Smart Kids Planet, Warsaw: Gen Alpha Edu-Retailtainment
Published 05 December 2022
A children’s edutainment concept called Smart Kids Planet has opened in Warsaw, Poland, aiming to engage kids in smart play involving local brands and retailers. With a particular focus on sustainability and healthy living, it plays to Gen Alpha’s attitudes towards social and environmental causes.
Smart Kids Planet is located within a post-industrial mixed-use development, the Norblin Factory, which contains offices, shops, restaurants, an eco-food market and a boutique cinema.
The 1,600 sq m space, for which prices start at 29 zloty ($6.40) for an hour, is divided into nine interactive play zones, designed to develop “skills for the future”, including logical thinking, teamwork and creativity.
The logistics zone, created in collaboration with Polish e-commerce retailer Allegro, allows kids to play courier, send e-commerce packages to a locker in a chosen city and learn about cardboard packaging recycling/reuse by scanning a dedicated QR code.
Meanwhile, a smart shopping area by Polish discount retailer Biedronka features a mini supermarket where children can role-play (as cashiers, customers or staff members) and practise healthy habits by shopping for mini versions of Biedronka’s private-label products using shopping lists created in collaboration with a nutritionist.
The project’s aims are in line with Gen Alpha’s attitudes regarding social causes and spending time offline: according to global market research company GWI, Alphas are socially aware and care about helping people (46%), everyone being treated equally (46%) and the planet (38%). Alphas spend more time seeing their friends in person (43%) than talking to them online (38%), bucking Gen Z’s behavioural trends.
Other zones include a toddler area, designed to improve motor skills with attractions such as floor-based music panels. There is also an on-site toy shop and café. After-school activities feature classes on mindfulness, entrepreneurship and robotics.
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