At the Firefly Gardens in suburban Pittsburgh, children and caregivers can explore a sensory playground filled with wind chimes, grassy tunnels and a mud box. Their playtime doesn鈥檛 end at the park though; each activity is paired with caregiver-focused messages and QR codes that encourage at-home activities.

The Washington County Park system, WashPA Outdoors and Pittsburgh鈥檚 PBS station, WQED, created the sensory playground using a pilot grant from Let鈥檚 Play PGH!, a Pennsylvania initiative that provides funding to local organizations to create playful learning experiences for people of all ages in public spaces, and Remake Learning, a peer network for educators in Pittsburgh.

The activities at the sensory playground, which is located in a community , were designed to foster intergenerational play and joint exploration, helping caregivers see play as 鈥渢he work of kids鈥� and understand how to actively support learning through shared activities, according to Gina Masciola, a program director for learning neighborhoods at WQED who sits on the Remake Learning Council.聽

鈥淪o the messaging really is for adults,鈥� said Masciola. 鈥淚t’s really about modeling and helping parents connect to their kids.鈥�

launched in summer 2023, when Remake Learning brought together organizations to work on prototypes for play installations. The initiative has to distribute, and has already doled out a majority of the money to organizations that are redeveloping spaces in the region, incorporating child development research, urban design and the science of play, said Tyler Samstag, executive director of Remake Learning.

Pittsburgh isn鈥檛 the first city in the U.S., or even in Pennsylvania to create public works that foster intergenerational play and learning. Samstag pointed to a simple and effective project in Philadelphia that put playful signage up in grocery stores encouraging parents to talk to their kids. Those relatively inexpensive installations can provide a boost for children鈥檚 literacy and language development, according to Samstag. 

Let鈥檚 Play PGH! was inspired by research from Playful Learning Landscapes, a joint project from Temple University鈥檚 Infant and Child Laboratory and the Brookings Institution, Samstag noted. Researchers examined how children spend their time outside of school 鈥� which for many, they said, was about 80% of their waking hours 鈥� and . The initial Learning Landscapes found that communities must buy into the project at the outset, create simple science-based activities and build on existing city infrastructure as much as possible.

鈥淲e put up this question, 鈥榃hat would playful learning installations prioritize? What would they look like?鈥欌�� Samstag said. 鈥淲hat might it look like if a bus stop turned into a site of learning, or a laundromat turned into a site of learning?鈥�

After brainstorming, participants tested out ideas in their communities by building prototypes, placing them in public spaces where children and caregivers could interact with them, and sought feedback from residents on what could make the designs more accessible, engaging and fun. WQED, for example, collaborated closely with Pam Kilgore from WashPA Outdoors and Washington City Parks to install the sensory playground and worked closely with Kilgore, who surveyed community members visiting the garden and asked them what they would like to see, Masciola said. She added: 鈥淲hen we are building anything, we know that the community is going to end up being the user. Those are the experts.鈥�

When WQED partnered with Washington City Parks and WashPA Outdoors to create the sensory playground, Masciola said, the team used the grant to buy materials for the prototype of the playground, scouring thrift stores for supplies to create homemade wind chimes. They also created a sensory tunnel with sticks, long grasses and bark woven throughout. The PBS Kids show, Elinor Wonders Why, inspired the signs and play prompts dotting the garden. Those signs were written for caregivers, not just children, with the intention of sparking curiosity.

A lot of PBS shows, like Daniel Tiger and Carl the Collector, really are 鈥渁bout modeling and helping caregivers interact with very young children,鈥� Masciola said. 鈥淢aking sure that families understand what it means to observe, encouraging them to maybe have a data collection notebook that they can record things in together with their children.鈥�

Another grantee, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, was invited by Let鈥檚 Play PGH! to join the initial cohort to transform the Frick Environmental Center, a public facility inside Pittsburgh鈥檚 largest park. The vision was to revamp the center, which serves as a nature and education hub for the city鈥檚 dwellers, into an area that would encourage caregivers to interact with their children, rather than just watch them. 

鈥淥ne of the deeper goals of this is promoting play between caregivers and children,鈥� said James Brown, director of education at the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and the Frick Environmental Center. 鈥淭his is not the place to let your kids go loose and then you’re just on your phone.鈥�

When Brown received feedback from caregivers after the first round of play testing, he said he noticed that the adults were taking on more of an observational role while their children were playing.

Then, when Brown鈥檚 team introduced play prompts, such as a hide and seek game or a cleanup song, and posted them around the space, the feedback from caregivers changed, he said.

鈥淲e found there was much more 鈥榳e鈥� statements, like 鈥榳e did this,鈥� and 鈥榳e built the habitat,鈥� and 鈥榳e were exploring,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淛ust that invitation was the game changer.鈥�

Frick has plans to continue with a larger scale redesign with more play installations, and has been translating caregivers鈥� feedback into plans for the next phase of the environmental center, Brown said. Last summer, he contracted a narrative muralist who read through the data from parents and kids, then drafted an artistic rendering for the space. Brown expects the artists working on the project to have installations ready by this spring.

With feedback in hand from people in the community who have experienced their installations, the Pittsburgh Park Conservancy and other grantees that have projects underway with Let鈥檚 Play PGH! are continuing to iterate on their prototypes. 

As of last month, the initiative has funded 16 projects 鈥� including the sensory playground in the Firefly Gardens and the Frick Environmental Center 鈥� with prototypes in motion, and intergenerational play is key to a number of them, Samstag said. One project he highlighted, 鈥淐layground,鈥� by the Manchester Craftsman鈥檚 Guild, made a bicycle-powered potter鈥檚 wheel as a way to improve access to the art of ceramics. Guild members retrofitted an old bicycle from the 1970s with a pottery wheel and took it around to local festivals throughout the summer where parents and grandparents pedaled with their kids. With the help of a new grant, the guild plans on building a suite of bicycle installations that can travel to various public spaces around Pittsburgh, Samstag said.

Joyful learning is so important, Samstag explained, adding that when he brings people together across all types of organizations and asks adults to reflect on their own experiences of play, the question sparks vivid memories. 

鈥淓veryone knows how important this is,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut it’s often overlooked because of all of the other things that you鈥檝e got to do day in and day out.鈥�

Correction: An earlier version of this story failed to include the pivotal role WashPa Outdoors played in the creation of the Firefly Gardens鈥� sensory playground. In addition, copy edits have been made throughout the story.

Playful activities like these are an essential daily part of early learning, as children develop problem-solving, motor and social-emotional skills while making discoveries. Choosing activities based on their interests can also help build their sense of autonomy and identity.

The nation鈥檚 leaders are catching on to what early childhood educators have long known 鈥� kids learn best through hands-on exploration and play. With a from developmental and neuroscience researchers demonstrating the effectiveness of play-based learning for young learners, my home state of Connecticut recently became the second in the nation to . Starting this year, preschool and kindergarten teachers across the state are integrating play into their curriculum, embracing a new approach to teaching that fosters creativity, collaboration and critical thinking.

Children are not only born ready to discover and explore the world, they also learn this way. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Early Head Start is especially beneficial to childhood development, as it supports healthy brain function and allows infants and toddlers to build relationships and learn social skills. Research the importance of play to the of children of all ages.

Early educators 鈥� including providers who run licensed, small child care programs in their homes and have collaborated with over the past 25 years 鈥� often work with groups of children ages 0 to 5 and create learning environments that reflect their interests and curiosities. In one program, a 2-year-old helped set the table for lunch while another child watered the plants. In another program, a teacher led her children on a journey through the stars, encouraging them to create planets out of clay and transform their sleeping area into 鈥渟pace鈥� with black paper and glow-in-the-dark stars as they searched for the sun and the moon in the sky.

Across the country, elementary school teachers are this child-centered, active educational . A recent of 26 studies from 18 countries found that learning through play bolstered children’s language, literacy and social emotional skills, making it an effective strategy for reducing achievement gaps between youngsters from different socioeconomic groups. Observing children at play reveals so much about their learning styles and needs, and can inform decisions about how to support students as they learn new skills or concepts.

While free play at recess has long children through their elementary school years, educators have now introduced guided play in the classroom. These teacher-led can improve math skills, shape recognition and vocabulary for describing locations and movements. Because play can look different across cultures, there is also a need for activities children’s unique identities and values.  

To be sure, this style of teaching is a departure from schooling that has on standardized testing and emphasized academic expectations, even among the lower grades and amid a growing mental health crisis among children. 

Requiring play would provide with an education that is both enriching and rigorous, but legislative action is needed to make that a reality. In New Hampshire, the to pass legislation requiring play-based learning, kindergarten teachers now have coaching and training to make play a fundamental component of their instruction. have also adopted policies to help educators integrate this approach into their teaching. 

A mandate for play-based learning in every school 鈥� combined with the necessary funding and training for teachers to implement it 鈥� would transform early childhood and elementary education by establishing systems and policies that support young students’ academic growth. State and federal leaders should follow New Hampshire and Connecticut鈥檚 lead and take this critical step forward, while also encouraging parents to choose child care programs that prioritize play. In doing so, the country’s educational system would ensure a brighter, more equitable future for the next generation. 

Swartz: How does your team determine the degree of play-based learning?

Pyle: Our Continuum of Play-Based Learning breaks down play-based learning into sub-components. Each type of play in the continuum is determined by how much agency children have and how much agency adults have. The intent behind this continuum, and all the research that we do in the lab, is really to support teachers by building on what they know and helping them do better.

Swartz: Where is the sweet spot along that continuum?

Pyle: The research points to shared agency as the point where educators can make learning really meaningful and still give kids agency and excitement.

Swartz: How did you get into play research?

Pyle: I was a classroom teacher for several years before I went back to graduate school. I had every intention of returning to the classroom, but in 2010, as I started to do my dissertation, the Ontario government started to phase in its play-based learning model for 4- and 5-year-olds. Teachers were struggling with the new reality.

Swartz: What kind of challenges were they experiencing?

Pyle: We don鈥檛 have high-stakes testing like in the States, but there鈥檚 still a real accountability lens in our system when it comes to assessment and evaluation. Teachers were asking, 鈥淗ow do I do that when I鈥檓 supposed to do play, so I鈥檓 following their lead?鈥� I wanted to find out where they got the message that play meant always following children鈥檚 lead. We started to unpack the reality that, actually, our curriculum is intended to be child-centered, not child-directed. We needed to understand how to help educators recognize the difference.

Swartz: What did you learn from talking to teachers?

Pyle: They all see the social-emotional value of play. They understand it鈥檚 important for young children, especially because they need to learn cooperation, good social skills, problem solving, how to communicate effectively, how to self-regulate their thoughts and emotions and reactions to things. But there鈥檚 a group of teachers who believe that the academic piece, all the other learning stuff, happens totally separately. With this group, while the kids were playing, they would be pulling kids over. They鈥檇 be like, 鈥淐ome over here and I鈥檒l do some serious teaching with you at the table.鈥� And then they have whole group lessons where they bring everyone together and the kids just sit and listen.

Swartz: So play and learning are separated, and you鈥檙e talking about integrating them.

Pyle: Maybe I鈥檓 just being optimistic and I do prefer to live in that mindset, but I feel really positive that actually these things can still happen in the context of play.

Swartz: Some teachers already get that, right?

Pyle: Yes, there are many who align with more contemporary notions of play-based learning. They see it as a useful approach for engaging kids, giving them agency in their own learning. They see it can be used to teach academic skills as well and social-emotional skills. So they still have that free play that鈥檚 child directed, and they don鈥檛 get involved in unless they鈥檙e needed.

But then they also thoughtfully design playful contexts or games that will help. So when it comes to fundamental literacy skills, they design games to help them learn those skills鈥攇ames where they look at rhyming words or alphabet games. And then they鈥檒l thoughtfully design contexts of play where they can interact with kids and sort of scaffold kids鈥� learning.

Swartz: What does that look like in the classroom?

Pyle: I visited a classroom that decided to set up a pretend veterinary clinic and observed how the teacher then infused other pieces into it. So she was just like, 鈥淵ou know what? We should have patient charts so you can record who came in and what they needed. We should have appointment cards so they know when they鈥檙e supposed to come back.鈥�

Swartz: You can take that in a lot of different directions.

Pyle: One day the kids were having a heated argument about whether or not the giraffe鈥檚 leg was broken. And one of the kids finally shouts, 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 know that because you can鈥檛 see inside.鈥� So the educator comes in and says, 鈥淎ctually, there鈥檚 a tool for that.鈥� And another child shouts, 鈥淥h, I know about it. It鈥檚 an X-ray, because my brother had one of those because he broke his arm.鈥�

So then it became really exciting again, and the kids were like, 鈥淥kay. Well, we need one, obviously. To solve this giraffe mystery, we need an X-ray machine.鈥� Of course they made it out of cardboard boxes. And then the educator points out, 鈥淵ou need the X-rays that are going to come out of it, so let鈥檚 look up what that looks like online and you can create your own.鈥�

Swartz: And she worked reading into the game, too?

Pyle: Right. It鈥檚 a bit unfair to think four- and five-year-olds are going to teach themselves really hardcore difficult skills like reading and writing, but the educator incorporated books about animals, so that kids could look things up if they needed to, and she provided direct support to students using their sounds to label the x-rays they created.

Swartz: What鈥檚 next for your research?

Pyle: We鈥檙e just finishing up a project right now that looks at creating a tool for educators to help them determine how successful their play activities are, from their children鈥檚 perspectives. It鈥檚 a self-reflective tool that we designed with researchers and educators in Colombia, Bangladesh and Uganda, where there鈥檚 very limited access to education and professional development for teachers.

Swartz: Do teachers in the U.S., Canada and Europe have something to learn from the teachers in the Global South?

Pyle: Absolutely, we have a lot to learn from them. I think their creativity has to be better than ours at the moment. As I worked on this project, I had a lot of humbling moments. It鈥檚 been very useful to try and think about how we can help support educators and create resources for the majority world, where they don鈥檛 have all of these things that we think we need in every classroom.

With everything going on in the world, why does the U.N. care about play?

