Exploration Place today opens the Adventure Playscape, a 6.5-acre outdoor destination on its riverfront campus designed to draw families from across the Midwest. The attraction features 10 themed environments inspired by Kansas’ landscape, heritage and identity.
“The Adventure Playscape is part of an emerging national movement in destination play, in which investment in world-class outdoor environments delivers dividends both for local families and for regional tourism,” a news release from EP reads.
“We decided to compete with the best destination play environments anywhere in the world — not to build something good enough for Wichita, but something good enough for anywhere,” said Adam Smith, president and CEO of Exploration Place.
Unlike a conventional playground, the Adventure Playscape integrates play equipment into a living landscape, with both given equal weight. The environments include what is believed to be the first aviation-themed playground of its scale anywhere in the world and one of the largest educational water play environments in the United States. The landscape features more than 40,000 plants emphasizing native Kansas species and grasses, 500 tons of Kansas limestone and 250 new trees selected to provide shade and comfort for visitors as the planting matures.
The design process coincided with a historic drought in Wichita from January 2023 to September 2025. Despite adding significant water play features, Exploration Place’s overall consumption of city water will actually decrease through efficiencies in irrigation design and stormwater management.
The Adventure Playscape was designed to be enjoyed by everyone. Exploration Place engaged a specialist accessibility consultant from the outset, ensuring that every environment addresses the full range of visitor needs, from wheelchair access and mobility to the needs of children who experience busy, stimulating environments differently. A dedicated sensory garden offers a calmer space within the playscape for those who need it.
The Adventure Playscape is designed for use not just during the daytime but after dark. Extended evening hours until 8 p.m. run during Spring Break and every evening during summer months. Approved media photography is available for download at www.exploration.org/playscapemedia.
The Adventure Playscape is included with general admission to Exploration Place. The mission of Exploration Place, Kansas’ premier science center, is to inspire a deeper interest in science and technology through creative and fun experiences for all. Exploration Place is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and until 8 p.m. on Thursdays. The museum opened in 2000 and welcomes 400,000 visitors annually.
