Puget Sound Parent: Out & About: Zoomazium

May 2006

Out & About: Zoomazium–Not Just a Walk in the Park
Woodland Park Zoo’s New Nature Center Opens May 19

“Everything about it is more fun than it has to be,” remarks Frank Hein, program manager of the Woodland Park Zoo and guiding force of Zoomazium, the zoo’s newest offering for kids.

“The name and everything about the place is (designed) through a child’s eyes,” he says. The all-season nature play space was originally going to be named the Family Science Learning Center. “But what kid is going to ask to come back to the Family Science Learning Center?” Hein asks. However, he suspects that your kids will indeed be asking to return to Zoomazium, as one of the design goals is to make it worth visiting over and over again.

The space is designed around the principle that children (toddler through age 8) shouldn’t be underestimated. “There’s no red-green-yellow-blue, no primary colors,” Hein says. “We put a moratorium on that. Sticking to primary colors undersells a kid’s intelligence.” Instead, the large room has colors Hein describes as “Northwest living room,” and the big, climbable structures are reminiscent of nature brought indoors.

Zoomazium encompasses three ecological zones: grassland, mountain and forest – the last of which extends outside to a patch of natural woods, with a fence to keep younger nature lovers from wandering too far into the wilderness. In the back corner of the building is a 20-foot tall, lacy tree, based on the strangler fig, which is found in rainforests the world over. Inside the tree is a long windy slide, which lands right at the base of the mountain.

The grassland area includes tanks with live animals, a stage, an area that will be used for craft projects and an acrylic “watering hole” modeled after one on an African savannah.

The mountain area consists of painstakingly created slopes of “rock” that extend into both the toddler area and the area for bigger kids. It’s built so that every surface, every summit, can be climbed on, but all of it meets playground safety standards. Once up in the mountain, explorers can traverse a swinging rope bridge.

Rather than giving kids one path to explore – leaving you to cringe as their natural curiosity makes them try to scale the less-safe sides of a play area – every part of it is designed for kids to scramble over or jump off. Your child gets a sense of accomplishment – she climbed a mountain! – and you can sit back and watch in peace. If your curious little ones aren’t quite ready for heights, they can walk or crawl through a “simple circuit” path that doesn’t involve climbing.

The different areas teach children about various climates while functioning as a complicated playground, keeping it in step with Zoomazium’s goals. “It reads more as nature, as opposed to a jungle gym with a leaf or two stuck on,” Hein says.

Zoomazium ties into the world outside as much as it can. When a child learns about an animal, the family can walk out into the zoo and see it in its natural habitat and learn more about it. While Zoomazium has lots of areas to play and climb and jump and slide, the point is to create more questions. There’s a large picture of an elephant by the grassland watering hole – why is that? And what’s that animal sound coming from the end of the overturned log?

Hein emphasizes that much of Zoomazium is meant to be adult-friendly too. There’s a parent zone adjacent to the toddler zone, so that you can sit and chat with friends while your child explores the African drums. The attached nursing area is private, but is a far cry from a tiny, shoved-in-a-closet afterthought. The ceiling-high windows of the building are made of a special kind of glass with opacity that varies with sunlight. During the day, it appears opaque from outside, but people inside can see out. Consequently, in the nursing area, you can see out and watch other zoo visitors, but you’re allowed complete privacy. The effects of the glass reverse at night.

This purpose of this glass relates to the overall mission of Zoomazium. “It reduces bird strikes to as near to zero as we possibly can,” Hein explains. So far, there have been no bird casualties, and someone makes a lap around the building every morning to check. It’s this kind of basic stewardship of nature that Hein and everyone else behind Zoomazium hope to impart to visiting kids.

“Urban kids aren’t getting enough nature,” Hein says. “The biggest thing that fosters a child’s environmental sensitivity is exposure to nature. Once you’re sensitive to your environment, that’s lifelong learning. You pay attention. Kids need nature as much as they need riboflavin or anything else like that.” In fact, Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, was a consultant for the project.

Hein says his favorite part of the new nature center is the area of untouched woods that surrounds the building. “It’s a reminder to parents – maybe they used to go camping, but they haven’t brought the kids.”

If families can come away from Zoomazium thinking that nature is both fun and interesting, it’s a great stride toward bringing kids toward a part of life that is in danger of slipping away, Hein says. “You can walk into a forest, and in 30 seconds you get it. You can also walk into that same forest and not leave for 30 years, always learning something new.”

That’s how the zoo staff wants kids to experience Zoomazium: as a place where they are learning something new each visit, having a new experience each time, and eager to come back again and again.

Zoomazium opens at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle on May 19 (May 18 for zoo members). It is located at the site of the old Primate House near the west entrance at N. 55th Street and Phinney Avenue N. Summer hours, May 1 through Sept. 14, are 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Admission to Zoomazium is included with zoo membership or with regular admission, which is $10.50 for adults, $7.50 for children ages 3-12 and free for children 2 and younger. Parking is $4. Food is available at the Rain Forest Food Pavilion, the Outback Café and Snack Shacks. No pets are allowed on zoo grounds. For more information, call 206-684-4800 or visit www.zoo.org/zoomazium.

Breanne Boland is a Seattle freelance writer; visiting the Zoomazium made her wish she were 7 again.

What Else is New at the Zoo?

Real Ponies Are Out. Pony rides, a fixture at the zoo since 1919, are gone this spring and summer. The aging ponies have been sent to green pastures to rest, and money is needed to build a new facility before the rides come back. You can see miniature horses at the Family Farm.

Wooden Ponies Are In. A restored 1918 carousel with 48 classic, hand-carved wooden horses will begin to turn in the zoo’s North Meadow sometime in July. The exact date will be announced later.

Butterflies Are Back. The seasonal “Butterflies and Blooms” exhibit in its long white tent re-opens May 26 and runs through Sept. 30. Admission is $1 extra, free for children 2 and younger.

Birds Are in Flight. Children can see 200 free-flying Australian birds, mostly small, colorful parrots, at the Willawong Station open weekdays, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. (free admission, no feeding) and weekends, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. ($1 admission includes a seed stick to feed the birds).

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