Dubai has no shortage of interesting spaces for children to engage in educational play and amusement, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing left to create. Proving this theory, Mrs. Amal Qunaibi has opened a play area like no other in Dubai.
La La Land, an amusement facility in Uptown Mirdif, is a dream come true for founder Amal Qunaibi. “I always wanted to set up a place that’s the opposite of a daycare, a place where parents can drop their kids off in the vicinity of a multi-complex being assured that their child is safe and having a good time with other kids,” says Mrs. Amal, who has lived in Dubai for decades.
“Parenting is not always easy. Sometimes multitasking can take a toll on you. Taking care of your kid and being able to run your errands simultaneously can be exhausting. We have opened this amusement arcade just for these multitasking women. Because having access to such centers you can comfortably complete your work being assured that your child is safely playing in the play center which is conveniently reachable for you.”
La La Land, which means “fantasy world” because the “whole purpose is to bring back the imagination and smiles of discovery on the faces of the children”, is more of a journey than a destination. La La Land is a novel edutainment center with a vision to provide an enriching and full impact learning experiences through play in which every child carries forward into their growing years. This center is inspired by Maria Montessori teachings from Italy and aims to deliver a preschool service of the highest standards in the UAE. This will be supervised by experienced professionals and cater to the children aged 18 months to 12 years old.
Made up of different interactive galleries that combine 30+ hands-on activities, the center focuses on an open-ended and non-judgmental play for children through installations created by academics, artists, professors, and designers.
“By open-ended and non-judgmental, we mean that there’s no directed outcome that the kids are forced to achieve,” explains Mrs. Amal.
“There’s no right and wrong in their play. It’s an emotionally-safe environment full of fun, interactive and educational activities with no outcome. Kids go along with it and interact as they see fit, depending on their age and development. It’s not standing in front of a screen driving a car and feeling like they have to get to the finish line before time runs out or they lose. There is a little bit of competitive play because it’s important, but the play is what they want to do instead of what is dictated to them.”
The interior of the La La Land edutainment center is inspired by Wild Timberland. With different zoological characters, including chipmunks, squirrel, and monkeys this wonderland is surely an amazingly designed arcade.
The talented interior designer for La La Land had turned their pieces of arts and designs into an interactive play space for children in Dubai, where each piece are intricately designed and are one-of-a-kind, joining art and architecture to create a space for play.
“This is like a stage for children,” the artist tells me. “Children walk into a totally different space from home. They can be actors, acrobats, ballet dancers. Not only do they start to climb on it, they perform on it as well. This arcade will help them live their dreams from their eyes”.
Mrs. Amal says there are no rules or a set way of playing. “Children’s imaginations naturally start working, we see this in every installation once the kids are roaming free on it. They almost start showing off, with cartwheels and arts and craft creations; they are discovering what they can do. They create games with other kids, strangers, bouncing and sliding, bumping and falling down. It gets them interacting and they start doing things together, with a whole fantasy about being inside a cave, tree or crawling up on the net, or rolling with bouncy balls”
With the making of LaLa Land exactly what Amal Qunaibi was hoping to do was – create a space where children can do what is natural for them without parents interfering too much.
“Sometimes things will go well in this arcade,” explains Mrs. Amal, “and sometimes they might get a little bumpy, but we’ve seen kids’ learning through that. It’s important for their brain development. Children who are cut off and live in a very close or controlled environment, in high rises, never outdoors, always in front of a screen; their brains don’t develop the same as when they are being knocked around, using their bodies and minds, creating things from scratches and so on. They develop awareness of themselves in space and it’s important in establishing neural pathways in the brain. Through years of research, we’ve seen there is a great benefit in the actual physical motion in stimulating children’s brains. This arcade will hold off lots of camp activities, birthday parties, and Thursday game activities”.
The other activities apart from games and technologies will be just as interactive. With the focus on having children working with their hands, which Mrs. Amal says makes them better problem solvers. “We have a lot of hands-on activities in our spaces, including making paper planes and launching them, making art and crafts, creating shapes that can float on a stream of air, making cars with Lego and repurposed materials and racing them on a track, etc. There will be so much to look forward to, combining engineering, science, maths, and obviously, the arts.”
And if children leave having experienced moments of joy, then the founder of La La Land, Mrs. Amal Qunaibi’s wishes will have come true.