KidZania: Learning while playing

On a recent visit to Bangkok where we competed with participants from 14 other Asian countries in the Amazing Grand Sale Challenge upon the invitation of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Bulletin’s Shirley Pizarro, concert-promoter Ambie Burac and I enjoyed being kids again at the KidZania, one of the amazing places included by the TAT guys in our itinerary before the Challenge Day.

It’s a must-visit place in Bangkok, located at the fifth floor of Sam Paragon (which, incidentally, happened to be one of the three malls where the “challenge” was held), guaranteed to give the young (especially) and the young-once (vicariously) a wonderful learning-while-playing experience.

We saw how excited the kids were as they played (and learned from it) different roles such as (top photo, from left) a chef, a fireman, a beautician, a doctor and a construction worker; piloting a plane (right, with a makeshift cabin and cockpit of Air Asia, one of the place’s supporters, as educational tool); and (bottom, from left) surgeons in an Operating Room, waiters/cooks at a restaurant, and as TV hosts and cameramen.   

A world in itself (complete with restaurants, fast-food center and other amenities standing side by side with makeshift banks, bottling factory, spas, ice-cream factory, etc.),  KidZania was founded in 1996 by Xavier Lopez Ancona who dreamed of creating a place where kids could have fun while enjoying real-life experiences. According to the brochure, the first KidZania site was opened in 1999 in Mexico City as an educational center for kids four to 14 years old, focusing on giving the kids an entertaining learning experience through role-playing of the profession they want to pursue when they grow up.

KidZania has so far benefitted more than 20 million children around the world since it opened, currently with 16 sites in 13 countries (aside from Mexico and Thailand) including Japan, South Korea, UAE (Dubai), India, Egypt and Turkey, with more to open this year in UK and Russia — and in the Philippines soon, to be constructed by ABS-CBN? KidZania Bangkok is the largest indoor KidZania in the world.

After two hours, we left KidZania as wise as the role-playing kids, a bit sad that during our time, there was no such learning fun place for us to enjoy, sigh!

(Gentle reminder: Next time you are in Bangkok, be a child again at KidZania, preferably with kids of your own.)

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