A new study explores the science-backed core pillars of learning and examples of play spaces that incorporate them, and the researchers give tips for parents to use them at home.

A new paper led by Penn State graduate Brenna Hassinger-Das, now an assistant professor of psychology at Pace University-NYC, and Jennifer Zosh, professor of human development and family studies at Penn State Brandywine, explores the science-backed core pillars of learning and examples of play spaces that incorporate them.

«We know kids in Western countries spend only 20% of their time at school, so where are they for the other 80%?» Hassinger-Das said. «They’re at home, or in the grocery store, or the park. How can we transform those everyday spaces to encourage playful learning and promote conversations between caregivers and children? We wanted to maximize these spaces and turn them into places that are fun but also support the kind of learning you do in school.»

According to the researchers, previous studies have found six core characteristics or «pillars» of learning that can maximize any experience a child has, whether it’s playing in the park, going to the grocery store, or using a smartphone app. These pillars suggest that experiences should be active rather than passive, engaging, meaningful, socially interactive, iterative rather than repetitive, and joyful.

«We wanted to leverage insights from research to help support children, families and communities,» Zosh said. «For this specific initiative, we wanted to see how we could take those pillars and apply them to communities in playful ways that support children’s learning.»

The paper — recently published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences — looked at several examples of spaces that incorporated the pillars into their designs.

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Materials provided by Penn State. Original written by Katie Bohn. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.