Growing Minds

Designed Through Play

Growing Minds is an educational game created to build ecological awareness and prepare children for a sustainable future. The design process was rooted in research, developed through continuous playtests with children and guided by feedback from teachers. From the earliest prototype to the current version, the game has been refined step by step, adapting to children’s behavior and the impact observed during testing. Schools in Hungary and France provided the context for these trials, ranging from alternative and environmentally focused education to traditional classrooms. This allowed the game to evolve into a flexible tool that meets children where they are, while encouraging essential skills such as systems thinking, adaptability, collaboration, and problem-solving. Growing Minds transforms learning into an engaging and meaningful journey, where play becomes a pathway to ecological understanding.

Building Skills Through Play

At its core, Growing Minds uses play as a powerful medium for education. The multi-level structure of the game allows children to progress through ecosystems, explore environmental dilemmas, and collaborate with peers. In doing so, they strengthen essential skills for the future, including systems thinking, adaptability, problem-solving, collaboration, and creative imagination. Each challenge encourages children to recognize patterns, adjust strategies, and develop resilience when faced with setbacks. These skills are woven seamlessly into the act of playing, making the learning process natural and engaging rather than forced. Ecological concepts that might otherwise seem abstract are turned into interactive experiences that children can feel, test, and apply. By approaching learning as a playful journey, Growing Minds cultivates curiosity, critical thinking, and confidence, encouraging children to see themselves as capable problem-solvers in both the game and real life.

Education as a Path to Change

Growing Minds was created from the belief that education is one of the most powerful tools for shaping a sustainable future. Children today will be the decision-makers of tomorrow, and the skills and awareness they develop now will guide how they respond to ecological and social challenges later in life. By making sustainability and ecological learning part of play, the game seeks to close the gap between abstract knowledge and lived experience. Its aim is not only to teach children about nature but to help them grow into individuals who can think critically, work collaboratively, and imagine new ways of living in harmony with the planet. Education becomes more than a transfer of knowledge; it becomes a transformative process that equips the next generation with the mindset and tools they need to build a balanced, resilient future. Growing Minds embodies this vision by showing how playful learning can become a foundation for ecological responsibility and long-term change.