Claire Lannoye-Hall is a curator of education for the Detroit Zoological Society.

In a day and age when kids and families are spending more screen time than outdoor time, the Detroit Zoological Society is working on a project to create an outdoor space your kids won’t be able to pass up!

The previous play areas at the Detroit Zoo were both retired over the past two years and a new play structure was installed in the Main Picnic Grove. Our landscape team has done a tremendous job of enhancing and adding to the play area by landscaping with native plants and installing log steppers, toad stools and climbing rocks for kids to play on.

The adventure will continue as we include more natural play opportunities in the area directly east of the play structure. Kids will be able to climb through a spider web, relax in a giant bird nest, crawl through animal burrows and engage in imaginative play throughout the area. Native flowers and trees provide shady spots and smaller pockets for kids to have quiet areas to play in while parents can still easily keep an eye on all the activity from the comfort of benches.

We’re really excited about this new play space and we hope you’ll visit us early this fall to experience all it has to offer!

– Claire Lannoye-Hall