A century of building worlds

Play as a language: the first researchers to treat a built world as something that could be observed, recorded and read.

1911

H. G. Wells

In “Floor Games”, Wells describes how a child reveals themselves by building with simple wooden toys — the first published account of construction play as a window into the inner world.

1925

Margaret Löwenfeld

Develops the “Welttechnik” in London: a standardised set of miniatures and a sand tray, used to record and interpret a child’s play in a therapeutic setting.

1925

Melanie Klein

Uses play material as the basis for psychoanalytic work with children, influenced by Anna Freud, establishing play as a legitimate clinical language.

1932

Charlotte Bühler

Uses the material to measure children’s behaviour and intelligence, developing the first systematic scoring approach — and brings the test to the Netherlands.

1936

Arthus & Van Wijlick

Arthus frames building as a test of creative capacity; Van Wijlick works on standardisation under Bühler, laying the groundwork for norm-based interpretation.

From an insightful method to a measurable instrument — norms, manuals and a theoretical grounding.

1945

P. Mabille

Standardises the material further, reading both the built structure and the symbolic meaning of the four quadrants of the table.

1947

L. N. J. Kamp

Establishes age norms and a diagnostic framework for the World Game, making it usable as a clinical instrument in Dutch child psychiatry.

1970

Nel Ojemann

Shapes the pedagogical “Ojemann World Game” and publishes its first standardised manual — the version most widely used in Dutch education today.

1979

M. Lahpor-Pluymakers

Links Piaget’s theory of spatial development to World Game levels, connecting what a child builds to their cognitive capacity.

Training, partnerships and university research carry the World Game into clinical and educational practice worldwide.

1997

VU Brussel

Portael & Andries show the World Game’s value in signalling reading problems, including early indicators of dyslexia.

1999

Institute Kind in Beeld

Marion van de Coolwijk carries the test forward and builds the practitioner training that keeps it in active use.

2016

International partners

Collaboration begins with Linda Silverman (Gifted Development Center, USA) and the Gifted Institute in Denmark, taking the test beyond the Netherlands.

2018

First international training

The first international training took place in spring 2018 in Denmark, where a group of international scientists came together to learn to work with the World Game.

2021

Radboud University

Scientific research into the World Game and giftedness begins, placing the test back into a peer-reviewed setting.

2024

Cupertino, USA

In 2024 the second international training took place in Cupertino, California (USA).

2025

University of Colorado

In 2025 the third international training took place in Colorado Springs, at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. The “World Game & Raven’s-2” research was presented at the NAGC convention in Pittsburgh.

2026

Muttenz, Switzerland

In 2026 the fourth international training took place in Muttenz/Basel, Switzerland.