About
Institute of Play was a non-profit design studio founded in 2007 by a group of game designers in New York City. An interdisciplinary team of designers, strategists and learning practitioners, IoP created learning experiences rooted in the principles of game design. The Institute’s research and design work has been widely featured as an innovative and accessible approach to transforming education through play.
The Institute of Play closed in 2019 but you can access their catalog of free resources here.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Quest to Learn
Pioneering a new model for schools that fully engages and empowers students to survive and thrive in the twenty-first century
Designed from the ground up by a team of educators, researchers, and game designers, and firmly grounded in over thirty years of learning research, Quest to Learn re-imagines school as one node in an ecology of learning that extends beyond the four walls of an institution and engages kids in ways that are exciting, empowering and culturally relevant.
Quest to Learn’s unique standards-based integrated curriculum mimics the action and design principles of games by generating a compelling “need to know” in the classroom. To learn more about the approach to curriculum at Quest to Learn, check out the featured resources below, which are free for download.
Game-Like Learning Principles
Our work is guided by a set of 7 Game-Like Learning Principles that bring together the principles of game design and learning design to make learning irresistible.
Everyone is a Participant
A shared culture and practice exists where everyone contributes, allowing students to contribute different types of expertise.
Failure is Reframed as Iteration
Opportunities exist for students and teachers to learn through failure. All learning experiences should embrace a process of testing and iteration.
Learning Feels Like Play
Learning experiences are engaging, learner-centered, and organized to support inquiry and creativity.
Learning happens by doing
Learning is active and experiential. Students learn by proposing, testing, playing with, and validating theories about the world.
Feedback is immediate and ongoing
Learners receive ongoing feedback on their progress against learning and assessment goals.
Challenge is Constant
A “need to know” challenges learners to solve a problem whose resources have been placed just out of reach.
Everything is Interconnected
Students can share their work, skill, and knowledge with others across networks, groups, and communities.
Research
Institute of Play has collaborated on the research and curation of games and learning reading lists and tools for designers and educators. Check out featured research below.
In addition to the resources found on this page, the Strong Museum of Play has acquired IoP’s collection of digital and physical artifacts, which they will make available to researchers soon.
Learning Games
Institute of Play game designers and curriculum specialists partnered with teachers to design, produce, playtest and refine games and other learning materials that engage students in exciting new ways. Here are some of the most popular resources, free for viewing and download.
Learn how to design your own learning game!
This game design resource provides tools and templates for designing a learning game.
Nintendo Labo Teacher Guide
Nintendo LaboTM kits provide the tools (software, cardboard, grommets, string, etc.) to make DIY creations called Toy-Con. The Nintendo Labo: Variety Kit, featured in this guide, includes materials to create a Fishing Rod, Motorbike, House, Piano, and two RC Cars. With these Toy-Con creations, kids can play games through a mix of physical and digital experiences, discover how Nintendo SwitchTM technology brings it all to life, and even create and program original Toy-Con projects.
