Part 2: Unleashing Play: A Teacher’s Guide to Meaningful and Manageable Play-Based Learning

“What do you remember about learning in school?”

In our last post, Part 1: Playful Learning is not just for K: Reimagining Learning Beyond Kindergarten, we explored evidence related to the benefits of play on learning, emphasizing the notion that play isn’t solely for young children. We raised a critical question: Why isn’t play more widely embraced as a powerful learning tool throughout elementary and secondary schooling? It got us thinking – what are some of the memorable learning moments from our school days that stuck with us?

Stacy shares that:

• “In secondary one science, I created a plant cell, Frankenstein! My shoebox-sized clay cell—complete with hand-sculpted nucleus, nucleolus, and mitochondria—weighed more than a bowling ball. Nothing teaches cell anatomy like lugging around a 20lbs model!”
• “In calculus, we did a research project to learn more about how math is used in different careers. I was obsessed with CSI at the time, and I remember using trigonometry to analyze a fictitious ketchup murder scene.”

As for Carolyn:

• “In secondary 2 science class, our teacher prompted us to create life-size Rube Goldberg machines, and then we got to test them out. It was chaotic, hilarious, and the most fun I’ve ever had learning about cause and effect.”
• “I remember one ELA project where we needed to transform Shakespeare’s bloody ‘Macbeth’ into children’s entertainment—be it a play, movie, graphic novel, or picture book. Adjusting the text really forced me to understand the plot & characters.”

What do these four experiences have in common? All include creativity and an opportunity to tinker with pedagogical content in a play-based way. Notice that it wasn’t a fond memory of page 27 of that workbook you had to fill out. This may be because “activities that involve play trigger brain regions associated with memory formation, particularly the hippocampus. The hippocampus is integral to shifting information from short-term to long-term memory, making play an efficient method for learning.” (Hasyim, 2024).

Debunking the Myth: Play-Based Learning Isn’t Just for Kindergarten

Let’s clarify something: when we talk about infusing opportunities for play-based learning in upper elementary or high school, we don’t mean installing a sandbox in Calculus class or encouraging your high schoolers to crawl through tunnels during Biology. Play in older grades evolves into something more sophisticated and should preserve the essence of creativity while purposefully connecting to complex curriculum content.

“Play-based learning is an educational approach that incorporates play as a central component of the learning process. It recognizes that children learn best through active engagement and exploration in a meaningful and enjoyable context. As children play, they engage their imagination, take risks, and learn problem-solving to support their development.” The Bright Wheel Blog (2024)

Head, Hands, Heart: The Holistic Approach to Playful Learning

At LEARN, we see a strong connection between play and holistic learning, where students engage their heads, hands, and hearts to develop a deeper, more meaningful understanding of concepts. This approach ensures that learning isn’t just about memorization—it’s about thinking critically (head), actively doing (hands), and feeling connected and motivated (heart).

Play-based learning naturally taps into these elements, allowing students to use their strengths and interests while maintaining a balance between structured learning and exploration. Research highlights the importance of this balance: “Too much freedom [is] detrimental to learning by tending to take the activity far from the objectives set by the teacher, while too little autonomy in the gaming experience harms the fun aspect of the activity, which ends up resembling any other class session.” (Thiault, Andlauer, & Bolka-Tabary, 2022).

In older grades, play must be structured differently than in early childhood, with clear parameters that still allow for autonomy in how students engage and express their knowledge. The key isn’t just about “having fun”—it’s about purposeful play that strengthens understanding. And no, finger paints aren’t required (unless, of course, you’re teaching color theory…).

When we talk about infusing play into your pedagogy, you’re not changing or reinventing your practice, simply tweaking and fortifying it. We cannot stress enough that integrating play in upper-grade levels does not need to come at the cost of precious classroom time. It is possible to tweak activities so students can prepare for exams using play-based learning approaches that deepen their conceptual understanding through hands-on engagement in a way that traditional test preparation cannot achieve.

