Kids Kampus

Infobox park
park=Kids Kampus


caption=Kids Kampus at Metropolitan Park
type=Municipal (Parks & Recreation Department)
location=Jacksonville
coordinates=coord|30|19|11|N|81|38|19|W
size=10 acres (.1 km²) (.016 mi²)
opened=2001
operator=City of Jacksonville
annual visitors=350,000
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.

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. [ [http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/022701/met_5504818.html Florida Times-Union Feb 27, 2001-New park was 8 years in the making] ]

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. [ [http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/040902/met_9090033.html Florida Times-Union: Apr 9, 2002-Kids Kampus repairs estimated at $305,000; Settling damages park] ]

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: [ [http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/030701/met_5575862.html Florida Times-Union: Mar 7, 2001-Kids Kampus comes alive] ]

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

Elementary Educational Field Trips

Available to all organized public and private elementary schools. These programs adhere to the Sunshine State Standards. [ [http://www.coj.net/Departments/Recreation+and+Community+Services/Recreation+and+Community+Programming/Recreation+Activities/Kids+Kampus/Educational+Opportunities.htm City of Jacksonville website: Kids Kampus-Educational Opportunities] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.coj.net/Departments/Recreation+and+Community+Services/Recreation+and+Community+Programming/Recreation+Activities/Kids+Kampus/default.htm City of Jacksonville website: Kids Kampus]