My seatmate on the train noticed me playing games in a magazine as we hurtled along at speeds up to 140 miles an hour. He commented that it looked much more fun than what he was doing. One thing led to another, and we ended up talking about play and learning. He is an adjunct professor and also teaches people at his workplace, and wants to incorporate the notion of play as a powerful learning tool.

He got me thinking of so many resources:

• IDEO – Play Lab – Leveraging play when working on challenges.
• Uri Alon – the value of Yes … And
• Innovative Lives – The Genius of Play – a Smithsonian Lemelson Center panel presentation (I’m one of the four panelists!)
• The Lego Foundation – Learning through play.
• The Pedagogy of Play – Project Zero, Harvard University.

I’m amazed by the connection between play and learning. I love to play, and I love to learn. In my humble opinion it’s one of the best (if not the best) ways to engage and learn.

I’m going to take some time to read, listen, and play. I hope you do the same. I’ll be back to do some blogging!