Integrating Play into Museums: Key Challenges Identified by Museum Professionals

Although museum professionals increasingly integrate playful approaches into exhibition practices, little research has examined the practical challenges this integration entails. The present article addresses this gap by analyzing data collected in Denmark in 2024, including 74 questions generated by museum professionals at two practitioner conferences and interviews with 27 professionals from eight museums. Through qualitative analysis, the study identifies three overarching categories of challenges: audience, context, and purpose. Firstly, the analysis highlights challenges related to addressing diverse audiences, revealing an awareness of play as highly audience dependent with a focus on adult audiences. Secondly, challenges concerning expectations, preservation of buildings, collections etc., and spatial considerations dominate, demonstrating contextual integration as a delicate balancing act. Thirdly, the analysis draws attention to challenges related to purpose and moving beyond treating play as an add-on toward a more purposeful and holistic integration. Overall, the article offers a lens for understanding these challenges and seeks to inform both scholarly debate and practical decision-making regarding the integration of play into museum practice.