Using Play as Glue: 6 Superpowers That Reconnect Schools and Families

By Jarrod Robinson · November 15, 2025 · 11 min read

Dale Sidebottom and Paul Campbell from The School of Play share six research-backed superpowers of play — with practical games you can use tomorrow to strengthen connection, build resilience, and bring joy back to schools and homes.

What if the most powerful tool for building stronger schools and happier families was already in every classroom, every backyard, and every living room — and it didn't cost a cent?

In this exclusive ConnectedPE session, Dale Sidebottom and Paul Campbell — co-founders of The School of Play — unpack why play isn't just fun. It's the glue that reconnects us to the people who matter most.

Over 57 minutes, Dale and Paul share six research-backed superpowers of play, demonstrate games you can use tomorrow, and make a compelling case for why every adult — not just kids — needs more play in their life.

Watch the full session below, then keep reading for a complete breakdown of every strategy, game, and insight they shared.

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Who Are Dale Sidebottom and Paul Campbell?

Dale and Paul are Australian educators, coaches, and keynote speakers who have spent the last two decades helping leaders, teachers, and teams reconnect with what matters most — people, purpose, and play.

They co-founded The School of Play, a global movement dedicated to improving wellbeing, engagement, and leadership through play-based approaches. Together, they've worked with thousands of schools, businesses, and sporting organisations across Australia and around the world.

Dale's background spans PE teaching, fitness coaching, and wellbeing consulting. Paul brings expertise in education leadership, positive psychology, and community development. Together, they call themselves "play consultants" — and yes, that's absolutely a thing.

We absorb energy off other people. There's no ifs or buts about that. When we're in person and we are playing with people — navigating challenges, experiencing success — we absorb each other's energy. Laughter in particular. There is nothing better for forming deep, strong connections and experiences.

Dale Sidebottom

Why This Session Matters Right Now

Dale and Paul opened the session with a frank admission: even as play consultants, they struggle with the same thing every parent and teacher faces.

I've got a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old at home. After teaching all day or presenting, you come home and I'm drained. My wife goes, 'Dale, you're a play consultant.' And I haven't been able to think about things. So I started creating lesson plans for when I get home with my kids. Because if I wasn't doing that, it wasn't a really good experience — that time from five to seven at night.

Dale Sidebottom

This honesty sets the tone for the entire session. Play isn't something that just happens. You have to be intentional about it — especially when screens offer an easier default.

Their core message: screens aren't the enemy. But without intentional play, families and schools start to drift apart. And it only takes 10 minutes a day to change that.

The Six Superpowers of Play

The heart of the session is Dale and Paul's framework: six superpowers that explain why play does far more than just entertain. Each superpower comes with practical games and strategies you can use immediately.

Superpower #1: Connection

The most fundamental superpower. When you play with someone — whether it's a dice game, a board game, or a sock fight in the hallway — you create shared emotional experiences that screens simply cannot replicate.

Shared laughter without screens — when you get that, it's amazing. You absorb each other's energy. Laughter in particular. There is nothing better for forming deep, strong circles and connections.

Paul Campbell

Paul shared a brilliant example from that very morning: pulling all 20 pairs of socks off the clothesline, rolling them up, and ambushing his 7-year-old with a throw. Within seconds, the whole family was running through the house — pillow in one hand, socks in the other — having a full-blown sock fight.

The takeaway: Connection through play doesn't require special equipment, a plan, or even much time. It requires being present and willing to be silly.

🎲 Game: Gratitude Pictionary

Dale and Paul kicked off the session with this one — and it's perfect for classrooms or family nights:

  1. Give everyone a piece of paper and a pen.
  2. Set a timer for 60 seconds.
  3. Each person draws their highlight of the year so far — no words allowed.
  4. When the timer stops, take turns guessing what each person drew.
  5. The real magic: the conversation that follows the guessing.

Why it works: The time pressure means nobody draws well, which removes the fear of judgment. The guessing creates laughter. And the sharing creates genuine connection — you learn things about people you never would have through normal conversation.

Superpower #2: Communication

Play creates natural, low-stakes opportunities for communication that feel nothing like a forced team-building exercise. When you're focused on winning a dice game or solving a card puzzle, conversations happen organically.

Dale and Paul demonstrated this with their Dice Towers game — and the communication it generates is remarkable.

🎲 Game: Dice Towers

All you need: 6 standard dice and a set of conversation questions.

