Edu-LARP UK

Seedling Productions has been at the forefront of Edu-LARP development for twenty years.    

Edu-LARP engages students, it is not directly a method of teaching, it is simply a method of engaging. To play, a child needs to engage. If a child plays, a child will learn. Once they have mastered play, they have mastered learning. Facilitate and direct play and the teacher is facilitating and directing learning.

It is into such a world of play and imagination that we bring our students, many of whom have SEN needs and many of these are emotional and behavioural needs. Often our students have found themselves at odds with mainstream educations. The aim of Edu-Larp at Root 'n' Branch Acres is simply to teach students how to learn, or more to the point, how to play. The results speak for themselves.
It sounds simple, too simple. Why shouldn’t it be? If you take a child that has failed to engage in learning, learning backed by the most complex of systems, such as you have in the UK, what can you do?

You must continue to try, but to add further layers of complications, new initiatives, new rules {negotiated or imposed} new routines and official procedures; all layered on top, simply invites further levels of refusal, of defiance and manipulation by students to avoid learning. These negative skills, many of the students we meet have already mastered. This is not simply speculation; Seedling Productions’ staff have decades of front-line educational experience along with decades more of LARP experience.

Seedling Productions has created ever evolving games worlds into which students can be immersed. This emersion itself is done by proxy, through a character. If the character is to survive and advance the character must learn and evolve. The student is simply playing a game. If the character fails it matters only in that the character may not, at this stage, advance. The student however, at all stages remains successful because they have played the game, taken on the role, learnt how to ensure their character does better next time. This strategy is specifically designed for play, therefore specifically designed for learning. Designed to immerse our students, to facilitate play through the suspension of disbelief, which only leads to positive learning experiences.

Alongside creating and immersive curriculum Seedling Productions’ team have also created an immersive physical environment to create awe and wonder and engage the young people in learning. Once a section of the world is created it becomes live, it exists, the children (and adults) can literally touch it, smell it, hear it and interact with it. Some of the structures on the site are permanent, follies such as the Amphitheatre and sensory gardens. Other features come and go adding new wonder and inspiration for all.

An example of this was the roman trade ship which allowed for the children from mainstream primary schools studying Romans to have a hands-on experience of life onboard and trading around the Mediterranean on our WOW days. It gave our Inclusion 1-1 students a new way to learn about and be engaged with history topics and key skills whilst allowing for movement, noise, excitement and interaction along with a sense of awe in a safe and constructive environment.

If you know a young person or a group who would benefit from a different educational experience, then get in touch yourself or through your school or college.

If curiosity has got the better of you and your imagination is running wild with the thoughts of fairies or elves, Celtic warriors or knights of old, hiding in dark woodlands or battling through meadows, then come play with us at Root ‘n’ Branch yourself.  We run both family and adult larp games on the site, that are open to the public to book.