Example: Have students create an “Escape Room” Review

Instead of a traditional test review session where students passively go through study guides, have students transform it into an Escape Room Challenge.

• Setup: Break students into small groups and provide them with a series of puzzles, each requiring knowledge of key exam concepts to solve.
• Content Integration: For a science review, one puzzle might require balancing chemical equations to unlock a code. In history, a timeline scramble could require students to correctly order events to advance.
• Engagement Factor: The game-like structure ensures students are actively recalling, discussing, and applying concepts rather than just memorizing facts.
• Less Work for the Teacher: Students take ownership of their learning by creating the questions and answer keys themselves, allowing them to demonstrate their understanding while reducing prep work for the teacher. Here is a how-to with examples from Ditch the Textbook.

 

Playful Learning Without the Overhaul: Small Tweaks, Big Impact

This infographic highlights different play-based strategies tailored for both elementary and secondary students, helping educators incorporate games, hands-on activities, and collaborative challenges into their lessons. From storytelling and role-playing to problem-solving and simulation-based learning, these ideas foster critical thinking, communication, and a love for learning. Explore the infographic to discover ways to bring play into your classroom. 

The intention of these play-based learning strategies isn’t to add more work or require a complete overhaul of lesson plans. Instead, they’re simple, effective ways to tweak and enhance the lessons you’re already teaching. Small adjustments—like adding a game, a hands-on activity, or a collaborative challenge—can make learning more engaging without extra stress. Think of these strategies as tools to strengthen what you’re already doing.

Many of these strategies incorporate technology, but if you’re not comfortable with technology, there’s no need to worry —students are digital natives and will likely surpass us in this area. Also, you don’t have to navigate this alone: You can always reach out to your school board RÉCIT consultant for support in integrating technology in a meaningful, pedagogical way. Here’s a directory of RÉCIT consultants to help guide you.

Example: Have students create “interactive posters”
Instead of regular posters or infographics, students can make interactive posters using simple Scratch coding software and a Makey-Makey or Micro: bit.

• Research: Divide students into small groups. Have each group research a curriculum-aligned inquiry question. This is a great time to work on the Inquiry Process.
• Design: Students reflect on their audience and how they present key content. They design a physical poster on paper using text and visuals. They then pick points on the poster to make interactive. This can be done using push pins, paper clips, graphite pencils or anything that is conductive.
• Engagement Factor: Students animate their poster with sound effects, short narration, and/or animations so that when the conductive material on the poster is touched, the software on the connected device (ex., Makey-Makey app, Scratch, etc.) plays audio and/or visual content.
• Assessment and Presentation Benefits: Teachers can evaluate student understanding even when students aren’t present to explain their work using interactive text, audio recording, and visuals. This is not only convenient but can also provide educators with a deeper insight into students’ overall comprehension compared to traditional poster production. Interactive posters are perfect for school showcases, where viewers can play the audio and visual content to learn more about a given production without the creator having to physically be there to explain their work.

Your Turn: Rekindling the Playful Teacher Within

As we wrap up our exploration of play, we invite you to pause and reflect on your own teaching & learning:

• When was the last time you played while teaching? 
• Which of your existing lessons could benefit from a playful redesign?
• What “play inhibitions” might be holding you back from experimenting?

If your students (or you!) are out of practice with ‘play,’, try designing activities for younger learners first. We’ve found that this strategy can help people get in tune with their playful centres and reaffirm concepts previously explored. We see this phenomenon regularly in our Open Creative Spaces, where educators become learners again—initially hesitant, then increasingly creative and innovative.

The journey back to playful learning takes time. Our professional environments have taught many of us to equate seriousness with effectiveness. But learning doesn’t require uncomfortable chairs and silence to be valuable. It can be interactive, whimsical, and yes—even fun.

Your Challenge: This month, introduce one playful element into your classroom. Here is a Play-Based Learning Template to help you. Start small. Notice what happens. Then, tell us about it using Insta, BlueSky or email!

Sometimes, the most serious learning happens when we give ourselves and our students permission to not be so serious.