The Learning State of Play by The LEGO Foundation
In my previous review of The Learning through Play Experience Tool, I discussed the five main characteristics of playful learning: joyful, meaningful, actively engaging, iterative, and socially interactive. Each of these shows how children learn best through play.
This part of the course focused more deeply on what are called learning states, which describe how children move through their experiences during play. If you want to understand the five characteristics better, you can check out my previous review first.
The learning states go from Passive to Exploring, then Owning, Recognizing, and finally Transferring. Each one shows how deeply a child is involved in an activity and how their mindset changes through play.
The course explained that using the tool includes three main steps: observing a playful experience, identifying the statements that match what the child is doing, and reflecting with others about what was observed. The purpose is not to rush children to reach the final stage but to understand their journey and how they grow through each step.
Joyful
In this part, I learned that joy grows with each level of engagement. At first, a child might be unsure or neutral about what they are doing, but as they explore, curiosity takes over. When they start owning the activity, they find joy even in challenges and end up proud of what they achieved.
This reminded me that joy is not only about smiling or laughing but about feeling motivated and excited to keep learning. As a teacher trainee, I found this idea really important because when children enjoy what they do, they naturally stay more focused and eager to learn.
Actively Engaging
Active engagement is about how involved and focused a child becomes while playing. Some children may begin by simply following others, but as they explore, they start making choices and showing interest in their surroundings. Later, they become fully absorbed in the activity, forgetting everything else around them.
This showed me that engagement cannot be forced, and it happens when children feel connected to what they are doing. For me, I want to create classroom activities that keep students curious and focused without making them feel controlled.
Iterative
This state of play helped me see how important it is for children to experiment and try again. They might begin unsure about what to do, then start exploring and adjusting their ideas until they discover what works best. Through this process, they learn to think critically and solve problems.
I liked how this course encouraged seeing mistakes as a natural part of learning. It reminded me that I should give students space to explore and fail safely, because every mistake helps them grow more confident.
Meaningful
Meaningful learning happens when children connect what they are doing with something that matters to them. At first, a child might only do an activity because they have to, but as they understand it more, they begin to see how it relates to their life. They start recognizing how the experience helps them learn something useful or familiar.
This made me realize that lessons become more powerful when students can relate to them personally. I hope to use this idea one day to make my teaching more relevant to my students’ own experiences.
Socially Interactive
The last part focused on how children learn from and with others. Some may start out shy or prefer to play alone, but as they grow more comfortable, they begin to communicate, share, and collaborate. Over time, they start creating new ideas together and building stronger social bonds.
I learned that play is not only about fun, but it's also a great way for children to learn cooperation, patience, and teamwork. This helped me notice how social interaction shapes both learning and relationships in class.
My Opinion
This section of the course helped me see that learning through play is not just about what children do, but how they move through different levels of involvement. Understanding these states made me more observant of how students play, interact, solve problems, and connect ideas.
Knowing where each child is in their learning journey helps me adjust my teaching and match their energy. It makes learning more engaging for them and more meaningful for me as a future teacher.
References
LEGO Foundation 2020, The Learning through Play Experience Tool: Zooming in on the Five Characteristics of Learning through Play, LEGO Fonden, Højmarksvej 8, DK-7190 Billund, viewed 6 October 2025.