The simple answer is that the world needs play more than ever. As critic Peter Brooks writes in , 鈥淲ithout play, we risk being overwhelmed by an inhuman world.鈥�

To understand more fully, start by thinking of play as not only an educational tool but also a human rights issue. In 1989, the asserted 鈥渢hat every child has the right to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.聽That member governments shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life. They shall encourage the provision of appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activity.鈥�

Early Learning Nation has covered a number of innovative programs dedicated to restoring and expanding play in the lives of young children, through strategies like playgrounds, , and . Here are three more playful enterprises to ponder:

1. A New Curriculum from Neighborhood Villages. In 鈥�,鈥� (Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education) Ben Mardell and colleagues write, 鈥淲hen people play, they are engaged, relaxed and challenged 鈥� states of mind highly conducive to learning. Through play, children and adults try out ideas, test theories, experiment with symbol systems, better understand social relations, take risks, and reimagine the world. As they lead their play, players develop agency. Exploring the unknown, they cultivate their imaginations and learn to deal with uncertainty. Joyfully playing with others, they develop empathy.鈥�

Inspired by this research, recently launched a new play-based curriculum in partnership with the LEGO Foundation and Boston Public Schools. 鈥淚n early childhood, play is learning,鈥� says Binal Patel, chief program officer. 鈥淭his first-of-its-kind curriculum, called , is a resource for educators, centering an anti-bias approach as well as developmentally appropriate practice for toddlers.鈥� In the first two weeks, the curriculum garnered over 300 downloads from 20 states and five countries.

2. Invitations to Learning in Ontario. The Government of Ontario issued in 2016, but Nadia Kenisha Bynoe and Angelique Thompson, former Early Reading Coaches for the Toronto District School Board, noticed that young children were being deprived of play. Their new book, 鈥�,鈥澛爀ncourages educators to honor playful approaches to curriculum and learning. 鈥淧lay allows children to show what they know,鈥� says Thompson. 鈥淚t supports different learners because it provides entry points for them to make their thinking visible.鈥�

Bynoe says 鈥檚 work on culturally relevant pedagogy was a major influence on the book, which recommends presenting children鈥檚 books on subjects children can relate to 鈥� alongside materials they can manipulate 鈥� as invitations to learning. 鈥淟oose parts,鈥� she adds, 鈥渁llow children the liberty to share their theories in ways that are not stifled.鈥�

3. Taking the Early Childhood Ethos and Moving It Up. 鈥淧reschool teachers and museum educators are the kings and queens of the new universe,鈥� proclaims , professor of psychology at Temple University and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. (She鈥檚 also chief science advisor and co-founder of , which are built in classrooms, communities and the digital space). Referring to a huge foundation that recently launched an initiative to create more assessments for young children, she maintains, 鈥淲e adults are so stressed that we put the stress on our kids, and I don’t think we should take it anymore.鈥�

Hirsh-Pasek鈥檚 playful learning colleague, Andres Bustamente, an assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Education, says, 鈥淚n California, there is a rapid expansion of for 4-year-olds, which is bringing preschool into the elementary school system, but we don’t want to start treating preschoolers like older kids. In fact, we want to do the opposite, taking the early childhood ethos and moving it up. Our current work comes from an intentional move by the LEGO Foundation to start in kindergarten and go through fourth grade. And the leads of the project are all early childhood people.鈥�

A Global Mindset Shift

Internationally, the play deficit is a real threat. , 59% of children would like to play more than they do now; and 79% of children would like to play more with their parents or caregiver.

We intuitively know that play is an essential part of childhood. , we also know that play supports cognitive development, social skills and all the skills we want our future citizens to possess. And yet in the U.S., Canada and Europe, play is disappearing from the lives of too many children. The reasons are complicated, but a lot of it has to do with the pressure governments feel to equip future workers to compete in a changing world.

Among other factors, standardized testing both arises from this pressure and intensifies it. Guy Roberts-Holmes and Peter Moss鈥檚 2021 book 鈥溾�� argues that our economic system reduces early childhood to 鈥渢he status of becoming, to being a transition stage en route to an ultimate destination of achieved adulthood by which time she or he will have assumed the requisite identity: a self-mastering, self-interested and responsibilised subject; and informed and calculating consumer; and [quoting ] a 鈥榬esilient, compliant, skilled worker able to grow the nation鈥檚 wealth.鈥欌��

The authors contend that thanks to this trend, called 鈥榮choolification鈥� in Europe, 鈥淓arly years education is at high risk of becoming a narrow and arid, utterly predictable undertaking, devoid of creativity, excitement, wonder and joy.鈥�

(Brookings Institution)

Hirsh-Pasek points out that before there was an International Day of Play, there was UNESCO鈥檚 global , which advocates for 鈥渁 transformative reform of education and a paradigm shift to put happiness at the core of education policy and practice,鈥� recognizing happiness 鈥渁s both a means to and a goal of quality learning.鈥�

鈥淭he science is clear,鈥� Hirsh-Pasek summarizes. 鈥淟earning needs to be active, engaging, meaningful, socially interactive, iterative and joyful. And if we could rekindle these qualities in ourselves, I think we would see what it would do for our children, their academic health, their social health and their mental health.鈥�

Gray grew up in the 1950s, when children were expected to spend long hours between school and dinner unsupervised. Afternoon games of Double Dutch and Red Rover became a hallmark memory for Baby Boomers, but they were only a few generations removed from the advent of Progressive labor laws that established minimum working ages and redefined childhood in America as a protected phase of life. 

Surveying the restrictions on children鈥檚 freedom today, he believes we鈥檝e spent much of the last few decades moving backwards. 鈥淲e’re basically back in the age of child labor again,鈥� Gray said. 鈥淏ut it’s labor we’re imposing because we believe it’s good for children.鈥�

A research psychologist at Boston College, Gray has spent his career studying the effects of free, unstructured play on young people 鈥� and what happens when it is edged out by activities overseen by adults, especially school. that children now spend much less time outside making friends and inventing games, and much more at home, doing homework and absorbing media under the watch of their parents.

The results have been catastrophic for their development and wellbeing, he has found. In in the Journal of Pediatrics, Gray and several co-authors argue that the contraction of kids鈥� independent activity since the 1960s has made them markedly less resilient and triggered a well-documented rise in mental health disorders like depression and anxiety. He advances many of the same claims in a regularly updated on play and happiness, where he critiques everything from Little League sports to the curtailment of school lunch periods.

Notable is the theory of social harm that Gray dismisses out of hand: the supposedly pernicious effects of smartphones and social media, which have increasingly come under scrutiny as experts complain that they monopolize kids鈥� time and attention. While some of the same critics share his views on the importance of play, he calls the data implicating addictive technology unpersuasive. 

Indeed, he argues, warnings about excessive screen time are worse than wrong 鈥� they鈥檙e a deflection from the ways in which adults have re-engineered the world around kids to exclude and control them. 

鈥淚t’s really the first time in human history that children have not been free to do a lot of independent things,鈥� Gray said in a conversation with 麻豆精品鈥檚 Kevin Mahnken. 鈥淐hildren are designed to grow up with independence, so over the last few decades, we’ve been doing things in a way that’s historically abnormal.鈥�

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

麻豆精品: What is the relationship between unsupervised play and mental health, both in childhood and later life?

Peter Gray: There are certain obvious ways in which play is essential for mental health. First, play makes kids happy, and you really don’t have to do research to know that. If you take play away from kids, they’re a lot less happy, and the lack of happiness is a big part of depression. About this part there should be no mystery.

But play does more than make children immediately happy. It is also the means by which they acquire life skills and learn to make friends. It’s the means by which they learn to direct their own activities. In the process of doing that, they have to learn how to negotiate with their playmates, deal with disagreements and minor bullying, and so forth. If we’re supervising children all the time and not allowing them opportunities to solve their own problems, they grow up without the kinds of character traits and skills needed to deal with the bumps in the road of life.

So that’s the general hypothesis. But what not everybody knows is that, over several decades, there has been a continuous decline in children’s opportunities to play freely. Over the same decades, there has also been an increase in anxiety, depression, and suicide among children and adolescents. That doesn’t prove that one thing is caused by the other, but even from a theoretical position, it seems fairly clear that there’s a cause-effect relationship here: Play makes children happy and resilient, we’ve been taking play away from children, and, lo and behold, children are becoming less happy and psychologically resilient. 

What is the evidence that children’s play has declined in recent years? Is it clear in other countries as well as the United States?

It’s declined in the U.S. and some other countries, but it’s not universal by any means. 
Some of the most interesting evidence comes from the sociologist Markella Rutherford, who wrote a book called . Her approach was to analyze articles and letters about children in parenting magazines 鈥� Good Housekeeping, for example, has been published almost 150 years 鈥� and look at the way people thought about play. What she found was that, through the first half of the 20th century, there was a lot of emphasis on independence. It was recommended that kids walk to their kindergartens and go to the grocery store when milk was running low, and they should be encouraged if they were afraid to do those things.

The advice from those sources was less likely to advocate for independence in the 1960s, and by the ’80s, things were changing quite dramatically. The very things that were previously recognized as important for kids to do independently were now seen as dangerous, and there was much more precaution about danger.

There is also data showing that lots of students used to walk or bicycle to school until the 1980s, . Now we even have situations where people think that letting an eight-year-old walk to school is negligent, so parents send their children out and then . 

This has all been a social experiment that obviously failed. It’s really the first time in human history that children have not been free to do a lot of independent things. Children are designed to grow up with independence, so over the last few decades, we’ve been doing things in a way that’s historically abnormal.

What would you say is normal in the history of human societies? Is it really true that kids have always enjoyed the freedoms of youth?

As part of my research, I have surveyed anthropologists who study hunter-gatherer cultures in seven different cultures across three continents. Even through the 20th century, there were still quite a number of people living that way.

Every one of the researchers told me that children were essentially all the time. Very little work, if any, was expected even of teenagers, and you were basically seen as a child until you had children of your own. Children explored, they tended to play at the things important to their cultures, the older kids looked after the younger ones, and the adults understood that this is how kids learn. In my mind, that’s the biologically natural way that children grew up across history. For 99 percent of our history, we were hunter-gatherers.

The anthropologist David Lancy, who co-authored about mental health and the decline in play, is around the world. He has found that certain cultures, more so than hunter-gatherers, do expect some work from children. But that work is independent activity; there isn’t an adult running alongside them and telling them what to do. If it’s a farming culture, kids help with the farming, or they haul and chop wood. And even in the context of those chores, they’re doing it with other kids, and there is play as well. The idea of parents following children around and micromanaging their activities is just not something that happens in many cultures.

You refer to historian that the early 20th century was a “golden age of unstructured play.” But what about the 19th century, when lots of very young kids had to work outside of their homes? I’ve read enough Dickens to know that wasn’t a terrific time to be a kid.

You bring up a terrible time in history, the Industrial Age, where many children worked in factories amid tremendous poverty. But although it’s not a life we would want for our kids, I think those Dickens characters do play. In a Dickens novel, they have to be incredibly independent 鈥� to pick pockets, God forbid 鈥� and take risks and collaborate with other kids to figure out how to survive. So it’s a very different situation than what we have now, even if it is not the ideal. 

The way I’d put it is that our children are now less free to engage in independent activities than they have ever been, except in times of childhood slavery and the sort of sweatshop work that was fairly common in this country until about a century ago. The golden age of play in America came from our decision to for children , in a way, more like children in hunter-gatherer cultures; they could explore and play in age-mixed groups around their neighborhoods. It was a sort of return to what a normal childhood looks like.

But Chudacoff, who wrote a great , points out that we gradually took those freedoms away. When you count school and homework, kids are basically doing the equivalent of a full-time job. We’re basically back in the age of child labor again, but this time, it’s labor we’re imposing because we believe it’s good for children.

Don’t you think a lot of parents, while perhaps agreeing that kids are over-scheduled these days, would also point out that they really are and grow into adulthood in 2024 than in 1924? Maybe that’s a price we should be willing to pay.

Well, we’ve got vaccines and modern medicine now, and we’ve cleaned up the environment to a degree. We have much less desperate poverty than we once did, so that helps as well. Those are the main reasons why more children grow into adulthood.

Here’s another way of looking at it. Despite the fact that the first half of the 20th century was not an easy time 鈥� you’ve got world wars, the Great Depression, a lot of other problems 鈥� children seem to have been much happier then than they are now. We don’t have perfect evidence for all these outcomes, but we know the suicide rate for kids and teenagers then than it is now. Life was pretty rough, but they didn’t seem to suffer then as they do now. 

So what changed?

Between 1950 and 1990, school added more hours. By 1990, the school year was five weeks longer than it had been, and the school day was generally longer. You started seeing , who mostly hadn’t had it before. There was far less competition and worrying about grades back then. The combined result is that we’ve gradually increased what I call the “weight” of school, and the amount of time children spend on it.

We also began to believe that children were better off playing adult-directed sports than going out and making up their own games. We started Little League and all these other sports, and parents started thinking, “Better to get my kid into that than just have them go out and play.” But when you’re just making up your own games, as I did in the 1950s, you learn a lot more than you do when there’s an adult to take charge. You’re learning to create rules and keep everybody happy 鈥� particularly the people on the other team, who will go home if they’re not happy. All that is lost in a more organized setting. Little League is a great place to learn to bunt, or slide into second base, or throw a curveball, but it’s not a great place to learn anything else. 

Television would be another example. My family got a TV in 1954 or so, right when the Mickey Mouse Club started up. Before that, my friends and I would hang out after school or go fishing. But after, a lot of us would go home and watch whatever was on. It drew kids indoors, where they weren’t playing or exploring.

It seems like parents have become more worried about their kids’ safety as well.

A couple things occurred in the 1980s that played a big role in that. 

In and , there were two highly publicized cases of young boys being kidnapped and murdered. Of course, those cases made news precisely because they were so rare. But they had a huge effect, and I still remember seeing pictures of kids on the sides of milk cartons in those years. As it turns out, the vast majority of those cases were runaways, and when kids are snatched away, it’s almost never by strangers. But the term “stranger danger” came into use, and they wouldn’t send their kids out, they would cite fear of strangers. 

We talk a lot about helicopter parenting, but I don’t blame parents for this. The society has evolved in a way that changed cultural norms, and parents who try to resist those norms find it very hard to do so. 

I notice you tallied a huge list of factors without mentioning the ascendant thesis for youth behavior and mental health problems: the emergence of smartphones and social media. Do you believe they’ve been overhyped as an explanation?

I’ve looked at the papers in this area, especially the review papers. And if you want to dig out the research supporting the theory that technology is the main driver of our youth mental health problems, you can make a pretty compelling case. But you’d be cherry-picking.

There are so many studies trying to find a link between social media use and anxieties in girls, boys, people of different ages. People have tried to find a simple correlation: Are people who use social media a lot also more likely to be depressed? Some studies show a positive correlation with measures of anxiety, and some studies show a negative correlation. In a lot of studies, it kind of washes out. To me, there’s no really compelling evidence based on the correlational data.

In something of an acknowledgment of this, there’s been a search for other kinds of evidence. People point to experiments where people who say they’re anxious will for a period of time. They rate their anxiety levels at the beginning and the end, and what is often found is that those who stopped social media say they’re a bit less anxious. 

