INDOOR PLAYGROUND DESIGN
Since the early 1980’s indoor playground equipment has remained pretty much the same. Your standard set of crawl tubes, slides, hanging punch bags, netting, trolley rides, post pad and steel frame.
Indoor Playground Design Challenge
Indoor climbing structures, softplay, soft modular play or jungle gym, whatever you call it, was a timely market innovation that turned the playground business upside down, and brought a new form of children’s fun and entertainment to the indoor amusement industry.
Although indoor playgrounds are still the number one party center activity for families with young children, that demographic continues to shrink…
As kids grow older and enter that TWEEN age group of 9 to 12 year olds, new social forces including access to always-on entertainment, mobile phones and new entertainment options (VR, AR, XR, ubiqutous nature of video games, etc), our kids are literally pummelled with options. Many of which (in this authors estimation) are ripping away the innocence of youth, resulting in kids growing up faster than maybe they need to.
Within this new gaming paradigm, traditional indoor play, or soft modular playgrounds, jungle gym, or climbing apparatus, all have one thing in common, they are best suited for younger children, ages 4 to 8 years.
Demographics & Playground Designs
In many communities, this demographic of tweens presents a large and growing cohort of opportunity that traditional climbing structures on their own, are no longer able to provide.
This in turn creates a smaller draw and diminished revenue potential for indoor party center owners whose attraction mix is exclusively based on traditional indoor playground equipment.
If your business planning is focused on the 8-9 years and under crowd, it’s all good. A SMART well designed, traditional indoor soft playground will deliver the excitement and repeat traffic you seek.
For amusement developers looking to provide an indoor play entertainment experience with the potential to attract the full family demographic, including 9-12 years with their parents, we have a SMART update that will provide that extra bump of excitement and interactivity required to appeal to this tween opportunity.
Interactivity & Repeat Play
In a changing demographic, it is imperative for your business to recognize, and change with it. By offering a variety of active play and playground challenges, your center can brand-out from the other locations, offer the entire family, including tweens and their parents a unique active experiential adventure.
Within a well-rounded play experience, parents and their tween children are looking for alternate sources of playful inspiration and challenges, SMART Playgrounds and PlayLab can help you deliver something unique and challenging that generates instant repeat play.
