Childs Play
Community leaders created the Metropolitan Park Kids Kampus Task Force in the 1990s to provide input for a new children's play area with physical, intellectual and social benefits. Educators were utilized to design structures and activities that allow children to be curious, explore and manipulate their physical environment.
Construction began on Kids Kampus March 8, 2000, and the 10-acre facility, located beside Metro Park, opened March 6, 2001. The park included a soccer field with bleachers, 10 Picnic shelters and individual picnic tables, grills, playground equipment, benches, bike racks, security lighting and a restroom. The largest attraction was a bicycle/tricycle driving range, modeled after downtown Jacksonville, including street signs, traffic signals amd buildings. The seasonal water park at Kids Kampus featured "Three Friends", a boat-shaped structure with water cannons and a slide; and "Bayou, Bogs & Frogs" for children under six.
On May 5, 2010, JaxParks announced that the Splash Water Park at Kids Kampus would not open for 2010 due to impending demolition as part of Metropolitan Park renovations. That announcement did not explicitly state that Kids Kampus would not return, but the Metro Jacksonville website noted that the Metropolitan Park Concept Plan included a small "Children's Discovery" area and the "Green" where the Kids Kampus was previously located.
Read more about this topic: Metropolitan Park
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