Play for Learning and Development

What if learning felt like play?


Join Global Play Brigade in collaboration with Yes, And Higher Education Network (YAHE) and Cultivating Ensembles for Playtelligence: The Art of Re-Imagining Learning—a two-day global playshop where we break free from traditional learning and embrace the power of play, improvisation, and creativity! If you’re an educator, innovator, student or just curious about harnessing the power of play for learning and development, this playshop is for you. 


This isn’t a conference—it’s an experience. Expect interactive workshops led by expert facilitators who will share practical tools and insights on playful learning.


Check out details of our playshop offerings below.

Register

Friday, March 28, 2025


  • Embrace the Unknown: It’s what we got
  • Let's Dance with Mistakes!
  • Let's inspire & create community with our concerns about our planet
  • Put On Your Dandelion Glasses: Regeneration through Nature & Play
Register

Saturday, March 29, 2025


  • Let's Dance with Mistakes!
  • EN LOS ZAPATOS DEL OTRO (In the others' shoes)
  • Rediscovering Education
  • Embrace the Unknown: It’s what we got!
  • Play with Science & Arts

Friday Time zones

4 pm PDT Los Angeles

5 pm CST Mexico

7 pm EDT New York

8 pm Brazil & Argentina

7 am CST China (March 29)

8 am JST Japan (March 29)

10 am AEDT Australia (March 29)

12 pm NZDT New Zealand (March 29)

Saturday Time zones

8 am CST Mexico

10 am EDT New York

11 am Brazil & Argentina

2 pm GMT UK

3 pm CET Europe & WAT Nigeria

7:30 pm IST India

7 am PDT Los Angeles


You can register for one day, or two.

We’ll first gather together as one group (across many different countries and organizations) and then you’ll get to choose which 45-50 minute workshop you’d like to attend.

MEET OUR HOSTS

Friday, March 28

Saturday, March 29

Facilitators and Playshops for Friday

Toto Carandang - Phillippines

Click to learn more about the facilitator

We spend so much time teaching what we know, but what if true learning comes from embracing what we don’t? In a world of constant change, relying on old knowledge isn’t enough—we need improvisation, curiosity, and a willingness to explore the unknown. Join educators, students, and change-makers as we use play and performance to rethink learning, adapt to uncertainty, and grow together in ways we never imagined. Let’s step boldly into the unknown—because that’s where possibility lives!

Let's Dance with Mistakes

Join our playful language workshop! Embrace the mindset, "It’s OKAY to make mistakes!" Here, life and language aren't about right or wrong, and test scores don't define us. Mistakes lead to valuable feedback and joy. In this workshop, you will experience error correction as fun and inspiring, creating something new from each error. Enjoy making mistakes through improv games, playful settings, and overcome fears together. Let's make learning joyful, heartful, and meaningful!

Create community with our concerns about our planet

When talk turns to the unsettling frequency of extreme weather and man-made disasters, what if we choose to lead with curiosity and creativity instead of frustration and fear? If we try to accept—better yet, embrace—unknowability of the future, we can be more prepared to participate in what’s transpiring and give some direction to it. More prepared to create with others what will emerge from the process. More prepared to improvise. More prepared to grow. In this workshop, we’ll break down outdated thinking, explore conversations that generate hope (not helplessness), and rethink what resilience looks like when the future is wildly unpredictable.


Put On Your Dandelion Glasses: Regeneration through Nature & Play
Experience the world and life through a new perspective! Is the dandelion a weed or a flower? Are things up or down? It’s up to you! Put on your dandelion glasses and bring your playful spirit to explore the cycles of nature to reveal how you and other adults see (and want to see!) the journey of life. Make a wish and blow seeds of change and hope into the world!


Facilitators and Playshops for Saturday

Play with Science and Arts

Explore experiences in and out of the classroom with tricks and tips for facilitating engagement! Bring your curiosity, presence, and authentic selves and co-create with us, through play and collaborative learning. Join the organizers of improvscience and Cultivating Ensembles and experience the interactive playful activities and methodology that have built virtual ensembles and produced an interdisciplinary, inclusive, and playful community.

