Play at DFI
A fundamental part of our mission at DFI is to honor play as a site of imagination, creativity, and possibility. By centering the voices of young people and recognizing the value of play for adults, we gain a fuller understanding of the complexity of play, as well as its role in fostering community, shaping identities, and nurturing overall well-being. This approach also helps us to refine our understanding of the conditions that facilitate play—the materials, individuals, environments, and boundaries that distinguish and comprise play in its many forms.
Playful Projects
Browse the following play-centric projects incubated at DFI.
Pop and Play
Professors Haeny Yoon and Nathan Holbert take play seriously. On their podcast, Pop and Play, they talk with educators, parents and kids about how they play in their work and their lives, and why play matters.
Play and Wellbeing Site
Play and Wellbeing is a public pedagogy project that compiles and synthesizes research, commentaries, and original multimodal works that address the many dimensions of play across the lifespan, and their impacts on wellbeing.
DFI Gallery
Play is infused into many of the exhibits in the DFI Gallery, including the past exhibits of Puppets in Education, Sandbox, Boundaries of Adventure Playgrounds, and Playing with Form.
Open Practices
Open Practices is a hub for collective study and experimental educational forms. Housed at the Digital Futures Institute, at Teachers College, it is open to faculty, students, practitioners, and anomalies, anywhere. It is loosely organized around the common form of the reading group (although “practice group” might also work). Current and proposed groups include: Puppets, Gestures, Diagrams, Aphorisms, Improvisational Reading, and Somatics.
DFI Opportunities for Play
Check out these additional opportunities at DFI for becoming involved in play and playful projects: