th

8 January 2018

LEARNING THROUGH PLAY EXHIBITION

By Anthea Moys

Science Museum, London

Contents:

• The adopted approach

• Introducing and contextualizing of the problem
• Key Insights from Research – Things to be aware of: A Space for:
Uncertainty/Ambiguity, Agency, Diversity, Participation, Playfulness.
• Ideas
• List of interviewees
• List of Places visited
• Attached: Documentation of Various places visited

The Adopted Approach:

The following paper is about sharing what I have learned over the past two months whilst
based in Billund at Capital of Children. The information comes from numerous interviews,
participating in various activities with the locals as well as many visits to galleries and
museums. It is a work in progress, but it is an attempt to share some key findings so as to
assist in designing the experience that will communicate ‘Learning Through Play’.

I think it is critical to get to know the context where the exhibition will be as places that work
the best are responsive to their environment and include the people that live, work and play
there.

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Introducing and contextualizing the problem:

The aim of LEGO Foundation is to re-define play and re-imagine learning. They want to build
a future where learning through play empowers children to become creative, engaged life-
long learners. They have created several white papers that include in depth research in the
power of learning through play. But not many people have time or energy to read and access
this knowledge. So! What if there was an exhibition whereby people could learn about these
research findings through an experience?

A traditional exhibition is one of the most direct means for communicating ideas. However,
more than ever before museums and places of culture have had to rethink this idea of the
exhibition format as visitors want something more dynamic and inclusive. People want to be
active participants as opposed to passive viewers or consumers. They want to
participate. They want to be immersed. They want to be surprised and they want to have an
engaging, memorable, meaningful experience. They want to play a role, share experiences,
leave their mark and take something with them. Because of this we are seeing a shift in
museums and galleries towards participatory, experiential, theatrical and performance
arts methods, mainly because they are more engaging and meaningful for people, but also
because they are often more financially viable.

So what needs to be communicated in this exhibition? The exhibition needs to communicate

LEGO Foundations Research – specifically ‘Learning Through Play’.

So how to communicate this dense knowledge to a wide audience in an accessible manner?

Amos Blanton and Liam Nilson at The LEGO Idea Studio have been working on this very
problem for about 2 years now. They have created various activities (such as the art
machines or light play) that involve people in the act of making that demonstrate ‘Learning
Through Play’. In the past 8 months they have dedicated much time to documenting these
activities in trying to capture Learning Through Play.

Over the years the foundation has distilled their research in this domain into five
characteristics that make Learning Through Play possible. These characteristics often work
together and should not be seen in isolation. The LEGO Idea studio has done numerous
experiments where upon introducing this research and the 5 characteristics at a conference
earlier in 2017, they allocated a separate activity for each characteristic. The feedback from
the people that engaged these activities was that whilst the activity was great – such as
playing with the art machines, they felt it a bit silly and unnecessary to separate each
characteristic as they were all so interconnected.

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THINGS TO BE AWARE OF: possible ‘DON’TS:

In my numerous interviews with people (see the full list at the end of this document) there
were several pointers as to what not to do or just things to be aware of when designing this
exhibition. Please note there are so many important pieces of information. I have attempted to
tie them together under certain themes that kept on surfacing in my conversations with
people. I have included them as quotes and my writings in blue.

A SPACE FOR UNCERTAINTY/AMBIGUITY:

Something that kept on resurfacing in my interviews: as soon as you try too hard to define,
separate and categorize play, it does not become play anymore. This is the challenge at the
heart of this exhibition: to create a space that is true to the research, but also to create a
space that is true to the experience of play itself.

“Always give fantasy a place. Give the child inside a chance. And when we say fantasy – this
is the nourishment and the acknowledgement of other possibilities – instead of saying this is
RIGHT or WRONG – it could be something else – OPENESS to other possibilities.”

- Ingrid Schmidt, teacher and local resident of Billund for over 50 years.

