This qualitative educational action research study aimed to gain knowledge about nursing students' learning from participating in a developmental project that included human-like manikins. 23 second-year Bachelor of Nursing students, one teacher, and one researcher participated in the study conducted at a Norwegian university. In collaboration, they planned and executed a developmental project with manikins in a nursing course. The project put manikins' reflective, explorative, and experiential potentials into play. Two Action Research cycles were carried out. Data were collected using audio recordings, observations, and written responses. The concepts of sayings, doings, and relatings guided the analysis to identify how the modified learning conditions influenced and changed the students' learning. The following four themes illustrate the students' learning in the project: ownership of the learning process, collaborative learning, understanding theory's significance for practice, and taking the patient's perspective. The student's participation in the project, including their independent use and exploration of the manikins, provided freedom and responsibility in decision-making, helped them experience problems, fostered creativity, and stimulated inner motivation. This moved their learning in a more practice-relevant direction.