Part of the ASA card journey with my another post, we went to Singapore Zoo with 2 objectives in mind : see Koala before they go back to their homeland and play the water playground!

Too many animals, too little time for photos.



It started to drizzle after a short walk so we had to sit down for an early lunch first while praying for the rain to stop. She got all emotional and teary, and kept raving about her giraffe and elephant through lunch in fear and worry that she wouldn't get to see them.




A familiar sight much?




Mami was excited for her to meet and feed the farm animals in The Rainforest Kidzworld but she was STILL too timid, refusing even when i suggested to hold her hand and feed with her. She rejected my offer of the Pony Ride too. ):

No choice, we gave up and went over for some splashes in the Wet Play Area instead.



Ended the day with a tired but happy child!

For the kiddos, we headed over to Suntec City for some Toys"R"Us therapy and I took the chance to visit The Polliwogs too!

Here's their Facebook page and admissions rates:

Source : The Polliwogs website

I delayed the visit to the much raved-about playground because most reviews mentioned that although it's a fun place for the kids, parents who were following around had backache issues due to the low ceiling structure of the active play area. Now that she had company, my neck and back will be safe!

When we got there, I was quite regretful because it was SUPER CROWDED. Even in the toddler area it was packed with small babies, toddlers and bigger kids. That was a big no-no because the big children were all running in the small area and I was so afraid that her bones might be broken by one of them or she might just fly off if they knock into her. Crowd-control was not done well because the big kids are not supposed to play inside. She was uncomfortable inside as well and requested to move on to other areas.

Bouncing castle is just beside the toddler area, and yes it was another nightmare. Less than 5 jumps and they both wanted to get out because they'll just knock into other kids.





As expected, the slides were the highlight and they were also having fun crawling around the different zones of the active play. However one step was too high for her to go down and she was too busy running after her cousin that she nearly fell flat on her face if she had not held on to the cushion. Scary sight when I was outside the structure witnessing and unable to go help her immediately. Mental note to self: she's still too careless to take care of herself.

On a fine Saturday morning when I was busy googling for playgrounds to go in Orchard area, I came across this newly opened playground from Bumble Bee Mum's post and when I saw the farming play area and her favorite supermarket, I immediately showed her the pictures and off we went within like, 45mins! (usually we take years from preparing to finally stepping out of the house because she is the master of nua-ing)

Little Planet Playland is inside The CentrePoint which was still undergoing renovations when we went there, so we were expecting less crowd in the playground. To our delight, there were only 3 families there including us! Imagine the joy and peace with cute smoothing children songs playing in the background while having the whole place to just us. This is a real plus point because all other indoor playgrounds are always filled with people and I'm always so busy running after her to avoid knocking into other kids or prevent her from snatching. I suggest to hurry and visit the place now before the mall is done with renovations and the place will be packed!

1. Farming Area

This is the first area welcoming us when we stepped into the playground, my first reaction was to jump into the "soil" area and start planting my carrots but when I turned around to ask her to join me, I realized that she has already ran straight into the supermarket area and pushing her trolley of food........

Anyway, I really like this idea because I have never seen this in any other playgrounds and it is really creative and interesting! Little ones get to enjoy and experience the planting, watering and harvesting process without having to dirty themselves or work under the hot sun. Of course this can't be compared to the countryside real life farming, but it's a pretty good education platform as a start for the toddlers since it'll be challenging to put them in the urban when they're so used to city life. We parents get to be comfy too while teaching them through playing! There's sufficient toy farming tools/food inside the area so the kids were playing peacefully without having to snatch, and there's also wheelbarrows for them to transport food around.

Sadly, she wasn't keen to play here and I suspect that it's because she disliked the "soil". Throughout the time spent in this area, she didn't step into the "soil" even once. She only sat down on the stairs to play and that was only after I promised to sweep away the "soil" on the stairs before she agreed to come in. Oh well, at least I got her to touch it.

2. Supermarket/Cooking Area

Here comes her favorite area, just look at all those lovely and so-yummy-looking food!

Papa and I were talking about how real all the toy food looked, how colorful and yummy they appeared. The quality of the toy food is really different here as compared to the normal ones that other pretend play playgrounds have. We're also discussing on how much the maintenance cost will total up to just to replenish the toy food (especially the cakes/desserts/bunch of fruits) because we did see some of them already showing signs of abuse having little holes here and there, decorations/colors peeling off and parts dropping off or torn apart. Majority of them were still in very good condition but we were just being too eagle-eyed, as usual. Well we can't really blame the kids since the food really do look too amazing and curiosity must have caused them to explore a little bit. (:

So once again I stress that you should visit here now before the toy food gets lesser variety or poorer quality!

Oh just look at how excited and happy she was with her basket and trolley of food!