"Everything you make [with LEGO] is right, always."- Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen

Henrietta Schmidt leader of the Scouts group in Grindsted sends her young girl scouts out
into the woods at night to explore and come into contact with risk and uncertainty…

A: Do you think engagement with the unknown when playing is really important?

H: Yes. Very important, you push them towards something they are scared off. But the adult
takes care of them. It is still in a safe space. The push is to make them do something and
discover that it is nothing to be scared of. And you see the light in the girl, the pride they have,
once they have done it. It is very important for the scouts to be a safe place, where you do
something that pushes your boundaries and your fears.

Freja Wedel Gade is a thirteen-year-old resident of Billund:

A: What inspires you?

F: Seeing other people do what I am afraid of. If they can do it I can do it too.

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Halfdan Bock Anderson is a parent who lives in Billund: “Kids don't know that tears are
salty” - When discussing the LEGO House experience, which was no doubt a very positive
experience for him and his family, he acknowledges that there perhaps needs to be spaces
for more open-ended play activities.

Carina Otteson is a LEGO employee, LEGO Play Agent Hero and SMART Trainer:

“When you move out of your comfort zone, when you do something you have never done
before - that's where we create these new connections in the brain and I think when we do
that we also get access to competences to ideas to areas that we do have our brain but are
unconscious.”

Krestin Thompson from the Academy For Untamed Kreativity (AFUK) an informal learning
space in Copenhagen that supports a more entrepreneurial approach, when asked about how
they teach at the school:

“It's about being like the untamed animal being able to go out and find his food. Instead of
waiting passively for it to be served.”

This relates to a very important attribute of play: AGENCY.

A SPACE FOR AGENCY:

“These five characteristics – they are important to EMBODY and DO – as a practice. It’s not
about learning about facts. It’s about strengthening these skills within yourself through an
experience where you are using those skills”

– Liam Nilsen

In conversation with Liam Nilsen we discussed the original “LEGO Idea”:

“With the LEGO bricks we can build anything we can possibly imagine as if they were glued
and yet they can easily be taken apart and reconfigured into a new idea.

When we do this we are not only creating, but also evaluating, reflecting and recreating to
achieve new possibilities.

We learn through play in a self motivated and fun way.”

The LEGO Idea reimagined/redirected:

“We can build anything we can possibly imagine – this essentially speaks to the fact that
AGENCY – Learner driven creativity – is critical to the play experience.
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One of the core ideas here is that it is about WE THE PLAYER can build anything we can
possibly imagine. There is a sense of agency. Its not about what the amazingly skilled LEGO
designers can make, its about what we can imagine – you make what you wanna make. So
it’s about this open-ended child centered approach.

We are not only creating, but also evaluating, reflecting and recreating. This links to
constructivism, design based learning and iteration. How do we teach creativity? It’s not so
much about teaching, but more about creating an environment where learning through play
can take place.”

“We learn through play in a self-motivated and fun way.”

He refers to Piaget: “When you teach someone something you rob them of the opportunity to
discover it”

“Each time one prematurely teaches a child something he could have discovered himself, that
child is kept from inventing it and consequently from understanding it completely.”

In conversation with Mathias Poulson, play scholar and director of the CounterPlay festival,
the idea of AGENCY was something we kept on returning to:

With regards to creating designed playful spaces, such GOOGLE offices for instance, there is
a kind of ‘play-washing’ or ‘play gift wrapping’ that is taking place.

“And I think if you control it too much and completely direct what happens you limit that
potential of real participation and then I think you turn the experience into something else –
not play. Then it becomes very shallow and I think its really problematic because its
pretending to be something that its not and its taking the good things that are perceived to be
part of play and kind of removing them but pretending they are still there.”

“Real play reminds us that we have a sort of agency to influence. And important question then
when designing this exhibition: will it create agency?”

