Learn how computers think by going outside.
Ruoholahti makes invisible computing ideas into things children can climb, move through and play with. The lesson starts with the body, rather than another screen.
FI FinlandIn practice. A public playground redesigned in 2024, developed with Linda Liukas and documented by the City of Helsinki.
What to keep in view
Computing-themed play is documented; durable learning gains are not established by the equipment alone. Facilitation, age and accessibility influence how the ideas are understood.
Turn computing into something to explore
Opened in Helsinki in October 2024, Ruoholahti’s playground turns computer parts and ideas into physical activities: a tower, keyboard stairs and a controller-shaped sandbox. Linda Liukas developed the concept with the city and Näkymä Landscape Architects. A child can encounter the idea through movement before learning its name.
Helsinki reports that around 350 pupils took part in design workshops. Playground staff, early-years educators and local visitors also contributed. The learning environment was developed with the people who would use it, rather than being added as a label to finished equipment.
The equipment needs a way of being used
The city describes a setting that instructors and visiting teachers can use. Liukas’s project account also documents the development of activities with educators. These connect a physical action with a question about computing; the playground alone is not a complete lesson.
Our reading: the useful move is to give an abstract subject a place in everyday public life. A design can invite curiosity, while a prompt, another child or a thoughtful adult helps turn the encounter into an explanation. Documented participation in the design does not establish later learning gains.
Sources (3)
- City of Helsinki · Opening and physical features
The city’s September 2024 announcement documents the built equipment and planned October opening.
- Design Helsinki · Design process and participation
The city describes pupil workshops and input from educators and visitors; this is a design-process account.
- Linda Liukas · Playground and teaching activities
The co-designer explains the physical approach and later activity development. It is not an independent learning evaluation.
Read next.
A musical idea, made visible.
Both make an abstract sequence physical: one through playground movement, the other through a rotating musical drum.
Science becomes something to try.
Play becomes a way to investigate an idea. Compare an open playground with exhibits designed around a specific experiment.