But there are two things wrong with these kinds of studies that anyone involved with research should know. The first is that when subjects involved in an experiment know what the purpose of that experiment is, most of them will be motivated to confirm the hypothesis. In this experiment, the hypothesis was very clear and couldn’t have been hidden. Countless social-psychological studies show that when subjects in an experiment believe something is going to happen, they make it happen. This is called the demand effect.

Second is . One of the reasons drug companies have such difficulty getting drugs approved for anxiety or depression is that these are extraordinarily subjective conditions. How anxious does a person feel? Well, if you believe you’re doing something good for you 鈥� like taking a drug 鈥� . In this case, college kids had undoubtedly heard that social media makes people anxious, and as part of their desire to be part of the experiment, they undoubtedly felt that it would be a good way to reduce their anxiety. 

The proponents of the social media theory have also found a few other countries where anxiety and depression increased over the same period that kids started using smartphones and social media. Apparently this is true in the U.K., Australia and a few other places. But I’ve looked at data from the European Union, who are not deprived of technology or the internet, and if you take all the countries of the EU together, there has not been an increase in anxiety, depression, or suicide over the same years. 

Taken together, I think this is just not compelling evidence.

But the more time kids spend on devices, the less they spend in the kind of unstructured, in-person play that you argue is crucial. Isn’t this just the modern equivalent of the television example you mentioned earlier?

There’s a difference between television and what kids today are using. The technology they’re using is far more interactive than TV, and a lot of it is essentially play. They’re not just doing social media, they’re communicating with one another.

There was a systematic study done near the beginning of the social media stage of teen life. The authors surveyed teens across the country about why they spent so much time on social media instead of getting together in person. Across the country, teen after teen said, “I’d love to get together, but I’m not allowed to go out.” Or: “My friend isn’t allowed to go out. This is the only way we can communicate.” That was already true in the early 2010s.

Teens, especially, need to hang out together away from adults. Thinking about when my son was a teenager, you’d see gangs of teens hanging out in malls. That’s what teens need to do! They need to get away from adults, to talk to one another in ways they don’t want their parents to hear. But we’ve created a world where they can’t really do that, except by way of the internet. In other words, I don’t think they’re on social media instead of getting together; they’re on social media because they can’t get together.

I will admit to being concerned that we’re raising kids who don’t even know about the possibilities for getting together because no one else is doing it. By this point, even some young parents didn’t have much chance themselves to socialize independently when they were kids, so they grew up thinking the only way to communicate with your friends is on a smartphone.

Do you think that can be even partially reversed?

I’m involved with a group called , and we help organize play clubs at schools. It’s an hour of mixed-age free play for all the kids in an elementary school. Everyone plays at once. There are lots of different ways of playing, but there are two rules: no hurting anybody, and no phones. It’s been extraordinarily successful, as are summer camps when phones are removed. In places like these, where kids can interact with one another freely, it’s not a bad idea to ban phones. 

Instead of speculating about what makes kids anxious, you can look at surveys that ask them directly about what makes them anxious. The great majority say school, and nothing else comes close. The American Psychological Association did in 2013 that surveyed teens about their anxiety levels, which were very high. But they were much higher during the school year than the summer, and when asked what the source of their anxiety was, something like 83 percent listed school. The thing that came in second, among high schoolers, was fear about getting into a good college and having a decent future.

The reality is, we’ve frightened children by imposing this pressure and telling them that they’ve got to perform so well academically or else their life will be worthless.

You’ve written a bit about the changing structure of the school day. Can you go into more detail about how you believe the experience of school has evolved in a way that’s unhealthy to kids’ development and wellbeing?

In , I asked my readers when they attended K鈥�12 schools and how long the lunch period was when they attended. I believe historical data would confirm this, but just based on the information I collected, lunchtime ran about 60 minutes from the 1950s to the 1980s. Then it suddenly went down, to around 35 minutes in the ’90s. Nowadays, the average that I’m seeing is about 30 minutes, though it appears there are schools that . 

Twenty minutes isn’t a lot of time to wash your hands, stand in line for food, find a seat, and eat. Lunch hour used to be a time to hang out with friends, and now it’s not even a time to eat your lunch. Studies show that a lot of the federally mandated meals we provide to students because kids don’t have time to eat them. Would we, as adults, stand for it if we were being treated this way? 

In some schools, recess has been cut out entirely, and in many, it’s only 15 minutes long. This certainly wasn’t a rule, but I remember having a half-hour of recess in the morning and afternoon in the fifth and sixth grade, along with a whole hour for lunch. So of our six hours of school each day, two were spent playing or socializing in whatever way we wanted. It’s now so strictly controlled in some schools, it’s really wrong to call it play.

In many schools, we have also taken away the things that were thought of as fun because of the concern over standardized test scores. Music and art classes have often been reduced so that more time could be devoted to subjects that are measured by the tests. It’s really time to evaluate the effects of No Child Left Behind and Common Core not just on test scores, but also on children’s emotions. I think the whole push around social media and smartphones is a distraction from the real problem. 

What is your advice for families trying to swim against these currents? I know you’re working with people like to develop strategies for fostering more independence and resilience in kids, but so many parents complain that their communities just aren’t that kid-friendly.

It’s true that lots of people don’t feel they can, like parents in the past, just send their kids out to play. Among other reasons, there aren’t as many kids to play with.

Still, one of the things I advise parents is to get together with others in their neighborhood 鈥� granted, this works more for little kids than teens 鈥� and talk to them about the importance of real, physical play. Every Saturday afternoon, and maybe certain hours each weekday, everyone in the neighborhood should send their kids outdoors and not intervene unless it’s absolutely necessary for safety. And you have to keep the phones at home because many of the kids never had the opportunity to learn how to play without them.

If there’s a PTA or some venue where you can influence your school, get the school to start after-school or before-school play clubs through . It’s still a small minority of schools doing this, but I’d like to see it at every school. It’s safe because there are adults there, but they’re trained not to intervene while kids play. It’s working beautifully where it’s being done.

And it’s possible to encourage this in other settings. More and more , including even outdoor play. One in Austin hangs out a sign saying, “Joyful noise welcome!” They have kids playing inside and outside the library, and if adults bring kids, the librarians just let them know that play is for kids, and there’s a separate space for parents. Kids gather there, sometimes a hundred at once, from the ages of three or four to the early teen years. I would love to see more of that, and parents can simply go to their local library to ask about it.

There are lots of things that used to be much more common because American society as it used to be. In one of the towns I grew up in, there was a public park that essentially ran a free day camp all through the summer. A supervisor worked there who was probably just a teenager, and he would hand out equipment for games or crafts or whatever you wanted to do. It was free, and parents felt comfortable about their kids spending all day there because there was an adult around.

We could do all this easily. In terms of budgets, the cost of it would be a drop in the bucket compared with what we spend on schools. Unfortunately, we’re not going back to a situation where parents can just send their kids out with, more or less, total freedom. But we might get to a place where they feel comfortable not being there while their kids are playing 鈥� if there is a responsible adult there who can contact them and who knows how to handle emergencies. 

I believe we could get there if parents are willing to lobby for it.

In the book鈥檚 foreword, Steven Seidel of the Harvard Graduate School of Education describes studios as 鈥渟paces where minds can and must pursue their thoughts without censorship or shame, where there is time for looking, listening and freedom of expression, and where there is commitment to go deeper into 鈥� questions of creativity, imagination, expressivity and research.鈥� He continues, 鈥淲hen I first visited Reggio and saw the schools for myself, I thought that this was the closest I鈥檇 ever been to an avant-garde movement in education.鈥�

Another essay in this book, Barbara Burrington鈥檚 鈥淢elting Geography: Reggio Emilia, Memories and Place,鈥� describes the formation of an atelier at the in 1999. An atelier, she writes, 鈥渋s not only about the arts. Nor is it about something in addition to the work we do in the classroom. Rather, it is about linking the experience of teachers鈥� lives with the children鈥檚 lives and waking up together in the world of a new geography.鈥�

I caught up with Burrington to find out more about her studio experience. She cautioned me that while the atelier arose in Reggio, Italy, those who draw inspiration from the concept must not be afraid to incorporate their own cultures. Otherwise, she said, it鈥檚 trying to plant an olive tree in Vermont. 鈥淵ou’re probably not going to get a good crop.鈥�

Researching the concept of the studio, I consulted other sources and spoke to additional practitioners besides Burrington. Based on what I gathered, here are five key ingredients for a dynamic early learning atelier.

A space. Burrington recommends 鈥渁 dedicated space for longer-term, cross-age explorations鈥� but adds that it doesn鈥檛 take a big budget. In Vermont, they repurposed their staff room, and the greatest expense was shelving. The right space will also support documentation, a key concept in Reggio.

Ben Mardell, who recently left a decades-long career with , where he helped develop the resources, now runs the atelier at in Boston. He calls the atelier 鈥渁 center for kids to learn about specific topics, but also a place for adults to learn about kids’ thinking.鈥� He credits Reggio鈥檚 leaders for referring to infants as 鈥渟cientists with hypotheses.鈥�

(Technology Rich Inquiry Based Research)

Materials. Brenda Fyfe, dean and professor emeritus at the Webster University School of Education聽says the studios of Reggio Emilia schools have 鈥渁ll these wonderful, rich materials for children to explore, which could be paper and paint and brushes and pencils of all kinds and soft materials and rocks or assorted things that they can use in their constructions.鈥�

refers to 鈥渕aterials and media as languages for expression and learning.鈥� (Indeed, the approach鈥檚 use of the word language harks back to the 鈥渂ible鈥� of Reggio, ). While working for the LEGO Foundation, designer, educator and play researcher collaborated with the on the design of , an atelier for exploring play, technology and learning. His latest project, , engages children and families in creative learning with sustainable energy.

An 鈥渁rtist.鈥� Also known as an 鈥渁telierista,鈥� this educator is often trained in the visual arts, with the goal of facilitating what calls 鈥渁 new kind of dialogue.鈥� In the chapter of 鈥淭he Hundred Languages of Children鈥� that deals with the atelier, Vea Vecchi (one of Reggio鈥檚 original atelieristas) speaks of 鈥渢he visual language as a means of inquiry and investigation of the world, to build bridges and relationships between different experiences and languages.鈥� She describes the atelierista鈥檚 job this way: 鈥渃reating situations within which creative processes can be experimented with, grow and evolve.鈥�

Burrington notes, however, that the atelelierista doesn鈥檛 have to be a professional artist. 鈥淵ou do need people who have the knowledge of those materials,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat might mean taking some of your part-time teachers and creating a full-time system for staffing that space. Or you might invest in professional development so that all of your teachers have knowledge of how to use different media.鈥� Her atelier in Vermont benefited from a teacher who was good at sewing. 鈥淪he started using fabric as a medium with children,鈥� she recalls. 鈥淭he children drew monsters. Those monsters became patterns. Those patterns became pillows that were hand sewn in the studio.鈥�

聽(Reggio-Inspired Network of Minnesota)

Creativity. Vecchi writes, 鈥淎bove all, the atelier brings the strength and joy of the unexpected and the uncommon to the process of learning. It supports a conceptual change that comes from looking through a poetic lens at everyday reality.鈥� Burrington describes a long-term project dealing with the subject of memory, which sparked in-depth conversations influenced by the work of photographer .

In 鈥淪pirit of the Studio,鈥澛�Pauline Baker writes, 鈥淭hrough interactions in the studio, a growing relationship develops between the child and materials, and this encourages children to invent, think, to problem-solve, to strategize, to create and to wonder about themselves and the world around them.鈥�

(Research and Play)

Community. Partly because they had a limited budget, Burrington and her colleagues engaged parents and the community to collect materials and build the space. This process not only saved money. It also engaged adults in the creation of the studio and helped them feel invested in its success.

In addition, she invited artists from the community to take part in activities. A local stained-glass artist, for example, guided five-year-olds as they put on special gloves and used tweezers and glue. In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, Burrington, her colleagues and the children in their school began a community mural project that, she says, 鈥済ave the studio a soul.鈥�

Just as a collage comprises humble, disparate materials that add up to something new, the studio can give rise to unexpected connections and discoveries. In 鈥淪pirit of the Studio,鈥� Charles Schwall writes, 鈥淲hen the atelier, as well as all our school environments, are continually developed and used in purposeful ways, they transform our everyday life in school into a living manifestation of the richness of children鈥檚 potential.鈥�

鈥淒on鈥檛 underestimate the value of play,鈥� Hartwick College鈥檚 Laurel Bongiorno warns in a for the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Cognitive, social and literacy skills, along with vocabulary and physical abilities all get a workout when the little ones play. And while nobody invented playful learning, one of the world鈥檚 most influential champions was Loris Malaguzzi, founder of child care centers and preschools .

To learn more about play鈥檚 place in the Reggio Emilia approach, Early Learning Nation magazine spoke to Brenda Fyfe, dean and professor emeritus of the School of Education at . She serves on the board of the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance and co-edited .

Mark Swartz: When did you first encounter Reggio Emilia?

Brenda Fyfe: In 1990, I was teaching at Webster University鈥檚 campus in Iceland near the NATO base. Many Nordic countries had connected with Reggio Emilia long before anybody in the U.S. did. So I visited Italy, and I was awestruck. A Reggio classroom is a lovely place to be. You want to join the play; you want to play with everything. And yet there鈥檚 a sense of calm and peace. In part because it’s very soft and it doesn’t jump out and bombard you like some classrooms do with the primary colors and the letters all over the wall and that sort of thing. It’s soft and it’s peaceful, and yet it’s rich and stimulating, because there are materials there and there’s color, but it’s done in a way that helps you to calm down and not want to jump out of your chair. I returned every year until Covid.

MS: You belonged to a generation of educators who helped to popularize Reggio in the United States.

BF: Back then, all the literature that I could find was either in Icelandic or Italian. Lella Gandini was the key liaison between the U.S. and Reggio Emilia. She had been a doctoral student in Italy, and she brought knowledge of the Reggio Emilia approach and helped to organize an exhibit called , which highlighted the brilliance of children that they uncover and make visible through that exhibit. ( is also the title of an influential book.) Leila and I built partnerships and we created programs together. In St. Louis, I organized a group of educators from about five different schools, originally, to come together as a study group.

MS: Let鈥檚 talk about Reggio and play.

BF: calls play a child鈥檚 search for meaning. Play is the way that children deal with their reality and make sense of their world. And it gives them a sense of freedom, too, and agency. Children express themselves through materials, through music, movement, construction, sculpture, drawing, painting, all of what they call expressive languages.

