ETD

• cross-gender role-play
• edu-LARP
• gender development
• paracosms
• philosophy of children
• play-based methods
• sociodramatic play

This paper examines how educational live-action role-play (Edu-LARP) can serve as an effective method for teaching philosophy in primary school. Drawing on developmental psychology and play studies, it argues that structured role-play extends mechanisms already present in children’s spontaneous pretend play—symbolic mediation, narrative framing, and social negotiation—thus supporting the emergence of abstract reasoning and early identity work. Empirical findings from two qualitative investigations and three experimental workshops (“Gendered Toys,” “Adam Smith and the Invisible Hand,” and “Investigate-Freud”) show how children intuitively enact ethical, economic, and psychological concepts through embodied participation. Placed in dialogue with historical and contemporary precedents, the study proposes Edu-LARP as a pedagogically robust framework that integrates cognitive, social, and affective dimensions of philosophical learning.