Children's Paths: A How to Guide

A children's path is a secondary path that winds around the main path creating an element of excitement, activity or discovery. It's geared towards children but laid out so that adults can walk along and participate.

For the children's park at the AllwetterZOO in Münster, Germany, we created a few guidelines to help us design this type of path. I've found these rules helpful in later projects.

Rule #1: The children's path follows the main path (Schematic sketch below).

The paths are simplified and straightened for illustrative purpose

Parents that don't want to take the children's path can stroll along the main path pushing strollers with toddlers or pulling empty carts, while their kids are weaving along the children's path.

Children's  Park; Zoo Münster

A level of control is maintained by making sure that the children's path always ends up back on the main path and ahead of the parent, and by establishing visual connection points between the paths.

Therefore the path never does the following:

It never backtracks, so the child doesn't end up behind the parent, and it doesn't branch off into other areas or jump ahead.

Instead the path always returns to the main route and follows the visitor flow, and it has visual contact points along its route.

It doesn't matter in which direction the visitor flow streams. By making the layout easy to understand and follow we make it it predictable; "Where's our kid?" "Don't worry he'll cross our path in a second". Peace of mind for the adult is the goal here.

Rule #2  Mark the entrance(s) in a way that signals "Children, this is for you"!

At the Münster Zoo we placed a sign and colorful markers made of twisted locust branches at the entrance to each children's path.

 

We marked the entrance to each path segment with a willow arch just tall enough for a person in a wheelchair to pass through. Kids could run right under it, but adults had to bend, which brings me to the third rule:

Rule #3  Scale it down to kid size - but allow adults access as well.
The arches already designate the kid-scale. Next we reduced the width of the path to give it the feel of a foot trail (about three feet wide, just enough for a wheelchair to pass), and we scaled down other elements and spaces. The intended feeling: This is for kids. The photos below illustrate this concept.

Above The handrail is at a perfect height (kid scaled) while adults would have to reach down.

Above The railing into the wolf exhibit is lowered to children's height.

Above The a tree trunk over the path: kids can walk through, adults have to watch out.


Rule #4  Make the path an adventure.

Above  A wobble-bridge

Above Climbing over rocks

Above Climbing over to a hidey hole beyond

Each path segment has its own highlight and multiple attractions that are designed specifically for each animal and location.

To keep the path wheelchair accessible all physically challenging activities can be bypassed.

We also used varying substrates along the paths including bark mulch, sand, wood trunks, and rubber along climbing elements, to set them apart from the main path and to give it a more rugged, adventurous feel.

To add to the sense of adventure the children's path is largely hidden from the main path. At certain highlights and whenever a child faces a challenge there is visual contact with the main path to allow the kid to share the accomplishment: "Mom, look at me!" This also to gives the parent an element of control.

Elements of a children's path: Entrance arches and highlight with visual contact to main path.

Rule #5    Keep the focus on the animal
Keeping the focus on the animal should be the bedrock rule for any designer working in a zoo setting.

The danger is that a children's path with its adventurous offerings can become a distraction and a world in itself.
But if designed correctly it can be a sneaky way to bring the child (and parent) back to the exhibit  again and again resulting in additional viewing opportunities for more discoveries of the animal and its behavior.

At the wolf exhibit at the Children's Park at the Münster Zoo children can see the animals from different vantage points and from different locations - each with a different feel - keeping the viewing experience interesting and fresh.

The photos below show two of the children's path special viewing points.

Wolf observed from a look-out tower

and observed through large cracks between rocks (no glass.)

By changing the viewing point from lower or higher than normal, by adding some activity, or by changing the ambiance, we can keep the viewing experience of the same animal and the same exhibit fresh and exciting.


Summary
A children's path offers something specifically for the younger visitor. It is filled with discovery and adventure and can be shared within the group and through the generations.
This can mean more time spent at the zoo, and most importantly (for the children) time spend filled with fun and activity.

The photos in this post are all from the Children's Park at the Zoo Münster in Germany. I designed this exhibit in conjunction with the inhouse zoo team of Johannes Deiting and Dag Encke in 2005.

Children burning off pent up energy: Where to play in aquariums

I want to show you some play areas that I came along recently that allow children to let off some steam. The photos and video clips are from aquariums, malls and airports - what they have in common is that they are indoors and that they encourage kids to be active.

Children playing at a lantern fish sculpture at Ripley's Aquarium Myrtle Beach in South Carolina

Imagine you are a kid and you have been buckled up for an hour's drive to see fish but all you can do is look, when what you really want to do is jump, touch, participate...
Or maybe this energy is due to inclement weather which kept you indoors during the week's heat spell or rainy days. Finally your parents had enough and chaperoned you into an aquarium...
Or you have just toured some of the aquarium, watching fish of all sizes and shapes, listening to videos, and touching screens, and you feel an overload of excitement and are ready to let some of it out...
How do you let go of this energy in an aquarium?
 
The first example is from the Aquamarine Fukushima aquarium in Japan.

Click on the photos to enlarge.

A boy is jumping (he's a blur ) from a cushioned box onto the cushioned floor among some plush animals.

In the photo above the boy is jumping in the other direction. Again, he's a blur and partially hidden by the pink box. You can spot his dad to the far right in a trench coat sitting on one of the cushioned boxes.

