“There are no perfect toys; there is no magic formula. Parents and other caregivers teach young children by paying attention and interacting with them naturally and, most of all, by just allowing them to play.”

That quote comes from a New York Times article by Alison Gopnik, a professor of psychology at Berkeley and the author of The Philosophical Baby. The article, called “Babies Are Smarter Than You Think,” is a great summary the science behind Minnesota Children’s Museum’s mission: sparking children’s learning through play.

Check it out and pass it on to other parents. There is a lot going on in your children’s brains while they’re playing in the water area of World Works or crawling through the Ant Hill. For children, play = learning.