About the municipality

Billund Municipality is located in West Denmark and serves about 2,500 children in their six primary schools. Billund is the Capital of Children is also home to the LEGO organization. 

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Motivation

The benefits of learning through play are clear: enhancing cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development. It fosters critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity by encouraging children to explore, make decisions, and address challenges in a low-pressure environment. Play also promotes language development through conversations and imaginative activities, helping children expand their vocabulary and communication skills. Socially, it teaches cooperation, sharing, and negotiation, while emotionally it builds resilience, confidence, and empathy. Additionally, physical play supports motor skills, coordination, and overall health, making play a well-rounded, engaging approach to learning that nurtures a child's holistic growth.

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Desired outcome

A municipality where children experience play as the primary method they learn with from grade 0 until grade 9 when they leave primary school. 

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What we did

For the municipality: 

• Supported with the creation of a strategic plan to scale Playful Learning across all schools in the municipality 

• Developed a training program for school leaders and school staff (teachers and pedagogues)  

• Trained and support for School Consultants to build capacity and anchor the program

• Organised and completed an extensive evaluation report of Playful Learning for each participating school each year (interviews with students, staff, parents, leadership, classroom observation) 

• Organised and facilitated Learning Groups for municipality and foundation staff 

• Supported the handover of school support to the School Consultants 

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For each school

 

Preparation Year: 

• Co-created a strategic plan for Playful Learning implementation based on the strengths and needs of the school with the school leadership 

• Facilitated leadership preparation workshops around Project-Based Learning, Learning through Play and change-management 

• Staff workshops on the foundations of Project-Based Learning, key practices within PBL, project evaluation, student-centered assessment and using Maker-Spaces

• Organized Inspiration Tours for staff to visit other schools in Denmark working with Project-Based Learning 

 

Implementation Years (3): 

• Onsite support (1-2 days per week) for leadership and staff 

• Support with: project design, implementation, co-teaching in specific PBL practices, evaluation, assessment, visual tools for students, Learning through Play in teaching outside of PBL, shining Bright Spots of areas of practice that are growing and many other things.  

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Results

In process. 

 

The final evaluation conducted by PLUSS is completed in June 2027. 

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