To think soft play is old school and not eco or progressive

[sheparo]

We have the v v exciting opportunity to make a building that will house some sort of large play/event/task zones for children, that will have to meet the council's loan interest of 100k a year. The building is part of a city-wide facelift on being more green, community focused and cheerful and is the only focus on making money in this venture. The rest is building bridges, creating community hubs, cycle paths and green spaces (yay!).

Thing is, I want this space to be eco friendly and an opportunity for kids to try new things like barefoot trails, climbing and bouldering, maybe a small skate park, small library area, sensory room, running and soft area, maybe even a circus bit, a little indoor garden... sort of where kids can develop skills, talk to each other, learn things, run around but also have it as somewhere to chill and have a milkshake.

My (kind but elder, male, grown up kids yada yada) colleague says he wants soft play. His wife is a childminder and wants soft play. I really think soft play would cheapen and degrade everything this building is meant to stand for... but I agree we need to make money... AIBU to want to push for something different? Or is there something about soft play that I am being snobby about? (I have three kids btw, they adore soft play tbh... but, but... garish and loud and plastic and aircon! And can be rough and not exactly community...)

Am just wondering if I am being a snob and really, soft play is fine and am just over it, personally, when others would really love it.

TIA ladies, I await judgement... !

That makes sense, people really underestimate the cost of play equipment and the cost of maintenance!

I’d recommend having a look at Cheshire Ice Cream Farm. They have lots of attractions but an indoor soft play with sensory features, a water and sand play room plus lots of outside play areas. It’s incredibly popular.

Bewilderwood is also a good example, although outdoors, of lots of more natural play with high wires, treehouses, crafts etc… cheshire.bewilderwood.co.uk.

When DD was younger I would have been interested in a soft play that wasn't sensory overload. So equipment in muted rather than primary colours; no music; natural rather than strip lighting etc.

If you could actually pull off a soft play that was different to the norm I think it could be very successful.

There are lots of quite stylish themed indoor play areas that might give you some ideas. A few we've been to are the small one at the Battersea Arts Centre, Playbase at National Army Museum and Mudlark at Museum of London Docklands.

What the best ones often do is combine some element of physical challenge (typically a play frame with slides, tunnels, climbing, monkey bars etc. ) with a separate area with toys or loose materials for building/construction. The one we go to regularly (not the most stylish, I must admit!) has lots of giant soft lego and a building area with foam bricks and plastic wheelbarrows and tools. We often spend a couple of hours there since DC will wear themselves out on the frame and then play with the other stuff afterwards.

If you can incorporate a separate room/separate rooms into the space, then that gives you a space to hold children's parties or hire out for baby and toddler classes, both of which mean extra ££. Especially if you offer discounted play for babies and toddlers after classes.

There are some good middle ways. Climbers and Creepers at Kew Gardens, the Ahoy Gallery at The national maritime museum have elements of soft play and really popular with kids and parents. Obviously I don’t mean you will have a similar budget but if you haven’t already had a look you might find some inspiration for having the best of both.

Apologies for not reading everything.
have you considered science/eco based offerings? Like the water run in London Science museum, or the bit with air shutes and paper to make flying paper things? They hook kids for ages, and parents too from what I’ve seen! You could combine with soft play area for smaller ones, maybe with nature theme, and visiting science based workshops etc? Like the science lab workshops.
just an idea. So exciting as a project! Best of luck with it all!

My kids are 7 and 9 and haven't been to soft play for a few years (thanks covid!). I think most of the ones by us are geared towards pre-schoolers.

We have a local bouldering centre and they have kids areas that honestly aren't any different to soft play. The parents sit at tables having coffee and cake while the kids run around.

Your ideas sound more expensive, harder to implement, and the kind of thing that adults tell children they should enjoy, instead of what children actually want. A library?! Already got those, dc dislike them. Barefoot trail? Yawn. Bouldering is v v cool but major safety issues and staff training costs etc, I know someone who’s run a bouldering centre of years and he still hasn’t made a profit.

Kids LOVE softplay. Parents love softplay. Softplay is safe.

What about a themed softplay, sort of like Tiny Town in Kent used to be, with themed areas for different ages. It had a lifesize soft big red bus for toddlers to climb into and slide down into a ballpit, it had a hospital zone, a space zone, three levels of climbing - kids got a fantastic workout just running around. An astroturf for zorb balls and football where they also hosted kids birthdays. You could have wildlife / eco themed softplay? An ocean ‘underwater’ zone, a rainforeat zone, a desert zone etc…

Miss TinyTown 😭 it was another pandemic casualty.