MS: So it isn鈥檛 just for fun.

BF: And it鈥檚 never completely free play, either. The environment is set up; the materials are chosen. It’s not just let the kids go do whatever they want, you observe and document and then study it. Reggio founder Loris Malaguzzi (alongside the two co-teachers in the classroom).

It鈥檚 the idea of using materials to communicate ideas, feelings, thoughts and experiences. And it’s done in a playful way. Children are exploring and experimenting and they’re talking while they’re painting and they’re interacting with friends, and they’re looking at each other’s work and commenting on it.

MS: How can an educator tell the play is going the way it鈥檚 supposed to?

BF: When it’s really good play, you’re negotiating your experience. If it’s a dramatic play, for example, children are talking; they’re designing ideas; they’re talking about it with each other.聽 We talk about this idea of design, documentation and discourse as part of the negotiated learning process. Group play is a negotiation.

George Forman and Brenda Fyfe鈥檚 chapter in The Hundred Languages of Children

MS: These are life skills. Design, documentation and discourse are things you’re going to use in the workplace and with your family and then life later on.

BF: And even with the materials, you’re kind of negotiating your own understanding of it and your use of it by manipulating it.

MS: How does this concept apply to the youngest children?

BF: Even if infants and toddlers don’t have words, they’re watching. What are they looking at? How are they approaching it or how are they touching it?

MS: What are some of American Reggio鈥檚 innovations in recent years?

BF: The first one that comes to mind is called , from 2019, where they’ve looked at children exploring the outdoors. They’ve helped children to augment their playful observations with technology. They put digital cameras into the hands of children to take a photograph of what they see, and they come back to the images later and reflect on it. So play can be very sophisticated. Play with young children can involve materials, each other, but also technology.

MS: It鈥檚 a very demanding process for educators.

BF: Yes, and it鈥檚 also very energizing in the way it makes you slow down and listen to children. When most of us think about teaching, we picture a lesson plan and a sequence of experiences, and then closure. But rather than letting the plan drive you, you let it open you up to seeing what you didn’t anticipate.

MS: Could you say more about the teacher鈥檚 role?

Fyfe: The teacher gets involved without being intrusive, without being directive, but you get into the groove of the way the children are thinking. You want children to be in that space of being free to think and act in the moment. I always think of , co-founder of the field of positive psychology, who originated the concept of 鈥渇low.鈥� That’s the perfect image for me of what play is. We like to say the teacher’s role is to toss the ball in a way that the child wants to toss it back to you.

This commitment is not a new impulse for KABOOM! but rather one that reaches back to 1995, when founder Darell Hammond read a Washington Post story about two D.C. children who couldn鈥檛 find anywhere to play and subsequently died from heat exhaustion in an abandoned car.

Here鈥檚 what I learned when I spoke to Drustva Delgadillo, senior director of partnership development, Sally Dorman, director of regional partnerships and Kevin Paul, associate director of thought leadership about how they are scaling impact and partnering with municipal systems across the country:

A daily allowance of play. call for 180 minutes of physical play seven days a week. 鈥淲hat we really need to do is bring back play for children,鈥� said Dr. Juana Willumsen, WHO focal point for childhood obesity and physical activity.

And the American Academy of Pediatrics , noting, 鈥淐hildren play harder outdoors than indoors and they need daily opportunities to do so鈥�. Playing outside promotes curiosity, creativity and critical thinking.鈥�

Delgadillo, the mother of two young children, agrees, noting that child care providers need to provide play spaces in order to receive their quality ratings. 鈥淛ust walking children to an open space isn鈥檛 enough,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat’s the need that we are trying to address.鈥�

Historical inequity interferes with today鈥檚 play. Research by KABOOM! shows that lower socioeconomic status, racial and ethnic minority and rural populations have limited access in neighborhoods compared to wealthier, white and urban groups. It鈥檚 important to acknowledge that Playspace Inequity didn鈥檛 just happen. Tug on the thread of playgrounds and you get to all these other issues that communities can’t thrive because of historic and institutional racism and other factors.

According to Paul, housing policy, redlining and segregation all contribute to the problem. 鈥淲e also see surrounding physical and social conditions, as well as issues like limited access to transportation, personal safety concerns and lack of inclusive programming,鈥� he says, adding, 鈥淚f we want to make an impact, if we actually want to create a difference for kids, we’re going to have to work at that systems level, because that’s where the problems originated.鈥�

Data and play are not opposites. KABOOM! has gotten sophisticated about play. To evaluate the 16 playgrounds built with funding from the William Penn Foundation for the Play Everywhere Philly Challenge, involved geospatial mapping and analysis of neighborhood context; Environmental Assessment of Public Recreation Spaces; System for Observing Play and Leisure Activity observations; and on-site surveys of adult, English-speaking visitors.

Sean Perkins, chief of early childhood education at the Office of Children and Families, says, 鈥淧hiladelphia, under the Kennedy administration, has clearly prioritized investing in its families, particularly its youngest children. The Office of Children and Families is excited to continue its partnership with KABOOM! to identify areas of the city that most need playful learning environments by both meeting with residents and using available data.鈥� Dorman praises the Office of Children and Families for their holistic approach and also mentions the work of in addressing inequities through development of parks and recreation centers.

KABOOM! also collaborated with Child Care Aware of America and Vanguard to create a story map capturing Philadelphia鈥檚 landscape of play space inequity for kids ages zero to six. In addition to sophisticated mapping, the project included survey data from child care providers and other community members.

A has zeroed in on play in rural communities, generating data that advocates use to push for expanding the tax base to generate more public investment in play spaces.

There鈥檚 more to play than playgrounds. The KABOOM! team embraces what Dorman calls a 鈥渧ision for place-based equity that’s focused on everywhere kids live, learn and play,鈥� which means parks, schools, libraries, child care centers and beyond.

Moving slowly is a feature of their approach, she says. 鈥淲e typically start with assessment work to understand where the gaps exist currently, and then from there we engage community members, city leaders and partners who are already doing this work. We ask them, 鈥榃hat is the data showing? Is this data accurate? What do you see as barriers or challenges that are perpetuating place-based inequity in your cities and communities? What do you see as potential solutions?鈥欌��

Paul notes that they especially value 鈥渇olks who have been in neighborhoods for generations; they’re the experts in their community and their block.鈥� They also ask children what they want in a playground鈥攁nd listen to the answers.

There鈥檚 more to playgrounds than play. All the data gathering and community surveys takes a lot more effort than just pulling up to an empty lot and unloading the equipment. That time is an essential part of their approach. 鈥淭he more we can involve community in all this, the better,鈥� says Paul. 鈥淚f you come in with a fully baked solution, something that has just sort of popped out of the box, then there’s not as much sense of collective ownership.鈥�

KABOOM! is and always will be known for building playgrounds, and over the years the organization has gained an appreciation of what these spaces mean to people of all ages. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e important for kids and families,鈥� says Delgadillo, 鈥渂ut they also play a role in building community as a whole and making communities safer and more welcoming, more beautiful.鈥�

This belief is rooted in the Italian city of Reggio Emilia and with which it shares a name. Harris MacKay and Karlsen are among the thousands of educators who have come from all over the world to absorb the methods pioneered by Loris Malaguzzi (1920-94). The experience helped the Reggio-inspired Opal School, which served children ages 3-11, and the Portland Children鈥檚 Museum to jointly emblematize the play, playful learning and playful research that engage young minds in ways that standard U.S.-based pedagogies generally miss out on. These two institutions both closed in June of 2021, falling victim to pandemic financial woes, but their spirit lives on in the Center for Playful Inquiry.

鈥淭he mission of the school,鈥� says Harris MacKay, 鈥渨as not to serve that tiny group of lucky children who won the [charter school] lottery but to become a site of research that was intended to provoke fresh ideas where creativity, imagination and the wonder of learning thrive.鈥�

The Reggio-Emilia approach, Karlsen notes, arose in the years after World War II, when Italian society was asking itself what had happened to make Mussolini鈥檚 rise possible and what could be done to keep it from happening again. 鈥淚t is an anti-fascist pedagogy,鈥� he says, emphasizing that school and society both run on the interaction between people. Is the dynamic top-down, or is the power shared? Do members of the community fear authority, or do they respect each other and gain strength in their solidarity?

Beyond targeting what Harris MacKay calls the false dichotomy between what鈥檚 known as free play and what鈥檚 known as direct instruction, the Center for Playful Inquiry promotes a wholesale reconsideration of the way teachers are trained. 鈥淲e talk about adults not walking too far ahead of children, or not following too far behind them, but really just trying to be right alongside them,鈥� she says.

Educators visited Portland from around the country to observe and draw inspiration from the Opal School. 鈥淏eing based in a school,鈥� Karlsen says, 鈥渕ade things really alive, because children, families and staff were constantly part of this evolving, shifting, surprising, organic experience. We learned a lot from the adults who were visiting, about what kinds of experiences were helpful for them.鈥�

The Opal School鈥檚 program of professional development gave rise to the Center for Playful Inquiry (which organizes presentations, and facilitates conversations, planning and reflection) as well as (an online community for mutual mentorship; also known as the Story Workshop Studio). 鈥淎s we leave the laboratory of the school behind,鈥� says Harris MacKay, 鈥渨e meet up with all kinds of people who bring their own background knowledge or expectation of what professional development is.鈥�

Donna King of in Durham, North Carolina says, 鈥漇o much has been exceptionally enriching about the community and experiences Matt and Susan have created 鈥� they are brilliant facilitators, empathic listeners and incisive thinkers 鈥� visionaries with a repertoire of skills that make everyone they encounter think more deeply and feel more wholeheartedly.鈥�

Three ways the Center for Playful Inquiry continues to draw upon Reggio:

1. Helping people pay attention to their own context. Harris MacKay and Karlsen were inspired by what they experienced in Italy, but the plan never was to establish a 鈥渇ranchise鈥� of Reggio in Oregon. Their vision was always rooted in their own time and place.

鈥淲e were developing some really interesting ideas and some interesting expressions of those ideas,鈥� Karlsen recalls. 鈥淲hen other people came, it wasn’t to say, 鈥榊ou should be doing what we’re doing in Portland, at this little spot in Washington Park, and in a children’s museum, in your spot.鈥� Instead, it was saying, 鈥榃e think this is interesting. What might be the implications to your space?鈥�”

2. Giving educators permission to find their own path. Just as Karlsen and Harris MacKay didn鈥檛 set out to copy Reggio, they don鈥檛 try to impose a specific method on educators. The experience contrasts starkly with the standard operating procedure for this kind of enterprise, which Karlsen derides as I’m going to show you how to use this binder. And as long as you use this binder, it’s going to work for you and the children that you’re working with.

To capture the dynamic to which they aspire, he makes two comparisons 鈥� one, in rock music, to the Velvet Underground (whose debut album came out in 1967); and two, in the culinary arts, to Alice Waters of Chez Panisse (which opened in 1971). In both cases, the influence is vast, but neither icon inspired mere replication. Instead, bands followed the Velvet Underground into sonic and lyrical experimentation, and chefs followed Waters into reimagined ways of preparing and serving fresh ingredients.

3. Drawing strength from reimagining the ways adults interact with each other. Early education isn鈥檛 all about children. Equally important is how adults work with their colleagues and with parents. Adults, whether or not they鈥檙e officially teachers or not, need to develop their capacity for listening and interpreting what children care most about, and then trying to connect there.

Harris MacKay notes that many of the adults in the profession have not been invited to see themselves as learners, which influences the way that they, then, see children as learners. 鈥淭eachers are integral to the experience that children are having,鈥� she asserts. They’re never invisible to the children.鈥�

For Reggio veterans and novices alike, the Center for Playful Inquiry is teaming up with author and literacy expert for .

Deep and long-lasting change can take time. Harris Mackay says too many teachers have the mindset that as long as they do what they’ve been trained to do just right, then the children will learn. 鈥淭hat’s just not the way human learning works,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t’s a slow, gentle process, playing in a lot of different ways, intellectually, with materials and with each other.鈥�

Ankita Chachra, senior fellow at Capita, recently posted an essay, , describing how her dual journeys as an urban planner and a new mother reinforce each other: 鈥淲ith an urgent, selfish and personal interest in securing a safe future for my child and his future friends, I decided to commit myself to climate action at the intersection of early years and the built environment.鈥�

Early Learning Nation magazine spoke to Gill and Chachra about the potential they see for playful cities.

Mark Swartz: We鈥檙e going to talk about playgrounds, of course, but for both of you, there鈥檚 so much more to making our cities better for young children. What鈥檚 the best way for urban planners to tune into what their youngest residents need?

Tim Gill: The way I鈥檓 going to take that question is: How do we get urban planners and senior decision makers to care about children? I think it鈥檚 a moral issue. , we have to stop designing cities for people who are 30 years old and athletic and male. Caring about children helps us tackle cities鈥� long-term future, economic as well as environmental. If your city is not attracting and retaining families with children, then its long-term economic future is pretty bleak, because the demographics are against you.

Ankita Chachra: A city that works well for young children and families inherently works well for everyone. There needs to be a shift in perspective on who and what the city is for. What if we centered designing cities around care and caregiving? What if cities prioritized intergenerational social connections where young children and families can flourish?

Planners and city shapers must also recognize that children, caregivers and families navigate and use the city differently than a typical office-commuting-able-male adult. Proximity to services, ease of mobility (walking, biking, transit), and access to green and public spaces are foundational for building child-friendly cities. And lastly, it is essential to involve children and families in the decision-making to understand their needs better.

In the context of the United States, urban planning has had a history of segregation and redlining; thus, as practitioners move forward with working in communities where their needs haven鈥檛 been met for so many years, they must always seek to do with, not merely do for.

Gill: I鈥檓 a big fan of the bottom-up schemes that reclaim streets. Here in the UK, promotes resident-led, short-term road closures to let the kids come out and play. The model is regular, fairly unstructured block parties, and people experience what the street is like without traffic.

Chachra: That reminds me of awhere there was a small parking lot with garbage bins. We turned it into a plaza, painting the streets and adding some fake grass, and the children started playing there right away. I remember one little boy just running around, shouting, 鈥淧layground, playground.鈥� And it wasn鈥檛 even close to a playground, but the families had such joy in realizing their children could actually play right in front of their eyes.

Gill: In my book, I talk about how , in Colorado, brought young people鈥檚 voices into a debate about a downtown public space and counteracted the commercial interests that were pushing in other directions. That helped the city to build a more progressive and better collective solution.

Chachra: Growing Up Boulder鈥檚 has done some exceptional work, and including them in some of the planning decisions and having them go to the planning offices and work with the planners. That鈥檚 community engagement done the right way. It鈥檚 not tokenism.

