Learning through play
The aim of the LEGO Foundation is to re-define play and re-imagine learning. We want to build a future in which learning through play empowers children to become creative, engaged, lifelong learners. This ambition is more critical than ever. Children grow up facing rapid change, global challenges and a highly interconnected world, all of which affect their future prospects.
Here we share our view of play as an important vehicle for children’s learning and about how playful experiences support children in developing the skills to serve them, their communities and society through a lifetime.
The world of today and tomorrow is one of challenges but also of tremendous opportunity. An increasingly interconnected and dynamic world means children today will find themselves changing jobs several times during their lives, and they will have to invent most of those jobs and the job profiles involved. They will face continuous re-skilling and a need for lifelong learning. Many children also face hardship in the shape of stress, poverty and conflict. They need positive experiences and coping skills that can counterbalance negative factors in their lives, and support their confidence and opportunity for making a difference.
The LEGO Foundation firmly believes that promoting children’s drive and motivation to learn, their ability to come up with ideas and imagine alternatives, as well as to connect with others and their surroundings in positive ways, is essential in a 21st-century reality. Through active engagement with ideas and knowledge, and also with the world at large, children are better prepared to deal with tomorrow’s reality – a reality of their own making.
We see learning through play as crucial for children’s positive development, regardless of their situation. And our aim is to bring together voices across the wider community of passionate advocates and partners promoting learning through play in children’s lives.
Learning through play
Characteristics of playful experiences
We say there are five characteristics of playful experiences that support deeper learning.
Learning through play
Skills for holistic development
Theorists, researchers and practitioners in child development and education have done an excellent job of extending our view of learning to go beyond memorising academic content, by highlighting a breadth of skills – physical, social, emotional, cognitive and creative.
Corporate publication
What we mean by: Learning through play
In this leaflet, we share our view of play as an important vehicle for children’s learning and about how playful experiences support children in developing the skills to serve them, their communities and society through a lifetime.
