose required paperwork and/or payments are not finalized at the registration deadline, they will be removed from the course roster and placed on a wait list.

Deadline for Registration

For Let’s Play starting April 21, 2025, the deadline for registration is April 13, 2025 at 11:59 pm Boston time.

Please note: Space is limited. The courses may fill prior to the registration deadline.

Refund Request and Participant Substitution Deadlines

Requests for refunds and participant substitutions for the Let's Play course starting April 21, 2025 must be submitted by April 8, 2025 at 11:59 pm Boston time.

To request a refund, submit a participant substitution, or to ask questions, please email pzlearn@gse.harvard.edu.