A SPACE FOR DIVERSITY:

Diversity is key to play. We can look at the diversity in two ways here: firstly: when we create
safe space for play where the outcome is unknown we create space for diversity to emerge. If
the rules or instructions are ‘too tight’ or ‘too directed’ towards a specific outcome, the chance
for real individual creation or diversity is minimal. And secondly, culture and the arts invite
diversity. So the question is how to include culture in this exhibition so as to invite difference?

In conversation with Billund Skool teacher Lisbet Tranholm:

“I teach a lot. I am 16 years a teacher. I see a difference now: (when making) the children pick
colours that will fit in to their home. Families are not supporting variety. Things have to fit in.
We design our homes in a way that the kids products don't fit in. They must have experienced
that. So something they made out of their heart was not good enough.”

So there is a need for possible spaces where diversity is celebrated – all colours! All shapes
and sizes!

“In designing the CounterPlay experience it was helpful for us to have this sort of insistence
on the diversity of play, because we are saying play is important for everybody all over society
and I think for that to be meaningful you need to also accept the premise that play is a hugely
diverse phenomena and its very ambiguous and we don't know exactly what it is – it can
mean many different things for many different people.” – Mathias Poulson

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A PARTICIPATORY SPACE:

We know that the exhibition – or whatever this ends up becoming – needs to involve a level of
participation. But there are many different kinds of participation: We can actively get involved
and participate with others or alone in an activity, but we can also participate and learn just as
much from watching others participate. We can follow instruction or instruct others. We can
listen, watch, dance, sing or we can silently watch from the side.

Important to the idea of participation is to ask: what is the invitation?

When asked what really works in an exhibition format for them, almost all interviewees
answered: Anything that involves hands on. The below excerpts from interviews all focus on
the idea of participation.

“Its fun when you can do some things when its actually fun to see others doing fun things. It
can also be fun to watch what they are doing. Just as much fun to watch as to participate.
Like bouldering. Not competitive. You support each other. Cheer each other one and give
advice. That is really great when you can get that experience – not to be active but to
participate in another way.

“Exhibitions where you don't just look at art that hangs on the wall but where you can go into
the art piece where it changes, its different when you are inside it, when you can see it from
different angles shapes change etc It is immersive. That's a great experience for the whole
family. Looking at something from one perspective, but then you go inside and that
you are IN IT! You being in it – changes the artwork for people viewing it from the
outside. You become the art.”

“To have spaces for different forms of participation and involvement.”

- Halfdan Bock Anderson

“In the joyful making of something with others and then this translates as a memorable and
meaningful experience.”

- Freja Wedel Gade

“I was active and hands on and there were some surprising set-ups. Like I couldn’t walk
form A to B without having to do something, not just open a door, but I could not just go
straight, there was things making me stray.”

- Camilla Uhre Fog, Head of the International School

In discussing participation with Mathias Poulson we just asked many, many questions:

- What are the parameters of participation?

- How to not be forceful?
- How to be inviting, but not contrived?
- How to create a safe space but still have spaces for surprises?
- Expectations – when is it going to end? Am I going to get wet? How long is it? What
will happen?
- What if there was a workshop in creating as many different invitations and ways to
play as possible?
- What does it mean to say yes?

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A SPACE FOR PLAYFULNESS – purposeful play!

“With regards to the HOLISTIC skills that LTP offers, I see these skills all in a kind of bubble
within which all of these skills are contained and all of them are advocating for PLAYFULNESS.”

- Liam Nilsen

“Playfulness is something where its just FUN. I really like to play. It’s when you have got that
sense. This doesn't have any purpose detached from the activity itself. So when the activity
itself is the purpose. That would be the real play. When you can just immerse yourself. Be
there, be present at that time, just to be there and enjoy the process and don't worry too
much about the end result.”

- Halfdan Bock Anderson

“Play needs to be when its happening – that needs to be the purpose. But you can create
frame works. Design structures to support specific parts of play. But it needs to have the
freedom also to go in another direction. It’s ok NOT TO KNOW to have UNKNOWNS. And if
you WANT to know outcomes then maybe do something else – then maybe play is a
really bad solution.”

