Kids Kampus
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| Kids Kampus | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Type | Municipal (Parks & Recreation Department) |
| Location | Jacksonville |
| Coordinates | |
| Size | 10 acres (.1 km²) (.016 mi²) |
| Opened | 2001 |
| Operated by | City of Jacksonville |
| Status | Open all year |
Kids Kampus is a city park in Jacksonville, Florida with a 10-acre recreational facility containing bright, colorful, climbing, digging, and sliding equipment with a twist. Kids Kampus was developed with local educators and allows children to learn by engaging their natural curiosity to explore and manipulate their physical environment. The play and learning concepts were designed to help develop children physically, intellectually and socially.
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[edit] History
The idea was originally proposed by Mayor Ed Austin in 1993, but the groundbreaking ceremony was delayed until March 8, 2000. The $4.7 million facility finally opened officially on March 6, 2001.[1]
The Mission Statement:
Jacksonville`s goal is to cooperatively create a kid-sized, interactive, experimental "town" connecting facts, figures, and suggestions for real-life use. There are opportunities here to think, talk, and write about exciting activities. Children and adults will connect in meaningful collaboration using their imaginations through creative play placing value on daily life experiences.
A little over a year after opening, the park needed repairs. The weight of the fill dirt and concrete structures of the park was putting pressure on a layer of silt under the soil. The silt was filling voids around concrete-and-steel rails buried decades ago when the site was used for shipbuilding. Repairs were estimated at $305,000; otherwise the soil could settle 2½ to 3½ feet in the next 15 years, damaging park structures and creating hazards for users. [2]
[edit] Facilities
Kids Kampus has 2,000 feet of jogging trails and users can walk down a real yellow brick road that leads to slides and playground equipment. Different stops along the way have signs describing Jacksonville's history.
Several design features help keep the Park a safe learning environment. A 2-inch rubber surface that looks like asphalt is meant to help reduce scrapes and scratches. Pavilions are strategically placed to give parents a way to supervise their children. There are decorative lights at night, but the area has security lighting plus perimeter fencing.
If you bring your lunch, there are 17 picnic tables, 10 picnic shelters with grills, 30 benches, a restroom and water fountain. Highlights include:[3]
[edit] Features
- Safe City is a miniaturized four-block area of Jacksonville's downtown with a working traffic light, small plastic buildings and a railroad crossing. These are meant to introduce tricycle-riding children to traffic and personal safety while “driving”.
- Open Air Classrooms include two open-air seating areas, just the right size for educational field trips and group tours. Bleacher seating for 150 children is available in the "Ritz Pavilion." An outdoor 50-child capacity amphitheater sits on a grassy hill overlooking the "Mayport Signal Hill."
- Playscapes and Learning Fun is where children can climb, slide, dig and ride while learning how to use telescopes, signal kits, mechanical diggers, a sundial and compass. Play equipment mimics real-life machines and historical sites.
- Water Splash Park has two areas:
- Three Friends is a large play structure in the form of a boat, with a water slide and water cannons.
- Bayou, Bogs & Frogs is a non-skid, sculptured rug that depicts Florida wetlands and includes water jets and a water-spouting turtle, snake and toadstool.
- Timucuan Indian Village with plastic huts
[edit] Elementary Educational Field Trips
Available to all organized public and private elementary schools. These programs adhere to the Sunshine State Standards. [4]
| Program Name | Description | Recommended for |
|---|---|---|
| Safe City | Traffic & poison safety, fire & water safety plus bike skills and safety. | Kindegarten & 1st Grade |
| Magical Magnets | Basic scientific principals of magnetism and how it affects the world they live in. | Kindegarten & 1st Grade |
| Rollin' Up the River | Secrets of the longest river in Florida; perform scientific experiments to determine the water quality of the St. Johns River. | 2nd, 3rd & 4th |
| Creepy Crawly Things | Do worms have tongues? How do bugs see? Insect safari into a bug's world | 1st, 2nd & 3rd |
| Water Cycle Workshop | Dynamic physical study of the water cycle as a drop of water and discovering the St. Johns River watershed | 2nd, 3rd & 4th |
| Bubblocity | Learn about surface tension and the visible light spectrum and create art work through the use of bubbles | 1st, 2nd, 3rd , 4th & 5th |
| Do You See What Eye See | Seeing isn't always believing; how the human eye works, and how our eyes can be tricked to see things that may not be present | 1st, 2nd, 3rd , 4th & 5th |
| Here Comes the Sun | Students will cruise through this solar powered learning experience, this is a great companion to solar system studies | 2nd, 3rd , 4th & 5th |
| It's In the Air | Interactive performance to help understand Bernoulli's Principle | 3rd , 4th & 5th |
| History of Jacksonville | From dinosaurs to the big fire, our city has been a fascinating place for millions of years | 3rd , 4th & 5th |
| Mystery of Navigation | The secrets of magnetic north, building a compass and develop their navigational skills | 3rd , 4th & 5th |
