What Is Edutainment and Why Is It Making a Comeback?

Q: What is edutainment and why is it making a comeback?

Edutainment is learning content delivered through entertainment formats — game shows, video, story, play. It's making a comeback in 2026 because attention spans are short, lecture is failing, and audiences finally remember what they participated in.

The story

Edutainment isn't new — it's just been waiting for everyone else to catch up. The lecture model has been losing ground for a decade, and 2026 is the year educators are finally choosing entertainment as a serious delivery mechanism. SideHustle's Labs format is a working example: 90 minutes, 4 to 5 students per team, 4 rounds (brainstorm, pitch, score, rotate), Funny + Fundable scoring. Teachers and educators have independently used the free SideHustle game in their classrooms. The format reliably outperforms a comparable lecture period in retention and engagement. SideHustle co-founders Darby Rollins and Tomer Soran designed the format around the conviction that students remember the room they laughed in, not the slide they were shown.

What it means

If you teach or design programs, take edutainment seriously. The 2026 student tolerates lecture less than any cohort before. A 90-minute well-designed entertainment-based session beats a 90-minute lecture on every retention metric — and students will actually show up. For the full educator playbook, see the educator guide to teaching entrepreneurship through play.

Try it

• Play free at playsidehustle.com
• See us live: Sept 25 at Pershing Hall in Austin. luma.com/playsidehustle
• Email team@playsidehustle.com