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especially for young children. While I am sure we would all agree that young children play, this isn’t the same as playful learning. For me, playful learning is almost always goal- orientated, creative and less constrained by rules or perceived expectations than traditional lessons. In a word, it is joyful, and pleasure is taken from the exploration of a context. It can involve risk-taking, determination, increased autonomy and agency because it is all about an individual’s engagement with that context. It promotes self-awareness and self-regulation. Children see themselves as able to contribute; they need to think and therefore develop their personal agency. Within digital games, all of this can be present while still making sure the setting feels relaxed, and things don't get too competitive. Practical strategies Bringing popular educational digital games ‘to life’ in the classroom is exciting for children, particularly in KS1. The activity enables pupils to the value in learning in different ways, and may particularly benefit children who are struggling with the conceptual elements of mathematics. For example, handling money and relating it to written numbers can be tricky for some pupils. Setting up a market stall with real coins is a great way of giving children a chance to handle money, and to explore addition, subtraction and exchange in their role play. The inclusion of price stickers will support relating the coins to their numerical value. The BBC’s digital game, Space Shoppers, reinforces these money- handling skills in a digital world (tinyurl.com/ tp-SpaceShoppers). Another option might be to add a post office with weighing scales to help children work with heavier and lighter wrapped ‘parcels’ that need to be sorted. Children can then try relating these weights to their numerical values. This can be paired with Canine Crew (tinyurl.com/tp-CanineCrew) , a digital game that includes tasks to help ‘Postie Dog’ with sorting and measuring the mass of parcels. Careful thought is needed to bring digital games into real-life play scenarios. It’s worth asking: what is the learning and how can I best facilitate this? Which games will best consolidate learning or allow for experimentation and challenge? By bringing the structure and excitement of digital games into the physical classroom, through imaginative role play and hands-on activities, teachers can make abstract mathematical concepts more accessible and meaningful while building confidence and embedding knowledge and skills. Play-based approaches, including playful learning, not only deepen mathematical understanding but also nurture essential skills in communication, collaboration and problem-solving. TP Dr. Alison Borthwick is a mathematics adviser to BBC Bitesize. tinyurl.com/tp-BitesizeMaths The new BBC Bitesize game, The Canine Crew, features a bakery, post office and building site – each offering tasks designed to help Key Stage 1 children practise their measuring skills. You can replicate these digital scenarios in your own classroom in a variety of ways: Physical post office role play: set up a classroom corner as a post office. Children can take on roles such as postal workers, customers or delivery staff. This hands-on context allows them to physically handle objects, compare weights and measure sizes, providing tangible experiences of mass and size. Sorting and classifying activities: provide a variety of construction objects for children to sort into ‘light’, ‘medium’ and ‘heavy’ baskets, or arrange them from smallest to largest. Market stall and shopping list: set up a market stall of items. Give children a recipe from which to make a shopping list. Include items sold in sets, such as eggs, and items sold by weight, such as flour. V I RTUALLY REAL 48 | www.teachwire.net