These 10 Pittsburgh PokeStops will make your kids smarter

Along the banks of the Allegheny River on the North Shore, two young sisters sprint from war memorials to concert venues to historical monuments, iPhones in hand, Pokemon Go! loaded.

They stop suddenly as a Psyduck — a chubby rubber ducky famous on the Pokemon Go! game — appears on their screens beside a flock of real-life geese beneath the Fred Rogers statue.

The girls pause to swipe and catch the Pokemon character, then flit on to visit a PokeStop at Korean War Memorial, where they learn that the monument’s shape captures sunlight as the sun travels the horizon, representing the spectrum of human experiences and feelings.

Between its illustrious history and recently built tourist destinations, the North Shore — like colorful neighborhoods throughout the city — makes for a fruitful Pokemon Go! visit, thanks to a bounty of Pittsburgh Pokestops that illustrate a vibrant and family-friendly cultural heritage.

Squirrel Hill pediatrician Dr. Deborah Gilboa, who plays the augmented reality smartphone game with her four sons,  loves the game because it’s nonviolent, creative and interactive.

“Pittsburgh has a lot of hidden treasures and bits and pieces of our neighborhoods that we don’t notice,” Gilboa says, adding that PokeStops allow for discoveries of cool sculptures or historic monuments that may be right around the corner.

Unlike other video and smartphone games, Pokemon Go! requires exercise, fresh air and some self-initiative. For the added benefit of cultural knowledge, parents may need to encourage their kids to read the PokeStop blurbs, Gilboa says.

For kids and parents ready to bond over the Pokemon craze, we’ve compiled 10 of the best Pittsburgh PokeStops offering teachable moments in nearly every school subject matter. A tour of Pittsburgh PokeStops is rich with history and art — both local and international — but enlightening lessons are also hiding among the Pokemon nests. Head out to one of these neighborhoods abundant with educational PokeStops (plus a can’t-miss Pokemon gym!):

NORTH SHORE

PokeStop: Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Subject Area: Art, political science, geography

Smart-kid cred: Not only does the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the banks of the Allegheny River prompt discussions about the Vietnam era, but the Pokemon Go! game explains the symbolism and cultural references behind the design of the monument.

SQUIRREL HILL

PokeStop: Mahatma Gandhi mural

Subject area: Philosophy, history

Smart-kid cred: Squirrel Hill teems with murals-as-PokeStops, offering multiple chances for discussions on this civic art form. The Mahatma Gandhi mural, at the corner of Murray Avenue and Douglas Street, opens up lessons on colonialism, civil disobedience and activism. “Be the change you wish to see in the world” can also spark enlightening conversations about ethics and compassion.

PokeStop: Manor Theatre

Subject area: Math

Smart-kid cred: The Manor Theatre is a well-known neighborhood landmark, but swipe this PokeStop while playing the game, and you’ll learn that it’s Pittsburgh’s oldest standing movie theater, celebrating 92 years in 2013. Which leads to some birthday math: How old is the Manor now?

DOWNTOWN

PokeStop: David L. Lawrence Convention Center

Subject area: English

Smart-kid cred: The swooping roof of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center is the canvas of installation artist Jenny Holzer’s monumental masterpiece. Entitled For Pittsburgh, the LED artwork scrolls 688 feet of blue text 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The text presents important books that tell compelling stories about Pittsburgh, including Thomas Bell’s Out of This Furnace, John Edgar Wideman’s Homewood Trilogy and Annie Dillard’s An American Childhood.

PokeStop: Cellphone Disco

Subject area: Science, technology, engineering, art and math

Smart-kid cred: Watch what happens when you play Pokemon Go! near this interactive public art installation. The display features thousands of LED’s reacting to data transmissions from nearby mobile phones.

Extra credit! The fountain at Point State Park is a Pokemon gym, a specially marked place where kids use the Pokemon they’ve collected to battle for control of the spot. Here, Pokemon players fight defending Pokemon to gain territory and prestige in the game. The recently renovated fountain is the best place in the ‘Burgh to make sure your kids know of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers and teach them about the confluence of the trio.

CULTURAL DISTRICT

PokeStop: Soil pods at the August Wilson Center for African American Culture

Subject area: Biology, ecology

Smart-kid cred: Urban conditions along Liberty Avenue – like pollution, rock salt and limited underground space for root growth – typically stunt trees’ growth. The 10 trees in front of the August Wilson Center are the first in Pennsylvania planted in a specially designed system that gives adequate underground soil space for the trees to thrive, contributing to less airborne debris, fierce winds and air pollution along the busy corridor. Healthy trees also foster stormwater absorption Downtown.

PokeStop: Bicycle Bridge

Subject area: Civil engineering, math

Smart-kid cred: Located at 1000 Penn Ave., this 2014 sculpture by Will Schlough doubles as a bike rack and pays homage to the Three Sisters bridges spanning the Allegheny River. Which of the Three Sisters does this artwork best represent? The Cultural Trust required that the art-as-bike racks commissioned in 2014 and 2015 hold two bikes, but how many bikes do you think that Bicycle Bridge can house?

STRIP DISTRICT

PokeStop: Lewis & Clark Expedition plaque

Subject area: History

Smart-kid cred: Sure, modern traffic along the Allegheny River is fun to watch, but in 1803, this humble riverbank made history as the launch spot for Capt. Meriwether Lewis to begin his three-year expedition with William Clark to cross the western portion of what is now the United States.

MT. WASHINGTON

PokeStop: First mining of Pittsburgh coal

Subject area: Economics

Smart-kid cred: Visitors to the Grandview Avenue observatory deck across from St. Mary of the Mount Church may be so taken by the spectacular view that this historic placard often goes unnoticed. Not only does it remind us that Mt. Washington used to have the modest moniker Coal Hill, but also explains that the area was once the most valuable mineral deposit in the United States. A great conversation starter about Pittsburgh’s industrial roots and how that history contributed to the city’s growth.

Pokestop: Emerald View Park at Bigham Street

Subject area: History

Smart-kid cred: The Bigham House – now housing the clubhouse for the Chatham Village community – was Pittsburgh’s key “station” on the Underground Railroad. At the corner of Grandview Avenue and Bigham Street, this sign explains how the Bigham family would light lanterns on the porch to indicate an open door for freedom-seeking slaves.

Kidsburgh Report from KDKA’s Kristine Sorensen

Want extra credit? Head to the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium, where educational PokeStops abound amid the lions, tigers and bears. Pittsburgh’s college campuses are also famous for smart PokeStops, with special Pokemon Go! events around the Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh campus in Oakland.