Embracing Playful Learning in the Language Classroom

April 2026

When we play, what’s happening in our brain? That’s just what we set out to explore in our issue this month! Let’s learn more about the power of play and the surprising benefits it can bring to the language classroom.

“Play touches and stimulates vitality, awakening the whole person—mind and body, intelligence and creativity, spontaneity and intuition.” – Viola Spolin

APA Reference for this issue

(author). (2026). (article title, sentence case). MindBrainEd Think Tanks: Embracing Playful Learning in the Language Classroom, 12(4), (pages).

Watch before you read...

This month we’re wading into the waters of play and playfulness in the language classroom. In the Main video, Maria Sundell explains that play allows the brain to learn efficiently by testing and updating its predictions about the world. In the More video, James York unpacks play, playfulness, and ludic, highlighting their value in language learning. Then, Stephen M. Ryan introduces the issue.

In the Think Tank, Ellika Koike looks at how classroom doodles can support language learning. Next, Tomoko Hashimoto, Yuki Otsuki, Agnieszka Szplit, and Agnes Hodi examine playful learning in children and its relevance for older learners. Then, Nicky De Proost offers insights from her classroom practice of thoughtfully designing illustrated, colorable worksheets, while Lynsey Mori reflects on the importance of playful interactions for learning and the risk of AI reducing these relational encounters. Finally, William Kumai describes eight delightful games for the language classroom.

In our Plus, Mirela C. C. Ramacciotti summarizes key insights on executive functions from the last quarter century.

Our Thoughts on Play & Playfulness

I found my rods again the other day when I was tidying up my office. I moved aside yet another pile of papers, and there they were, neatly arranged in their plastic box, old friends I hadn’t seen for years.

If you know what I am talking about, there’s a good chance that not only are you as old as me, but you may even be as old as Peter and Yumiko Hill, my friends and mentors who bought me my first set of rods. There was a time in the 70s and early 80s when no self-respecting teacher trainee (in whatever subject) would go to the classroom without their rods.

Think Tank Articles

“Could you teach me the spell?” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been accidentally asked for advice on witchcraft and wizardry in class. It’s a lot for someone who’s never been to Hogwarts. And yet, when I tried explaining this to students, I was mostly met with blank stares. Words just weren’t doing me any favours. Then, one day, I drew a little wizard on the board, sparks shooting out of his wand. “This is what you’re asking me to do,” I explained to them. “Sadly, this is beyond my capabilities. However, I can teach you the spelling.”

The classroom is loud in the way only a room full of five-year-olds can be. Wooden blocks clatter onto the floor, and someone’s tower collapses with a dramatic groan. In the corner, two children kneel over a pile of pieces, arguing about which block should go on top. One insists the long one will make the bridge stronger; the other shakes their head and slides a wider block underneath instead. They try it. The bridge holds for a moment, then tips, scattering blocks across the carpet. There’s a pause—then laughter—and they begin again, adjusting, testing, rebuilding. No explicit instruction is provided, yet the children continue to refine their ideas through trial and error as they play. The lesson unfolds quietly in their hands.

I have a confession to make: one of the brightest moments in my teaching career did not happen in a classroom, a seminar room, or even within respectable shouting distance of a university. It happened at a Dungeons & Dragons table, sometime between initiative rolls and someone trying to negotiate with a gelatinous cube.

One of my players—brilliant, imaginative, and distractible in the way only truly gifted people are—was having a spectacularly difficult time paying attention. She drifted in and out of the session like a bored Victorian ghost. I’d set the scene; she’d look riveted; soon after all characters were already forgotten. I’d explain a rule; she’d nod with great seriousness; thirty seconds later she’d ask me to explain the same rule again…

In my university classes I sometimes watch two students learn how to care for each other without meaning to. It begins with a mispronounced word, a shared laugh, an awkward repair. Nothing dramatic, just the slow choreography of attention as one person tries again and another waits long enough to understand. Language classrooms are unusual spaces in modern education because they require this kind of visible risk. Students must speak before they are ready, misunderstand one another, and repair those misunderstandings in front of others.

