Calling all Atlanta families! Buckhead’s newest indoor creative play space is open, and it’s spectacular. With the right mix of innovative technology and queues for imaginative play, Kefi is as fun for parents as it is for kids. And with options for families who want to play together as well as for families who prefer a shared but independent experience, Kefi makes hanging out as a family easy. Keep reading for the scoop on this new indoor space for Atlanta families.
The Big Picture
Guests enter through Kefi's bright atrium, where they check-in, wash hands, and receive their security bracelets—fitness tracker look-alikes that allow employees to know where each child and his or her associated guardian is at all times. Oh, and there's a choir loft of dancing robots to keep your kiddos (and you) entertained while you wait in line. Once inside, Kefi is a self-guided experience with seven distinct spaces, detailed below. Families can choose to play together, or divide and conquer. Soft, calm music is the background for your experience, and ambient lighting changes gradually, setting Kefi apart from the jarring experience of so many children's indoor playspaces. Employees are stationed in each space, and serve as ambassadors to the possibilities that await visitors.
Parent Oasis & Listening Room
Parents who need to crank out some work, make a few phone calls, or just chill out for a minute—content in the knowledge that their kids are having the time of their lives exploring the play spaces inside Kefi—have two adult-only spaces to retreat to. The Parent Lounge is located with a bird's-eye view of Kefi's Fun Field, and a glass wall ensures parents can see their kids as they move from one play space to another. There are semi-private calling rooms, so if you need to hop on a conference call without a lot of background noise, Kefi has you covered. For parents who prefer to chill out, listen to some music, and just relax, there's an adult-only Listening Room full of chargers, headphones, and comfy seating.
Beat Box
With air harps, synthesizers, drums, a DJ booth, and a dance floor, this space is dance party central. Kids add to background music by interacting with the turntables and playing on the other instruments as they take turns dancing and jamming.
Fun Field
A green screen disguised as a cushioned climbing structure sits at the heart of Kefi, and projects the image of the kids onto a giant television screen where the kids can watch virtual dragons whiz by them. The floor is a projected pond that has giant frogs that surface to flick their tongues across the floor.
Story Cave
With two stories during the day (a puppy world in the morning, and a dragon world in the afternoons), visitors begin their experience in the Story Cave by selecting a stuffed animal to accompany them. Once they enter the cave with their stuffed animal, there are stations where videos help them train their pups (or dragons) to sit, roll over, jump, and more. Weight and motion-reactive floors and sensors allow for automatic and individualized feedback on each "training session." Further inside, you'll find a virtual obstacle course where you can apply the commands you learn during the training session.
Toy Testing Labs
Each lab (one is geared towards older kids and is equipped with coding and technology-related toys, while the other is geared towards the younger set and has crafts and more traditional toys) is an inviting room with stations where guests can tinker and explore. It's a great spot to wind down from the tech-fueled experiences of the Beat Box and Story Cave.
Toytropolis
Possibly the best example of how Kefi merges creative play with technology, Toytropolis is a room filled with fan-favorites, such as the Barbie Dreamhouse and Camper, Brio trains and tracks, and drawers full of dolls, doll furniture, trains, lego figures, dinosaurs, cars, and more. On two television screens, there is an animated host, voiced live by a Kefi employee who is able to see—from behind the scenes—what visitors are playing. As a result, the animated host can interact with, make suggestions to, and encourage kids as they play.
Kefi Atlanta
3637 Peachtree Rd. NE, Suite D
Buckhead
404-937-3352
Online: playkefi.com
—Shelley Massey
