Lila and Mudita
Joyful play and celebrating friends
Teacher Experience
A contemplative invitation for educators to reflect on before teaching.How might you create conditions for your students to express spontaneous joy and playfulness? Are there ways you might let the students be the leaders of a structured playtime experiment? What kinds of situations, games, or periods of lightly structured freedom would they universally enjoy? Take notes over time on what seems to make each student smile, and see how you might create the causes of joy for each of them to arise more often during your time together.
Student Experience
A contemplative invitation for students to connect with this learning goal.Remember a time when you were playing and felt really happy and free, like when you were dancing, drawing, building, or playing with friends. Think about how good that felt in your body and heart. Notice how your play changes, and that’s okay – sometimes you build something and then change it, and that can be part of the fun.
Understanding
Students will understand...Playing with joy and celebrating our friends’ happiness helps us feel good and creates a happy classroom and home environment. When we practice joyful play and feeling happy for others, we learn how to be kind and caring people.
Action
Students are able to...Practice spontaneous play and creative expression through movement, art, and imaginative activities; celebrate friends’ achievements with genuine happiness; and experience the joy of creating without worrying about the outcome.
Content Knowledge
Students will know...Play is essential for children. When we play, we can be creative, have fun, and learn new things. Lila is a special word that means playing with joy and happiness. Mudita means feeling happy when our friends feel happy too. When we play without worrying about doing everything perfectly, we can have more fun and discover new things.
Playing helps us use our imagination and try new ideas. When we see our friends succeed or feel happy, we can feel happy too. This makes everyone feel good and helps us be better friends. Playing together and celebrating together help us learn how to care for each other. When we play, things change, and that’s okay – sometimes we build something and then change it, and that can be part of the fun.
Guiding Questions
Implementation Possibilities
Create opportunities for unstructured play with art materials, building blocks, music, and movement activities where children can explore freely without predetermined outcomes. Establish celebration rituals to acknowledge friends’ achievements—clapping, cheering, sharing smiles, or creating simple gifts or drawings. Encourage spontaneous creative expression through dance, singing, finger painting, and imaginative play that promote trying things out without worrying about perfection. Facilitate group activities where children experience the joy of creating together—collaborative art projects, group songs, or building activities. Design simple games that promote celebrating others’ successes and taking turns being happy for friends. Provide regular opportunities for children to share their creations and receive genuine appreciation from peers and teachers.
Assessment Ideas
Observe children’s engagement in spontaneous play activities and their comfort with unstructured creative expression. Assess through direct observation of children’s ability to genuinely celebrate friends’ achievements and successes. Document evidence of joyful creating without outcome attachment through portfolio collections of artwork and play observations. Use informal assessment during group activities to note children’s ability to share in others’ happiness and excitement. Assess understanding through children’s natural expressions of joy and celebration during daily play and creative activities.
