Ohio’s Backyard Discovery Area: Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
The world is full of animals! Finding each one in their natural habitat would be near impossible. The Cleveland Metro Parks Zoo offers visitors a chance to see many of the world’s most fascinating animals up close. The Zoo is in the planning phases to add a carousel, event building and nature discovery zone at the zoo. The ‘carousel of wildlife’ will feature the different world biomes and animals that live in each. The nature discovery zone will feed off of this concept and look one step closer at Ohio’s natural habitats. The event building will be the perfect setting for birthday parties and other family functions.
Ohio’s Backyard Nature Discovery Area – Who lives in my backyard?
The design is organized like a back deck (parent’s observation area) with a natural backyard landscape sprawling out below (kid’s discovery area). Northeast Ohio’s animals need water, shelter, and food to live. The play concept is organized around offering kids a chance to interact with these three elements. The intent is that the discovery zone will spur them to take action to protect animals and habitats at home. In the discovery zone we ask them to start exploring how they could help animals create and protect good habitats.
- Can I get water for the animals? Water is pumped out of hand pumps into a natural looking creek bed. Children try to pool or transport water to reach all five animals around the creek. Life size concrete animals in a variety of appropriate habitats lure children to provide them water.
- Can I build/ find a good house for a _____? Children explore the landscape and search for or discover animal’s habitats. They can protect them, enhance them, or help build them. (dig the fox’s den, find the birds’ nests in the thicket, add to the beaver dam, sit in the eagles nest, find lots of other small animal homes).
- Can I feed the animals? Children can hut for stashes of seasonal food sources. With bucket in hand they can take their collected materials to the ‘Squirrel Cafe’. The cafe offers kitchen tools and a work counter where they can create a feast fit for a (squirrel) king and share it with their café patrons (parents).
Hopefully visiting Children leave having had fun (and maybe they learned a bit in the process). More to come on this as the project progresses.
