For several years, studies and statistics have been mounting that suggest the culture of play in the United States is vanishing. Children spend far too much time in front of a screen, educators and parents lament. And only one in five children lives within walking distance (a half-mile) of a park or playground. Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a developmental psychologist at Temple, concluded, "Play is just a natural thing that animals do and humans do, but somehow we've driven it out of kids."