IRONDEQUOIT – When Hunter Day walked into the Medley Centre mall in Irondequoit on Sunday afternoon, the 4½-year-old boy didn’t want to take his coat off. After all, his grandparents had promised him a trip to an “unusual playground”- which he assumed would be outside.

But once he saw dozens of other children sliding on slides and crawling on plastic leaves, bugs or waterfalls in the mall’s MedleyKids Play Garden, he realized he was right where he was supposed to be.

“We’ve been here an hour, and he’s been perpetual motion the whole time,” said Hunter’s grandfather, Dave Day. “As soon as we got here, the first thing he said was, ‘Can we come here again?”’

The Play Garden is billed as the world’s largest soft-play area and is the newest addition to Medley Centre. The 3,000-square-foot indoor playground opened Thursday and features a thick padded floor that’s surrounded by soft sofa, where parents or other guardians can sit and watch children play. Inside the garden-themed area, the central feature is a 20-foot plastic lilac tree with stairs and slides. Costumed characters such as Scooby Doo walk about and interact with the children or dance to the oldies music played by a disc jockey.

“It’s been packed, packed, packed,” said Adam Bersin, new owner of the mall. The playground is one strategy to bring customers back to the former Irondequoit Mall, which had fallen on hard times. “People are just thrilled. It’s another step to prove just how powerful this real estate is.”

Hunter’s enthusiasm for the Play Garden was pretty much limited to the slides. But Dave Day said he appreciated the soft floor, rounded edges of the play materials and the requirement that parents or guardians accompany children.

“It’s very safe, and given our climate, we need more indoor attractions for children,” he said. He considered the $2 entry fee “nominal”.

“It’s fluffy,” she said.