‘We Learn and Have Fun at the Same Time’: Play-Based Learning Activities in Kindergarten Teacher Education

Abstract In this article, the authors have used self-study as a method to investigate what playful learning activities do to students’ experience of their own learning. Traditionally, play has not had a central place in higher education. By changing the authors’ own teaching, the authors wanted to make it more practice-orientated and create a signature where play in kindergarten is reflected in the teaching. To investigate this, the authors have documented the authors’ own development work, meetings and discussions, in addition to collecting students’ experiences through focus group interviews. The authors found that students emphasise three different themes for increased learning outcomes. Variation both within different activities and between different learning activities. Coherence between theory and practice is something the students emphasise as important for learning outcomes. The last finding the authors made was how the playful learning activities supported cultural change and personal and professional growth. Play contrasts with the demands for efficiency and goal achievement in higher education, where students are expected to acquire a wide range of knowledge and skills during their years of study. So how can it be justified to prioritise time for play? The authors do this in order to highlight the potential of a playful approach to teaching.