Outside at Kidspace

Kidspace has a tiered garden that introduces kids to concepts like growth and plant nutrition. They have vegetable gardens (of course), but also a tunnel made of wisteria (it's growing in. What you see above is the frame that will eventually be covered in the vine.) and a series of play objects that mimic natural phenomena.

Below, for instance, a rope toy made to look like a spider's web. Iain was, frankly, indifferent to the web. But he liked the tunnel and he toddled around a bit before he understood that he needed to exit through the same door where he'd gone in.

Farther up the hill there's a beanstalk. I thought it was fabulous, but Iain was not impressed. Still, it was neat to look at him under the vines. Like seeing him walking inside a sculpture.

A water wheel turns at the very top, splashing water up and over a tin roof so it cascades down into a little pool. From there the water travels downhill in a stream and to a tiny beach.

In case you're not that into the "nature" theme, the bottom of the park is devoted to modern life. There's a little house (which Iain really liked) and a racetrack for tiny little scooters and tricycles.

I suspect that in about 2 or 3 years Iain would find Kidspace absolutely riveting. Even now, though, he was entertained for a good long time with the various objects, exhibits, toys and games designed to teach him about bugs, archaeology, biology, and movement. It's a great little place, and one really scaled to children.