Swartz: By spreading the word about these approaches, Urban Playground is influencing a new generation of urban planners, Tim.

Gill: It鈥檚 been encouraging to see city leaders joining the dots between children and the climate. Two of the most inspiring examples are Tirana, Albania; and Bratislava, Slovakia.

Chachra: Another question we need to ask is: How are we creating spaces for unexpected interactions between neighbors to happen? has looked at the street dimensions, the distance between the two streets and the number of interactions that happen between neighbors. A lot of it comes down to not driving. You鈥檙e very isolated when you鈥檙e just driving. Historically, playgrounds or dedicated places to play for children only emerged after we started prioritizing streets for cars over people and public life.

Swartz: I knew we鈥檇 get to playgrounds eventually. Now that you live in Brooklyn and have a baby of your own, Ankita, what issues are coming to the fore for you?

Chachra: I wish we were doing better from a physical infrastructure and access to green space perspective. There are a few destination parks and places like the Brooklyn Bridge Park, which offer some incredible opportunities for children and families to play and enjoy public life but those are limited and unique. In general, where families have access to parks, it鈥檚 mostly asphalt and concrete, with very few natural softscapes with grass or turf. In most playgrounds, it鈥檚 the same cookie-cutter infrastructure instead of a variety of play equipment that encourages imagination, learning and positive risk taking. That equipment is often designed for two years and older, so there鈥檚 also that missing amenity for really young children just starting to crawl and learning to engage with their environment.

Gill: The American Journal of Preventive Medicine just published a study by Meghan Talarowski and others on . They found that location is critical. If you鈥檝e got a playground in the right place with a good local catchment (a local population that surrounds a service like a school or park), you can have six times as many users as a playground that isn鈥檛 in a dense area with a good catchment within half a mile. The second thing is trees and greenery, which is a factor that doubles the levels of use.

Chachra: Access to green space is a big question. Of course, the catchment area is extremely important, but also, where does it sit within the city? For example, three playgrounds within walking distance of where I am right now are adjacent to highways. If we鈥檙e talking about children鈥檚 health and reducing exposure to bad air, especially in this era of changing climate with recurring days with hazardous air quality, the location of playgrounds near highways, that increase children鈥檚 daily exposure to poor air should be a non-starter.

Swartz: What else are you noticing about New York City?

Chachra: I won鈥檛 go into social programs and policy but will speak purely from the infrastructure perspective. While New York is walkable and has relatively good public infrastructure, it can still feel harsh and uninviting for young children. There鈥檚 been progress, but there鈥檚 a long way to go in making our streets and intersections safe and more child friendly. Streets where you can let your children play as if it were your front yard, or let your newly walking toddler roam free and know that your child is safe riding their bike from home to a neighboring park.

Sidewalks in many neighborhoods still lack shade and seating or in general, opportunities to pause and rest, which is essential when you are moving around with young children or the elderly. If streets are not safe and comfortable for everyone, and if they don鈥檛 feel inviting, then we are losing that opportunity to create a truly child-friendly city.

Swartz: What larger trends do you see affecting the way we live in cities?

Gill: One change we have definitely seen here in the UK 鈥� and I think it鈥檚 true in many other countries 鈥� is a decrease in workers going into city centers to work. So they鈥檙e working from home more or their jobs have shifted. And so that鈥檚 led to a kind of drop in demand and economic activity of various kinds in city centers.

This has led to a rise in economic activities in more peripheral areas, which, for me, relates to the idea of . Simply living locally, traveling more locally, focusing on local amenities and green space, reducing the dependence on the car鈥攁ll those things help make neighborhoods better for children.

The cofounder and executive director of Chicago nonprofit VOCEL, which stands for Viewing Our Children as Emerging Leaders, thinks of her role as 鈥渄emocratizing brain science,鈥� explaining, 鈥淲e see ourselves as a go-between between everyday families and academic centers like the and .鈥�

Sure, play is fun, and ample evidence demonstrates that it鈥檚 a key to how young children learn, but can it also address economic and social inequities? Building upon the investigations of Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Roberta Golinkoff, Helen Shwe Hadani and others, a contends that because play builds up assets like self-regulation and motivation, it increases children鈥檚 agency, which, in turn, 鈥渕akes it possible for the child to own and guide their own train of thought.鈥�

Baker and her co-authors continue, 鈥淲hile agency does entail self-reflection in thought and self-determination in action, the scope of these can extend to a wider community and is, therefore, consistent with collectivist values.鈥�

If that all sounds overly abstract or ambitious, consider VOCEL鈥檚 story, which began 10 years ago with a visit to the . 鈥淭his was a preschool where children鈥檚 voices were meant to be heard,鈥� recalls Ilhardt. Signs in the hallway read, “No shh zone.” The children walked not in lines but in clusters, in order to encourage, rather than curtail, conversation.

Inspired by what she鈥檇 seen in Atlanta, Ilhardt and her cofounder Kelly Powers launched a full-day, year-round nonprofit preschool in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago () and ran it on the principles of play-based learning and putting children in control of their education. Soon, it became apparent that the students鈥� learning correlated with assets that weren鈥檛 accessible to Austin鈥檚 families. 鈥淚 remember recommending a 鈥榤ommy and me鈥� music class and hearing, 鈥楾hey have those out in the suburbs, but they don’t have them here.鈥� That was one of those light bulb moments for us.鈥�

As VOCEL launched its own housed within neighborhood elementary schools, the organization received feedback that Ilhardt has never forgotten. 鈥淚 love the model,鈥� said one school principal, 鈥渂ut, no offense to you, I don’t want your people to lead it. I want someone from my community.鈥� This exchange fueled a budding co-creation stance that has persisted to this day and has become central to VOCEL鈥檚 approach. It has proven valuable as Chicago ramped up early education through the public schools. VOCEL鈥檚 preschool closed, but the academies proliferated. By next year, there will be 24 across the Windy City. Parents and caregivers share their experiences, driving content of the academies, which Ilhardt describes as judgment-free communities, with VOCEL staff supplying research-proven approaches.

Ilhardt鈥檚 talent for explaining young minds has led to a new and impactful shift for VOCEL. Public school principals, many who had early learning thrust upon them when Chicago implemented its pre-K initiative, found themselves out of their element. They often resorted to methodologies that apply to older grades, and Ilhardt started getting calls from parents, who said things like, 鈥淵ou taught me it was all about play and nurture and conversation, and now my child is getting worksheets, flashcards and timeouts.鈥�

Upon inquiring with principals at VOCEL鈥檚 partner schools, Ilhardt heard principals admit that they didn鈥檛 know much about early learning. One even blurted out, 鈥淚’m scared of the littles.鈥� Her VOCEL team sought to fill the gap with a coaching and training fellowship for principals and assistant principals. School leaders, she says, are reconsidering schoolwide attitudes about behavior, intervention, discipline and environments conducive to learning at every age. Ilhardt and her team impart developmentally appropriate practices to school leaders in a position to strengthen their early learning programs and smooth the transition from the early years to kindergarten and even the upper grades.

Joyce Pae, principal at The Chicago Academy elementary school, recently went through VOCEL’s Building Early Learning Leaders (BELL) fellowship. She says, 鈥淭hese past few years have been particularly challenging for our littlest learners to our biggest, and one big takeaway I had from BELL was on the importance of co-regulation and focusing on the social and emotional well-being of our children. Our partnership with VOCEL has taught me so much about early childhood and building a strong foundation for our students to succeed.鈥�

Ilhardt notes that public schools in Chicago, like many organizations, have been undergoing a high level of turnover ever since the pandemic started, so it鈥檚 important to maintain relationships and continually refresh knowledge about early education as the makeup of schools鈥� leadership teams evolve. VOCEL customizes their approach to each school, allowing for flexibility.

Throughout the transition from a brick-and-mortar care center to the launch of parent-child academies, to the implementation of the fellowship for principals鈥攁nd, even more recently, a fellowship for teachers, Ilhardt says her organization has stayed perpetually open to change. 鈥淚t’s a muscle that definitely needs to be worked,鈥� she says.

Dr. Sharon Carver, who has been running the Children鈥檚 School since 1993, did not just chuckle and tape the request to the refrigerator. 鈥淲e ordered the stuff they asked for,鈥� she says.

The wheelbarrows arrived, and there was another problem: they were not assembled.

In most places, staff might get out the tools and read the instructions for assembly while the children played, but that鈥檚 not how it works here. 鈥淭hey immediately understood that they were responsible for putting their own wheelbarrows together,鈥� Carver says. 鈥淭hey couldn鈥檛 necessarily do it entirely themselves, but they did what they could and asked for help with the parts they couldn鈥檛.鈥�

Once the wheelbarrows were put together, the children encountered yet another obstacle. There were different levels on the playground, and the wheels of the wheelbarrows weren鈥檛 big enough to get up and down.

So they built ramps.

That鈥檚 just how they roll at the Children鈥檚 School. Guided by highly trained educators and supported by design choices, the play here is pragmatic. Carver, who admits that she gets bored easily, likes it when the children surprise her with new ideas and projects.

Demographically, the Children鈥檚 School is a mirror of Pittsburgh as a whole, with about 30% multilingual, the full range of income levels and 15% having special needs. The school arose in 1968, the same year as another Pittsburgh institution, the long-running TV show Mister Rogers鈥� Neighborhood. Like Fred Rogers, founder Ann Baldwin Taylor built upon the influence of John Dewey (1859-1952), who famously wrote, 鈥淕ive the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results.鈥� Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980), who declared, 鈥淧lay is the work of children,” was another inspiration.

According to Carver, Taylor and Rogers were part of a generation trying to understand and respect children for who they are and the way that they think. Everyone here makes mistakes, deals with it, asks for help and tries all over again.

Many of the lessons Carver uses from Rogers come from by Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski. The authors show how his principles have been proven effective by learning sciences research and in in varied contexts for learners of all ages.

Around the world, she notes, young children do things like tending livestock, chopping wood and washing clothes, but in many parts of America, they have none of these responsibilities, and as a result, play and learning fall into different, artificial categories, with work being something that awaits in the distant future.

Carver says, 鈥淲hen we give them the skills, they’re actually capable of doing a lot more than you鈥檇 think. What you should do when you’re four is going to depend on what you did when you were three.鈥� Rogers, she notes, loved to show children how things are done and made. Famously, he took his young audience on tours of farms, factories and restaurants. Besides landscaping, children at the Children鈥檚 School get involved with activities like cooking and woodworking. The curriculum conforms to individual interest.

As a laboratory school 鈥� 鈥攖he Children鈥檚 School has a second, equal responsibility to facilitate research into child development. Carnegie Mellon psychology, computer science, and robotics researchers and students, sometimes in conjunction with the , observe the children and set up experiments and experiences. Carver refers to the school as a 鈥渟andbox鈥� where undergraduates and graduates get to 鈥渕ess around before going out into the world.鈥�

A recent project investigated how children interact with marble mazes. 鈥淭hese are computer science students,鈥� says Carver. 鈥淢any know nothing about children.鈥� In September, they observed the school, and they returned in November with their prototypes involving chutes and various gizmos for controlling the marbles. It was immediately apparent which projects engaged the children and which didn鈥檛. 鈥淐hildren vote with their feet,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty easy to tell if they鈥檙e engaged or not.鈥� Students in a Music Entrepreneurship course collaborated with children with an interactive workshop inspired by an exhibition celebrating author and illustrator Mo Willems.

鈥淲e take the same approach with staff development as we do with the children,鈥� she adds. When they experience the joy and power of such learning at their own level guided by their own interests, they are better able to design similar opportunities for the children. To that end, educators will soon take a trip to Pittsburgh鈥檚 , an 鈥渋mmersive work environment鈥� where new products are designed.

鈥淲e have no idea what鈥檚 going to happen,鈥� enthuses Carver. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what makes it play. Whatever we鈥檙e doing, all of us are approaching it playfully, within the structure of the activity.鈥�

With the lines between work, play and learning permeable, the experience is always unpredictable, which is something the children, the educators and Carver herself appreciate.

On a tiny triangular lot in the city鈥檚 Belmont neighborhood, kids with their parents for the No. 40 bus can also work on their executive functioning skills, playing a hopscotch variation designed to train their brains.

In Chicago, a mounted on the wall of a laundromat teaches children, in two languages, how to find color patterns in a lineup of detergent bottle tops.

And in Santa Ana, Calif., a basketball court doubles as a giant, real-time .

These are three examples of an unusual model of on-the-fly learning mixed with urban design, one that has emerged from decades of research on the role of play in kids鈥� lives.

The installations, overseen by the Philadelphia-based , come compliments of a unique team of researchers, educators and urban planners who are exploring how cities can support the learning kids do in school. In the process, they鈥檙e experimenting with how to turn ordinary adult-child interactions into opportunities to lift even the neediest kids 鈥� especially those whose parents can鈥檛 afford expensive afterschool and weekend activities.

鈥淲e’re trying to layer on to places and spaces where kids and families already spend time,鈥� said , a developmental psychologist and Playful Learning鈥檚 executive director. For instance, if a mother and child are already at the grocery store, the network greets them with that encourages conversations around sorting different kinds of produce.

Likewise, the installations don鈥檛 demand a lot from adults 鈥� in fact, they often offer a place to rest and recharge while kids take the initiative.

Preliminary research on the effort is promising, with pointing to the efficacy of the approach. The supermarket project, for instance, addresses a problem that besets low-income families: these parents talk informally with their children less often than middle-class parents do. And even when they do, the conversations tend to be shorter. The supermarket project significantly increased both the frequency and length of those conversations, especially among low-income families, showed. Adults were nearly four times as likely to chat with their kids if a store had the signage, bringing their level of conversation up to that of middle-class parents.

Philadelphia鈥檚 bus stop installation, designed by architect and known as the , offers several ways for children to play, among them an original twist on hopscotch: When they see one foot on a tile, they put two feet down, and vice versa when they see two. This game of opposites, Lytle said, works kids鈥� executive functioning skills, 鈥渨hich we know is really important for all kinds of later development.鈥�

In the laundromat, an eye-level matching game offers children a chance to place plastic laundry bottle caps according to prescribed patterns 鈥� as with the Philly bus stop installation, Lytle said, to keep the learning playful, kids need to be in control.

鈥淎n adult might set up the environment for a child, but an important piece of it is that the learning is always directed by the child.鈥�

Education in 鈥榮urround-sound鈥� 

Playful learning advocates are quick to emphasize that these interventions are limited, not meant to replace school but support it.

