Children’s Discovery Museum’s Exploration Portal is a 4,000sf nature-themed educational play space to be created on undeveloped land at the southwestern corner of the Museum’s site. Its location is ideal for environmental education: adjacent to an important ecological zone along the Guadalupe River home to a multitude of flora and fauna and also within a densely urban site, bordered by a heavily trafficked city street, below an elevated section of Hwy 87, and directly underneath the landing path for the San Jose Airport. It’s also next to Bill’s Backyard, CDM’s half-acre nature play space where children learn about the natural world by climbing, digging, building forts, stacking rocks, discovering insects, touching plants, and seeing birds and butterflies abound.