Playdeia

Becoming through Play

Learning that makes children curious. Playdeia creates short, narrative-driven educational games for schools — starting with middle school science — along with the teaching methodology that helps teachers pick up the curiosity a game sparks and take it deeper.

Get involved How it works

The problem

Attention is the scarcest resource in the classroom.

Children grow up with formats engineered to hold their attention — and lessons are competing against them. Bans alone won’t fix this.

Children concentrate when something deserves their attention — not because the screen is gone, but because the story holds them.

The approach

The game sparks the curiosity. The lesson picks it up and goes deeper.

Short, visually rich games

On topics from chemistry, physics and biology, designed for middle school.

Understanding moves you forward

Every game tells a story in which grasping the concept is how you progress.

A classroom methodology

Guides and teacher training that turn 20 minutes of play into a full lesson that lasts.

Two decades of research point the same way: educational games work when they are embedded in teaching — not as a replacement, but as part of it. That is exactly where Playdeia begins. And we don’t want to claim impact; we want to measure it. Evaluation with research partners is built into the concept from day one.

The name

Play +
Paideia

Playdeia joins Play and Paideia. For the Greeks, paideia meant more than instruction: the formation of the whole person — education in its oldest, fullest sense. Play works on that whole person: curiosity, creativity, problem-solving, imagination, communication, relationships — but also concentration, attention and self-control.

That is what we mean by Playdeia: children developing curiosity on their own terms — with the agency to explore a story where they feel the stakes, can take risks, or stand in awe of what they discover, until they want to understand more, beyond the game itself. That is where a teacher meets them. And where play transcends the borders of the digital game: the story of exploration continues — in the classroom, in reflection rounds, in physical spaces like museums.

Hence our mission: helping children become — through play.

Where we stand

Beginning with questions, not products.

Playdeia is at the beginning. Before building the first game, we want to understand how teaching works today and where it genuinely needs support. So right now we are spending time everywhere children can pursue their curiosity and learn: observing lessons, listening, and testing first play-based formats.

Students exploring the solar system together on tablets in a science classroom — Illustrative image, AI-generated.

Get involved

We are looking for:

Schools and teachers (middle school, science subjects) willing to let us observe lessons or try a play-based teaching format with them

Museums, science centers, youth centres and other organisations with an educational mission, interested in developing a joint format

Research partners for evaluation and study design

Write to us:hello@playdeia.co

About the founder

Olena Rusnak

Playdeia is founded by Olena Rusnak. For twelve years she has led projects at the intersection of education and technology — across Europe, South-East Asia and Africa, working with Ministries of Education, schools, universities and teachers, as well as organisations including GIZ, the European Commission, UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank. In doing so, she has seen education systems from the inside, in very different contexts.

She holds an MSc in Education (Digital and Social Change) from the University of Oxford, with a focus on critical EdTech research.

Playdeia is her answer to the question that has stayed with her since: what does learning look like that holds children through their own curiosity?