PLACES – Playful Learning and Storytelling for the SDGs

Website: https://www.play-2-learn.eu

Playful learning and storytelling come together to inspire young people to take action for a sustainable and healthy future.

The PLACES project (Playful Learning and Storytelling that Create Engagement for the SDGs among children and young people) explored how creativity, design, and storytelling can inspire pupils to take action for a more sustainable world. Through playful learning methods and co-creation across schools in Denmark, Belgium, Italy, and Greece, teachers and students developed new ways of connecting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with everyday school life.

By embracing the principles of health promotion and the Health Promoting School (HPS) approach, PLACES showed how play, imagination, and storytelling can strengthen both learning and well-being. In this way, the project linked sustainability and health — two core elements in creating environments where children can thrive, learn, and feel empowered to contribute to positive change.

PLACES demonstrated how stories and play can strengthen engagement, empathy, and active citizenship – empowering young people to shape the future they want to live in.

For SHE national coordinators:
PLACES offers inspiration and concrete tools for integrating playful and health-promoting approaches into school development. Coordinators can use the project’s ideas and materials to support schools in combining creativity, sustainability, and well-being as part of the wider HPS network — making health promotion engaging, meaningful, and fun.

Discover the PLACES Academy and explore ready-to-use teaching materials, activities, and tools for playful learning and health promotion:
Visit the PLACES project website