Educational side of things in Central Park Zoo

These pictures demonstrate the way that the zoo tries to encourage the learning of the children. By asking questions and adding in facts and quizzes it keeps them looking for clues. I think a kids quiz is a great idea but it needs to get them involved with following a trail. They have simplified the facts and made them virtually wordless which allows everyone to understand the messages.

The entrances to all areas of the exhibits were marked using these plates on the floor demonstrating a change in climate or continent. This is nice for kids as they get to learn what kind of environment this is by entering the zone. The entry signs are also quite child-like but very clear. This example shows the penguin and puffin enclosure. Inside the actual exhibit there was steps so the smaller children could see into the enclosure and signage and information boards were at a uch ower height than those at London.

Keeping in with nature and a main centre point all in one

On our recent trip to new york we decided to have a look at the zoo in Central Park to compare to London zoo. This picture is just after the main ticket part and you are brought in to this central area which has a number of functions. There is a sea lion exhibit in the middle which has feeding displays a number of times a day where large crowds gather. All of the exhibits stem from pathways surrounding this main centre space which is also full of benches and places to sit. A second appeal that this area had was the natural look of the space. Everything where possible was made of wood and by having the animals as a central feature, you really got a feeling of animals and not the city. This makes an ideal meeting point and main feature on the map.

Colours

I found an interesting page about colours. Most of its about decorating your home, but you can kind of translate it to what we are doing. I tried to find colours effects on heart rate, but no such luck.

http://freshome.com/2007/04/17/room-color-and-how-it-affects-your-mood/

Wood and Natural Materials

The 'Into Africa' Section used the wood and surrounding walls/fences and painted on them. I thought the over all effect made it more 'fun'. They also already used wooden signs for the animals, tied to the fences with rope, it seemed more natural than the metal signs and vinyl stuck onto windows/doors. However I felt the use of colour made it look a bit more like a theme park than a zoo. Like something you would find at disneyland. Colour is good, but I feel like they used the colour just to make it bright, rather than using the colour to maybe colour code the type of animal, or where they were from in the world etc. A colour coding system where the signage, line etc is colour coded accordingly. Finola also said about ambient colours, and colours that soothe and colours that raise the pulse/aggrivate people, I will try and find out more about that.

Bright Color

A bright color as the yellow one on this cans makes it very easy to see on a far distance, and thats a very good thing. The color also makes it stick out, so it gets the audiences attention.

The "Yellow Cans"

The Yellow cans is very easy to see in the environment because of the color.
Although I don't like them, because it reminds me of this oil cans that has been contaminated lakes and stuff. What do you guys thing?? Am I just being a "drama queen"hehe?
We talked about having for example signs made of wood paper because of this organic feeling a zoo should have, and thats why I don't see were this metal ting fits in!
But a bright color (if not yellow) would maybe be a good thing to use to make people see it, in for example the "green line".

The "Green Line"

The green line could have been a quit interesting and fun idea if it had worked properly.
It's not really telling you were you are heading.
The only time I got a little use of it, was when we ended up were the library was. This aria looked like a "private" backyard or something, and if I had been a kid I would have thought this was the end of the route. The green line kept through this place and under a tunnel, and because of that we immediately understood that we could keep on going.
But thats basically the only time the green line was helpful to me, what about u guys?
Did you find it helpful any other place?
One thing I liked with the "green line" was the animal footprint. This could be a fun thing to use further to guide for example kids around the zoo, since they easily understand pictures and symbols. However the idea behind the footprint being a meeting point, was not something I would have understood if someone hadn't told me. One problem with a "green line" on the ground could be that it would hard to follow if the zoo is full of people, so maybe we could have something in the air or something. What do u guys think?
And I'm not sure if green is the right color to use as a guide line, because maybe as Fhil said that green goes to much into the environment.