More than two years ago, a group of six young professionals recognised a major flaw with regard to local play parks.
On Saturday, after years of planning and months of advertising on social media, Kidnetic Indoor Play Ground officially opened at Icon Plaza, Aranguez on Saturday.
The “Move, Play, Belong” vision of the group had finally come to life.
“When we say move, play, belong, we want children to not just be sitting at home playing in front of the TV. That’s because these days you have a lot of children ending up in front of the television and sucked in because of the short reels created for these children. And as a result of that, these short reels, we’re losing (focus),” assistant managing director Mark Lewis told the Business Guardian as he explained the Kidnetic mantra in an interview moments before the play park was blessed by Pastor Rollins Joseph at the ceremonial opening of the play park.
He continued, “When you were growing up, and I was growing up, we spent a lot of time outside, spent a lot of time running, sweating and enjoying life, learning through play, learning through things, building things, breaking down things, fixing things. So this gives them that opportunity to do that.”
Developing the play park required an investment that crossed seven figures from the core group, who opted to spare no expense to develop Kidnetic.
“There’s a good story behind this. This is a team of six. We have in that team five engineers and one lawyer. Nobody on the team has probably passed 40. There’s nobody in team over 40, so this is a young, enterprising team, and you know, typical young people, what they’re doing, looking for the next lime. So we trying to say, we changed the narrative. Young people trying to do something different. “
He explained that, as a result of personal experience, they recognised the need for a play zone that would accommodate atypical children.
“We have autistic children in amongst the group. We told ourselves when we went to all the places, we didn’t feel like there was something for everybody. It felt like everybody just did something to make some money. This was more of a passion project for us. So, the passion was we wanted to create this environment that you just felt at home. You didn’t feel like you’re getting overrun by other children; you didn’t feel like again overrun by the staff. “
After doing research, studying play parks including those in Miami and New York, Lewis explained that every purchase and room designed for the spot was done to encourage a higher level of inclusivity. The team consulted with occupational therapists and hired an Inclusion Specialist to address special needs in children, as well as managing colour schemes to ensure that the rooms were not too harsh on neurodivergent children.
Kesara Diaram, who was hired as the inclusion specialist for the play park, explained that it does require special recognition of stimuli on children across the spectrum. As part of the Kidnetic team, she is required to observe the playing and ensure that chidlren do not experience harmful sensory overloads.
“Typically, a lot of people, once they see different types of stimuli and experience it through their bodies and in their brains, are able to process that in a way that is manageable. But on the other hand, we also have people who children as well who basically have difficulty balancing that type of stimuli,” Diaram explained. It could trigger different responses in their bodies, and so what happens then is you may potentially see something like a crisis or an incident happening where you have a child, let’s say, having a total meltdown.
Diaram continued, “At that point, that is when we would be able to intervene and just usher them in a very calm manner. We’d be able to usher them in a space that is safe for them, so that they can be able to decompress and process their feelings and thoughts and so on. So that’s more or less what we do.
The Kidnetic team opted to develop the best play park in the country by moving away from a dependence on screens to a greater focus on physical activity and problem solving.
“I grew up in a time when children moved. Children didn’t sit at home. We were outside building things, finding little things to play with, and as a result of that, we grew up stronger. We grew up more able to cope with difficult situations because we encountered challenges as children, so we were able to rise above the challenges, and it carried into life,” Lewis said.
Lewis explained that this prompted the team to invest in interactive setups, including a “floor is lava” room that would not just encourage cardio but pattern recognition and problem solving.
“You got 12 by 15 to give you the full, biggest space to play. Not a small area, so you have more room to run and enjoy the displacement. So children have a full cardio workout here, and adults hang around. I find the adults spend more time than the children. It is that fun,” he said.
“This is what life is supposed to be about. You know, have fun, and this is what we’re supposed to be using technology for: to engage children, let them think, let them learn, let them play. Let them develop their mobility, their physical strength.”
While Kidnetic first launched their socials back in April, the play park opened on the last weekend of the July August vacation, which many pointed out would have been a lucrative period for Kidnetic. However, Lewis said he was not disheartened by the delayed opening.
Everybody says that, right? But I’ll give you something. I’m so confident in what we did here that I’m not worried about it. I believe that the influx of people will be so significant, whether July, August, whether September, whether October, whether November, whether December.”
He continued, “Before we open, we just put out the socials and people were excited. Seven birthday parties to have to cancel already, and that’s because people were excited. We had children coming to the door and crying because we weren’t open yet. We have endless families asking. People were so excited about it that we had a birthday party yesterday before we opened. We’re not open, but we brought all the staff and had the birthday party because she (a customer) wanted it.”
The Kidnetic team also stressed that while the emphasis is on children, adults are also considered, as the spot also features a cafe where parents and guardians can have meals and beverages away from the play area while monitoring the kids at play.
The team also chose Icon Plaza due to its high traffic zone, as well as the limited amount of the play spaces for children in the Aranguez area.
