Imagine drawing a sea creature and having your doodle come to life. Or, what about folding a paper plane and watching it transform on a screen into a jumbo jet?

MOSH!, a new children's edutainment centre, promises to do just that and more with the help of state-of-the-art technology.

The 7,000 sq ft facility, on the third floor of the new Palawan Kidz City, opens today. The building will also house KidZania, another kid- centric edutainment centre, slated to open in April.

While there is no age restriction for the facility, the recommended age is three to 12 years old.

Singapore-based outfit Creative Future Park is the parent company leading the project, which has been in the works for more than a year and was built for $2.5 million.

Its partners in developing the multimedia components include Japanese creative studio 1?-> 10 (say "one to 10") and Japanese global imaging and electronics company Ricoh Group.

There are five main attractions in the facility, which are themed Space, Air, Land, Sea and Fantasy. Each has a unique interactive element to engage children and their parents.

For example, one of the highlights is the Doodle Aquarium in the sea- themed section. The doodles of the aquatic creatures on special paper will be scanned using an interactive table, where they will "come alive" and appear to swim among other doodles in a digital aquarium projected onscreen.

In the Air section, the activity Paper Plane Adventure allows folded paper planes to transform into real ones on a screen. The type of plane it transforms into depends on the force of the paper planes, which are thrown against a multi- touch detection screen.

Ms Alyssa Tan, project manager at Creative Future Park, tells The Straits Times that the technology used in the facility, which ranges from projection-based technology to advanced gesture recognition and motion design, was created from scratch for MOSH!.

She says: "We live in a cosmo- politan society with many advancements in technology. We want to embrace these advancements and at the same time encourage creative learning and out-of-the-box learning in kids."

Creative Future Park has also partnered with other Japanese companies, such as writing instruments manufacturer Mitsubishi Pencil Co Ltd and digital technology company Coconoe Inc. Japanese artist Sensyu Yasuko was involved in the artwork design.

Creative Future Park, which has eight employees, is headed by Ms Hitomi Komuro. The company was founded in March last year.

The name MOSH! is inspired by the word "moshi", the Japanese term for hello.

The Japanese word also has an alternative meaning that means "if" in English. In MOSH!'s case, this suggests the possibilities that technology can bring about and the expansiveness of the human imagination.

The facility can take up to 250 visitors at a time. On weekends and public holidays, visitors will be given time slots and are limited to two-hour visits - the expected time needed to enjoy the facility - but they can be there for as long as they wish on weekdays.

Creative Future Park says it will refresh the installations periodically and has plans to expand to other countries.