By Greg Toppo, Image: Meghan Gallagher/The74, The74, July 6, 2023
On a tiny triangular lot in the city’s Belmont neighborhood, kidswaiting 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 wooden game 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 fractions lesson.
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’ lives.
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