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At SXSW EDU 2025, something powerful happened. Leaders from MathTalk, Playful Learning Landscapes, the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, and our very own CEO, Jeanne McCarty, gathered on stage to share a bold idea: What if laundromats, bus stops, playgrounds, shelters, schoolyards, or even hospitals and prisons were reimagined as joyful, curiosity-sparking early learning hubs?

The panel represented the power and dignity that can be found in place. A beautiful picture emerges when we stop seeing learning as something that only happens in a classroom, and start seeing the world itself as a classroom.

Across the panel, a clear theme emerged: Learning can, and should, happen in the places where families and communities already are.

• MathTalk turned a pediatric health center into a place where kids measure themselves in giraffe footprints and scale their steps with zebras, all inspired by local artwork and designed with families.
• Playful Learning Landscapes worked with affordable housing residents to design superhero-themed learning spaces in their lobbies. They're spaces inspired by children who see their moms as everyday heroes.
• The Children’s Museum of Manhattan installed interactive exhibits in NYC shelters and even at Rikers Island, where one father said, “This is the first time in months that I have felt normal for us as a family.”
• For Out Teach, Jeanne shared one of many stories of schoolyards transformed into immersive and playful spaces where learning leaps from textbook pages and into the palms of students' hands. At Whittier elementary in Washington, D.C., for example, birdhouses, garden beds, and erosion tables are part of students’ daily learning adventures. And real-world science is just outside the classroom door.

These are not add-ons. They are deeply embedded acts of care, co-created with communities, shaped by the people who use them, and designed to affirm that every child and family matters.

It’s no accident that this panel unfolded during Women’s History Month. Each of the organizations represented is led or shaped by women who are reimagining what education looks like from the ground up. They are directors, educators, and visionaries.

Their leadership continues the legacy of women who’ve always fought for equity in education. Women who see children not as data points, but as whole beings with boundless potential.

Start small. Start with the ground and the sky, as Jeanne says. Ask children or families what they’re curious about. Put a weather chart outside your window. Paint the alphabet on your sidewalk. Host a community design night with snacks and music and let the ideas flow.

If you’re in a position to partner, champion, or simply listen, lean in. This moment, and the movement to rethink and reshape learning, belongs to all of us.

Listen to the full conversation and get inspired today.