Dartmoor Zoological Society Over sized children's books

Over sized children's books

The brief

The axiom 'never work with children or animals' is well known, but we enjoy a challenge, so making some giant prop children's books for a zoo was right up our street. We had a tight budget to work to on this one and yet we wanted to make the book props as well as we make all of our props, and we knew that they would be handled on a daily basis by lots of little hands during the summer months, so the construction of them had to be done just right. The books were replicas of Rod Campbell's well known lift-the-flap book, Dear Zoo, and the flaps would be opened hundreds of times so they had to be fit for purpose. Also, the event was outdoors so the books had to be made to take anything the British weather would throw at them.

Project Details

Spur Creative has helped us bring the much-loved children’s book Dear Zoo to life in a wonderful way! They worked with us to turn our idea of giant, interactive books into a reality whilst helping us keep within our budget. We were thrilled when the big book pages arrived. They are bright, colourful, and finished to a high standard. This created an immersive experience for children visiting the zoo.

The book props brought the lift-the-flap book to life brilliantly and they stood up to being constantly opened, played with, hung off and drawn on over the 6 weeks of summer. Having the graphics printed on wipeable vinyl was a stroke of genius and allowed us to keep them looking tip top, no matter how much ice cream went on them! Macmillan Children's Books were also very pleased with the attention to detail from Spur Creative and the outcome. They were impressed with the quality and that it was even possible to have curved pages, so that all the elements of the props could match the original book exactly. Dear Zoo was brought to life in an original and engaging way that children of all ages could enjoy. 

Prop process images

  1. The framework for some over-sized books of Rod Campbell's Dear Zoo.
  2. Wooden framework for giant books with PVC solid core board covering.
  3. The front cover of an over-sized prop book of Rod Campbell's Dear Zoo
  4. An over-sized prop book with printed vinyl of Rod Campbell's Dear Zoo for a display at Dartmoor Zoo.
  5. A giant book made as a prop for display at Dartmoor Zoo.
  6. A giant prop book at Dartmoor Zoo.

The Process

We made the frames of the books with marine plywood and clad this with a PVC solid core board and the page detail was exterior grade printed vinyl. Because we designed the books to have curved pages to look like open pages, we had to make the doors curved, and hinging these was always going to be a little tricky. We had to make sure that little hands could open the doors easily enough but that little fingers wouldn't get trapped when the door closed, so a lot of thought had to go into the making of the doors. 

Project Image

A giant prop book at Dartmoor Zoo.

The Result

Our client loved the books and the publishers of the book, Macmillan, and the author, Rod Campbell, who were involved throughout the process, were equally impressed with the reults.