鈥淭he reality is that kids, particularly in their earliest years, only spend about 20% of their waking hours in those formal learning environments,鈥� said Lytle. 鈥淎nd so the idea is: How can we capitalize on that other 80%?鈥�

That key question long puzzled a pair of researchers in the Philadelphia area: Temple University鈥檚 and the University of Delaware鈥檚, who have spent nearly 15 years studying the centrality of play and non-school factors in children鈥檚 learning. Much of the bedrock theory for this effort comes from their research.

鈥淲e are increasingly learning that education is a 鈥榮urround-sound鈥� issue,鈥� Hirsh-Pasek said. 鈥淚t’s not an issue that stays behind brick walls, but it seeps out into the community.鈥�

Any effort that aims to educate must do three things, she maintains: It should be culturally aligned with families鈥� backgrounds, follow the science of how children actually learn and measure what matters to families.

Humans learn best, Hirsh-Pasek noted, when we鈥檙e active and engaged, usually with other people. School lessons are typically passive, she said, and not really built around meaningful questions. 鈥淚 mean, frankly, I don’t care if the train is traveling 30 miles an hour and the ball drops off the train. Learning abstract content is important, but we learn more deeply and in ways that 鈥榮tick鈥� when examples are meaningful. We can do better.鈥�

When it comes to measurement, Hirsh-Pasek said schools typically don鈥檛 focus enough on what families want most: Good communication skills, creativity, critical thinking and knowing the basics. They want their kids to be able to learn from failure and cultivate what鈥檚 become known as a 鈥済rowth mindset,鈥� persevering in the face of hardship.

Lytle, who oversees Playful Learning work from her office in Seattle, studied with Hirsh-Pasek at Temple in the 2000s. At the time, Hirsh-Pasek was becoming one of the first early childhood researchers to take play seriously, at a time when the larger field of education was focused laser-like on basic skills.

鈥淚t’s something that serious researchers didn’t get into,鈥� Lytle said, 鈥渂ut she thought it was really important. She sometimes says 鈥榩lay鈥� used to be a four letter word.鈥�

The work that followed laid out not only playful learning鈥檚 theoretical framework, but helped researchers see how much kids are learning as they play. 

As with the grocery store signage, on the bus stop installation found that families had longer conversations there than at a neighborhood playground, and that they talked more about STEM topics such as numbers, fractions, patterns and measurement. A found that both caregivers and kids put their phones away while at the site.

But as steeped in delight as it is, the work isn鈥檛 without thorny real-world challenges, as when Lytle recently gave a journalist a tour of Philly鈥檚 Urban Thinkscape, one of the city鈥檚 earliest successes from 2017, and one that serves as a model for how educators and developers can transform formerly neglected stretches of pavement.

The space, in a set of busy crossroads, bristles with wooden-plank walkways and activities like the one-foot/two-foot hopscotch, word and picture puzzles built on protective railings, and a steel sculpture that, at midday, reveals shadows of hidden objects on the ground beneath.

But as Lytle showed a visitor around, a neighborhood man approached and asked if she was there to help with the rats.

Not quite sure how to react, Lytle said she was simply touring the space, but the man persevered, saying the ground beneath the installation was 鈥渇ull of rats. Big rats.鈥�

Matter-of-factly, Lytle replied, 鈥淥.K. That’s good to know.鈥� She suggested contacting an official who oversees the property, adding, 鈥淚 think we’re working on relocating this, actually.鈥�

She later said the network has actually begun encouraging communities to keep repurposing spaces like these as they age. 

An idea goes global

Challenges aside, the Playful Learning idea is starting to spread around the globe.

At the moment, five other cities 鈥� Pittsburgh, Chicago, Santa Ana, Calif., Tel Aviv and Lima, Peru, are in the middle of concerted efforts to create these spaces. Other cities are also dipping their toes into the water, including Omaha and Durham, N.C. 

Mostly foundation-funded, they鈥檙e also affordable in most cases 鈥� the supermarket signage costs about $60 per store. And a few cities are beginning to work the installations鈥� management into their annual budgets, with line items for a playful learning coordinator. In Philly, the effort is largely funded by the , which has invested nearly $13.7 million since 2017. 

The expansions got a boost from a 2020 agreement with the, the renowned Washington, D.C., think tank, which is pushing to so that more cities can join, pairing experts in early education and development with those in urban policy.

Brookings鈥� Jennifer Vey said the installations can have a broader impact beyond improving interactions between kids and parents: They can impact cities鈥� health. Because efforts like these bring families together in public spaces where they feel safe enough to bring their children, 鈥渋t helps strengthen the civic fabric of a place.鈥� And of course it brings potential economic benefits, supporting the small businesses that surround these social spaces.

It can also enrich public schools鈥� offerings, said Rigo Rodriguez, a Santa Ana Unified School board member and professor of Latino public policy at California State University-Long Beach. The school board has long sought a new kind of intervention in a district where about 80% of entering kindergartners are English language learners and one-third of students come from families living below the poverty line.

With the help of Andres S. Bustamante, a University of California-Irvine , the district began repainting elementary school basketball courts to create a game he calls Fraction Ball. In the game, a goal from the traditional three-point line earns just one point, with smaller arcs closer to the basket representing shots worth 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 points on one end of the court, and 1/3 and 2/3 points on the opposite end. Fractions line one side of the court, decimals the other.

鈥淲e want it to be playful and embodied and outdoors and to be more conceptual than procedural,鈥� Bustamante said. 鈥淵ou’re getting an idea of what a fraction means.鈥�

As part of the game鈥檚 debut, researchers tracked student鈥檚 math skills in fourth and fifth grades. They found that Fraction Ball led to 鈥溾�� in children鈥檚 understanding of how to convert decimals to fractions and vice versa 鈥� impressive for an informal intervention that only lasted three weeks, Bustamante said. It encouraged researchers to create an in-class curriculum around the game. 

鈥淭he reality is that kids do have to learn the procedural stuff,鈥� Bustamante said. 鈥淭hey need to know how to find the common denominator and add unlike fractions and all that stuff.鈥�

All the same, the achievement data persuaded the school board to bring the game to all 35 elementary schools, Rodriguez said.

鈥淭here’s a limitation to strategies that just try to reform an educational system, because they depend on people who show up,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t really struck me that what we can do as a district is to support the creation of learning environments across the board, right where every child is.鈥�

Active. When you picture education, do you see students sitting at their desks? Or do you recognize that children, especially young children, learn with their whole bodies? 鈥淭hese aren鈥檛 playgrounds,鈥� insists Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, chief science advisor and co-founder of the Playful Learning Landscapes Action Network (PLLAN). 鈥淭hey鈥檙e deep learning that happens to be fun.鈥�

Jumping, climbing and running engage minds as well as bodies, she says. That鈥檚 why there鈥檚 a climbing wall in the Cecil B. Moore Library in North Philadelphia, one of many collaborations with the nonprofit . As Meghan Talarowski, the studio鈥檚 founder and director, , 鈥淩isky play is the idea of encouraging kids to use their bodies in different ways that are developmentally appropriate for them.鈥� The Playbrary also features tangram cutout reading nooks; colorful, lightweight tangram blocks; and a magnetized board with words and letters where children can express themselves.

Inexpensive. The installations I visited on my tour were creative and colorful, but their budgets were modest 鈥� a mere fraction of what the orb must have cost. Many are fabricated at the maker space, where Jon LuBow of LuBow Design LLC and Katelyn Fletcher 鈥� a postdoctoral fellow with the 鈥� demonstrated a prototype of a pattern game inspired by Dance Dance Revolution as well as a set of story wheels destined for 12 sites throughout Philadelphia.

The story wheels build knowledge of story structure, just as the dance game teaches patterns that feed later STEM skills. 鈥淟ocal artists, designers and fabricators are wonderful to work with,鈥� says Sarah Lytle, Ph.D., executive director of PLLAN. 鈥淭hey bring their creativity to every project and figure out how to turn ideas into reality.鈥�  Local is a related quality. Rather than hiring international luminaries, PLLAN works with abundantly talented Philadelphians.

Low-tech. While NextFab offers some pretty impressive equipment, the overall low-tech vibe rubs off on families. 鈥淭he parents are playing, too,鈥� notes Hirsh-Pasek. 鈥淭hey actually put their cell phones away.鈥�

In the Belmont neighborhood of West Philadelphia, Urban Thinkscape transforms a bus stop into a zone for family discovery. Installations include a bench with puzzles, hopscotch developed to allow children to practice impulse control, icons on a walking path for story creation and a hidden figures sculpture. increases in targeted types of caregiver interaction and child language use.

Lytle and team are developing that families can check out from the library. She鈥檚 also inspired by innovative play concepts emerging from .

Open-ended. The best games don鈥檛 come with rules. Children and families invent their own rules. As , 鈥淐ritically, adults do not tell a child what to do or direct them towards the 鈥榬ight answer鈥� during guided play, but rather adults encourage the child to explore further and find their own solutions.鈥�

Stories drive playful learning games and activities, but these stories don鈥檛 necessarily have beginnings and endings鈥攁s anyone can tell you who has tried to follow a story emerging from a young child鈥檚 imagination. In her NAEYC post titled , Judi Pack writes, 鈥淎 story is powerful and meaningful to families and can often communicate more than a number, a score or a checklist of skills.鈥�

Hirsh-Pasek has spoken and powerfully against the prevailing emphasis on the testing that drains the joy from learning.

Driven by community. Not many community members are likely to walk into a corporate headquarters, but they do go to grocery stores, laundromats and health clinics, and these are the kinds of spaces that PLLAN targets. For example, an interactive mural animates the large waiting room at the clinic, which accommodates 10,000 visits per year. The mural vividly depicts weaving, dancing, embroidery and other aspects of the culture and heritage of the patients. Hundreds of community members took part in painting the mural.

The installation also includes a 濒辞迟别谤铆补 game in four languages selected by community members: English, Spanish, Nahuatl and Q’eqchi’. 鈥淭he project uplifts our community鈥檚 linguistic diversity,鈥� says Orfelina Feliz Payne, the clinic鈥檚 executive director.

Aesthetically, the playful installations I saw on my tour were far more engaging than the gleaming white orb in the office tower, but, more importantly, the science of child development is baked into these designs, which is why they are so effective. As Hirsh-Pasek notes, 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just about beautifying. It鈥檚 about learning. It鈥檚 about community.鈥�

On May 18, , a creative think tank, hosted writer and researcher for a conversation about how child-friendly planning and design can save cities that are often noisy, air-polluted, dominated by cars and devoid of nature. Gill shared evidence found in his new book : How Child-Friendly Planning and Design Can Save Cities, which reveals how seeing cities through the eyes of children strengthens the case for design, planning and transportation policies that work for people of all ages鈥攁nd the planet.

Below are our top five takeaways from the presentation.

1. Roads come with repercussions. Road danger is an adverse feature of the current built environment. Worldwide, it is the leading cause of death for 5- to 29-year-olds. 鈥淲e know far too many children are dying and being permanently disabled because of the threat from traffic,鈥� Gill said. In the U.S., one in four accidental deaths of children under the age of 13 are on roads. Air pollution from traffic adds to the problem. Poor and marginalized groups are most affected by these dangers. Child-friendly city planning is a tool to use in direct response to this issue.

2. Safe roaming ranges are shrinking. Think back to your childhood and the distance from home you were allowed to go all on your own. That distance has gotten smaller over generations. Gill refers to the shrinking horizons of childhood as one of the most profound and under-explored changes in childrens鈥� lives.

鈥淭he offer we make to children today in terms of meeting that appetite for adventure and exploration is a 鈥榩lay reservation鈥� model,鈥� Gill said, and we see it in gated parks and playgrounds everywhere in cities. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a fundamentally flawed way of creating and incorporating space in neighborhoods for children.鈥�

3. The importance of the public realm. Instead of play reservations, cities and communities should focus on developing three pillars that provide for more child- and family-friendly neighborhoods.

• Housing suitable for families
• Services such as schools, child care and health services
• in the public realm

鈥淚t is only when children step out beyond their homes, school and institutions in their lives that they fully claim their rights as citizens,鈥� Gill said, 鈥淚t is in these spaces that you get the strongest insights into how society treats and sees children.鈥�

When measuring the success of spaces in the public realm, mobility and things to do are the most important dimensions to consider. 鈥淥ne of the best ways to improve the access to play for young children is to improve the mobility of their caregivers,鈥� Gill said. The presence of local and accessible playgrounds, nature, sports, leisure and other facilities are key to making neighborhoods more child- and family-friendly.

4. Small affordances go a long way. As initiative illustrates, not much equipment is needed for beneficial playtime. Gill agrees that healthy built environments only need to incorporate affordances. 鈥淎n affordance is a physical feature in the environment that makes an invitation,鈥� Gill explained, 鈥淵ou realize that there are many features in the environment that can offer children play stimuli.鈥�

Things like slopes, ditches and stepping stones are small and effective interventions. 鈥淚t is through playing that children gain a sense of their own capacities and of themselves as people who have some say over their lives,鈥� Gill explained. It aids in development of executive function, self-efficacy, skills to navigate social situations and more.

5. Community participation is paramount. Municipalities must engage children and marginalized communities in conversations about change that directly impacts their livelihood. While the wants and needs of kids as it relates to exploration and environment are well documented, very little has been done to implement their desires. 鈥淏ringing children鈥檚 voices into the process helps to raise aspirations and combat some of the resistance and vested interests that would otherwise dominate the conversations.鈥�

Getting the input of marginalized groups mitigates much of the inequity we see across municipalities today. Gill said to avoid the kind of redevelopment and rampant gentrification seen today, 鈥淧rograms need to proactively bake in a focus on equity to support marginalized communities to get involved.鈥�

On May 6, she gave a virtual talk, Reimagining Education: A View from the Science of Learning, for the University of Maryland鈥檚 听补苍诲听 during which she offered many morsels of knowledge. Here, then, are more than the usual takeaways.

1. The kids will be okay. She started her presentation with the questions she鈥檚 heard a lot in the past 18 months: 鈥淲ill we have an entire generation of social misfits? A generation of children who will never catch up?鈥� Covid has unearthed a lot of angst, and the hand-wringing continues about the long-term consequences. According to Hirsh-Pasek, however, 鈥淜ids are the most resilient things in the universe.鈥� Which doesn鈥檛 mean, she cautioned, there won鈥檛 be more work for a lot of us.

