For parents
Explore practical ways to think about children's digital play, participation, relationships and well-being.
PLAYS Learning Innovations | Child Development • Play • Digital Futures
Better digital experiences begin with understanding the child.
We help organisations, educators, designers and researchers make children’s digital experiences meaningful, developmentally appropriate, inclusive and safe. Our work is grounded in PLAYS: A Framework for Digital Play™.
Created by Dr. Jayanti Prakash
The organisation
PLAYS Learning Innovations
A child-development-led platform for improving the quality of children’s digital experiences.
Our work is organised around three connected pillars: PLAYS™ Evaluate for families and educators; PLAYS™ Audit + Creator for organisations developing digital products; and PLAYS™ Train for professionals and institutions. Research, licensing, credentials and original content expand this foundation as the methodology and market mature.
Our foundation: PLAYS: A Framework for Digital Play™ — created by Dr. Jayanti Prakash.
About PLAYS Learning InnovationsThe foundation of PLAYS
A child development lens for digital play.
The PLAYS framework adopts a child development lens. It recognises that children’s developmental stages, abilities, interests and contexts shape how they engage with digital play.
This lens informs how the framework considers the purpose, design, use and suitability of digital play experiences.
Play is the medium. Meaning is the purpose.
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P: Purposeful
Give play a reason.
Experiences with a meaningful purpose and opportunities to explore, create, discover and solve problems.
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L: Learner-led
Let the child lead.
Opportunities for children to exercise agency, make choices and follow their curiosity.
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A: Adult Connected
Bring people in.
Conversation, co-play, encouragement and reflection with caring adults.
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Y: Yielding Real-world Learning
Take play beyond the screen.
Connections between ideas on the screen, relationships, physical environments and everyday learning.
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S: Safe & Developmentally Appropriate
Make every child belong.
Respect for developmental stages, individual differences, privacy, safety and well-being.
The question we are asking
Beyond screen time. Towards meaningful experiences.
The conversation about children and technology often begins with how much time children spend on screens. That question matters, but it does not tell us enough about what children are doing, experiencing, creating or learning during that time.
PLAYS offers another way to look at digital play. It brings attention to the purpose of an experience, the agency children have, the relationships around them, the connections to real-world learning, and the conditions that support safety and development.
Read why PLAYS mattersA child development lens
What makes a digital experience meaningful for a child?
We need to look beyond the technology itself and consider the child's developmental stage, abilities, interests, relationships and context.
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Does the experience recognise the child's developmental stage, abilities and interests?
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Does it offer opportunities to explore, create, discover and make choices?
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Does it encourage participation, interaction and meaningful relationships?
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Does it connect with children's learning and experiences beyond the screen?
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Does it respect children's safety, well-being and individual needs?
The PLAYS ecosystem
One framework. Multiple ways to make a difference.
PLAYS translates a set of principles into practical assessment, professional learning, research, design and organisational support.
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01 / Evaluate
Assessment, Audit & Certification
Examine digital products, content, programmes and experiences through the five PLAYS principles.
Explore evaluation
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02 / Build capability
Training & Professional Learning
Help parents, educators, designers and organisations put meaningful digital play into practice.
Explore training
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03 / Create
PLAYS Studio
Bring research, design and creativity together to develop better experiences for children.
Explore the studio
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04 / Generate evidence
Research
Build and share evidence about children's play, learning and experiences in digital environments.
Explore research
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05 / Transform
Advisory
Support organisations to translate the framework into strategy, product decisions and practice.
Explore advisory
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06 / Explore the future
AI & Digital Play
Explore how artificial intelligence can support thoughtful design, assessment and research while keeping children, relationships and human judgement at the centre.
Explore AI & PLAYS
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07 / Put it to use
Resources
Access practical guides and reflection tools for families and professionals.
Explore resources
“The goal is not simply to reduce children's digital lives. It is to make those experiences more worthy of their time.”
Start here
Understand it. Assess it. Improve it.
Whether you are a parent thinking about your child's digital experiences or an organisation developing products for children, PLAYS offers a starting point for reflection and action.
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For professionals
Use PLAYS to reflect on learning experiences, content, design decisions and professional practice.
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For organisations
Review products and programmes, build team capability and explore strategic partnerships.
Our flagship offer
A practical route from assessment to improvement
The first institutional offer is the PLAYS™ Digital Play Quality Audit – Institutional Pilot Edition: a structured, evidence-led review that helps organisations understand strengths, identify gaps and improve children’s digital experiences.
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PLAYS™ Evaluate
A practical entry point for parents and educators to reflect on apps, games, videos and other digital experiences.
- Five-principle reflection
- Parent and educator resources
- Future premium evaluation reports
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PLAYS™ Audit + Creator
The core organisational service: assess existing products and support teams to improve them.
- Quick Review and Comprehensive Audit
- Design Review and Institutional Audit
- Improvement roadmap and advisory
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PLAYS™ Train
Build capability to apply the framework across product, content, education and institutional settings.
- Workshops and cohort programmes
- Practitioner learning pathway
- Future assessor development