My university English conversation classes (with an average size of 24 Japanese students) seem to be filled with one game after another. Here I present eight games that require minimal preparation and are high energy. Most can be adapted to different levels and different languages.

Dengon/Telephone Minimal Triples Race. Arrange desks into three columns, all facing forward. Show simultaneously the last student in each column three words taken from a minimal pair difficult for your learners, such as “light, right, light” or “ear, year, year” for Japanese students…

Think Tank Plus

Last month we delved into the beginnings of Executive Functions, or EFs for short. I hope some core EF concepts stayed with you. To start, EFs convey consciously-made plans of action. One way to understand this is thinking about it as a filtering process. When you want to select information that is necessary to execute something, anything that is not important gets discarded. Second, actions need to be aligned, or organized, to allow for performance. Third, if a plan is to be followed till execution, attention must be channeled into it. As attention is a costly and limited resource, we must be aware when to use it well; otherwise, our gears will shift into automatic mode..

Become a Think Tank star! Here are some of the future issue topics we are thinking about. Would you, or anyone you know, like to write about any of these? Or is there another topic you’d like to recommend? Do you have any suggestions for lead-in, or just plain interesting, videos? How about writing a book review? Or sending us a story about your experiences? Contact us.

Ludic Language Pedagogy

Ludic Language Pedagogy is a project dedicated to bringing language teachers together to experiment with play and games in language learning. It includes open-access articles in a peer-reviewed journal, videos, podcast episodes, and a Discord channel for sharing ideas and building community.

If you’re looking for a practical and playful example of the diverse resources in Ludic Language Pedagogy, James York’s zine is a good place to start. The printable cut-and-fold zine guides teachers in identifying constraints in their contexts and considering how to make space for playful learning. Check out the zine here!

Games Think Tank

In April 2023, we joined forces with JALT CALL to explore games and gamification in the language classroom. Besides learning about the neuroscience behind playing games, you’ll find ideas for using boardgames, digital games, and other low-prep game activities in the classroom. Read the Think Tank here!

Making Learning More Playful

In this series of short videos, EduTopia spotlights playful learning in different grade levels in six schools. Here are three videos that are particularly relevant for language teachers:

A Pedagogy of Play: Supporting Playful Learning in Classrooms and Schools

This open-access book investigates how play supports learning in educational contexts in four countries. Although not focused specifically on the language classroom, the insights in the book can still inform and inspire language teachers. Published by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the book is available in English, Chinese, and Spanish, with an English audio version. Access the resources here.

The PIE SIG Podcast with Darren

Where can you hear a co-founder of the Reel Voices Film Festival explain how filmmaking helps students build communication and practical production skills? What might a Juilliard-trained actor say about the role of theater in education? And how can we boost our students’ creativity?

These are the kinds of conversations featured on the PIE SIG Podcast. Hosted by PIE SIG President Darren Kinsman, the monthly program presents informal discussions with educators who develop and use performance-based approaches in their teaching.

If you are interested in what happens when learning moves beyond the textbook and into performance and creative practice, the PIE SIG Podcast is a good place to start. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Buzzsprout, or through the PIE SIG website.

The MindBrained Think Tanks+

is produced by the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) Mind, Brain, and Education Special Interest Group (BRAIN SIG). Kyoto, Japan. (ISSN 2434-1002)

Editorial Staff

Stephen M. Ryan Curtis H. Kelly Julia Daley

Afon (Mohammad) Khari Heather Kretschmer Nicky De Proost

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Embracing Playful Learning in the Language Classroom

April 2026

Watch before you read...

Our Thoughts on Play & Playfulness

Of Rods and Jigsaws Stephen M. Ryan

Think Tank Articles

Worth A Thousand Words: The Benefits of Doodles in Teaching Ellika Koike

“Play Is for Kids!...or Is It?”: Play as a Pedagogical Tool for Learners Beyond Early Childhood Tomoko Hashimoto, Yuki Otsuki, Agnieszka Szplit, and Agnes Hodi

Between the Lines: Colourable Worksheets and the Inclusive Classroom Nicky De Proost

Play, Curiosity, and the Social Brain: Why Language Classrooms still matter in the Age of AI Lynsey Mori

Light, Light, Right? William Kumai