Technical Brief #3: Learning through Play

This technical brief explores how play-based pedagogies contribute to inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning. It presents VVOB’s systemic approach to embedding play in early childhood and early grade education, focusing on strengthening teacher and school leader professional development systems to enable active, meaningful, and joyful learning.

Drawing on experiences from Vietnam and Zambia, the brief explains how we support ministries, teacher training institutions, and schools to introduce play-based methods into teaching, mentoring, and leadership. It outlines the five characteristics of playful learning—joyful, meaningful, actively engaging, iterative, and socially interactive—and offers guidance on how to integrate play across curricula. The publication highlights how learning through play enhances well-being, involvement, and 21st-century skills, while promoting gender-responsive and inclusive education.