Dallas Public Library’s new pathway welcomes children of all ages

A newly completed pathway is engaging and welcoming young visitors to the Dallas Downtown Library with an array of colorful letter and word designs.

From the west entrance to the plaza, the path is sort of a “game board,” inviting kids to answer questions as they walk towards the front doors, such as “can you count to five?” “how many continents can you name?” and “can you hop like a frog?”

From the east entrance, letters of the alphabet, designed to reflect a word that begins with each letter, are scattered in a random pattern. Visitors are greeted with a large magnifying glass asking them to find the letters of their name. The pathway was created by artist Miguel Donjuan, a member of the Oak Cliff collaborative Sour Grapes, known for their graffiti-style murals. Decoratively wrapped garbage cans, designed by Walter Gray Lamb, reinforce the letter and number recognition encouraged by the pathway.

“Play is an important aspect of learning for young children,” said Youth Services Administrator Melissa Dease. “The design is meant to engage children with early literacy skills, including number and letter knowledge and vocabulary skills as well as encouraging play.”

The letter designs are also being printed in a coloring book to be given to children when they visit the Vital Statistics office with their parents or the Youth Discovery Center on the second floor of the Library.

The project was funded with a Play Everywhere grant from Kaboom! which encourages the transformation of everyday spaces into opportunities for kids to play.