There's a new habitat at Woodland Park Zoo that takes the zoo's emphasis on more natural exhibits to a whole new level. Ideal zoo habitats allow creatures to act as they would in the wild instead of inhibiting their instincts and abilities. This new exhibit incorporates the latest research on the instincts and abilities of its intended users. The 'habitat' is Zoomazium; its creatures are children aged 0-8.

Zoomazium is an 8500 square-foot indoor play space designed to encourage children to enjoy and learn about nature through exploration. Project manager Frank Hein sums up Zoomazium's mission as "To make kids fall in love with nature." The space consists of six "discovery zones": mountain; forest; grassland; a toddler zone with scaled-down mountain, forest, and grassland areas; a performance stage; and Nature Exchange, a hands-on learning program.

The discovery zones are at once high-tech and down-to-earth. A cave-like crawl space under the natural rock mountain conceals a plasma display of bubbling water and waving reeds. Another screen embedded in the water hole in the heart of the grassland area reveals animal faces drinking water as if reflected in the pool's surface. Next to the waterhole, an outcropping of rock is heated as if by the sun.

"That's for the moms to sit on," one of the ZooKids explains, of the heated rock. The ZooKids, ranging in age from 6 to 10, serve as advisors and ambassadors for Zoomazium. They proudly show off their contributions to the design, such as a rope and wood bridge with a seemingly missing plank, that make Zoomazium the sort of place cool enough for kids to call their own.

At the Nature Exchange area, the ambassadors can't help but act like kids again, becoming engrossed in an experiment with rocks and hydrochloric acid. The experiment is part of one of many learning modules that will earn kids points toward prizes - from small polished rocks to larger fossils and insect specimens.

Environmentally minded parents and kids alike will find much to appreciate at Zoomazium, from sustainably-harvested wood construction, to bird-friendly windows, to a green roof planted with native flora. Artistic appeal is intergenerational as well. Animal-shaped door handles and sculptures are by local and regional artists, with Art Wolfe images of mothers and babies surrounding the toddler zone and nursing nook. Recycled glass tiles in the restrooms are ethically and aesthetically satisfying.

Zoomazium opens to the public on Friday, May 19, with a members' preview on the 18th.