Project Spotlight: KidzWorld at the National Science Centre of Malaysia

Wandering through a mirror maze, climbing through a rocket, creating shadows of color or playing a giant music box. These are just a few of the experiences that children and their caregivers can have at KidzWorld – the recently opened gallery at the National Science Centre of Malaysia (Pusat Sains Negara) in Kuala Lumpur.

The PSN Rocket headlines the gallery's two-story climbing structure.

The 4,000-square-foot KidzWorld exhibit, geared towards children ages 7-14, is divided into five thematic zones. As guests enter the popular science center’s main atrium, they are greeted by a massive, rocket-themed climbing structure and a ball play area, each filled with a variety of interactive opportunities. Moving into the main exhibit space, visitors can manipulate a magnetic ball wall in the Creativity area, look at themselves in a whole new way via a computer-controlled “fun-house”-styled mirror in the I Am Special area, create a musical masterpiece on a giant piano or light beam harp in the Sound of Music area or see how much energy they generate by running in a human hamster wheel in the Machines area.

Children can discover how their bodies move by cycling along side a skeleton,
then challenge their powers of perception by working their way through a mirror maze.

Since opening in early March, the KidzWorld gallery has been an exciting new play-based destination for the museum’s younger visitors. The gallery’s various exhibits were designed to help children sharpen their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, learn to identify different shapes, colors and sounds, tap into their creativity and discover the worlds of physics, biology and motion.

Visitors can either create their own music via a giant piano,
or listen to traditional Malaysian tunes by cranking up an oversized music box.

“For Kuala Lumpur residents and visitors alike, the 'new' National Science Centre enhanced in the atrium by KidzWorld exemplifies the best of experiential learning for children,” said Shahryn Azmi, Director, Jack Rouse Associates (Southeast Asia) Sdn Bhd. “JRA Southeast Asia is honored to have worked on such an important project, and as a Malaysian parent myself, I’m excited about taking my children to a new destination full of fun things to do and reasons to return.”

JRA Malaysia Director, Shahryn Azmi, tests out the Hamster Wheel.

JRA provided complete planning, design and implementation for KidzWorld at Pusat Sains Negara.

Stay tuned for more photos of KidzWorld via our Facebook page. Thursday, we’ll be seeing red as we celebrate Cincinnati’s unofficial city holiday – the opening day of Reds baseball!