EN LOS ZAPATOS DEL OTRO (In the others' shoes)

Únete a nuestro taller de juego para explorar sentimientos, emociones y vivencias desde los zapatos del otro. Jueguemos con la empatía y otros puntos de vista para entendernos mejor como humanidad, y veamos al otro como espejo de mis propias emociones. 

Let's Dance with Mistakes!

Join our playful language workshop! Embrace the mindset, "It’s OKAY to make mistakes!" Here, life and language aren't about right or wrong, and test scores don't define us. Mistakes lead to valuable feedback and joy. In this workshop, you will experience error correction as fun and inspiring, creating something new from each error. Enjoy making mistakes through improv games, playful settings, and overcome fears together. Let's make learning joyful, heartful, and meaningful!

Rediscovering Education

The world is changing, and so should education! Traditional learning methods often fail to keep up with how students think and grow. Instead of forcing everyone into the same box, what if students became equal partners in shaping their learning journey? Education isn’t just about books—it’s about emotions, social skills, and discovering the world in a way that makes sense to them. Join us as we reimagine what education can be today!

We spend so much time teaching what we know, but what if true learning comes from embracing what we don’t? In a world of constant change, relying on old knowledge isn’t enough—we need improvisation, curiosity, and a willingness to explore the unknown. Join educators, students, and change-makers as we use play and performance to rethink learning, adapt to uncertainty, and grow together in ways we never imagined. Let’s step boldly into the unknown—because that’s where possibility lives!

WHAT IS A GLOBAL PLAYSHOP?

Play with strangers across the world

The Global Play Brigade hosts three (s) global events per year as part of our mission to make PLAY mainstream and available to all. So far in 2024, we have hosted Heart and Power; where we focussed on mental health and well being, and Playtelligence; where we explored how play and creativity is necessary for learning, development and education. Every attendee has the option of joining workshops of their choice. Our last Global Playshop was attended by over 200 people from 29 countries, including China, Nigeria, Argentina, Ukraine, Serbia, Israel, Kuwait, Gibraltar, Peru, Japan, and the UK. Will you join to build the movement?


How will it work? 


25-minutes - Welcome & playful warm-up exercise
50-minutes - Choose one workshop to attend (see above)

15-minutes - Reflections 




MARCH 2025

THEME: PLAYTELLIGENCE - REIMAGINING LEARNING


FAQ



I’m super excited to join the workshop! But…What exactly will happen during this workshop?

Thank you for your curiosity! Here’s what’s gonna happen;


1. You will change your Name on Zoom with your first name and country

2. We will tell you about the event

3. We will explain what Global Play Brigade really is

4. We will introduce a lineup of the workshops ready for you

5. You will choose which workshop to join

6. You will join the breakout room for the workshop you’ve chosen

7. You will participate in the workshop for 50 minutes

8. You will come back to the mainroom after the workshop is over

9. We will have a reflection session as a whole

10. We will inform you about next GPB workshop and more events

How to Use Zoom

1. Oh wow…so much to happen!!!!! By the way, How can I change my name on Zoom?

You can hover above your picture until you see the three dots. Click the three dots and you should see the option to rename yourself. If you’re still having trouble, just drop your name and country in the chat.


2. Okay, I think I can do that, thanks. Hmm…How can I join a Breakout Room?

Don’t worry, it’s quite simple. First, please check the descriptions of each workshop above. Once you decide which workshop you’d like to take, you can rename yourself with the number of the breakout room you’d like to join.


Or, if you’re fairly comfortable with Zoom, you can just join the breakout like you usually do.


Here is a video that tells you how to join a breakout room

on zoom. Check it out!

Wonderful! Now I think I am ready. Oh, one more thing! Do you have any language support during the workshop?

We have a Zoom translation system that supports non-English speaking friends!

Help! Where is my join link?

These workshops are virtual and you will need a Zoom link to join.


You will receive the join link in your email after registering on Eventbrite or Zoom.

Email