Pedagogy of Play

Play is central to how children learn.

The way they form and explore friendships, the way they shape and test hypotheses, and the way they make sense of their world. Much is known about how play supports learning, yet little empirical research has explored what it might mean to put play at the center of formal schooling. In 2015, the Pedagogy of Play (PoP) research project began investigating the nature of playful learning in schools. Funded by the LEGO Foundation, the project focuses on three core questions:

Why do educators need a pedagogy of play?
What does playful learning look and feel like in classrooms and schools?
How do educators set up the conditions where playful learning thrives?

We began our research with the International School of Billund (ISB) in Denmark, a school whose mission is designed around learning through play. Our research with ISB inspired a working set of playful learning principles, practices, and tools; pictures of practice (stories illustrating playful learning in action); and the beginnings of a pedagogy of play framework. We also developed a research methodology for examining and enhancing playful teaching and learning. Recognizing the cultural variations of learning and play, we expanded our research to include schools in South Africa, the United States, and Colombia.

In each context, we sought to understand what playful learning looks and feels like.

Explore more details about our research, including some key ideas, resources for teachers and administrators to develop or enhance their playful learning practices, and resources for teacher-educators who wish to support pre-service or in-service teachers in cultivating playful classrooms and schools. We also invite you to read our blog, which offers team reflections and activities, stories of playful practice, and insights and experiences from practitioner and research colleagues who support learning through play.

Book

Get the PoP book, free PDFs of the English and translated versions, and the audiobook/podcast companion.

Key Ideas

Understand the principles and indicators of playful learning.

Since 2015, we have been investigating the relationship between play and school. A growing body of evidence demonstrates that play supports children’s social, cognitive, emotional, and physical development, and that there is a positive connection between enjoying learning and academic success. But integrating playful practices into school, or embracing play as a strategy for learning, has proven challenging. In part this is due to paradoxes that arise when play and school intersect:

In play, children are in charge. At school, the adults typically set the agenda.
Play can be chaotic, messy, and loud. Schools often need to be orderly and quiet.
Play often involves taking risks. Schools aim to keep children safe.

Both statements in each bullet above are true, and both statements of each bullet should be honored. These paradoxes are the underpinning of why a pedagogy of play—a whole school approach to examining, discussing, and supporting playful learning and teaching—is critical.

Six Core Principles of Playful Learning

Based on literature reviews of learning and play, insights from educators and researchers around the globe, and practitioner action-research with playful teachers and school leaders in Denmark, South Africa, the U.S., and Colombia, our research team developed six core principles of playful learning:

Play supports learning
Playful learning in school requires play with a purpose
Paradoxes between play and school add complexity to teaching and learning
Playful learning is universal yet shaped by culture
Playful mindsets are central to playful learning
Supportive school cultures enable playful learning to thrive

These principles form the foundation of a pedagogy of play. You can read more about each principle in our book, linked on the Overview page.

Playful Learning Indicators

It is easier to talk about, plan for, and assess playful learning with colleagues who share an understanding of what playful learning means. Together with educators, we co-created working definitions of what playful learning looks and feels like in their own contexts. Through interviews with educators and students, observations, focus groups, study group discussions, and examining documentation of student learning, we developed site-specific, culturally relevant maps of playful learning. If you hover over the points marked on the map below, you can see these Indicators of Playful Learning for each site:

For each model, playful learning is represented at the intersection of the indicators; in other words, playful learning is likely to occur when all three indicators are present. The models are explored in depth in our working papers. Educators have used these indicators to develop a whole school approach to playful teaching and learning appropriate for their setting. Perhaps not surprisingly (after all, playful learning is universal), the models also share features across contexts. Looking across our four sites, we noticed patterns and developed a cross-cultural model of playful learning indicators.

The cross-cultural indicators provide a starting point for educators and school communities interested in exploring what playful learning looks and feels like, and how they might foster a pedagogy of play in their school. If you are interested in digging deeper or co-creating your own playful indicators, the Playful Learning Indicator Guide: A Weekly Handbook for Research Teams can be found on the For Educators tab on this website.

Playful Learning Practices and Strategies

How can educators set up the conditions where playful learning thrives? Based on extensive classroom observations and interviews across sites, consultations with key thought partners, a review of literature (including related pedagogies such as inquiry and project-based learning), and our own prior research and experiences in the classroom, we identified the following key practices and strategies that support playful learning and teaching across ages and contexts:

Practices	Strategies
Empower learners to lead their own learning	Get to know your learners Involve learners in decision-making Reflect on learning with learners
Build a culture of collaborative learning	Use play to build relationships Facilitate purposeful conversations to build knowledge Foster a culture of feedback
Promote experimentation and risk-taking	Design open-ended investigations Encourage risk-taking as a strategy for learning
Encourage imaginative thinking	Share stories to engage and enhance learning Use role-play and pretend scenarios Provide materials and experiences that engage the senses and the body Ask questions that invite curiosity and imaginative thinking
Welcome all emotions generated through play	Design for joy Use play to explore complex issues Support learners in working through frustration

Click here for an expanded description of these practices and strategies which, along with related tools, can be found on the For Educators tab and in our book.