- Mathias Poulson

“We live in the Capital of Children. There is this myth in Billund: ‘Is this only for children
then?’ No! Children are our role models for playfulness. Children are curious, creative,
open and investigative. It is the city for the idea of playfulness. It is not just about a city for
children, but more about what they are role modeling.”

“Playfulness is an approach to life. It encompasses the whole human. There is lots of work to
be done – how to be more playful in the world. How do we remember to be more playful and
incorporate it as a practice? I think if we were more playful we would come up with more
innovative ideas. As adults we are told that there is a “time to play”. There shouldn’t be a ‘time
to play’.
“There is this myth that play is something that is not serious, something you do when you
have nothing else to do, that it is not something you do as an approach to solve problems.
Playfulness should be part of your daily practice, integrated, incorporated and activated in
your approach to life.”

“At the moment I am trying to become more playful with habits: so brushing my teeth with
my left hand whilst balancing on one leg.”

- Carina Otteson

Play is full of purpose

Play always has a purpose
So it doesn’t need to be purposeful
The purpose of play is to become more playful

- Mathias Poulson

In conversation with curators and museum directors:

In conversation with London based independent curator Fatos Ustek, on designing more
playful exhibitions:

“Making audiences have choices, like a “Choose your own adventure” book is the most
immediate, most conventional way of making a playful exhibition. If I could suggest: treat the
exhibition as one body: they come in, they are in the body, in the stomach and that's

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where the exhibition happens and they leave: just one embodied holistic experience.
And people should leave with a question.”

In conversation with Tate curator Zoey Whitley:

In line with this she spoke a lot about innovative immersive theatre companies that create
immersive theatre experiences that often work hand in hand with companies and corporations
in the regeneration of a city and take place in unused empty buildings. These experiences
invite the viewer in as an active participant in the creation of their own experience. So
immersive theatre could possibly be a useful model to refer to when investigating different
modes of participation.

“Most mainstream institutions having this exact dilemma – how to make information more
accessible. This is what accounts for this major turn to performance and its also more
economical – cheaper to pay a group of performers, especially for one off things. A lot of
st
people asking – what is a museum in the 21 century for? Exhibitions and Museums need to
be places that people want to come to in the first place, but also these places also need to
address the idea of Co-authorship. Curating something that people can feel like co-
curators, like they are the authors of their own experience, active participant as
opposed to a passive consumer/recipient.”

In conversation with Pernille from Okolariat science museum in Vejle:

“As long as they remember one or two things, or the kids remember “there is something
called sustainability” or “There is something called energy” “you can actually eat insects”,
those little things, you know, that we plant seeds in peoples brains, in their minds and in their
idea of the world. And then we hope they can grow and, or maybe in 10 years they’re gonna
say: “Oh, I tasted insects a long time ago in a place”. So we know that we cannot save the
world, but we re planting seeds for people.”

So the more surprising the experience – like eating insects! – the better!

A: So it is not like playing without a purpose. Would you say it is purposeful play, like more
directed towards some kind of learning? A learning experience through play?

P: Yes, all of our things are arguments in some kind of learning. The big wheel outside is very
playful, but we have it for people to understand how you produce energy while running in it.
Maybe 30% of the guests get that point. But for example with VR, that is some of the things
people understand, and there is of course a story, a purpose behind it, so people understand
how energy is created and how we use it. So there is always some kind of agenda with the
things we make: that is very important for us.

More or less - we always know what it is. People return, because it is a big place and if you
want to engage deeply, then you have to come back. Some people come back without the
kids, because then you can get more into things, be thorough, whereas kids are more
energetic.”

My experience of this science museum was that it was too overcrowded with too much
information and not enough crucial selection. I felt overwhelmed as if the exhibition was
shouting at me. It was fun, but incredibly busy. Perhaps this would be a different experience
for kids and families.

