How imaginary worlds help kids learn | Anna Rainio

Anna Rainio argues that expecting every child to learn and participate in the same way can exclude children whose needs or behavior do not fit classroom expectations. Play worlds offer another approach: adults and children enter a shared imaginary story, where children can take meaningful roles and adults can listen and respond. The story gives participation a common purpose without requiring every child to contribute in the same way.

The approach was developed by Swedish scholar Gunilla Lindqvist and is now studied by research teams around the world. In Rainio’s account, a play world is not simply a break from learning. A story or artwork helps shape a classroom world in which children can make proposals, negotiate what happens, and act within the story. Adults still guide the activity, but can respond to children’s ideas rather than treating unexpected behavior only as a problem to stop.

In a Baba Jaga play world, Rainio imagined a class of 20 seven-year-olds with different needs and ways of participating. When Viola proposed blowing up the school to rescue magical creatures, the other children negotiated a change: they would blow up props instead. The teacher told Viola she could join the rescue if she committed to the plan. Viola agreed, carried out her role, and involved the class. Rainio says the shared story made Viola’s disruptive behavior meaningful and created a route into participation that exclusion might have closed.

A separate play world centered on Ruben, a bird puppet, which children brought into songs, play, art, and math. Alma was at risk of disengaging, but bonded with Ruben and offered her soft toy Sunny as a companion for the lonely puppet. Rainio says the relationship also helped Alma remain calmer and more attentive during difficult activities. The example suggests that a fictional character could connect classroom activities to a relationship a child cared about, rather than relying only on direct instruction.

Luca, also at risk of disengaging, had disruptive behavior that led teachers to arrange for him to leave school early; Rainio says this made him feel more excluded. He later formed a close bond with Ruben. On a school field trip, putting Luca in charge of the puppet enabled him to attend trips that his behavior had often kept him from joining. A seven-year-old’s drawing of Ruben lifting Luca captured, for Rainio, how imagination could support a child’s development. The account links the role to access: Luca was given a way to take part in an activity he might otherwise have missed.

Rainio partnered with teachers to study play worlds designed to include neurodivergent children; she did not directly teach the children. She urges adults to ask “why not?” before refusing a child’s request. There may be a clear reason to say no, but going along can open possibilities that a quick refusal would foreclose. Rainio’s broader claim is that adult-child play can change classroom systems from within, and that early-learning systems should recognize its value and support and trust teachers who use it. The Baba Jaga and Ruben stories were fictional composites, with names and other details changed to protect students’ and teachers’ privacy.