Pre-service teachers’ insights on co-designing and implementing digital games to promote children’s outdoor playful learning

This study explores how pre-service teachers design and use digital games to enrich children’s outdoor playful learning in the Finnish primary school context. The article highlights how future educators combine technology, creativity, and outdoor pedagogy to create learning experiences that spark curiosity, movement, and imagination. Through co-design, the teachers developed game-based activities that encouraged children to explore their surroundings, collaborate with peers, and engage playfully with both the physical and digital worlds.

The findings show that when teachers are supported to experiment with playful digital tools, they can rethink outdoor learning in innovative ways, bridging nature, technology, and pedagogy. The study contributes new insights into how teacher education can foster creative, playful, and future-oriented teaching practices.

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Abstract: The objectives of this research are twofold: first, to investigate the experiences and reflections of pre-service teachers as they engage in the pedagogical design process of co-creating digital games for outdoor playful learning in primary school settings; and second, to contribute to the development of outdoor playful learning pedagogy and teacher education in alignment with the growing adoption of playful approaches in higher education. The research data comprises self-reports from the pre-service teachers (N = 18), specifically their writings, in which they reflected their experiences related to the planning and implementation of outdoor playful learning activities. The findings indicate that the most significant insights and experiences arising from the process were associated with outdoor playful learning pedagogy, digital competence and guidance in outdoor learning, the collaborative game design process, and the learning outcomes of the children. The findings have practical implications for the development of outdoor playful learning and teacher education.

Kangas, M., Kyrö-Ämmälä, O., & Sun, L. (2025). Pre-service teachers’ insights on co-designing and implementing digital games to promote children’s outdoor playful learning. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/14729679.2025.2566478