Play and storytelling help prevent poor well-being

Now, the results have been transformed into free, practical materials designed to help teachers create playful learning environments and strengthen pupils’ well-being.

Studies carried out as part of PLACES show that many pupils are afraid to present in front of the class, lack a close connection with their teachers, and often feel bored or disengaged. By telling and developing stories, and by using playful approaches, much of this performance anxiety can be reduced — allowing pupils to break free from the unhelpful roles they may have built up or been assigned.

- Our research has long shown that playful approaches enhance both learning and well-being. But Playful Learning can sound like an abstract concept. Now we finally have free, concrete tools for teachers, so they can bring playfulness and spontaneity into their classrooms — creating spaces where hierarchies fade and pupils learn through play, says Lene Nyhus Friis, Project Manager and Head of the LAB for Play Design. She has led Kolding School of Design’s contribution to the project together with researchers from the LAB for Play Design: Professor Helle Marie Skovbjerg and Teaching Associate Professor Anne Katrine Gelting.

Magical transformations in the classroom
Across Europe, pupils are calling for more authentic relationships with their teachers. Storytelling can open the door to just that — while also sparking energy, community, and new ways of learning.

In the PLACES project, storytelling has become a tool for linking pupils’ imagination with the content of their lessons.

- The material invites pupils to learn with both mind and body — and to build a sense of community through storytelling and play. Pupils learn about the world, but also how to be in it. Classrooms turn into museums, playgrounds into realms of imagination, and lessons into shared journeys through the magical landscapes of storytelling, explains Kasper Sørensen, Director of Fortælletid.dk, who developed the project’s stories.

As one participating teacher put it:

- The playful and magical dimension of the lessons brought us closer together and united us as a team.

PLACES Academy
The developed materials are freely available on PLACES Academy – ready for classroom use. The resources, also available in Danish, are particularly suited to teachers of pupils aged 8–14, as well as for project weeks and language subjects.

Teachers can find:

• Eight stories focusing on three Sustainable Development Goals and on collaboration and community as core values. The chosen SDGs are: 3 (Good Health and Well-being), 4 (Quality Education), and 10 (Reduced Inequalities).
• Guides to storytelling techniques, helping teachers use gesture, language, facial expression, and sound to bring stories to life. Teachers are encouraged to create and tell their own stories — and to guide pupils in doing the same.
• Playful Learning materials, including guides and activity cards, enabling teachers to combine storytelling with Playful Learning principles.

Project facts
PLACES – Playful Learning and Storytelling that Create Engagement for the Sustainable Development Goals among Children and Young People – is a cross-European development project aimed at promoting well-being and learning among European school children.
PLACES has run from 2021 to 2025.

Kolding School of Design has developed the learning materials, while Fortælletid.dk created the stories. The project was carried out in collaboration with the South Denmark European Office and a number of European partners. Researchers, designers, and teachers from Denmark, Belgium, Italy, and Greece have contributed.
PLACES is supported by Erasmus+.

For further information, please contact:
Lene Nyhus Friis, Project Director and Head of LAB for Play Design, lnf@dskd.dk, +45 2030 8126

Katja Lange, Storyteller, Fortælletid.dk,
katja@fortaelletid.dk, +45 61 69 37 80

Henriette Hansen, Project Manager, South Denmark European Office, hha@southdenmark.be, +32 477 777 615