And in the final shot the boy is posing for me kneeling on the raised bench. In the foreground is a fish bowl (click on photos to enlarge).

This cushioned play area measures about 20 square meters  (215 sq. feet). There are about five or six small fish tanks interspersed. Tanks differ in shape: rectangle, bowl, cylinder.


Here is a fast pan through the area giving you a quick overview


The pan is so fast that I clipped a couple photos from it below.

Notice the stuffed turtle and stuffed fish (or whale) the kids are bouncing and pouncing on?

And while the kids are active and burning off energy in the "rubber cell" their parents enjoy a tranquil moment to look closely at fish:

If kids are having a great time, the parents love it! They can rest on the cushioned boxes and connect with your treasures. This is the time to bring your message across! Now your husbandry, education or conservation people can "sponsor" this place with their message.

In this play area visitors can observe discus fish (among other species) and find out that discus parents raise their young carefully, and "feed them with a kind of milk secreted from their bodies".
Really? Just like a mammal? Makes you think, doesn't it? Something to talk about. Fitting for an area were visitors bring their carefully-raised young...

For me the bottom line of this area is: First fun, then fish, then the message. 



The next example is a small play area at the Tulsa Airport (Oklahoma, USA).

I've come by this play area several times over the last year and there were always kids playing. Unfortunately, the day I had time to take photos there were no kids around.
Two things I thought were interesting. First, there was not much to this area: just a rubber floor, a crawl-through box, a couple climb-on sculptures and a few games. But kids enjoyed it all the same.
The second interesting thing is that there is no play area at the Oklahoma Aquarium itself, for which this piece is making propaganda. Burning-off-energy areas for kids would be a great addition to this otherwise outstanding aquarium, but I believe they are working on this as I am writing.

This shot is from the other side. I think the entire area is less than 15 square meters (160 sq.ft), and would fit easily next to many indoor exhibits - in aquariums and zoos alike.

The next example is from a mall in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The area is neither pretty nor involved: cushioned wall, rubberized floor and a slide/climbing sculpture that seems very accident proof - a  synonymous expression for boring - and yet all kids I observed had great fun with it. 
The kids didn't come here to see anything interesting or to learn something new. All they wanted to do was run and jump. I observed the girls in the photo above running down the ramp (the kids didn't use it as a slide) and crashing into the cushioned railing and then letting themselves fall onto the floor - that went on and on. Later I saw two boys doing the same thing. I caught it on the video below:


This game seemed to be as much fun as it was pointless. I saw them doing it over and over.
It also brought back to mind something my sister-in-law said. My two nephews are bundles of energy
and she goes to places where they can let that energy out. She avoids places where they have to sit tight. She doesn't enjoy telling them off, and she is most happy when the kids are having fun.
This play area caters to the needs of the young just like a bench caters to the needs of the elderly or weary. While benches are common in most aquarium galleries, play areas are usually few and far and often just in one area, instead of being interspersed throughout the aquarium.

A good example for combining fish with the children's need to burn off energy is the crawl through tunnel in the Natural Encounters building at the Houston Zoo in Texas.

Here children can crawl through an acrylic tube in a piranha tank. Parents can observe them from the main viewing window - and the kids love that. While I was there most kids did several runs through the tunnel.
Check out the clip below. The girl in the pink dress goes in at the beginning of the video and is back by the end of it. 



Here I follow her from the exit to the entrance...



In the photo below there is a teenager behind a couple of kids.

Nobody spent much time observing the piranhas. At some point there was a group of mothers in front of the window - they neither read the signs nor paid any attention to the fish, but conversed happily with each other, occasionally waving at their kids. Neither did the kids spend much (if any) time looking at the fish. But they all enjoyed what they were doing!
Maybe they had so much fun they'll want to come back or at least they'll tell their friends about it and generate more revenue that way - which might eventually fund your renovation or conservation projects.
Here, too, the bottom line is: First fun, then fish and then the rest will fall into place.

Summary

With this blog entry I wanted to show you a variety of possible indoor play activities that could easily be part of or nearby an animal exhibit.
This is about burning off pent up energy. It is not about fish, not about conservation, not about education - but with a clever layout and the right timing you might slither your message in - and more effectively than in any other way because your visitors are having fun.

All play areas presented are simple - I left out anything complex, hugely expensive or technology driven - I'll do that in my next blog.

Most larger aquariums have an outdoor playground and some even an indoor play area - somewhere.
But better yet is to intertwine the need for action and participation with observing the fish: bringing fun and fish together.

And this is what is to come. Any doubts? Looking back in time might give you a good idea where the future is headed. Judging from the black and white photo below and the examples I have shown before, I find it certain that visitor participation and kid activities will play a larger part in public aquariums.

(Photo copyright Karl Rauschkolb - click on image to enlarge)

This photo from the former Cleveland Aquarium shows that three of the six tanks are above the visitors' eye level. Aquariums have come a long way for kids.

If you offer benches then you cater to the need of the weary visitors.  If you offer play, climb, crawl and jump areas then you offer something for those with extra energy. Most likely children. Most likely the driving force behind the wish to visit your aquarium; and remember: parents do what children love!