YIPPEE! Today's the day when fun at Creepy Crawlies just gets better.

A £200,000 outdoor adventure park for kids was opened this morning, as an extension to the Creepy Crawlies play scheme in Wigginton Road, Clifton Moor, York.

Six weeks of careful landscaping paid off as children swarmed all over the area, complete with rope swing battering ram, sandpit with water fountain, huge climbing net area with rope bridge and space for pedal cars.

Then there is a little pet zoo and an amphitheatre.

It adds to the existing 11,000 sq ft indoor activity centre started by Janice Dunphy and Sue Jones in October 2004 - a centre which boasts one of the biggest four-lane indoor slides in the country, plus a baby and toddler area, a soft sports arena, a disco room and a playframe for over-fives.

It was bound to be an instant hit, given that the new outdoor adventure park was pre-tested by Janice's children, Sarah and Alice, and by former teacher Janice herself.

It demonstrates the finesse shown towards every new attraction at Creepy Crawlies, which has 150,000 visitors each year.

The two women's policy of providing "edutainment" - a mixture of education and entertainment - has led to enduring co-operation between themselves and the North Yorkshire Business And Education Partnership.

It has also led to the organisation pitching for the Best Business And Education Link title in The Press Business Of The Year Awards 2007.

For instance, the play scheme has developed a mathematics workshop which allows children to "book" parties, cost them and work out the profit.

The venture has also played a big role in fighting childhood obesity, and in helping the awareness, through organisations like Snappy, of children with special needs through the design of a multi-sensory interactive environment, Janice said research pointed them towards the need for an enclosed outdoor play space.

She said: "There is a movement back to natural play, and we intend to be leaders in this field. The aim was to provide an exciting, safe and secure outdoor play garden for the whole family.

"It is an environment designed to offer adventure, challenges and discovery, a place where children can develop new skills in a setting they can utilise all year round."