The

Model

The Challenge

Children spend 80% of their time outside of formal learning environments.

Yet most public spaces are not designed with children and families in mind.

What if...

What if everyday spaces were reimagined to engage children and families in playful moments that prepare children to thrive in the future?

What if we created the new public square, embedded with opportunities for children to learn and for neighbors to connect across generations?

We can!

Playful learning helps all children reach their full potential while building stronger communities.

Playful Learning Landscapes works with communities in the U.S. and beyond on projects that transform everyday gathering spots — think bus stops, athletic courts, corner lots, grocery stores, libraries, lobbies — into dynamic, enriching activity hubs for children and families. Our designs use science-based principles to engage kids and adults in joyful, meaningful, interactive play that empowers the child to take the lead, even as they’re guided by caregivers and the environment.

Playful Learning Landscape’s installations are unique because they bridge local, on-the-ground community engagement and co-design with the latest science of child development – HOW children learn and WHAT children need to learn to thrive in the future.

More than a decade of scientific research confirms that Playful Learning Landscapes is effective.

Research shows that playful learning installations increase caregiver-child interactions, reduces technology use in the space, and prompts conversations full of math language, spatial language, and questions – each of which is known to promote children’s development.

Interested in learning more? Check out the publications below.

Transform

your city

From sidewalks to buildings to laundromats, Playful Learning Landscapes can become a part of your city

Start Here

Publications

Pesch, A., Fletcher, K. K., Williams, O., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2025). Enhancing teacher-child engagement and promoting early learning with Playful Learning Landscapes. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 98, 101786.

Pesch, A., Fletcher, K. K., Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2025). Evidence-based meets community-centered: A new approach to creating informal learning opportunities forchildren. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 43, 5–11. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12511

Hassinger-Das, B. (2024). Effectiveness of installing Playful Learning Landscapes in everyday urban spaces. Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549175.2024.2394197

Hassinger-Das, B., Fletcher, K., Todaro, R., Scott, M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2024). A hop, skip, and a jump towards social interaction and learning at a child and adolescent inpatient treatment program. Child: Care, Health, and Development, 50(1), e13200. http://doi.org/10.1111/cch.13200

Fletcher, K. K., Wright, C., Pesch, A., Abdurokhmonova, G., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2024). Active playful learning as a robust, adaptable, culturally relevant pedagogy to foster children’s 21st Century skills. Journal of Children and Media, 18(3), 309-321.

Delgado, A., Pesch, A., Golinkoff, R.M. (2024). Playing for knowledge: Unlocking the joy of learning. Elements Ed. 91-99.

Lee, J. Y., Lee, H. J., Masters, A. S., Fletcher, K. K., Suh, D. D., Golinkoff, R., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2023). Bringing playful learning to South Korea: An alternative pedagogical approach to promote children’s learning and success. International Journal of Educational Development, 97 (102710). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2022.102710

Bermudez, V., Salazar, J., Garcia, L., Ochoa, K., Roldan, W., Soto-Lara, S., Gomez, W., Rodriguez, R., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Ahn, J., & Bustamante, A. (2023). Designing culturally situated playful environments for early STEM learning with a Latine community. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 65, 205-216.

Gibbs, H., Hadani, H., Golinkoff, R.M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2023). Playing into the future: A 21st Century model for Education. In I. Ahmed (Ed.), Imagining Post -Covid Education Futures. Dhaka: Centre for Genocide Studies, University of Dhaka.

Pesch, A., Ochoa, K.D, Fletcher, K., Bermudez, V.N., Todaro, R., Salazar, J., Gibbs, H. M., Ahn, J., Bustamante, A. S., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (Dec, 2022). Reinventing the public square and early educational settings through culturally informed, community co-design: Playful Learning Landscapes. FrontiersinPsychology – EducationalPsychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.933320

Todaro, R., Hassinger-Das, B., Zosh, J. M., Lytle, S. R., Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2022). Playful Learning Landscapes: Promoting literacy through youth engagement and culturally relevant design. Afterschool Matters, 35, 9-16.

Zosh, J. M., Gaudreau, C., Michnick-Golinkoff, R., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2022, Summer). The Power of playful learning in the early childhood setting. Young Children, 77(2).

Bustamante, A., Shwe, H., Ahn, J., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2021). Reimagining urban design for play and learning. Dialogues: The Intersection of Emerging Research + Design for Learning, 5, 12-13.

