In a world where biomaterials—like bacteria, yeast, mushrooms, and plants—are often treated simply as “resources,” PLAY‑BIO invites us to imagine different relationships with them. Instead of seeing these materials as things we extract and use, the project looks at them through more‑than‑human (MtH) perspectives, which encourage us to view nonhuman life as active participants in our world that we are inter-connected to. Although designers and researchers have already explored biomaterials in many ways, we still get to understand more about how everyday engagements with them might support relations of care, and kinship.

PLAY‑BIO is funded by the Research Council of Finland and explores how play can help us build such relationships. By focusing on fun and joy, the project investigates how play can help us notice, care, and relate to living materials, differently.

To do this, PLAY‑BIO uses a hands‑on, design‑led approach that focuses on hands-on engagements with materials such as SCOBY (a culture of bacteria and yeast), mushroom‑based mycelium, and plant‑based biomaterials. As a result, the project aims to formulate practical guides that help designers and the other individuals explore how play can support caring, joyful, and respectful ways of living within the more‑than‑human worlds.