2. This is precisely the opportunity needed to reimagine education. Hirsh-Pasek urged her audience to apply the science of learning to do what it takes for children to thrive in the 21st century. She cited a that summarizes the situation we鈥檙e in: 鈥淭oday鈥檚 students learn very much the way their parents and grandparents did鈥攕itting in rows in front of a teacher who delivers subject content until a bell rings and they shuffle to the next class. That worked in an economy that needed factory and office workers equipped to do rote jobs. But that world no longer exists.鈥� Instead of maintaining the status quo, she said, we need to recognize that 鈥渢he future belongs to creators, empathizers, pattern recognizers, meaning makers, artists, inventors designers and storytellers.鈥�

3. It鈥檚 not about testing. Teachers, parents and students loathe them. Many experts are coming around to the belief that standardized tests fail to gauge the qualities that students need in the 21st century. She lamented the fact that since No Child Left Behind, the early education industry continues to embrace testing, owing to what she called a misinterpretation of the core curriculum. 鈥淲ith testing,鈥� she said, 鈥淔ailure鈥檚 a bad thing. In learning, failure鈥檚 a good thing. Because you dust yourself off and change your approach.鈥�

4. Build relationships. The opposite of testing, said Hirsh-Pasek, and 鈥渢he root of every developmental science model we have,鈥� is the formation of strong, trusting relationships between parents and teachers, kids and parents. Early literacy is a case in point. 鈥淧honics are not the way the brain works,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he brain works through building relationships early on, so that when they do learn the phonics skills, the letter sound corresponds with something they know about.鈥�

5. Play is the way. Hirsh-Pasek enthusiastically cited the work of Pasi Sahlberg, the Finnish-born professor of education policy, now influencing systemic change in Australia, who about her favorite subject: 鈥淚t seems now,鈥� he writes, 鈥渢hat learning through play is becoming a new normal in post-pandemic educational recovery.鈥� She elaborated on the concept of guided play, in which the parent or teacher plays like a peer, asks open-ended questions and complements children鈥檚 action with relevant information. 鈥淓ducation goes beyond the school walls,鈥� she continued. 鈥淚t goes into the communities, and we’re calling it .鈥�

6. Get to know Erika Christakis and Susan Engel. Hirsh-Pasek strongly recommended Christakis鈥檚 The Importance of Being Little: What Young Children Really Need from Grownups and Engel鈥檚 The Intellectual Lives of Children .

7. Discover the Six C鈥檚. For Hirsh-Pasek, the recipe for both successful teaching and urgently needed education reform boil down to collaboration, communication, content, critical thinking, creative innovation and confidence. As she and co-author Roberta Golinkoff write in a that came out around the same time as their influential book Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us about Raising Successful Children, 鈥淓ach of these skills is interrelated and builds on one another, continually improving across a person鈥檚 life span. Each is malleable, and each is measureable. Further, each is as adaptable to the classroom as it is to the boardroom. Collectively, they offer a dynamic and systemic way of achieving a new vision of successful education.鈥�

Wilson (1945-2005) is also the namesake of one of the city鈥檚 165 parks, which have proved to be vital 鈥渓ungs鈥� during the COVID pandemic鈥攑laces where families with young children can go and be together in (almost) any weather.

Collaboration drives Pittsburgh鈥檚 thriving early-childhood ecosystem. Gregg Behr, executive director of the Grable Foundation, says, 鈥淚 view our entire community as one big campus, a genuine learning network.鈥� Decades of investment in families, parents and caregivers built resilience and may have cushioned the blow of the pandemic. As in many cities, he notes, the past year has affected different families differently. 鈥淓xperience is hyperlocal,鈥� he says. 鈥淪ome families are doing better than others.鈥�

Although many programs have had to be suspended or postponed, playful learning remains alive and well in Pittsburgh. According to Jen Schnakenberg, assistant director of education at Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy’s Frick Environmental Center, connecting children to nature through play builds gross and fine motor skills and sparks 鈥渦nconstrained imaginative freedom.鈥� Unlike traditional playgrounds with equipment bolted to the ground, this mode derives from 鈥淟oose Parts Play鈥濃�攁 concept originated by British architect Simon Nicholson, , 鈥淚n any environment, both the degree of inventiveness and creativity, and the possibility of discovery, are directly proportional to the number and kind of variables in it.鈥� Schnakenberg and her colleagues also encourage children to use sticks and any other handy play materials in their own creative ways.

encourage children and families to take advantage of their local green spaces. Pediatricians, other health care professionals at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, and staff at the that operate primarily in low-income neighborhoods, issue these prescriptions, which experts endorse as a way of addressing obesity, depression, ADHD and other conditions that disproportionately affect young children of color.

鈥淎 child might see the doctor once a year,鈥� says Kathryn Hunninen, senior manager of special initiatives at the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy. 鈥淭eachers, school nurses and other professionals interact with children more frequently and get to know them and their families.鈥� She says that more than 1,600 prescriptions have been issued so far in doctor鈥檚 offices and over 5,000 people have interacted with the program in community settings since 2016. While it鈥檚 difficult to track the compliance rate, the program is an important way to remind families that the heading outdoors is a part of staying healthy.

Hunninen always feels gratified when families discover nature in their community, whether it鈥檚 down the block or a quick bus ride away. One of her favorite trips was to a nearby state park for hiking and swimming. Another fond memory took place on 鈥渁 gorgeous, 60-degree day in November鈥� when families went on a Story Walk, which involves posting enlarged, laminated pages of children鈥檚 books along a trail, to encourage both exercise and literacy.

鈥淭he children were wearing their little masks,鈥� she recalls. 鈥淎nd they were having so much fun they wouldn鈥檛 go home.鈥�

Behr is looking forward to this May. The series, which comprises virtual, in-person and hybrid coding, inventing and play activities, started in 2016 and now reaches beyond its Pittsburgh origins. Chicago, Oregon, San Diego and the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia metropolitan area are all set to participate.

鈥淭here鈥檚 something for every family,鈥� he promises.

Helen Hadani, dual fellow at the , shared the larger context for this initiative, and then Dr. Brenna Hassinger-Dass, assistant psychology professor at Pace University, and science advisor for , and Jane Park Woo, director of , shared their experiences integrating learning tools and opportunities into public spaces. Below are our top three takeaways from the event.

1. COVID-19 remains a challenge for learning. Hadani presented evidence that transitions out of school and to virtual learning may widen education inequality.

鈥淭here is a widening distribution, with children鈥檚 learning with more children left behind and most of those children are likely to be living in poor areas and marginalized communities,鈥� she explained, 鈥淲ealthier families are better situated to mitigate COVID effects, since they live in more comfortable homes and have better internet connections and resources to pay for tutors. That鈥檚 not the case most of the time for children living in poor areas.鈥�

COVID makes the divide more apparent and adds urgency to the movement to enrich learning opportunities in everyday environments that are accessible to all children and families.

2. Public spaces present learning opportunities. One possible solution is playful learning landscapes. These landscapes provide fun and interactive installations in spaces where families frequent, such as grocery stores, laundromats and public parks.

鈥淭he installations encourage critical connections and the development of skills that allow children from under-resourced neighborhoods to enter school on a more level playing field and continue to thrive in school and beyond,鈥� Hadani explained.

While there is no silver bullet for education inequity, playful learning landscapes offer a powerful solution with a wide range of benefits.

In western countries, kids spend about 20% of their waking time in school and the other 80% in their homes and community settings, but a lot of work to improve academic and other outcomes has been focused on school.

In explaining the work behind this initiative, Hassinger-Dass said, 鈥淲e thought, How can we use everyday places and spaces and transform them into places where we can foster learning and caregiver-child engagement? 鈥�

3. Children and communities benefit from the partnerships and implementation. The playful learning landscapes initiative has developed ways to spur playful learning, physical activity and caregiver-child interaction in everyday places and spaces.

In partnership with communities, the team designs projects that are non-obstructive, attention-catching, intuitive and interactive. The research and implementation of these projects are centered around community members and families and promote their input and involvement at every stage of the process.

鈥淧rojects are a collaboration with the community from the very start,鈥� Hassinger-Dass explained.

Libraries, vacant lots and bus stops are other examples of spaces that have been transformed to promote early learning and interaction. Philadelphia libraries saw an increase in program attendance after a renovation. 鈥淭he programming didn鈥檛 necessarily have to do with play and learn spaces,鈥� Hassinger-Dass clarified.

is another Philadelphia project that yielded positive results. What was once a grassy lot behind a bus stop was transformed into a learning space with various installations, incorporating stories and puzzles, to foster play, literacy and executive function skills.

Too Small to Fail is also focused on meeting families where they are. Describing Too Small to Fail鈥檚 campaign, Park Woo said, 鈥淥n average, children from lower-income families hear millions fewer words than their higher-income counterparts.鈥�

These findings reiterate the critical challenge we are facing but also illuminate opportunities we have in the first few years of life to build children鈥檚 vocabulary and a strong foundation for learning.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not just the number of words that children hear, but really it is the quality of the moments that are shared,鈥� she explained. Through partnerships, her team has transformed thousands of spaces to surround families with language, making everyday environments more conducive to learning.

The conversation background: COVID-19 led to across 16 states and the District of Columbia, impacting 23 million kids under the age of 18, according to research completed by KABOOM!, the national nonprofit devoted to addressing inequitable access to playspaces.

With communities and facilities reopening, Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins, vice president of programs at KABOOM! presented . The recommendations were created by the KABOOM! Playground Reopening Taskforce that includes public health, community development, parks and recreation and facilities experts. Our notes below highlight the guidelines and general points shared during the discussion.

1. The Big Idea

鈥淗ealth equity is foundational, and physical activity, including active play, is essential to health,鈥� the CDC鈥檚 Iris Joi Hudson asserted at the start of the call.

2. Prioritize Equity in Reopening Playgrounds

All parties agree that parks, public trails and other green spaces are essential to the well-being and resilience of kids and communities. The group also acknowledged that all systems are not equal, and disparities in safe and convenient access persist and perhaps are exacerbated by the pandemic.

KaBOOM! recommends that playgrounds in all neighborhoods have appropriate signage, add hand cleaning amenities and adhere to other public safety measures. The group suggests that public agencies should prioritize playgrounds in communities that have the fewest resources available and consult community members and stakeholders to learn about specific needs.

3. Prepare the Playground Equipment and Space

In accordance with CDC recommendations, KABOOM! suggests that reasonable, responsible limits are set to ensure that playground users can maintain a physical distance of six feet from one another. To start, they suggest reducing capacity by two-thirds. Agencies should continue cleaning playground equipment, especially high-touch areas like handrails. To communicate updates, agencies should clearly post signage at the playground, share information out to users and encourage parents bringing kids to the playground to self-enforce the protocols.

4. Enable Safe Playground Use and Practice Safe Behavior

Posted updates should be easily visible, accessible in English and other appropriate languages for playground users, and address adult and child audiences. Signs should serve as reminders for users to:

• stay home if feeling sick
• wash or sanitize hands often
• cover face for sneezing and coughing
• heed guidance for wearing masks

Park administrators are encouraged to provide hand-washing stations near the playground if possible, and training to staff to support safe and healthy behavior by playground users.

5. Public Health Realities Differ Vastly from Place to Place

Implementing these guidelines may be easier in some places than others. Chris Bass, assistant director for the Parks and Recreation Department in Douglasville, Georgia shared that their primary challenge is the limited access to playspaces in parts of the community and their overcrowding in communities where they do exist. The city is intentionally reevaluating their budget to increase outreach to underserved populations. While they are exploring ways to update their facilities (鈥淩ight now, none of our playgrounds are ADA compliant,鈥� he admitted) and improve the playground user experience, they have dispatched a mobile recreation unit to deliver equipment like jump ropes and frisbees to get kids moving closer to home.

Leaders in the public health and development sectors understand that there is no one way to go about reopening playgrounds, since each municipality is starting from a different place. Still, they concur that it is paramount to first consider those most affected by pre-existing disparities and the pandemic to ensure a safe, equitable and healthy return of kids, families and communities to public playspaces.

鈥淧lay,鈥� says Hutchins, 鈥渋s critical to help kids heal following a disaster as they deal with the stress of major disruptions to their routines and stability. As city and state leaders plan for reopening, the safe and equitable opening of playgrounds must also be prioritized.鈥�

And where鈥檚 the best place for play to happen? The short answer is: anywhere outdoors. Of course, there鈥檚 nothing like a playground to really get the heart pumping and the synapses snapping.

Drustva Delgadillo prescribes two hours of outdoor playtime daily. Director of strategic partnerships for KaBOOM! the national nonprofit devoted to addressing inequitable access to play spaces, Delgadillo views playgrounds as gathering places for the entire community, whether that means toddlers taking their first steps, teens barreling along an American Ninja Warrior-style adventure course or seniors knitting. She says that to bring about the kind of transformation, community engagement in the design and planning process is necessary to ensure community needs are met, 鈥淭he quality of age-appropriate outdoor play spaces has to improve.鈥�

鈥淧lay is how children learn,鈥� she continues. Among the benefits that are especially relevant for young children, she mentions:

• Improving gross motor skills through climbing and sliding
• Brain-building through parent-child interaction (which I鈥檓 pretty sure means the parents have to put their devices away, too)
• Promoting reciprocal play鈥攎ake-believe is always better with a friend
• Building sensory awareness鈥攆or example, through equipment that makes music
• Developing cognitive ability through puzzle manipulation

For Joe Marinucci, CEO of the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, playgrounds matter for economic reasons. 鈥淭his is part of keeping families downtown,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 part of making a walkable downtown.鈥� Marinucci activated the young professionals organization is his city to address a playground deficit and attracted philanthropic support from the Joseph H. and Ellen B. Thomas Foundation. A design firm called helped to develop a nautical theme to complement the restored steamship in the harbor. Marinucci has tapped , a local nonprofit dedicated to community-centered design, for a subsequent project.

New York City comptroller Scott Stringer conducted an ambitious citywide survey of the playground landscape in the Big Apple, and last year issued the , which found that its playground-per-capita ratio lags behind Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland, St. Louis, and 44 other U.S. cities. Affluent neighborhoods have more鈥攁nd safer鈥攑laygrounds than those that need them most.

I spoke to Adam Forman, Stringer鈥檚 chief policy and data officer, about New York City鈥檚 particular challenges and opportunities. 鈥淐ities change,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ut that doesn鈥檛 mean they can鈥檛 plan.鈥� Given the extensive development across the five boroughs, he continued, planners must 鈥渓ook to existing, publicly owned spaces and repurpose them for the local community.鈥� At the same time, cities of all sizes should be receptive to partnerships that make their playgrounds more inviting. For example, Pampers, the diaper company, donated 600 changing stations, making the city鈥檚 parks considerably more baby-friendly.

