sandplay | JahBella

The weather has been very unforgiving in recent weeks and there are only that many water play trips we can make before the kids threaten to catch a cold or get totally bored of it. So we decided to make our way all across the island to Jurong where you will find Kidsstop within the grounds of the Science Centre.

For those who are familiar with Kidzania, I would say KidsStop is a little like Kidzania but probably in a slightly less structured set-up. Kids get exposed to various occupations such s builder, doctor, pilot, archaeologist, chef etc and they get to play and explore these occupations with some lessons in science throw in.

We weren’t sure if Jah would take to the place or be totally lost and we were even more unsure or actually had no expectations when it came to whether Bella might enjoy the place. But both kids were absolutely blown away. They were very happy with all the larger than life structures and we’re happy to roam about and move from ‘station’ to ‘station’.

First stop – totally fascinated with being a builder and playing dress up

Jah and Bella handling the cockpit on their own

Our pilots for this flight

Archaeologists hard at work

Doing some grocery shopping on his own

Dealing with the check-out process

Time for our little chefs to do some cooking

I’m scared so I’m just going to sit outside the space shuttle and let my brother do his thing

Ostrich Syndrome

How many teddy bears do I weigh?

Trying their hands at being surgeons (no pun intended)

Reinforcing what we learnt at the dentist

Kidsstop sessions are split into a morning and afternoon session. We were there for the morning session which lasted from 10am to 130pm. We figured they would last till about 1130 or so before we would grab lunch somewhere. While they did last till 1130am before we dragged them out to grab lunch, Jah and Bella also requested for an encore session after lunch before we finally had to drag them home with promises of another trip soon.

Round 2 – getting the hang of things and decided to wear the costume as well

Meimei you can sit here and be my co-pilot

Thankfully food is available just outside the entrance of Kidsstop which meant that the adults did not have to put up with another Macdonalds meal and the kids didn’t have to deal with a car ride to the nearby malls. Food at the Kids Cafe was pretty decent, given that the mains were coming from the Chinese restaurant next door. Yet it offered a child friendly environment which made it less daunting for parents with hungry and tired kids. :p

So if you are looking for a place to beat the heat but yet you don’t want to be crawling around an indoor playground then Kidsstop might be worth a drive to. Especially so after they lowered their admission price which makes it a lot more affordable for big families or for return visitors. Do remember to bring your IC though as there are different rates for Singaporeans and Foreign visitors.

Jah woke up from his nap that evening and the first thing he asked was “mummy can we go to Kidsstop again? It’s so fun, I really like it!” 🙂 so yes I guess we will be going back soon..

JahBella’s Mummy

The very first time we visited the Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden, Jah was a mere 5 months old infant. I remember Joel and I pushing him around in his infant car seat cum stroller and taking a stroll through the ‘little park/garden’. Quite obviously we didn’t find anything suitable for a 5 month old and proceeded to forget all about that little place in the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Fast forward almost 3 years later and now with 2 kids in tow, we decided to head over to the Jacob Ballas Children’s Gardenfor one of our weekend morning outings.

The Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden is free of charge and the only requirement is that kids are accompanied by adults and adults are accompanied by kids. I found that requirement quite cute. :p Oh and also no food and drinks a lot so please feed the kids before going there.

We fed Shaun the Sheep before our visit and we got a happy sheep!

The garden has a small water play area (mainly equipped with little jets and sprays on the ground), a sand pit area, lots of interesting fruits and plants growing along the pathway, a suspension bridge, a nice treehouse with 2 slides and a large sand area as well as lots of other educational areas for the other kids. We spent almost 2 hours at the gardens and most of our time was spent at the treehouse and exploring some of the little nooks and crannies of what Jah calls the deep dark woods! We even had some fun narrating and role-playing the Gruffalo story while exploring the ‘woods’.

We spotted bananas on our walk in…:)

Mummy! The bananas are green! My favourite colour!

Quick guys!!!

Huge treehouse!

The garden is supposedly targeted at 5 year olds to 12 year olds (especially the more educational activities) but my 21 month old toddler and 3 year old kiddo did just fine although you will probably want to keep a close watch on those age groups and follow them around. We also saw lots of kids their age who were happily enjoying the water play area and the other sand pit.

Think the sand there was quite tasty too…

Come meimei…korkor wait for you..

Meimei! We are going on a mission!

Whee!!! Byebye!

A mouse took a stroll in the deep dark woods, a fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good!

Be prepared for the kids to get alittle grubby with all the sand and sweat but nothing a little water and washing can’t solve.

Literally a tree house…

And yes they entered it..

There is also a little café at the entrance of the garden and that was where we headed for our quick lunch. The kids were pretty wiped out by the time we were ready to leave so we figured rather than pack them off somewhere for lunch, a quick fix at the café was just perfect.

The seating area is very family friendly and they even had little chairs and tables for the young ones. The seating area can get pretty packed at times but you will eventually be able to get a seat if you wait around alittle. We were fortunate to find empty tables as we were exiting. The café has a wider ala carte menu however I didn’t notice it and ended up ordering their set menus. The meals took about 10 minutes to be served which was perfect for famished and impatient children. A wonderful morning in all and definitely adding it to our list of places to go that won’t break the bank. 😉