There is something wonderfully honest about the way children play. They become completely absorbed in the challenge before them—thinking, negotiating, experimenting, adapting, celebrating success and learning how to respond when things don’t go as planned. They are not consciously trying to develop resilience, communication or critical thinking. Yet, more often than not, that is exactly what they are doing.

Every teacher, however, knows another reality. Schools are places of both discovery and responsibility. There are curriculum objectives to achieve, lessons to prepare, learning outcomes to meet and limited time in which to do it all. The question, then, is not whether children should play instead of learning. It is how educators can harness the power of play to create learning experiences that develop both academic understanding and the transversal skills children need for life.

This is where the SPIRIT Games Toolbox finds its purpose. It is built on a simple but important principle: play should always remain meaningful and engaging for the child. Sometimes this happens through carefully selected games that naturally encourage communication, collaboration, emotional regulation or strategic thinking. At other times, it happens through game-based learning, where the game itself becomes the learning experience, or through gamification, where teachers borrow the elements that make games so engaging—such as choice, challenge, feedback, progression and storytelling—to transform the way learning is experienced without turning the lesson itself into a game.

Perhaps this is one of the most encouraging messages for teachers. Choosing to use games in education does not mean setting academic learning aside. It means recognising that meaningful engagement and purposeful learning can strengthen one another. A board game can become a space where children practise decision-making, emotional regulation and flexibility. A gamified history lesson can encourage curiosity, teamwork and deeper participation while still meeting curriculum goals. A classroom challenge can transform assessment into an opportunity for reflection, growth and collaboration. When thoughtfully designed, these experiences do not compete with learning—they enrich it.
The SPIRIT project embraces this broader view of learning. Games are not included simply because children enjoy them, although that matters too. They are included because they create rich opportunities for children to experience challenge, receive feedback, make decisions, collaborate, reflect and try again—all within environments that encourage active participation rather than passive learning.

Perhaps the real lesson is not that children learn through games. It is that children learn best when they are genuinely engaged in what they are doing. Whether that engagement comes through a traditional game, a game-based learning activity or a thoughtfully gamified lesson, the goal remains the same: to create learning experiences where knowledge, skills and human development grow together. Because when engagement and purpose meet, academic learning and transversal skill development no longer compete for time—they strengthen one another.