Learning and play go hand in hand

Alicia Quan and Sarah Mondestin hang out with Michelle Lee , Partner and Managing Director of IDEO’s Play Lab. This convo is so delightful and fun! So much inspiration to go around. Listeners will be enriched. Michelle discusses her unconventional career journey from mechanical engineering to toy design, and eventually to leading kid-focused projects. She emphasizes the importance of play in learning and its application beyond childhood, highlighting her work with companies like VTech, IDEO, and Sesame Workshop. Michelle shares insights into designing engaging and meaningful digital experiences, such as Elmo Calls and the Space Explorer Bus project. She also explores the application of playful design in unexpected areas like smoking cessation and robo-investing. Michelle provides valuable advice for designers and researchers in the EdTech space, encouraging them to observe, learn, and engage with the target audience, particularly children. The conversation also touches on balancing digital and real-life learning experiences and includes personal stories of learning new skills and bonding through play. Chapters 00:00 Introduction; from Aerospace to Toy Design 06:25 Balancing Digital and Real-Life Learning 14:21 Designing for Preschoolers 21:11 Incorporating Play in Unexpected Places 24:49 The Role of Play in Learning 27:26 Balancing Seriousness and Play 29:41 Advice for Designers and Researchers 34:36 Curiosity and Inspo

You can listen to Learning and play go hand in hand online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Learning and play go hand in hand is an episode from UX of EdTech by Alicia Quan.

This episode is 00:43:36 long.

This episode was published on Jun 4, 2025.

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