THE PLAY PROJECT

In 2004, founder Jeff Peyton identified Play as a form of energy that is carried on a biological wavelength of communication.
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PLAY IS A FORCE OF NATURE

HEALS

HEALS: Play, essential for human well-being, is endangered. Play deprivation threatens children's learning spaces, causing:
  • Mental health issues
  • Screen habituation
  • Learning resistance
  • Weak thinking skills
  • Teacher burnout

EMPOWERS

  • Sparks inspired communication
  • Activates any subject or lesson  
  • Captivates every child
  • Invites verbal articulation
  • Bonds group experience 

TRANSFORMS

  • When play is present, everything changes
  • the system into a learning habitat
  • The screen into minds open and receptive  
  • Sunday night blues into high anticipation  
  • tethered teaching into unbound possibility 

WHAT IS PLAY
LANGUAGE?

Enriched and engaged conversation is a predictable result of play's presence. Think of interviews with cells and subatomic particles. Converse with planets or bees. Talk to Albert Einstein at age 16 imagineering rides on light beams. Decades of research has led to this innovation, featured in Edutopia magazine and recognized in the
annals of brain science.

Learn the Art and Science of
Play-Centered Communication

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Our Mission

The Play Project was founded by Melissa Edwards and
Jeff Peyton to bring the power of play into teaching and learning through their innovation, Play Language.

We believe play is one of humanity's greatest natural resources—and one of the greatest gifts
nature gave to children to make learning something of their own.

For too long, play has been pushed to the margins of education. Yet play is the engine of curiosity, creativity, communication, and growth.

Our mission is simple: help educators experience the transformative power of play for themselves and bring that power into the heart of learning.

Saving the future of learning means doing more than talking about play.

It means learning how to harness it.

Together, we can build a learning culture energized by play and inspired by the limitless potential of children's minds.

Meet Jeff and Melissa

Jeff Peyton 

Co-Founder
A pioneer in play science and education innovation, Jeff's journey began behind a puppet theater. His observations of kids responding to puppets led him to recast the art of puppetry into a Play language, a process that mainstreams play into learning spaces. His work has 
reached into the hands of children and teachers around the world. 

Melissa Edwards

Co-Founder
Drawing from over two decades of experience as both a student and teacher in diverse international settings, Melissa's philosophy centers on a powerful insight: fostering self-compassion is key to truly connecting with and inspiring students. She ardently champions the essential role of play in the classroom, believing it to be a crucial element in nurturing our shared humanity.

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Thank you!
       You come at learning from an entirely different perspective and have given added depth to my understanding of creativity and learning. Your perspective is unique in education today--play is crucial to learning--and needs to be publicized more so it can be discussed and researched.
                                                                                       --Jonathan P. Nelson, Secondary Educator
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This map depicts the approximate number and locations of students from around the world who, over the course of 3 years, enrolled in a free, unmonitored course launched to measure market interest in Play-Based Learning and Communication. 

137
Countries
~5500
students

Science & Research
Documentation

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