11 Sep LEARNING AS SERIOUS PLAY
Relevant for Adults and Children, Together or Not
© 2026 by Ruth Schimel PhD, Career & Life Mgt. Consultant, Author. ruth@ruthschimel.com www.ruthschimel.com 202.659.1772. Please do not use for commercial purposes without permission.
While there is no single, agreed-upon definition of play, many agree that it is any activity that is intrinsically motivated, freely chosen and enjoyable. It is also flexible, creative and is not always linear or straightforward.
Imagine if relevant and engaging play would be integrated in learning beyond kindergarten. To revisit your experience, consider what it has been with formal learning processes. Representative examples may have included:
• You are told what is necessary to learn.
• The process and content for learning are determined by others.
• You try to absorb what’s presented.
• Others evaluate the quality of your learning.
• The value of what you learned to you is determined through its application, relevance and often a related credential.
What would your experience and engagement be if you:
• Choose what you want to learn.
• Have a menu of processes and topics of interest.
• Feel motivated to proceed because it has meaning and value to you, promising to be enjoyable or, at least, stimulating.
• You have others to encourage you and engage with in the process of learning.
• You evaluate results in relation to your goals and its usefulness to you and others.
So, where and how can you approximate these last five experiences by being in charge of your process of learning?
• Choose a learning program that’s flexible enough to meet your own aims and interests. To move in that direction establish good relationships and credibility with the powers that be (aka teachers, professors and administrators) to negotiate a process that works for you. I did this in the School of Public Administration at George Washington University while working on my MA and PhD. (That took many years of part-time education.)
• Scope out existing programs such as the range of approaches at Arizona State University. https://www.asu.edu/ If not accessible to you, use some of their approach/ideas to design processes and programs elsewhere.
• Design a series of experiences and courses for yourself over time that eventually integrate into a creditable, cohesive whole.
• Explore alternative approaches such as cohort learning: https://www.uprovidence.edu/about/news/cohort-style-learning/
• Combine related work and programs for experiential learning that melds well as in:
o Service Learning: Courses that combine community service work with structured classroom reflection.
o Co-op (Cooperative Education): Programs alternating regular academic courses with paid, professional work experience.
o Internships / Fieldwork: Credit-bearing courses paired with supervised, real-world work environments.
• Engage in stop and go over time as your personal and professional life permits. My mother took 30 years to complete her bachelor degree, but finally graduated with honors at the last minute while continuing working and taking final credits at night.
• What ideas do you have and who would be worthwhile for brainstorming?
Ways to make your opportunities and choices fun. Having fun is all about choosing joy, trying new things, and being playful. You can start by identifying interests, testing the water and offerings, sharing the experience with people you trust and enjoy and varying your routine. Start with just enough challenge to be stimulated without being overwhelmed. Make the time and opportunity to pick and choose what you want to do and try new things. Negotiate original grading criteria or mutually designed results-oriented assessments.
Consider and adapt any of the following for your situation that makes sense and inspires you:
• Repurpose rigid rules, while including challenges to stretch, discover new capacities, and act authentically and spontaneously. There are ways to experiment with opportunities to test new or different behaviors.
• Translate the nature of previous joyful experiences to new situations. Start modestly and engage collaborations for mutual benefit.
• Avoid getting stuck in routines by delegating, postponing, easing or dropping responsibilities that limit your positive experiences.
• Let go or minimize relationships that constrain or rob your energy and spontaneity. Invest in new relationships that you want to grow and deepen.
• Explore how others have offered new ideas in different contexts such as making playgrounds come alive to see what may be transferable or adapted. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playscapes
Throughout, respect your intuition and common sense. Have conversations about your ideas and proposed actions with people you respect and enjoy. Reward yourself for any progress, however modest.
https://daily.jstor.org/the-case-for-aesthetic-education/
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