Play-Based Learning
Improves Student Outcomes

This evidence-backed and research-proven pedagogy isn’t new. We know play-based learning boosts student engagement, reduces absenteeism, and improves outcomes through meaningful and developmentally appropriate practices. The Playing is Learning website helps educators put play into practice through helpful resources, professional development guides, and the film Based in Play.
Two students creating water filters in a play-based-learning Science project

Amending the Education Crisis
Play-based classrooms improve lifelong outcomes

Declining test scores, rising absenteeism, and teacher shortages have reached crisis levels. Continued reliance on direct instruction isn’t solving these problems. Schools that have embraced play-based learning show us a way to better student engagement and outcomes.
"What we're doing is not working. Children aren't joyful. Teachers are leaving the profession. We need to flip the switch."
— Peg Oliveira, Ph.D., Gesell Program in Early Childhood, Yale Child Study Center
Education Crisis

What Is Play-Based Learning?

Active
Engaged
Meaningful
Social
Iterative
Joyful
Play-based learning is an immersive approach to education that allows students to actively engage with curriculum in ways that are meaningful and developmentally appropriate. Students still meet the same academic standards, but through play they apply, practice, and deepen their knowledge–and transfer their learning from year to year and into adulthood.
About Play

Not Just for Preschool

Elementary school students–and students of all ages–benefit from the opportunities for inquiry, problem-solving and real-world application that play-based learning provides. Students remain engaged in rigorous learning because it's fun.

Meets and Exceeds Goals

Play-based learning takes the same curriculum and engages students in meaningful learning, often integrating literacy, math, science, and social studies the way they would apply them in the real world.

Student-Driven, Teacher-Guided

Educators act as skilled facilitators, observing student interests and scaffolding learning through thoughtfully planned learning sessions, intentional materials, and meaningful applications.

Ages 4-7

Building foundational skills through hands-on exploration of their immediate world and community

Ages 8-11

Tackling complex projects and abstract thinking while maintaining joy and curiosity in learning

Middle School+

Engaging in sophisticated inquiry and real-world problem-solving that prepares them for future challenges

Why Play-Based Learning Works

Children’s brains are wired to learn through active, social, hands-on play, not by being told facts through direct instruction. When teaching aligns with children’s developmental stage and skill level and allows them to apply what they are learning in active, engaged, and meaningful ways, knowledge and skills stick for a lifetime.

  • Neuroscience of play-based learning: Active learning wires stronger brain pathways.
  • Play-based learning academic outcomes: Higher test scores, stronger problem-solving, deeper retention.
  • Long-term benefits of play-based learning: Knowledge transfers from grade to grade and into adulthood.
Why Play Works
Two girls and a boy playing with blocks

Autonomy Makes the Difference

"I think you have to support the teachers and you have to give them the leeway to be creative with the curriculum. Nobody wants to come to work in an environment where they're told what to do and how to do it."
— Principal Luis Menacho, J.S. Martinez Magnet School

Restores Joy and Purpose
Instead of bored, disengaged students, play-based classrooms buzz with meaningful discovery and collaboration. Teachers rediscover why they love teaching.

Reduces Daily Stress
Engaged students need less behavior management. Natural classroom management emerges through student investment in their learning.

Professional Autonomy
Teachers are trusted as skilled professionals who can adapt curriculum to meet student needs while maintaining rigorous standards.

Sustainable Practice
Working with natural learning processes instead of against them creates sustainable, fulfilling teaching practices.

Why Choose Play-Based Learning?

Teaching today is harder than ever. Play-based learning returns autonomy and trust to teachers and leads to higher professional satisfaction because teachers are better able to help their students succeed.
“As trauma increases in our youngest learners, so does secondary trauma in educators. We need to rethink how we do school because the current model is not supporting teachers or students.”
— Peg Oliveira, Ph.D., Gesell Program in Early Childhood, Yale Child Study Center
Teacher Benefits

Restores Joy and Purpose

Instead of bored, disengaged students, play-based classrooms buzz with meaningful discovery and collaboration. Teachers rediscover why they love teaching.

Reduces Daily Stress

Engaged students need less behavior management. Natural classroom management emerges through student investment in their learning.

Professional Autonomy

Teachers are trusted as skilled professionals who can adapt curriculum to meet student needs while maintaining rigorous standards.

Sustainable Practice

Working with natural learning processes instead of against them creates sustainable, fulfilling teaching practices.
Video Thumbnail for the Based in Play documentary featuring two girls engaging in a play-based learning project outdoors
Teaching Children the Way They Truly Learn

Based in Play: a play-based learning documentary.

← Watch the trailer to see play-based learning in action.

Journey into inspiring play-based learning classrooms in cities throughout Connecticut. You will see engaged students and hear from teachers, administrators and researchers about the positive impacts and outcomes brought by implementing play-based learning, and you will learn why play-based learning works–and works better than direct instruction.

Your Students Can't Wait for Change

The education crisis is real and happening now. Play-based learning isn't new. It's a research-proven pedagogy that works better than direct instruction.
Begin With Play