  1. Two players take turns rolling all 6 dice.
  2. You're trying to build a 'tower' by collecting numbers 1 through 6 — in order.
  3. On your turn, roll all your remaining dice. If you roll the next number in your sequence, keep it. If not, your turn is over.
  4. First person to complete their tower (1-2-3-4-5-6) wins.
  5. Here's the kicker: the winner rolls one die. Whatever number comes up, both players answer a question — the winner from the 'Would You Rather' set, the other from the 'Positive Gauge' set.
  6. Example winner question: 'Would you rather your only form of transport be a donkey or a giraffe?'
  7. Example other question: 'When I look in the mirror, I love the person I see because...'

Why it works: The game itself is exciting (the dice create genuine tension and celebration), but the real value is the conversation questions at the end. You're creating a space where people share things they'd never volunteer unprompted — what they're proud of, what makes them laugh, what they value.

Dale uses this game with everyone from his 4-year-old to school principals in workshops. The pair format is crucial — playing in pairs creates psychological safety.

Superpower #3: Resilience Through Failure

This is one of the most powerful superpowers — and one that many adults have lost touch with.

We now need to get young people — but even adults as well — excited about making mistakes. Walk the walk. Talk's cheap. They need to see it. They need to feel it. And that's where modelling it and feeling it through play is really powerful.

Dale Sidebottom

Dale shared a personal practice that's simple but transformative: he keeps sticky notes on his fridge at home, and when he makes a mistake or fails at something, he writes it down and sticks it up. His kids see it every day.

The result? His 7-year-old started doing it too. Then his friends noticed. Then they wanted to do it. Failure became something to celebrate rather than hide.

For teachers: Do the same thing in your classroom. Put your own failures on a Post-it note on the board each day. Your students will walk in and go, "What's sir gonna put on the board today?" And eventually, brave students will follow your lead — and then the rest of the class follows theirs.

Board games are the ultimate resilience tool. Chess, Connect Four, Scrabble, and Guess Who all naturally involve losing — repeatedly. Dale described starting chess with his 7-year-old and watching the transformation over just 11 games: "The last four games, how much longer the games went for. I reckon I'm not far off him beating me."

The key insight: find the balance between making every moment a teachable moment and just letting play be fun. Sometimes let a mistake go by. Don't turn every loss into a lecture. Just play.

Superpower #4: Presence and Mindfulness

We have 60,000 to 70,000 thoughts a day. During play, that noise drops dramatically.

Dale and Paul call this play-based mindfulness, and it might be the most underrated benefit of play:

If you think about it — for those 5, 7, 8, 12 minutes you are playing — you're not thinking about your mortgage. You're not thinking about your marking. You're just literally present and focused on executing your strategy, your laughter, your fun, your frustration. When you do that, you allow yourself the time to actually switch off from the world and free your mind up.

Dale Sidebottom

Their practical rules for play-based mindfulness:

  1. Be intentional — schedule it, even if it's just 10 minutes.
  2. You only need 10 minutes. Don't put pressure on yourself for an hour-long session.
  3. Get rid of the phone. Leave it on the kitchen table. Set a 10-minute timer if you must.
  4. After 10 minutes, take a break, check your phone if you need to, then come back for another round.
  5. Choose games that demand attention — card games, dice games, anything with strategy.

Superpower #5: Brain Development and Strategic Thinking

Dale is passionate about this one — and for good reason.

The best superpower I've seen with my own children is the way that play develops the brain and gets it firing and learning — which then allows learning in other areas of life to take place. You get a young person and teach them Connect Four or chess, and you watch their strategic development start expanding every single game. It is mind-blowing.

Dale Sidebottom

The transfer is real: strategic thinking learned through board games doesn't stay in the game. It bleeds into problem-solving at school, social situations, and eventually work and life.

🃏 Game: Memory Lane

This is one of Dale and Paul's signature workshop games — and it beautifully demonstrates how play teaches strategic thinking and teamwork. Best played in groups of 4-5.

Setup: Lay out a deck of cards face-down, approximately 5 metres from the starting point. Cards are Ace through King (13 cards).

  1. One person at a time runs to the cards. They can flip over one card.
  2. The team must bring back cards in order: Ace first, then 2, then 3, and so on.
  3. If you flip a card you don't need yet, put it back face-down and run back.
  4. Time the first round. Teams typically take 30-40 shuttle runs.
  5. After round one, tell them: 'That was great. But it can be done far better. Huddle up and think of strategies.'
  6. Play again and time it. They'll complete it in half the time.

What happens: In round one, students play like individuals — running up, flipping cards, not communicating. After the huddle, they start sharing where cards are, communicating positions, and — if you watch closely — some clever students start moving cards into a logical order on the ground.