State of Play calls for a revival of the sort of mid-block playground that came about in the 1960s when Robert F. Kennedy (then a U.S. Senator), architect I. M. Pei, and others put their heads together in the Bed-Stuy Crown Heights neighborhood. Forman notes that in the subsequent half-century, the model has been attempted in other communities, but somewhat haphazardly and 鈥渨ithout intention.鈥�

According to Forman, playgrounds don鈥檛 necessarily have to be expensive, or overbuilt and fussed over. He mentioned the temporary 鈥渁dventure playground on Governor鈥檚 Island,鈥� made up of cardboard boxes, fabric, markers, string, and tape that periodically arises.

Ever since 1996, when Darell Hammond founded KaBOOM! the organization has prioritized community co-creation. (He stepped down in 2016, and James Siegal is now CEO.) Delgadillo describes inviting kids to draw their dream playground. 鈥淭hey say, 鈥榃e need more slides鈥� and presto!鈥攁 three-slide structure arises.鈥�

The children are the experts, but KaBOOM! has developed a slightly more boring but no less essential quality鈥�23 years of permitting and play infrastructure experience鈥攚hich makes it an attractive partner for communities that want to put up a playground but lack the administrative or execution capabilities. Delgadillo says the organization is moving toward addressing play space equity by building parks across communities where the need is the greatest.

鈥淭hat way,鈥� she explains, 鈥淚t鈥檚 more than just a one-off engagement, but has the potential to impact an entire city or system, not to mention the cost savings.鈥� Delgadillo is especially excited about long-term partnerships with NYU Langone Health, the Baltimore City Public Schools (), and the William Penn Foundation and the Playful Learning Landscapes in Philadelphia.

Fundraising is another valuable tool in KaBOOM!鈥檚 toolbox. Philanthropy such as the kind that Marinucci found is just one possibility. Delgadillo recommends the Bipartisan Policy Center鈥檚 for examples of federal-, state-, and local-level models across government, foundation, and public-private partnerships. 鈥淲e wait until the dollars are in place before we engage with a community,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to break our promises.鈥�

That focal point of the piazza has gone missing in much of contemporary American society 鈥� along with the very idea of play as a worthy human activity 鈥� but a new movement is afoot to bring back such public spaces, with a 21^st century twist. What if the everyday places where people spend time 鈥� bus stops, parks, grocery stores and other public areas 鈥� could be transformed into learning hubs in which the design of the place itself organically calls for interaction among caregivers and children? What if those places actually invited play in a highly specific way that could help children develop academic skills and the competencies they鈥檒l need in a rapidly changing future?

An exciting answer to those questions is the (PLL) movement, which fuses the science of learning with architect Itai Palti鈥檚 movement to transform mundane built environments into something more magical. The brilliance of the venture is that its installations manage to cover the scientific bases without looking as though they鈥檙e doing much at all 鈥� just providing a lot of fun with an upgraded version of hopscotch or puzzles on a wall that abuts an ordinary park bench.

鈥淎s we started planning our project, for example, we asked some basic questions,鈥� says early learning scholar and author . 鈥淲e wondered why a bench is 鈥榡ust a bench鈥� and if it has to be just that. Couldn鈥檛 we transform a normal bench? One of the easiest ways to achieve that was to put four different puzzles right next to the bench.鈥�

鈥淚t turns out that when people are playing with puzzles, they are not only discussing things like alignment, but concepts like 鈥榦n, around and through鈥� and asking, 鈥楧oes it match?鈥� 鈥� which all turn out to be spatial terms that relate to later math and STEM ability.鈥�

The serious side of Playful Learning Landscapes is its focus on an urgent need globally to optimize early education in and out of schools. The U.N. reports that by mid-century, more than two-thirds of the world鈥檚 children will be living in urban areas and that most will reach adulthood without even the basic secondary skills required for work in a rapidly changing world. One response to this urgent need has been good progress on creating high-quality universal preschool, a critical step that has been shown to make a difference in school readiness that translates into later successes. However, this solution alone can鈥檛 really remedy the need.

Children typically spend only 20% of their waking time in classrooms. Some societies, including the U.S. to some degree, have tried to optimize that remaining 80% of kid hours by piling on more schoolwork, tutoring and assignments in an effort to give children a head start on academic skills such as reading and math. In this paradigm, play is viewed as superfluous and expendable.

, early learning scholar and Hirsh-Pasek鈥檚 longstanding collaborator, says this elimination of play is a giant step in the wrong direction.

鈥淲e know from the research that children learn the most when they are active, not passive,鈥� Golinkoff says. 鈥淪chools often have little kids sitting for enormous amounts of time, receiving information from above, and that really doesn鈥檛 work. You can throw a phone book at an adult and tell them to memorize the first page and they鈥檒l figure out a way to do that because adult minds have metacognition, which is the ability to push our minds around in service of our goals. Children don鈥檛 have that yet, so we have to make learning exciting and enable them to be active.

鈥淥ne thing psychology has shown us for the past 25 years is that children learn language and learn about the world when they have conversations where they are active participants with caregivers. Whether that鈥檚 a grandparent, a father, a mother, it doesn鈥檛 matter. Kids learn when they have the opportunity to participate in the conversation about things they鈥檙e interested in.鈥�

Golinkoff and Hirsch-Pasek describe themselves as professors and intellectual entrepreneurs who take research out into the world in a way that involves people and doesn鈥檛 just show or tell them information but makes them a part of it. With the , they set about to create installations to captivate children鈥檚 minds in ways that support lifelong learning and great social outcomes 鈥� and they made sure those installations are in the children鈥檚 own neighborhoods.

鈥淭hey don鈥檛 have to travel, they don鈥檛 have to pay money,鈥� Golinkoff says. This is especially important for low-income communities, where research shows the children tend to lag behind more affluent peers in language and spatial skills from a very early age and often have less access to resources and interactions with caring adults that can assist in their development.

鈥淚f I am a parent and I have to worry about my child being safe and being fed, honestly, one of the last things on the list is whether I鈥檓 giving them cognitive stimulation,鈥� Hirsh-Pasek says. 鈥淟ots of kids don鈥檛 have homes filled with puzzles and books, but can鈥檛 we do something to spark those conversations and involve two or maybe three generations in the process?鈥�

The goal of the PLL installations and activities is to move beyond the replication of a 鈥渙ne size fits all鈥� installation to work with communities, businesses, governments and other organizations to create specific projects that incorporate playful learning design and principles into a variety of spaces that fit into the neighborhood. Many of these projects can be quite inexpensive, such as 鈥淪upermarket Speak,鈥� in which the scientists posted funny signs in grocery stores, with questions designed to promote parent-child interaction 鈥� 鈥淒o you know milk comes from a cow? What else comes from a cow?鈥� The researchers observed a 33% increase in parent-child interaction when the signs went up, Hirsh-Pasek says. All for a project cost of $65.

LEGO provided $5,000 for another project, 鈥淧lay Wall,鈥� that involved placing chalkboards in neighborhoods inscribed with the phrase, 鈥淲hen I was little, I played 鈥︹�� and chalk so people could fill in their answers.

鈥淚n two and a half hours, the neighbors had filled up the chalkboard with things they had liked when they were little and the older people were teaching some of the younger kids some of their games,鈥� Hirsh-Pasek says. 鈥淓verybody gathered around those chalkboards.鈥� The project hopes to host an intergenerational event featuring those games.

Key to the success of each installation has been the active participation of community members. In one Philadelphia project, for instance, community members picked a spot where Martin Luther King, Jr. had given one of his first speeches and more than 100 community children helped build the installation. PLL hired neighborhood people who didn鈥檛 have jobs and trained them to be 鈥渄ata ambassadors鈥� who observed and recorded the project鈥檚 impact, following professional, scientific protocols that govern studying human subjects.

The future for most of the world鈥檚 children will be markedly urban. Results from Playful Learning Landscape鈥檚 pilot projects show that with thoughtful design based on careful research, cities themselves can become change agents that captivate children鈥檚 imaginations, foster intellectual and social development, and enhance human interaction just like those familiar piazzas.

Early Learning Nation: Kasper, welcome to the Early Learning Nation Studio.

Kasper Ottosson Kanstrup: Thank you so much.

Early Learning Nation: We know, Kasper, that children love to play. What role does play have, though, in early learning?

Kasper Ottosson Kanstrup: Let me begin by saying that childhood and play goes hand-in-hand, right? Where children has a natural ability to learn about the world through play, right from early infancy, so that’s actually where it starts.

We know that, in the early years, the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, the brain develops much faster than in any other period of life. That creates a window of opportunity where we can actually help the child develop, and stimulate them in a way that will have greater impact on their life trajectory than the rest of their life.

On top of that, you can also say that research that indicates that to stimulate and have that interaction with children in their early years, then play is a natural approach, a natural way for us to interact with them, and make them learn.

Early Learning Nation: Is play a starter to the learning process, or are there specific skills that kids can learn from playing? Or is it a little bit of both?

Kasper Ottosson Kanstrup: I would actually say it’s both. Play is both a starter, but it’s also something that drives the skills. You must, say, look at it this way, that we know that the world is becoming increasingly complex. That there’s more and more disruptions here. We see that there is a need for developing a certain kind of competences. If you look at it, all childhood experts, they say that we need to develop competences such as physical, social, and emotional, cognitive, and creative skills in children. Play can do that.

The reason why play is so good at doing it is that play helps us open up the children and motivate them to explore, and thereby, to learn about whatever task they’re engaged in. It, again, becomes a natural habit for them to learn.

Early Learning Nation: It really must be motivating, and obviously, play and fun, it creates a different environment, and I would assume one, then, where kids can take on new learning and learn new skills. There’s something on the website, the part about this type of learning, where you state that “Play is too often underestimated in early-childhood programs, despite being the most natural way of acquiring essential life skills in early-childhood.” That makes total sense to me. Why is the role of play not well enough understood?

Kasper Ottosson Kanstrup: I think, when we look at it, play is really looked at as a leisure-time activity, as something you do for fun.

Early Learning Nation: It’s play.

Kasper Ottosson Kanstrup: Exactly. But play should be fun. Learning should be fun. We want children to learn in a motivated way. Otherwise, you end up having passive learners, who’s actually not turning into lifelong learners, and we need that. Corporate-sector need it. Everybody needs it.

Early Learning Nation: Let’s talk about one of LEGO’s programs, your Communities of Learning through Play Program. What are your focus areas there?

Kasper Ottosson Kanstrup: Well, I can say the program is a geographical deep-dive approach, where we work in four different countries. We work in Denmark, Ukraine, Mexico, and South Africa. We work to establish play as a systemic approach to early-childhood development, as well as learning, and thereby actually drive a much more stronger focus on competency development of children in these countries, and work closer together with governments, local authorities, to do this.

Early Learning Nation: You mentioned the four countries. I’d like to hear about a couple of them. In Mexico, I know you have a couple of programs. In one of which, you’re working with the government to support practitioners. We hear about the importance of engaging children. The importance of engaging parents. This is a program that engages practitioners. Talk to me about that program.

Kasper Ottosson Kanstrup: It’s because we can see in Mexico that there is a huge infrastructure of early-childhood centers. We are working together with what’s called DIF, and DIF has 9,300 early-childhood centers across the country.

However, we also see that those are very much looking at … Good quality is whether or not they are clean, whether they’re painted, whether children are registered when they come to the center. But they’re not so much looking at the content.

Somehow, we lose our natural ability to play throughout the way we have been schooled. When then the children come in and meet the practitioners in these childhood centers, they’re not natural facilitators of play anymore, so they don’t know how to actually move the children from A to B in their learning in a playful way.

Then we end up with something that can be very dangerous, and that is repetition. Because if a child learn to repeat something, they don’t necessarily know how to apply that knowledge.

Early Learning Nation: Another one of the countries you mentioned, South Africa. There, you are establishing something … I can only imagine that you’re the marketing genius behind this name … something you call Granny Garages. Please explain.

Kasper Ottosson Kanstrup: Actually Granny Garages is not me that is the marketing genius-

Early Learning Nation: Is it someone else?

Kasper Ottosson Kanstrup: Unfortunately. Granny Garages is a place where … often, the disadvantaged communities are bringing their children to a lady who is then taking care of them throughout the days. However, this lady has no professional training in how to take care of children. She’s doing it the best way possible, and she’s doing it from the right place in her heart.

We are, then, again, working together with her as an untrained professional, and see “How can you, with what you have, actually create playful learning environments?” What’s interesting here is you can play with everything. Scrap materials, whatever you have at hand, you can do storytelling. You just need to know how to be creative and engage the child.

Early Learning Nation: We know that. When a kid opens … You’ll forgive me … a box of LEGOs-

Kasper Ottosson Kanstrup: Yes.

Early Learning Nation: We all want them to play with the LEGOS, but you know, sometimes they end up playing with the box.

Kasper Ottosson Kanstrup: Exactly.

Early Learning Nation: They can use any type of material. You also connect the education efforts … and you’ll correct me if I have it wrong … but in the home, in communities, and in early-learning and early-childhood centers. How do you connect those efforts, though, across those different areas?

Kasper Ottosson Kanstrup: We do it in different ways. But what we try, because we really want to achieve large-scale and systemic development here, so we want it to stay when also we are out of the country. What we do is, again, to have parents working closer together with the practitioners around the child.

Way too often, and that goes in actually most of the national systems, it’s a process that actually defines when a child is moving from this school to that school, and then ahead of that. But we need to actually look at the child and see what does he or she need? And how do we give and stimulate that, as the ones surrounding the child?

You, being the parent, and thereby the primary teacher of his or her abilities to, should we say, face life. But of course, also, the practitioner, who has very often a toolbox in their rucksack, and then can take it off and help us, to say, “If you do this, you can actually help the child moving in that direction, learning-wise.”

Early Learning Nation: What inspired you to get into this? I mean, tell me just a moment about you. How did you get to this role, and how did you get to a place where you’re connecting the intersection of business and an iconic plaything, LEGO, with early-childhood learning?

Kasper Ottosson Kanstrup: I come from the NGO sector. I have worked in one of the largest NGOs in the world, called SOS Children’s Villages. There, I could see that we did a lot of service deliveries. We did amazing work, but very often, we lacked a good partner for also developing content.

Because we all learn now, from Millennium Development Goals, that just getting children into school is not good enough. That doesn’t mean they’re learning. We need to have the right content in learning.

On top of that, I then worked with CSR, in that framing, and I had a natural exposure to what actually interests companies, and how we can create a win-win situation. That brought me to the LEGO Foundation.

Early Learning Nation: That’s wonderful. Kasper, thank you for coming to the Early Learning Studio.

Kasper Ottosson Kanstrup: Thank you so much.