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SOME IDEAS:
Acknowledging the following knowns:

WHO FOR: Teachers, parents, grandparents, LEGO employees and employers, educators,
researchers, children

WHERE: Billund

WHY: To communicate LEGO Foundations Research – specifically ‘Learning Through Play’

in a clear, fun and participatory way.

And unknowns:

- When it is to take place,

- Exactly where – size of venue etc,
- Budget
- Duration of exhibition
- Interior and exterior
- How can the exhibition assist in continuing the research?

WHAT:

Note: The ‘What’ is dependent on the process of co-creation with others through workshops
and so is not finite here.

The main idea at the moment: an exhibition, a space where people LEARN through PLAYFUL
EXPERIENCES that tap into the 5 characteristics of Learning through Play. So they will
experience something that is Joyful, Meaningful, Socially Interactive, Actively Engaging and
Iterative. In line with the process and ethos of Lego Foundations research: means of
communication will be holistic – meaning that people can learn about the research through
many different ways:

Through reading text, looking at images, watching videos, participating in an activity and/or
watching others participate in an activity. Keeping in mind that it is not helpful to separate
each characteristic:

“These five characteristics – they are important to EMBODY and DO – as a practice. It’s not
about learning about facts. It’s about strengthening these skills within yourself through an
experience where you are using those skills” – Liam Nilsen

What if people engaged with ONE activity that included all 5 characteristics of Learning
Through Play.

“Play is the free space of movement in a more rigid structure.” - Kate Salen and Eric
Zimmerman from their book Rules of Play (2003)

The exhibition could be a simple structure that is changeable over time. We need to ask:
What is the one rule? With one rule we can then create numerous iterations/variations on a
theme and thus invite diversity and other forms of cultural expression. This could also be a
rich space for continuing the research into LTP.

Key points to ask with regards to the activity:

- Is it true to both the hard research and the ambiguous nature of play?
- Does it leave room for uncertainty? Does it leave space for a question?
- Does it inspire agency in the participants?
- Does it celebrate diversity?
- Is it playful?

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The above drawing shows a circular space where there is an activity in the centre that
embodies the 5 characteristics of LTP. Upon entering the space there is the invitation to
participate and a ‘framing’ of the experience in some kind of way. It would be beneficial to
workshop ‘different kinds of invitations’ in connection with the theme of participation.

After engaging the invitation the participant has numerous ways he/she can participate: going
straight in and getting completely immersed and involved with the activity or perhaps they
want to watch from the side lines: look through a telescope, give instructions or take turns at
1
documenting or adding a sound/music to the experience.

There could also be glass or Perspex sheets with text on it – explaining LTP and the
neuroscience of it. Parts of the sheets of Perspex could light up when you move it – perhaps it
is sensitive to the activity that is happening inside the centre? Maybe people are actively
involved in trying to see the 5 characteristics being activated by the participants engaging with
the activity.

The centre of the space is an activity that, when you step in, is completely immersive – the
participant becomes completely immersed in the activity. It could be:

- Playing with clay

- Drawing
- Making something together
- Dancing
- Dress up
- Chalk
- Skipping rope
- Different kinds of hula-hoops or anything to do with the idea of a circle, it could be
colour or shape themed.

                                                                                                               
1  All
of this does need to be facilitated in some way or form. If we do want an experiential space, this is
necessary.  
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 2
- Jumping on a giant bed and having a pillow fight!

The exhibition could also expand into a travelling exhibition – where Learning Through Play
comes to you through the LTP Bus! The bus travels all over the world and everywhere it stops
– it expands and opens up sharing the knowledge of LTP – through books, activations,
experiences etc

Artist Urs Fisher creates spaces where people can play and create worlds and leave
something behind. In this way they MAKE the exhibition themselves.

