“Playing School”: Learning Through Play and Self-Direction

While most people understand that play is important for children’s development, many still believe that at some point children must stop playing and start learning. Yet research has long shown that play is not separate from learning—it is the foundation of it. Play is how children make sense of the world, test ideas, and form meaningful connections. Emerging studies also show that this truth extends beyond early childhood—learners of all ages benefit when curiosity, joy, and creativity are central to the learning process.

Young children, for example, learn best through direct interaction with their environment. Telling a toddler not to touch something hot rarely works until they have experienced it for themselves. Learning through experience—through trial, error, and reflection—is the natural way human beings come to understand cause and effect.

As early childhood expert Dee Ray explains, “The brain is structured to learn from experience first, and then learn through all the other means that we usually use [to teach]. Play is essential to education. Play is education for children.”

What Is Play?

Adults often define play for children, but research suggests that children’s own perspectives tell a more accurate story. When asked what counts as play, children describe activities that are:

• Freely chosen and voluntary

• Self-directed and controlled by the child

• Often social, involving peers

• And notably, not table-bound or adult-controlled

To children, play is freedom—an activity they own. Learning through play therefore depends on children perceiving the activity as play. If an adult orchestrates it too tightly, it often loses its playful quality and, with it, much of its learning potential.

Why Play Works

Research comparing children’s performance in formal versus playful learning settings found that those in playful conditions were more focused, more purposeful, and more successful in solving problems. Children who practiced tasks playfully demonstrated deeper engagement, tried more strategies, and showed greater improvement than those in formal conditions.

Play transforms learning from something done to students into something done by them. It encourages exploration, experimentation, and resilience—the very qualities that support lifelong learning.

Learning Through Play in Self-Directed Education

In self-directed, project-based learning environments, play isn’t an “extra”—it’s the method. Students design their own projects, follow their curiosity, and take ownership of how they learn. They might “play” at being scientists, artists, engineers, entrepreneurs, or historians—testing out roles, ideas, and creations in authentic ways.

Learning communities built on this philosophy often resemble children “playing school” on a meaningful scale. Students collaborate in small groups, create clubs or classes, launch creative projects, and even design systems or small businesses to support one another’s learning. Adults serve not as directors but as facilitators—helping students find resources, solve problems, and reflect on their progress while maintaining the playful spirit of exploration.

When education is guided by curiosity and supported by care, the line between play and learning disappears. Children learn best when they are doing, creating, experimenting, and connecting—and project-based, self-directed education makes that possible.