By Bess Pierre, PPS/Child Policy Research Certificate student '25
On March 6, 2025, the Center for Child and Family Policy welcomed Mariah Douglass Bruehl, founder and CEO of Playful Learning, who discussed the importance of creativity and active engagement in early childhood education as a part of the Early Childhood Initiative series.
Bruehl founded Playful Learning on a quest for a learning environment that was centered on guided play. Today, the New-York-based preschool combines research and hands-on practices to create classrooms that inspire young learners, enhanced by holistically engaging teachers, schools, and families. As CEO, Bruehl works to develop play-based supplemental curriculum for early childhood centers across the country.
Influenced by the work of early childhood innovators, including Maria Montessori and Urie Bronfenbrenner, Bruehl explained how Playful Learning seeks to both foster and maintain a learner’s innate creativity through engaging activities and intentional facilitation. She explained that, at its core, playful learning is a kind of magic that takes place when you meld a child’s natural curiosity and creativity with thoughtfully curated learning experiences. At the center, Bruehl has embraced the process of testing various activities, garnering engagement, and responding to students’ feedback.
Within the Playful Learning approach, Bruehl described each of the curriculum’s four pillars: lessons, hands-on learning experiences, classroom curation, and school-to-home connection. Of these pillars, I was excited to learn of Bruehl’s interest in empowering and supporting teachers in their work. Bruehl emphasized that she believes that teaching is the most difficult job in the world. Therefore, Playful Learning creates scaffolding to minimize the stress associated with the profession, allowing for teachers to focus on children and be acutely aware of their responses to the curriculum. Bruehl’s theory acknowledges how classroom culture and overall experience extends beyond the child to the well-being of the teacher. By taking the guesswork and chaos out of the curriculum development process, teachers can be supported the way that they deserve to be.
Aside from classroom curation and teacher support, I was struck by Bruehl’s commitment to the school-to-home connection. In my own experience, I have found that parent involvement in the classroom sometimes comes as an afterthought. In Playful Learning’s theory, however, bridging the gap between school and home creates an opportunity for children to be experts on their own learning through weekly portfolios. Since the Playful Learning curriculum is centered on topics that are universally appealing for this age group, ranging from insects to team sports, children feel excited to showcase their accomplishments at home. Through portfolios, parents can observe their child’s progress in real time and be informed on classroom curriculum. In this model, children teach their parents about their learning, celebrate their growth, and strengthen bonds between all the children, parents and teachers.
Bruehl clearly communicated her vision for learning: one unburdened by precedent and in pursuit of ushering children to stages of understanding beyond their expected age. I left Bruehl’s talk reminded of the sacred, magical process that learning truly is - one that classrooms can cultivate by embracing a child’s imagination and curiosity. At the end of her presentation, Bruehl invited the audience to imagine a society where individuals continue to think creatively and find joy in lifelong learning beyond early childhood. By creating conditions for teachers, parents, and students alike to feel engaged and valued in education, Playful Learning is on its way to making this idea a reality.
Bess Pierre is a senior majoring in Public Policy with a minor in German and a Child Policy Research certificate. She is interested in improving child welfare and education systems through program evaluation and evidence-based implementation.