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Park review: Climbers and Creepers Play Zone in Kew Gardens
- Overall atmosphere
- The equipment and attractions
- What to eat
- Opening hours
- Getting there
- Prices
- Contact information and bookings
Overall atmosphere
Climbers and Creepers opened in June 2004 and focuses on learning about plants and ecology. It does this by creating a giant landscape where kids are bug-size relative to the environment around them. There are also real insects and flora to see, from live insect-eating plants to a beehive to a large butterfly cage filled with beauties. C&C encompasses an inside and outside play area - great for all-weather outings. The whole area is constructed inside a greenhouse that's inviting and bright, unlike many inside playscapes we've visited, and is a great way to spend an hour or two during a day at the park. An associated website has games, stories and plant information.
The equipment and attractions
Kids were jostling for a chance to climb inside the giant flower and jiggle its style and anthers (those things that pollen is on - see, we did learn something) until a voice congratulated them on pollinating it like a bee would. Likewise, the pitcher plant slide, which makes a silly cartoon sound whenever someone slides down it, had them lined up for days. Less dramatic but also appealing were the Hideaway Home, a kind of treehouse similar to that of a harvest mouse, that kids can crawl into, and a 'spider web' of ropes that makes noises when you climb on it. A couple of areas sounded good on paper but were a bit of a let-down in reality. The bramble tangle was described as an area to crawl through but was actually more of a big canopy children could walk straight through. The kids we saw didn't seem to know what to do in it. The Venus Flytraps also looked really exciting. You could drop 'flies' on long wires into their open 'mouths' while a friend tried to snap them up. But even as an adult we found the lever too hard to move.
The outside area, called Air Play and sponsored by Fairy Naturals washing-up liquid, is billed as a high-physical-activity area 'designed to nurture children's understanding of the natural world'. We thought this was fancy speak for an area where kids can tear around and act like maniacs. The day we were there that's exactly what they were doing. Elements in the area include a lookout point over the gardens, water squirts, wind spinners and leaf-shaped hammocks, where one toddler was having a snooze, oblivious to the shouts around him.
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Created: 05/08/2004 Updated: 09/08/2006
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