Digital games have become increasingly popular. However, many teachers may not have relevant knowledge and experience of designing and implementing digital game-based teaching in formal classrooms. This study proposed a collaborative design approach to facilitate pre-service teachers' abilities of designing for learning with a digital game. To evaluate the effects of the proposed approach, a quasi-experiment was carried out at a teachers' university in Eastern China. This study was implemented in a Fall 2019 educational development course, a total of 100 pre-service teachers from two intact classes participated in it. It is found that the approach is effective in helping the students design digital games-based learning activities. Additionally, the experimental group students developed more constructivist views of game-based teaching practices. It is concluded that engaging pre-service teachers in design, implementation and reflection of innovative technologies-enhanced learning practices is imaginable for our mission of bring children to a cheerful and harvesting journey in classroom.