▷ From May 4 to 8, families are welcome to visit the “Eco-Friendly   Playground” to open at COEX Outdoor Square (approximately 990m2)to realize the importance of both family and the environment.

▷ Families can enjoy 24 different events, for free, at this upcycled playground. They will be able to enjoy a slide made of waste woods and plastic bottles and arts & crafts classes for making toys, beads   blocks and anti-floor noise slippers. Children’s Eco Library and virtual reality experience of National Parks are also part of   the program.

The Ministry of Environment (Minister Yoon Seongkyu), in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Seoul Metropolitan government, will co-host COEX C-Festival, organized by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and COEX, on May 4-8. As part of the event, the Ministry of Environment will open and run “Eco-Friendly Playground” at Outdoor Square, COEX.
 

※  COEX C-Festival: First held in 2015, it is a large-scale urban festival that offers various entertaining activities such as “Eco-Friendly Playground of the Ministry of Environment,” “K-POP concert,” and “Cultural Festival.”
 

At the opening ceremony on April 4 at a site near the Eco-Friendly Playground, about 30 participants including Park Cheon Kyu, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Environment, Kim Jeong Kwan, Vice Chairman of KITA, and Arabian Ambassadors to Korea will attend and join the opening performances such as flying paper airplanes and a short tour around the Eco-Friendly Playground.
 

The Eco-Friendly Playground covering about 990m2 of the site is planned and operated by the Ministry of Environment in collaboration with Korea Packaging Recycling Cooperative (KPRC) and other public and private organizations. The playground will open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. every day during the festival at Outdoor Square, COEX.
 

The playground consists of three zones. At the Zone 1, Resource Recycling Zone (264m2), participants can enjoy Upcycle Playground, Toy School and Toy House Making Classes that are co-designed by a social enterprise Kumjadonge and various cooperatives.
 

At the entrance of the Zone 1, a three-meter-tall sculpture made with abandoned twigs and toys is set up, which makes visitors feel like entering a toy wonderland getting away from the most urban area.
 

Going inside the zone through the huge sculpture, visitors will see a very special Upcycle Playground made with waste woods and 12,000 plastic bottles, which cannot be found anywhere else. People can go down the slide, escape a maze and play a game of putting plastic bottles into a recycling bin by spinning a waterwheel.
 

At Toy School next to the Upcycle Playground, participants can bring broken toys from home to get them fixed, or make their own toys out of the abandoned toys provided at the site and bring them home. Also, they can hang DIY toys to a three-meter-high model house and feel the joy of working together with others.
 

Zone 2 features key experimental services of the Ministry of Environment which allow visitors to see and feel the impact of “climate change and the importance of nature, ecosystem and water.”

First, National Park Virtual Reality (VR) experience is offered with a large screen and VR headsets to experience key destinations of the Seoraksan National Park such as Biryong Fall, Daecheongbong peak, Ulsanbawi Rock and Gombaeryung as well as to watch underwater video footage of Hongdo. The VR service provides visitors with high-quality video to make them feel like actually visiting the spots sitting in the middle of downtown Seoul. 
 

Next to the “VR Experience Room,” Tap Water Blind Test is held, where blindfolded visitors taste tap water, still water and purified water by themselves and find tasty water without any prejudice. The test participants will have a chance to win gifts as well.
 

After VR experience and blind test, it leads to an experience zone for parents and their children to talk about “climate change” that has been a central issue at home and abroad since last year. Children can watch a popular episode “Lightning Man, a Blue Dream of the Earth,” make a key ring shaped after an endangered species or eat cotton candy made with electricity generated by pedaling a bicycle.
 

Mini Eco Park (330m2) features red ants, freshwater fishes, amphibians and reptile animals that were exhibited at Seocheon National Institute of Ecology. In addition, families can feel the nature at the center of city by participating in various programs provided in this park. The programs include Children’s Eco Library, where children’s book authors read books to children, and Pressed Flower Class which makes it possible to preserve the color and shape of wild flowers for a long time.
 

Zone 3, organized by Korea Environmental Protection Association, provides various environmental experience programs tailored to children. Children can ride a large bus named “POORUMI Mobile Environment Class,” to learn what eco-friendly energy is and make eco microphone, learning how to prevent floor noise.
 

In Eco-Friendly Playground, parasols and chairs are placed here and there for families to avoid the heat, which are made with waste banners and used milk cartons with the support by Korea Upcycle Design Association.
 

Befitting the name of the event, “Eco-Friendly Playground,” the ministry did not use paper prints and used QR code instead, to minimize resource waste. After the event, the Upcycle Playground will be moved to Seoul Innovation Park and the sculpture at the entrance will be relocated to Siheung Eco Center.
 

“The Ministry of Environment has promoted its policy goals such as spreading a low-carbon practice to respond to climate change and laying a foundation for facilitating transition to resource circulating society through various channels. Following the Upcycle Tree Village made together with COEX last winter, we have gathered a wide-range of environmental experience services for both parents and children to enjoy during the Golden Holidays,” said Spokesman Park Cheon Kyu.
 

“I would like to cordially ask for your support and interest to make a better environment where our children can spread their wings to make their dreams come true,” he added.