You can do wooden eco friendly 'soft play' aka an indoor play area that is sensory, engaging and not plastic tat. Lots of farm parks have these alongside the outdoor farm bit. Also take inspiration from national trust outdoor play areas, wooden stepping stones etc

Do you want it to be something the kids want and will use or is it going to be something that adults want the kids to want?

This. You can make soft play non-garish. You can choose natural colours with lots of green & have a garden theme for example.

Too often people try to impose values on children they simply don't want or understand.

There's a balance - it sounds like part of why you don't want the soft play is the garishness which is a irrelevant to the eco nature of it.

I love soft play- I know adults are meant to hate them but I love them. I have very energetic children and softplay is a dream- not weather dependent run round, play with others, get tired- job done !

Have a look at kidspace in Croydon. It’s softplay without being soft. A lot of it is made of wood.

Your ideas sound lovely but probably not what kids really want and also really expensive and time consuming to maintain. You really need something that can withstand a lot of very energetic kids.

You could take a look at what's offered by children's museums in the US. (hint - they are not what we would think of as museums - more interactive/educational play spaces). If you really want your mind blown, check out the City Museum in St Louis.

Might be a bit out of your budget but oh my word it is like nowhere else I have ever been. We LOVED it.

I was gonna say a climbing wall especially if they can manage some Autism friendly sessions because my kid would LOVE it but our local ones don't do anything for children with SN.

You could create a wood based indoor play centre which is more in line with the eco theme rather than the garish plastic places.

We have this place locally:

comeintoplay.co.uk/

There's a climbing wall in hull which has 2 bouldering rooms for kids. Floor is fully crash matted. Some of the routes lead to slides and tunnels. One room is castle themed and the other is space themed. The space room even has a tunnel with glow in the dark holds! There are also tall walls with auto belays which DCs 10 & 12 loved. They also loved the bouldering rooms as much as the 5yos!

A smallish soft play for toddlers along with something like that would provide activities for kids of all ages!

You understand soft play is in bright primary, as you put it 'garish' colours fora reason?

Climbing walls need far more adults in charge than soft play. There are companies that do this, so would maybe be better just letting to a company than trying to do it yourselves?

If it isn't going to be empty in term time (190 days of the year) it needs to appeal to (parents of) young children, adults who aren't at work, or school trips.

What about a centre for retired people - the grey pound?

@fUNNYfACE36 tell us - why is soft play in bright primary colours? What's the reason?

This sounds like a fair investment of time and money that shouldn't be decided on the basis of two people's opinions. Its a good start asking on here, but more importantly you need the input of the local community who will be using the space.

Conkers in Leicestershire has a natural themed indoor play area. It’s a bit tired now, but my kid loved it. Have a look at that for inspiration? They have all the barefoot trails etc etc, too.

If you want to make money then you need to appeal to the masses.

catering to just SEND or just kids that skate is not masses. At all.

The majority of toddlers like soft play, very few of those toddlers will grow up want to skateboard and few will have SEND or later being diagnosed with SEND but the majority will go to soft play.

Then you have to appeal to the parents. Soft play is Hard Work until they are about 3, then it's easy. Parents like soft play because they haven't got to manage their child across a zip wire, over some wood, or climbing on a wall on a harness.
In soft play they get to zone out and play on their phone, work on their laptop or chat to their friend.

Dont cater to the lowest common denominator if you want to make money.

However it is important to have SEND inclusion, and what works well for this is days/afternoons that are for those with Autism or other SEND where NT children are not present for

Which city is it? It sounds bloody brilliant.

I don't see why it can't be a money spinner AND a bit worthy (as for whoever said kids dislike libraries I hope you meant your kids not kids in general as that's not true at all). Soft play sounds great and a bit that's good for kids parties would bring the cash in. But as most others have said consultation is the main thing. Something that will stay when the project has stopped being the council's shiny new thing and has its funding cut is the best idea. Is there anything like soft play that doesn't need as much upkeep?

There’s a place about 40 minutes away from me that I travel to : thekinderhub.co.uk
I would never travel 40 minutes for JUST soft play but this place has a good mix of soft play, role play areas and the outside is great too! Maybe consider something like this for the best of both worlds?

If you're looking to make £100k a year profit, then I think you need to do the financial planning alongside the ideas. For example, if you expect to make £5 per visitor, then do you have the local audience to get 20,000 visits a year? What is your cost base going to be? It sounds like a very expensive space to heat.