Zoo
Kids Adventure Courses and Playground-Style Structures for Zoos
Create an Active Family Experience That Fits Your Zoo
Families come to your zoo to explore, learn, and spend time together. A custom kids adventure course can give younger visitors another way to connect with the experience.
Challenge Design Innovations designs and builds kids adventure courses, playground-style structures, climbing features, small zip lines, and custom attractions for zoos, wildlife parks, nature centers, museums, and science centers.
We help zoos create active play areas that encourage longer visits, serve younger children, and complement the surrounding exhibits.
[Book a Zoo Project Consultation]
Adventure Designed for Younger Guests
Many aerial adventure attractions are built for older children, teens, and adults. That can leave younger guests watching from the ground.
CDI’s Kids Courses are designed specifically for smaller and younger participants. Activities can be built closer to the ground and arranged in a compact, easy-to-view area.
Features may include:
- Low-level aerial obstacles
- Small zip lines
- Cargo nets
- Climbing features
- Balance challenges
- Bridges and tunnels
- Playground-style towers
- Slides and ramps
- Themed animal elements
- Parent viewing areas
- Accessible ground-level activities
- Custom entrance and exit structures
Each course can be designed around your zoo’s available space, visitor ages, theme, staffing model, and operating goals.
More Than a Traditional Playground
A custom kids course can combine familiar playground play with the excitement of an adventure course.
Children can climb, balance, crawl, cross bridges, and move through a series of connected challenges. The experience encourages physical activity, confidence, problem-solving, and imaginative play.
Unlike an off-the-shelf playground, CDI can create a structure that fits your zoo’s setting and visitor experience.
The course may reflect:
- Local wildlife
- Specific animal exhibits
- Forest, jungle, wetland, or desert habitats
- Conservation themes
- A zoo mascot
- A regional story
- Your education and interpretation goals
- Sponsor or funding partners
The result can feel like part of the zoo rather than a separate piece of equipment.
Give Families More Reasons to Stay
Parents and caregivers often look for places where children can move, play, and use their energy during a zoo visit.
A kids adventure area may help your zoo:
- Increase the length of guest visits
- Add an optional ticketed activity
- Strengthen family memberships
- Create a memorable signature attraction
- Serve children who are too young for larger aerial courses
- Add activity near food, seating, or event areas
- Support birthday parties and group visits
- Encourage repeat attendance
- Create seasonal or special-event programming
A thoughtfully placed course can also give adults a comfortable viewing area while children participate.
Designed Around Zoo Operations
A successful zoo attraction must work during busy weekends, school trips, summer programs, and special events.
CDI considers:
- Participant capacity
- Age and height requirements
- Guest flow
- Staff visibility
- Parent viewing areas
- Entrance and exit control
- Daily inspection access
- Rescue and staff access
- Equipment needs
- Shade and weather exposure
- Maintenance requirements
- Future expansion
We can design a supervised experience, a playground-style structure, or a course that combines features of both.
The best approach depends on the activities, height, fall protection system, intended users, and your operating model.
Connect Adventure With Education
A zoo course can reinforce what children are already learning during their visit.
Activities may invite participants to:
- Balance like a mountain goat
- Climb like a primate
- Cross a bridge through the forest canopy
- Crawl through an animal burrow
- Move across a web or net
- Glide along a small zip line
- Explore different animal movements
- Learn about habitats and conservation
Signs, graphics, animal shapes, and educational prompts can help connect physical play with your zoo’s mission.
Full-Service Project Support
CDI can support your project from the first idea through construction and long-term operation.
Our services include:
- Site and feasibility review
- Custom concept development
- Course and structure design
- Engineering coordination
- Construction and installation
- Staff training
- Commissioning inspection
- Annual professional inspections
- Repairs and maintenance
- Equipment supply
- Renovation and expansion
We can also inspect, repair, modify, or expand many courses built by other companies.
Experience With Zoo and Family Attractions
Challenge Design has designed and built challenge courses, climbing structures, zip lines, and aerial adventure facilities since 1980.
Our work includes SKYWILD at the Greensboro Science Center, an aerial experience designed to complement a zoo and science-center setting.
CDI has also maintained ACCT International accreditation for more than 26 years.
We provide one experienced partner for planning, design, construction, training, inspection, repairs, and future growth.
Plan Your Zoo Kids Course
You do not need to have the full attraction planned out before contacting us.
CDI can help determine which type of kids course or playground-style structure may best fit your zoo, visitors, and long-term goals.