Playful Participatory Research

To promote playful learning for children and older learners, it’s important for the adult learning community to also embody and engage in playful learning. We developed Playful Participatory Research (PPR) as a research and professional development approach for educators to reflect on their playful practice. PPR is a form of action research in which teachers collect data, analyze results, and use the knowledge to develop or deepen playful teaching and learning in their own schools. PPR provides opportunities for teachers to play with ideas, take risks, and explore new possibilities, and it provides school communities the opportunity to come together for conversations about a pedagogy of play. You can read more here about our collaboration with the International School of Billund and the impacts of PPR. If you want to learn more and try PPR in your school, you can find a link to the Playful Participatory Research Guide: An Interactive Workbook on the For Educators tab on this website.

For Educators

Tools to incorporate more playful teaching and learning into daily practice.

One of our goals is to help educators—classroom teachers, teacher leaders, and administrators—incorporate more playful teaching and learning into daily practice. Here, we offer specific tools and resources that support a pedagogy of play.

The Educator Toolbox includes an overview of the playful learning practices and strategies, and eighteen related tools appropriate for all ages and contexts. We invite you to adapt the tools (with integrity!) to fit your needs.

Playful Learning Classroom Practice	PoP Tools
Planning for playful teaching and learning	Playful Learning Practices Overview Playful Learning Planner
Empower learners to lead their own learning	Getting to Know Your Learners Making Learning Meaningful Involving Learners in Decision-Making Say Yes to the Mess License to Hack Cards Playful Learning Reflection Planner
Build a culture of collaborative learning	Selecting a Thinking Routine Expert Books
Promote experimentation and risk-taking	Selecting and Facilitating a Design Challenge Creating a Culture of Risk-taking
Encourage imaginative thinking	Storytelling and Story Acting for Older Learners Play Kits Questions Worth Playing With Imaginative Sparks Generator Moving to Learn
Welcome all emotions generated through play	Supporting Learners with Conflict and Frustration Using Play to Explore Complex Issues

We also offer two guides and accompanying workbooks, designed for educators interested in conducting their own playful research (and research playfully!). The first is the Playful Participatory Research (PPR) Guide: An Interactive Workbook, developed by the Pedagogy of Play research team as a way to support educators’ playful learning. PPR is a type of practitioner inquiry or teacher research—research done by educators. It is a reflective and playful way for members of a learning community to explore learning through play together, through collecting and discussing data, analyzing it together, and applying what is learned. The PPR Guide provides an overview of the process, an interactive workbook to play with, and some additional resources to support the research.

The Playful Learning Indicator Guide: A Weekly Handbook for Research Teams helps educators co-create their own definition of playful learning. Modelled after the research process of Pedagogy of Play, the guide is helpful for any team of educators interested in better understanding what playful learning looks and feels like in their classrooms and school.

For Teacher-Educators

Materials for a 14-session course to introduce pre-service teacher candidates to playful learning.

All Resources

See the full list of PoP resources.

Meet the PoP Team

Daniel Wilson

Jennifer Oxman Ryan

Mara Krechevsky

Megina Baker

Katie Ertel

Ben Mardell

Lynneth Solis

Gigi A. Visbal

Thank You to Our Funder

This project was made possible thanks to the generous support of the LEGO Foundation.

Pedagogy of Play

Play is central to how children learn.

Key Ideas

Six Core Principles of Playful Learning

Playful Learning Indicators

Playful Learning Practices and Strategies

Playful Participatory Research

For Educators

For Teacher-Educators

Act 1 Why do we need a Pedagogy of Play?

1 Course Overview

2 Frameworks and Theories to Understand Play

3 Equity and Play

4 Introduction to Playful Participatory Research; Advocating for Play

Act 2 What does learning through play look and feel like in different cultural contexts?

5 Playful Learning in Different Cultural Contexts: Part 1

6 Playful Learning in Different Cultural Contexts: Part 2

7 Technology, Remote Learning, and Play

8 Play for All: Inclusive Playful-Classrooms

Act 3 How can we promote a Pedagogy of Play?

9 Pedagogy of Play Practices and Strategies

10 Scaffolding Play or Play in the Learning Domains

11 Playful Learning Environments

12 A Playful Pedagogy in Action: Storytelling and Story Acting

13 Practices Deep Dive

14 Playful Participatory Research Celebration

Resources

All Resources

Meet the PoP Team

Thank You to Our Funder