The Latest from Playful Learning Landscapes Action Network
Here’s what we’ve been up to recently…
Quartz: Laundromats are playing an unlikely role in the effort to shrink America’s literacy gap
from Quartz by Annabelle Timsit Seven-year-old Emma McGee used to hate coming to the laundromat. It was boring, and seemed to take forever. In fact she would always ask—unsuccessfully—to stay home with her older brother, Aiden. But things have gotten more interesting...
The Atlantic: Playtime May Bolster Kids’ Mental Health
from The Atlantic by Angela Lashbrook “Play has become a four-letter word.” So says Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a psychologist at Temple University and one of the authors of a new paper about the importance of play in children’s lives. The clinical report, published by the...
LA Times: It’s come to this: A checkup with the pediatrician may soon include a prescription for play
from The Los Angeles Times by Melissa Healy Imagine a drug that could enhance a child’s creativity, critical thinking and resilience. Imagine that this drug were simple to make, safe to take, and could be had for free. The nation’s leading pediatricians say this...
Philadelphia Inquirer: Philly library initiative encourages kids to run, climb, and scale walls
from The Philadelphia Inquirer by Katherine Nails If children were to run, climb, slide, or scale a wall at a normal library, they would likely get annoyed glances from patrons before being hushed by a librarian and carted away by their guardian. Certain branches of...
BillyPenn: Transforming Philly into a giant playground, with benefits for kids and adults
from BillyPenn by Karthika Swamy Cohen What if parents didn’t have to take kids to a playground to get in some fun activity — but instead, the play space came to them? That’s the idea behind Kathy Hirsh-Pasek’s Urban Thinkscape project, one of several initiatives...