In our previous posts, we explored the crucial role of play in education. But as teachers, we know our responsibility extends beyond the classroom. We must also prepare our students for their place in the real world. This raises a fundamental question: what will the world our students are moving into look like? How can we equip students for a future vastly different from today?

Many future careers, technologies, and innovations are still unknown, our task is to empower students with the skills they need to thrive in a digital tomorrow. But what exactly are those skills?

The World Economic Forum highlights the top 10 skills for 2025 as:

Last month I talked about why play was important, but when someone has a nice idea about education, the teacher in me is always saying "That's all very good, but how do I actually apply that to my teaching day-to-day?"

So today I am going to endeavour to answer that question. How do we embed play into our teaching? And what lessons can we learn from the video games children play to keep our pupils entertained and engaged?

When this subject is brought up there are a lot of phrases that people bounce around, without clearly defining what they are or what they mean to teaching. So, to start, let's nail down what the three main different ones mean:

Play-Based Learning - Refers to learners constructing knowledge as they explore, experiment, discover and solve problems in playful and unique ways.

Game-Based Learning - Refers to using games (including video games) to support teaching and learning.

Gamification - This is about using ‘elements’ derived from video game design, which are then deployed in a variety of contexts, rather than about using individual video games.

Each can be a powerful tool in any classroom, whether used in combination or with each other, however, each has different ways they engage and educate:

We have all heard people say it. We may have even said it sometimes in our more frustrated moments, “All kids want to do these days is play video games.” What we should be asking is “Why? What draws children to them? What keeps them motivated to play and get better at them?”

Video games use Play-Based Learning, Game-Based Learning and Gamification to make learning their game and applying those learnt skills as engaging and joyful an experience as possible. They have made learning into play. And surely that is a lesson we can learn as teachers.

Video games combine a huge raft of factors to create engaging and captivating experiences that can be a powerful medium for learning. These include, but are not limited to:

Joyful experiences

Narrative design

Interactive/immersive storytelling

Intrinsic motivation

Freedom to fail and try again

Multi-sensory input

Contextual value

Fusion of arts, science, mathematics, literature…

Creative problem-solving, strategic thinking, logical reasoning and more.

Agency and control

Innovative ideas

Accessibility and inclusivity

It's because they combine all these and a number of other factors in a way that is seamless, separating out one strand or aspect limits the effectiveness of the experience.

Gameplay is the treatment of topics and ideas as rules, actions, decisions and consequences, rather than as content to be communicated. Video games allow learners to engage with topics and ideas through interaction and simulation, rather than through the conventional materials and formats of schooling.

They are the polar opposite of the Victorian model of a teacher standing at a blackboard getting children to learn by rote. Video games have made learning play. It’s time we learned from them, and made education the same.

Being playful is instinctive.

It's how we learn about the world around us.

As children, playing is the first thing we do; we do it instinctively. No one teaches us how to play (unless of course you consider the organised sport and wider games with rules arena, but more on that later). We simply just do it, and by doing so we learn about the world around us. Babies play, and through their play, they explore and make important discoveries, i.e. what is edible and what isn't (although as adults we may not always agree with them). Older children in the playground will learn a lot about social interaction and how to deal with a range of moral and ethical dilemmas. It's how they instinctively learn.

Play is at the heart of everything children do - from 'messing around', role play, playing with blocks, puzzles, and dolls to video games. And it’s important, it allows us to unwind, destress, and have fun. Far from being a waste of time, as it was often labelled in the past, it is an activity worth devoting time to. We know play has deeper and more tangible cognitive benefits, and if children do it naturally, why would we not structure our learning around it?

Children continue to explore the world around them through playful means. Whether it’s the child that used Minecraft to turn their computer into a drinks machine or the next Emma Raducanu – children continue to use playful ways to interact with their environment and learn.

This self-directed mastery of skills is developed voluntarily over time; with its primary purpose being fun. We’ve spent so long as educators looking for ways to engage and motivate learners and the answer was in front of us all along. The enjoyment derived from playful activity motivates the learner to improve their skills over time so that they can get better at playing. They teach themselves so that they can get better at playing their game, and, after all, which teacher wouldn’t want a class that motivates and challenges itself?

And the thing is, we don’t ever stop learning that way. At least not instinctively. It's just that the education system has a way of stripping that out as you get older. Playtime is left for the playground while the serious business of learning remains in the classroom. The consequence is that you often won’t see that same self-directed drive and motivation in our classrooms. 

“To play is to engage. When we play, we pick up objects, ideas, or themes and do whatever we want with them. We turn them upside down and we experiment with them. We might arrive at something inspiring and amazing, but that is not necessarily the point. We play anyway – this is play for its own sake. For humans and some animals, play is a vital part of development. What is more often forgotten is that play is not for children alone but is good for all people, young and old alike.

Ackerman et al (2010)

So ok, we agree play is important, we get it, but how does that help us in the classroom when we have subjects to teach, or in the boardroom when we have policy to draft?

Well, we know that people love playing video games, but what does that have to do with education? The games industry knows how to gamify and teach people how to play without the fun and exploration stopping – so why don’t we construct lessons in the same way?

How can we use game design and video games to teach?

I’ll be back next month to discuss how three approaches from video games can help you drive engagement and achievement in the classroom and beyond and how using these approaches can prepare you and your pupils for the digital future we are all heading towards.