Further inside, there's a relatively big space of cooking area with about 4 cooking pretend play stations and many food, cooking utensils and kitchen stuffs for them to play. There's also really cute child-size outdoor wooden benches for us to sit down and wait for food to be served while the kids are busy cooking.

5. Fishing Area

so silly laughing so hard when we both got "attracted" together

I'd recommend this playground for toddlers only because there're only 5 play areas and bigger kids will get bored very easily so it's not worth it when you can get more active play for them in other playgrounds with the same amount of admission fee. So if you have toddlers who love pretend plays, do drop them a visit!

Here's their Facebook page and admission rates:

Source : Little Planet Playland website

2015 was a tiring year with all the indoor playgrounds in trend, eXplorerkid @ Downtown East was on our to-go list too.

Situated in E!hub Downtown East, it's ideal for families to pay a visit during their stay in D’Resort because it's just next door. However, its location is in the rather extreme end of our little red dot so it's pretty hard to attract families in the west. That said, since our bus trip down doesn't take too long, we decided to head down!

It was a welcoming sight when we got there because the place is so spacious you can see everything inside even from the entrance.

1) Adventure Highlands

Source : eXplorerkid Website

This is the first play station just by the entrance, I was quite impressed about this idea because I've always been a fan of obstacle course so I'd also like my child to have a try in a safe and comfortable environment first before going outdoors. It's good mixing this concept into an indoor playground because the kids get to experience something different from the usual active play. The course has 2 levels and I was so excited to let her try the lower level but, turned out she still wasn't brave enough. Let's hope we can get some pictures of her trying out the course soon!

Additional charges apply:
- Adventure Course (upper level-minimum height requirement is 110cm): $6.50 per circuit
- Junior Course (lower level) : $5.50 per circuit

2) Mega Play

This is their multi-level active play structure, it has quite a variety of obstacle to crawl through and also has 2 slides, one of it is really fast and fun (the open one)! Parents with kids below 2 might need to be extra careful because the small kids might slide down too fast and fall flat on the cushion upon landing so it's better to sit together with them. After a few tries, she wanted to slide down alone and was enjoying it so much! There's also The Cliff right at the back of the structure play which is a rock-climbing wall. However most of the holds are missing so it seems like it's not well-maintained and just for show.

3) Lit Ball Pool

This was a first too because all other playgrounds with ball pit were using the normal colored balls. The lighting shone through the transparent balls so the ball pit was quite pretty. That kept her occupied for quite a while.


Here's their Facebook page and admission rates:

Source : eXplorerkid web

It was time for her haircut, as usual Mami wanted to have a 2-in-1 outing so we went to VivoCity for her haircut at QB House Kids followed by some fun time in The Polliwogs!



Here's the Facebook page and admission rates of The Polliwogs:

Source : The Polliwogs website

First area welcoming us was the toddler's area and their spinning carousel was the first thing we hopped on, it looked so fun and creative even I was grinning with excitement! I liked their spinning cups too because it's so old school and I could enjoy it with her safely cushioned no matter how fast we turned. There's also a mini ball pit and rock climbing cushioned wall.


There're reasonably enough obstacles for her to climb around and play with in the structured active play area. The 4 slides were side by side so it wouldn't hog up the space with queues and they were actually quite fun because of the balls at the bottom, you'll always land with balls flying around you.


Another special play area they provided here was the trampoline with 2 levels of spider webs above so the kids can climb as high as they wanted using the webs without having to worry that they'll get hurt if they fall. Sadly, her legs were not long enough to reach so she was stuck in between the upper and lower level of the web, hence that expression below when I rescued her out......


Conclusion, I liked this branch compared to the one in Suntec City because the crowd was still manageable and the play areas they offer here was just right for her age now. For bigger kids it might get a little boring after a while but for kids below 5 years old, they should be having a great time!

Nothing special to mention about the structured play, it's just the usual slides and obstacles. Surprisingly, we spent quite some time inside the ball pit because the ball shooter was quite fun and we didn't have to worry about getting shot by kids playing with ball guns upstairs unlike in other playgrounds.

Source : Happy Willow official website

Story was, the excited Mami wanted to bring everyone to the animal-themed water playground at the rooftop of Tampines 1, so the minute our boss woke up, we packed our things and cabbed down to avoid the noon sun. Turned out, the playground was closed for maintenance......  Mental note to self : ALWAYS check the mall's page/FB page before making the way down to all events! ):



So... in order not to waste our packed swimming stuffs, we searched for nearby water playgrounds and Changi City Point seemed to be the most ideal choice at that point of time. Off we went!



It was quite a big area dedicated for the water playground, the dry area was too challenging for her so we stayed around the wet area only which was sufficient to keep her entertained.




model-like photos by the proud Papa while Mami was washing up in the ladies.


tired but not a bad experience!