An inside look at the new Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum
The new 4,000-square-foot Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum, opening April 14, features several tiers of climbing nets, slides, tunnels and an observation deck northwest of Tucson.
Photos by Mike Christy / Arizona Daily Star
Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum
Museum workers and contractors apply finishing touches to the Packrat Playhouse kids attraction at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum
Museum workers and contractors apply finishing touches to the Packrat Playhouse kids attraction at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum
Maintenance technicians Edgar Almazan, center, and Ernest Lopez, right, talk with exhibits curator Pete Oftedahl about installing a door for the toddler play area.
Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum
Francisco Barragan, with Adventure Gear, cleans up the work done on the slide as museum workers and contractors apply finishing touches to the Packrat Playhouse kids attraction.
Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum
Jim Coon, right, with Adventure Gear, tightens nylon netting in a climbing structure as owner Mike Reddish, center, looks on.
Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum
Mike Reddish, owner of Adventure Gear, inspects a climbing structure his company built as museum workers and contractors apply finishing touches to the Packrat Playhouse kids attraction.
Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum
Maintenance technician Ernest Lopez paints the surrounding elements made to look like a packrat nest full of odds and ends.
Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum
A giant gila monster by the museum's Nathan Duron and his crew, right, is backgrounded with murals by Joe Pagac in the toddler area of the Packrat Playhouse kids attraction.
Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum
Jim Coon, with Adventure Gear, tightens nylon netting in a climbing structure.
Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum
Giant scorpions and a rattlesnake are part of the toddler area.
Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum
Decorative pieces inside the Packrat Playhouse kids attraction.
Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum
Climbing high enough nets you a view in the observation tower the Packrat Playhouse.
Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum
The elevated climbing nets in the Packrat Playhouse kids attraction.
Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum
Climbing high enough nets you a view in the observation tower the Packrat Playhouse kids attraction.
Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum
The elevated climbing nets in the Packrat Playhouse kids attraction.
Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum
The elevated climbing structure and nets in the Packrat Playhouse kids attraction.
Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum
The slide is designed to look like a cholla rib in the Packrat Playhouse kids attraction.
Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum
This glowing scorpion will greet you in one of the tunnels in the Packrat Playhouse kids attraction.
Visitors to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum will see temporary safety modifications due to the coronavirus pandemic as the museum begins its phased reopening.