This Easter, Heathrow will give families the opportunity to cuddle real-life Easter bunnies, helping to calm kids ahead of their holidays.
The Easter Bunny Cuddle Corners will hop across Heathrow’s four terminals from Friday 30th March, as the airport expects to see leisure passengers travelling with children (under 16) jump up by 50% this Easter period; with over 137,139 passengers predicted to depart from the airport on Thursday 29th March alone.
Travelling through an airport can be a new and exciting adventure for little ones, but a challenge for parents to keep kids relaxed, before they eagerly depart on their holidays. To help ensure families have a smooth take-off and release any pre-holiday over-excitement, the Easter Bunny Cuddle Corners will give children the chance to have a cuddle with real rabbits.
Heathrow has partnered with leading Clinical Psychologist, Dr Elizabeth Kilbey, whose research has found that interacting with animals can have a positive effect on children. She notes that the ‘cuddle chemical’ oxytocin is released when humans hug or stroke animals, which leads to soothing effects that can help reduce stress and anxiety.
Dr Elizabeth Kilbey, best known for her commentary on Channel 4’s, Secret Life Of 4 Year Olds explains; “Research from BMC Psychiatry[1] has revealed that interacting or simply being in the presence of animals has a soothing effect on children, reducing their heart rate and skin temperature. Spending time with furry friends; stroking, cuddling and caring for them, can release comforting endorphins that make rabbits the perfect pet to calm and distract children from the excitement of check-in and getting to a gate on time.”
Elke Hogan, Senior Experience Manager at Heathrow comments; “We’re passionate about making journeys as smooth as possible for families. With an increase in families travelling through Heathrow this week, we wanted to do something extra special for our smallest globe trotters. We hope the Easter Bunny Cuddle Corner will help calm children before they fly, create a memorable experience for holiday scrap books and kick the Spring holidays off in the best possible way.”
The Easter Bunny Cuddle Corner joins a wide range of activities on offer for families this Easter, from special craft workshops like egg decorating to Kids Eat Free; alongside the Family Services at Heathrow, kids play areas, baby feeding areas and the dedicated family check-in at Terminal 5.
The Easter Bunny Cuddle Corner will appear across each of the following terminals:
• Friday 30th March at Terminal 5 from 9am – 1pm
• Saturday 30th March at Terminal 2 from 9am – 1pm
• Sunday 1st April at Terminal 4 from 9am – 1pm
• Monday 2nd April at Terminal 3 from 9am – 1pm
