How do we make the world a better place? This is a question that gets tossed around a lot, but often without answers or results. These days, the news can paint a rather bleak picture and it can be difficult to see ways in which others do indeed make the world a happier, safer, and better place. By focusing on what they do best, Soft Play is actively bringing happiness to children and families around the world.

In February of 2018, Soft Play opened its latest play area in the Mall of Africa. Located in South Africa between Johannesburg and the administrative capital Pretoria, The Mall of Africa is the largest single-phase mall on the continent. The new play area boasts an immersive jungle theme, with hand sculpted and painted soft-foam climbers and slides, along with ubiquitous jungle animals like hippos and elephants. It also features one of the largest single play elements that Soft Play has ever constructed, a huge giraffe with a tree tunnel slide.

Though this was Soft Play’s first project on the African continent, it was by no means its first outside the US. Soft Play has been fulfilling its mission to make the world a measurably better place by creating unique opportunities for family fun all over the planet. In fact, Soft Play has created unique play areas on every continent, except Antarctica where market research indicated that penguins prefer to play on all-natural structures.

This global legacy started 14 years ago in London, when Soft Play created their first international project. Since then, Soft Play has crafted an impressive portfolio of innovative firsts. Their 2010 Seoul, South Korea park, Lotte World, was specially designed for young children under the age of 8 and was named the world’s largest indoor theme park by the Guinness Book of World Records. Lotte World is a massive fairy tale kingdom, where kids can run barefoot through classic bedtime stories such as Cinderella’s Castle, Alice in Wonderland, and other famous fairy-tales.

It isn’t all about classic fairy tales though. Soft Play’s innovations include imaginative abstract paintings and a unique “Play along the Way” concept that turns the entire Kanyon shopping mall in Istanbul, Turkey into a play area. Climbable abstract elements made from soft foam are placed throughout the mall allowing kids to keep playing wherever their parents are shopping and make any errand an adventure. The abstract designs encourage kids to use their imaginations and create their own stories around the bustling world of the shopping mall.

This philosophy has even led Soft Play to improve on one of the most beloved and recognizable retail play areas, IKEA’s Småland. Their mountain themed play area at the IKEA Centre Slovensko in Bratislava, Slovakia, encourages learning and mental engagement through immersive and interactive play.

While these are just a few of the international projects that Soft Play has created, they represent the innovation and fun that we bring to families all over the world. Though it may seem that we are living in dark times, there is always a place for laughter and fun and Soft Play is committed to making the world a measurably better place through the power of play. Our innovative and imaginative play areas around the world delight kids of all nationalities and cultures and bring joy to kids and their families, wherever they may live.