                                                                                                               
2  Another
idea could be to take moments of joy like this – jumping on a bed and having a pillow fight -
amplifying it. So taking ordinary things that give us joy and using these experiences and situations as
inspirational for the designed experiences.
 
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But then there are also his huge sculptural masterpieces that are inspired by the
smaller. The powerful thing here is that it gives people perspective – from being immersed
in the activity of making something quite small – but part of a larger whole, and then seeing a
massive version of an incomplete piece of clay – almost as if it is in the process of becoming
moulded – in this way he is celebrating, even putting ‘the process’ over and above the
finished clay masterpiece.

The participants should leave feeling inspired – with a sense that they know more about this
incredible capacity that we have as humans to learn through play (for both adults and
children), but that also there are questions that are unanswered – where to from here? They
should leave with a feeling that they can participate and continue the investigation. That it is
somewhat open-ended, that even though this research is presented as certain truth -
uncertainty and ambiguity are inherent characteristics in play.

Upon leaving the space one idea is that they walk outside and witness a large ‘piece’ of what
they have just experienced. Or perhaps it is mirrored in smaller ways…

Jan Vorman and his ‘LEGO’ street art

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Uncertainty is important. Participation is important. Openness and curiosity of play is
essential. A sense of instilling and inviting a sense of agency is crucial. It doesn't end. It is an
ongoing process.

This ongoing process is important as the exhibition can be seen as a space for continuing the
research into Learning Through Play but it can also be a space where people can simply visit
to get inspired, to be challenged in some way or to play with others.

INTERVIEWEES:
WHO:

The group includes grand parents, children, teenagers, parents, teachers, locals and
internationals, educators, museum directors, play specialists, festival directors, curators,
educators, artists and communication specialists in education and science.

WHERE FROM:

Denmark: Billund and surrounding areas including Vejle, Grindsted, Copenhagen and Aarhus
Germany: Berlin
UK: London
South Africa: Johannesburg

Billund & Grinsted:

• Ingrid Schmidt and her husband – elderly couple who have lived in Billund 80% of
their lives.
• Halfdan – from COC Parent Committee
• Henrietta from the Scouts association in Grindsted
• Anne-Mette – who runs the youth groups in Grindsted
• Mads – a local resident of Grindsted but grew up in Billund
• Children from Billund School – also to speak with again in January and with Lisbet
(teacher)
• Freja and Iben – from children’s press group
• Rachel and her two colleagues – all internationals now living in Denmark. Rachel
lives in Billund.
• Camilla and her colleague from the International School
• Pernille from Okolariat in Vejle

Other people/play colleagues:

• Kerstin from Academy of Untamed Kreativity

• Sebastian Quack – game designer and fellow collaborator from Invisible Playground
in Berlin
• Lena Mech – game designer living in Copenhagen
• Mathias Poulson – director and founder of CounterPlay in Aarhus
• Liam and Amos – from the LEGO Idea Studio
• Mariapaola McGurk – from JHB, South Africa The Coloured Cube (specialize in
exhibitions, my former employer)
• Alex Thorpe from Serpentine Gallery
• Zoey Whitley – curator at the TATE
• Fatos Ustek – curator of ‘Art Night’ (http://www.artnight.london/) She has also written
texts about play: http://www.fatosustek.com/do-you-want-to-play#more-2074  
 

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PLACES VISITED:

Please see pdf with images and insights.

COPENHAGEN:

• SMK National Gallery of Denmark

• Architecture Gallery of Denmark
• Medical Museum
• Experimentarium
• AFUK – Academy For Untamed Kreativity
• Kristine HYMøller
• Charlottenborg Museum for Kunst

VEJLE:

• Økolariat – science museum

• Spinderihallerne Vejle Museum

AARHUS

• Kunsthalle
• Moesgaard Museum

LONDON:

• South Bank Centre – Darkness is Visible Exhibition & Swing Dancing

• Tate Modern – Performer Participant Exhibition
• National Science Museum

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