In the face of changing political pressures, HundrED Community Lead Sarah Aiono gathered three educators who have been infusing their curricula with play and bringing their communities together in the process.
Highlighting the learning at the heart of play
At Lyall Bay School, a primary school just south of Wellington, Jo Graham was looking to find ways to extend her school's learning-through-play policy. The answer was there all along. "One of the attractions for moving to Lyall Bay School was how close it was to the beach," says Jo. "If I can be outdoors or be in water, that's where I'm my best self… every time I went to the beach, I'd say to the teachers, 'I just wish I could do my learning down here. I wish I could teach down here.'" And so, with planning and safety guidelines in place, she began Beach School as a way to foster student engagement and create a more meaningful learning experience.
These days, Beach School is a key part of her curriculum. Three times a week, students load up trolleys with their materials and make their way about 750 meters down the road to the shore to engage in open-ended play. Math lessons come by way of roleplaying latte shops and creating fractal patterns with sea stones. Physics and culture lessons alike are carried in on the waves, bringing Tangaroa (the Māori god of the sea) in with them. All this learning happens in public, too, fostering community engagement and reinforcing the importance of letting children be children. "The more we're out there," Jo tells us, "the more people see kids just enjoying what they are doing. Enjoying learning and enjoying being children."
On the other side of Wellington, up the Hutt river valley, Amber Donaldson found herself facing a similar problem. The Oxford Crescent School where she teaches is far from the beach - its inner-city setting made any nature hard to reach. Yet she believed in the value of nature and play in children's education. Her solution? "Take away the four walls of the classroom and your jellybean table and your box of books and your structured literacy and all that, and just see what happens when you take the kids into the space where it was just really natural learning for them," Amber reflects. With a group of students who had already shown their ability to engage in meaningful play - the kind that teaches through joy and exploration - she prepared Bush School. Students are transported off-site, then given free rein to direct their own learning experiences, often taking the role of teachers to the chaperones who are present.
While getting the students on board was easy - "to ignite the kids, we just said 'Hey, we're going to go and play in the bush.' And they were all for it!" - Amber was concerned about support from the adults in her community. She needn't have been. It only took convincing a couple of parents to come along for the first outing to convince the community. "[The parents] loved the whole experience of being in the bush with their kids and watching the joy that happened there," she said, pointing to families' own implementations of Bush School during summer holidays. Parents became more involved in their children's learning, and the school became more connected to the natural environment.
"The more we're out there," Jo tells us, "the more people see kids just enjoying what they are doing. Enjoying learning and enjoying being children."
Jean Krishnan and her team at Take Kārara School in Wānaka employ a 'notice, recognise, and respond' approach to guide student learning across the curriculum, seamlessly integrating subjects like mathematics, social sciences, and more. Recently, they observed a compelling interest among students in exploring how people live, create homes, and express cultural identity. In response, Jean transformed an area of their open-plan classroom into a dedicated 'home' learning space. This space, designed with input from the students, allows them autonomy to adapt it for home-based play that reflects their diverse cultural backgrounds.
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Through this immersive, student-led exploration, the children engage in meaningful learning experiences that deepen their understanding of cultural practices, foster collaboration, and make learning personally relevant and vibrant. Jean's responsive teaching ensures that these inquiries connect to broader curricular goals, cultivating an inclusive and dynamic learning environment.
These examples from across New Zealand demonstrate how play-based learning can take root in diverse settings - from coastal environments to urban bushland to family homes. While each educator took a unique approach shaped by their local context, several key lessons emerged that can guide others looking to implement similar programs:
Support from your learning community is key
Amber describes her principal's initial support as an instrumental first step - after she presented him with her research and proposals, he encouraged her to "get her team on board." Jo also emphasizes that her principal's support - "110%" - is the foundation of a successful implementation. But school staff matter, too. Jo says that her Beach School took off once she started working with a "co-believer." The two of them together formed the nucleus of an expanding group of teachers willing to look outside the walls of the classroom.
Parent approval was important to all three of the teachers, too. Jean says that inviting families into the learning spaces, to observe firsthand the way in which children are actively learning through play is much more impactful than "trying to put it in a newsletter numerous times … what better way can you do it?" Amber emphasizes the importance of getting feedback from everyone as you go, as she was able to use the voices of parents who were involved in the first round of Bush School to help her secure funding for later versions.
"The students scooped up a whole lot of kids that they didn't even know and said 'No, come into bush school. It's way better.'"
For Jo, bringing the learning out into the open is crucially important. It reminds people what school is for and what learning can look like. And Amber says that Bush School helped her own students expand their community. After they came back, she started seeing something new: "[The students] came out and scooped up a whole lot of kids that they didn't even know and said 'No, come into bush school. It's way better.'"
Building, collaborating, and sharing together
Although each of these teachers has taken a different tack for approaching learning through play, they are quick to acknowledge the importance of building off of what others have created. Jo says that peer support and mentorship are important for success. She recalls that "when you are by yourself, it can feel really lonely. You just want someone to go 'You're on the right track.'" Connecting with colleagues who understand and validate the work is crucial for maintaining motivation and momentum. Important, too, is the role of someone who can serve as a bridge between these often siloed teachers. While the enthusiasm of students, teachers and parents provides powerful testimony to the value of these programs, these innovative educators also recognized that sustaining and scaling their initiatives would require more formal evaluation:
Measure your impact
Learning through play is hard to quantify, but each of these experiences shows the importance of measuring the impact an implementation has. It serves to build support, justify the program, and answer critics who are resistant to change. While anecdotal evidence - like student enthusiasm and parent testimonials - provides powerful motivation, more structured approaches help demonstrate lasting value. Amber actively solicits parent feedback to secure ongoing support for Bush School, while Jo implements regular reflection procedures after Beach School sessions to capture both successes and areas for improvement. At Take Kārara, Jean is supported by the leadership team to actively gather feedback from parents and families about the impact of play they are noticing at home on their children’s skills and learning. This includes running focus group feedback sessions and parent meetings. This combination of qualitative feedback and structured evaluation helps validate these innovative approaches while providing insights for continuous improvement.
These educators demonstrate that meaningful learning through play can flourish in any setting. Their success lies not just in their innovative approaches, but in their ability to bring whole communities - from principals to parents - along on the journey. As education evolves in Aotearoa New Zealand, their experiences remind us that when we create space for play, we open doors for deeper connections between children, their environment, and their culture.
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