The Perot Museum of Nature and Science reopened the Moody Family Children’s Museum with a bold new space that sparks play, imagination, and discovery. Kiss the Frog co-designed and developed the Imaginarium — a fully interactive, multi-sensory experience where kids explore a vibrant, larger-than-life playscape!
Immersive Imaginarium
In this fully interactive, immersive, multi-sensory experience, children explore three different landscapes, Underwater, Jungle, and Sky World, filled with sound, motion, and surprising effects. The space encourages exploration and discovery, as well as teamwork and pattern learning.
The innovative way in which children can explore the exhibit lies in the fact that each age group interacts with the space in their own unique way: the youngest simply by touching and playing, slightly older children by recognising patterns and understanding cause-and-effect, and the oldest by engaging in collaboration and shared discovery. This layered approach makes the experience adaptable, engaging, and meaningful for children of all ages.
Each landscape is filled with dynamic elements that respond to movement, touch, and interaction. Children can trigger animations by walking, tapping, or engaging in collaborative play, with each interaction designed to spark curiosity, learning, and imagination. The interactions vary in complexity: some respond instantly to movement, while others require discovery or teamwork, ensuring that visitors of all ages can find joy, challenge, and delight throughout the space.
To create a fully immersive environment without casting shadows, it was decided to use LED screens. This choice allowed us to create vibrant, immersive visuals across the floor and walls. However, it also presented challenges related to brightness and pixel pitch. We continuously tested and refined our visual design on the actual LED panels to strike the right balance, using darker tones on areas of close interaction, while ensuring the overall atmosphere remained welcoming and playful for younger children. Innovative use of LiDAR technology allows the entire space, both floor and walls, to become interactive, responding in real time to children’s movements. This opens up possibilities for collaborative play and discovery over a very large surface area. The combination of LED visuals and LiDAR interaction creates a seamless, fully immersive environment where the technology enhances both play and learning.
Fitting into the category Immersive Experience - Cultural, The Imaginarium offers a multi-dimensional experience where responsive screens adapt to children’s movements and choices. Here, technology supports the child, and not the other way around. Instead of passively absorbing digital content, children become active creators and collaborators in the immersive surroundings, engaging with cause-and-effect, recognising patterns, and building social connections.
Imagination Stations
The children’s museum also features an innovation hub for aspiring problem-solvers to unleash children’s creativity and foster design and engineering skills. In this interactive digital exhibit, children bring their own LEGO Duplo creations and feed them into a wondrous machine powered by AI. Using generative imaging, their imaginative inputs are transformed into surprising, ever-evolving digital masterpieces based on carefully designed prompts and themed settings. Each transformation is unique, sparking curiosity, creativity, and endless fun.
What makes this particularly innovative is that even very young children can engage with AI in a playful and accessible way. This approach introduces children to AI through hands-on, creative play, making advanced technology approachable, fun, and educational. Children interact with AI to see their creations come to life. In the background, the museum can independently manage and customise the AI prompts and themes to keep the experience fresh and adaptable.
Partners
Kiss the Frog developed the interactive multimedia installations in collaboration with Bruns (fit-out), NorthernLight (exhibition design), and Ata Tech (hardware).