Hassinger-Das, B., Zosh, J. M., Bustamante, A. S., Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2021). Translating cognitive science in the public square. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2021.07.001

Shivaram, A., Chavez, Y., Anderson, E., Fritz, A., Jackson, R., Edwards, L., Powers, S., Libertus, M., & Hespos, S. (2021). Brief Interventions Influence the Quantity and Quality of Caregiver-Child Conversations in an Everyday Context. Frontiers in psychology, 12, 645788. [PDF Link] [Online link]

Hadani, H. S., Winthrop, R., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2021). Playful Learning Landscapes: Convergence of education and city planning. In S. Ra, S. Jagannathan, & R. Maclean (Eds.), Powering a Learning Society During an Age of Disruption (pp. 151–164). Springer Singapore. [Online link]

Gaudreau, C., Bustamante, A. S., Hirsh-Pasek, K., & Golinkoff, R. M. (2021). Questions in a life-sized board game: Comparing caregivers’ and children’s question-asking across STEM museum exhibits. Mind, Brain, and Education. [PDF Link] [Online link]

Bustamante, A. S., Schlesinger, M., Begolli, K. N., Golinkoff, R. M, Shahidi, N., Zonji, S., Riesen, C., Evans, N. & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2020). More than just a game: Transforming social interaction and STEM play with Parkopolis. Developmental Psychology, 56(6), 1041-1056. [Online link]

Hassinger-Das, B., Palti, I., Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2020). Urban Thinkscape: Infusing public spaces with STEM conversation and interaction opportunities. Journal of Cognition and Development, 21(1), 125-147. [PDF Link] [Online Link]

Hassinger-Das, B., Zosh, J. M., Hansen, N., Talarowski, M., Zmich, K., Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2020). Play-and-learn: Leveraging library spaces to promote caregiver and child interaction. Library and Information Science Research, 42(1). [PDF Link] [Online link]

Schlesinger, M. A., Hassinger-Das, B., Zosh, J. M., Sawyer, J., Evans, N., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2020). Cognitive behavioral science behind the value of play: Leveraging everyday experiences to promote play, learning, and positive interactions. Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy, 19(2), 202-216. [PDF Link] [Online link]

Schlesinger, M. A., Sawyer, J., Hirsh-Pasek, K., & Fabiano, R. (2020). Play Captains on Play Streets: A community-university playful learning and teen leadership collaboration. Collaborations: A Journal of Community-Based Research and Practice, 3(1), 1-13. [PDF Link] [Online Link]

Bustamante, A. S., Hassinger-Das, B., Hirsh-Pasek, K., & Golinkoff, R. M. (2019). Learning Landscapes: Where the science of learning meets architectural design. Child Development Perspectives, 13(1), 34–40. [PDF Link] [Online link]

Schlesinger, M. A., Hassinger-Das, B., Zosh, J. M., Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2019). “When I was little, I loved to play”. Describing play experiences using a community-based lens. Scottish Educational Review, 51(2), 90-107. [PDF Link]

Bustamante, A. S. (2018). Preliminary results from Parkopolis: The life-size STEM board game. Poster presented at the The Administration for Children and Families National Research Conference on Early Childhood, Arlington, VA. [PDF Link]

Hassinger-Das, B., Bustamante, A., Hirsh-Pasek, K., & Golinkoff, R. (2018). Learning Landscapes: Playing the way to learning and engagement in public spaces. Education Sciences, 8(2), 74. [PDF Link] [Online link]

Hassinger‐Das, B., Bustamante, A. S., Hirsh‐Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R. M., Magsamen, S., Pearlman‐Robinson, J., & Winthrop, R. (2018). Learning Landscapes: Can urban planning and the learning sciences work together to help children? Brookings Institution Policy Report. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. [PDF Link] [Online link]

Yogman, M., Garner, A., Hutchinson, J., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R. M., & Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health. (2018). The power of play: A pediatric role in enhancing development in young children. Pediatrics, 142(3), e20182058.

Grob, R., Schlesinger, M., Pace, A., Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2017). Playing with ideas: Evaluating the impact of the Ultimate Block Party, a collective experiential intervention to enrich perceptions of play. Child Development, 88(5), 1419–1434. [PDF Link] [Online link]

Ridge, K. E., Weisberg, D. S., Ilgaz, H., Hirsh-Pasek, K. A., & Golinkoff, R. M. (2015). Supermarket Speak: Increasing talk among low-socioeconomic status families. Mind, Brain, and Education, 9(3), 127–135. [PDF Link] [Online link]

Bring Playful Learning to Your City

Playful Learning Landscapes can become a part of your city… from sidewalks to buildings to laundromats.

Submit the form below to find out more!

Interested in supporting our mission, but now sure how?

Consider contributing to our many initiatives today.

Ultimate Block Party, Inc, dba Playful Learning Landscapes is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All donations are tax deductible. Thank you for your support!

Donate Now