The life lesson: "In life you're gonna face problems. Try not to solve it on your own. Share the problems with the people around you. Come up with a strategy together and you'll nut that problem out. A problem shared is a problem halved."

The PE bonus: The shuttle runs mean students get serious physical activity without even noticing. Fitness by stealth.

📋 The Play-Based SWOT

After any game or activity, Dale and Paul recommend a simple reflection framework — the Play-Based SWOT:

The power move: after discussing threats, go back and highlight the strengths and opportunities. The threats become diminished. And the weaknesses? The more you play, the more they turn into strengths.

Dale shared a powerful example: "Come back to the SWOT after three or four games of chess. The strategy starts getting far better. Come back and go, 'Hey, remember we did this? One of your areas of improvement was strategy. Look at you go now.' You're gonna fill them with pride."

Superpower #6: Joy as a Daily Practice

Dale's favourite superpower — and the one that ties everything together.

Life needs to be fun. Too many people these days are just too serious. Joy as a daily practice is not negotiable. Don't wait for the weekend to relax and switch off. If you can put in 10 minutes a night when you get home from work — just play — I guarantee it'll help you forget about the stresses of the day.

Paul Campbell

The critical point that Dale and Paul make: you don't need kids to play. You need to do this as an individual first. Play isn't just for children. Adults who play are healthier, happier, and better at their jobs.

Their favourite quote, printed on the back of Paul's shirt: "We don't stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing."

🎲 Game: High Low

A dead-simple family or classroom game that takes seconds to learn:

  1. Grab 5 dice each (or share a set).
  2. Each player rolls all 5 dice.
  3. Try to get the highest combined total.
  4. If you roll a 1, that die is eliminated. Set it aside.
  5. Keep rolling your remaining dice until you choose to stop (banking your score) or you lose all dice.
  6. Highest total wins.

The beauty of this game is the risk-reward decision: do you keep rolling and risk losing more dice, or do you bank a safe score? It creates natural drama, laughter, and groans — and the conversation it sparks is always better than any planned icebreaker.

The Equipment You Need (And Don't Need)

One of the most refreshing things about Dale and Paul's approach is the simplicity. Every game in this session uses the same basic equipment:

No apps. No expensive resources. No preparation beyond having dice in your drawer and questions on cards. This is play at its most accessible.

Bringing Play Home: The Intentionality Framework

Throughout the session, Dale and Paul kept returning to one word: intentional. Play doesn't happen by accident — especially when screens are the path of least resistance.

Their practical framework for making play a daily habit:

  1. Schedule it. Block out 10-15 minutes a day. Put it in your calendar if you need to. Dale literally creates 'lesson plans' for his time with his kids at home.
  2. Remove the barriers. Phone goes on the kitchen table. No screens during play time. Set a timer if that helps you let go.
  3. Start ridiculously small. One dice game after dinner. Gratitude Pictionary on a Saturday morning. A sock fight when the laundry's done.
  4. Model it. Kids follow what you do, not what you say. If you play, they play. If you celebrate failure, they celebrate failure.
  5. Vary it. Rotate between connection games, strategy games, physical games, and reflective activities. The six superpowers give you a framework for variety.
  6. Don't make every moment teachable. Sometimes just play. Let the mistakes go. Have fun. The learning happens whether you point it out or not.

Why This Content Only Exists on ConnectedPE

Dale Sidebottom and Paul Campbell are among the most sought-after wellbeing and play consultants in education. Their workshops, books (The Playful Astronauts and 365 Days of Play), and family membership platform represent years of refined practice.

This full 57-minute session — with every game demonstrated live, every strategy explained in detail, and every personal story shared — is available exclusively through ConnectedPE's course library. It's one of over 100 professional development sessions from world-class presenters that ConnectedPE members can access anytime.

Dale also features in two other ConnectedPE sessions:

The Bottom Line

Play isn't a break from real life. It is real life — the part that makes everything else work better. Connection, communication, resilience, presence, brain development, and joy: these aren't soft skills. They're the foundation of thriving schools, healthy families, and fulfilled adults.

We don't stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing. You've gotta be intentional with it. Life gets busy and we just forget. But I promise you — just inject a little bit of play in your life, and it compliments everything you do.

Dale Sidebottom & Paul Campbell

Grab some dice. Grab some cards. Leave your phone in the kitchen. And play.

Tags: Play-Based Learning, Wellbeing, Dale Sidebottom, School of Play, Family Engagement, Resilience, Professional Development