Every weekend when we ask Liam what he would like to do for the day, he would reply without hesitation and with much enthusiasm that he would like to do “skate scootering please mummy” and go to the “beach” or “sand playground”. Gone are the days when I can negotiate for some shopping time in the malls…
But because our (adult) agenda for the day was to check out some MPVs around the Leng Kee area and we’ve been having quite an overdose of Sentosa in the last 2 months (we were either at USS or Palawan Beach every weekend); not to mention the insane parking fees, I decided to search for a park nearby our intended destination.
Thanks to my very colourful Instagram feeds and awesome mummy friends who often share cool haunts that are kids friendly, I remembered there was a train playground around the Tiong Bahru vicinity. What I didn’t realised till we got there was that it was a sand playground (SCORE!) and it sat in a fairly decent-space park (DOUBLE SCORE!), coupled with a HUGE TRAIN FEATURE (TRIPLE SCORE!); our train-loving & outdoor-loving boy was so thrilled that he speed skated towards the playground the moment I gave him the go.
What I really liked about this playground was that it had activities and structure centred around balancing skills (which Liam picked up really quickly and got more confident of during the hour we were there), and a good mix of traditional and modern playground elements. We took the chance to introduce to him the mental merry-go-round, which he got a little freaked when the bigger boys spun it too fast for his liking. As well as the soft slouchy swings made from car tyres which he didn’t fancy as much.
What he really enjoyed though were the steeper metal slides which meant he could slide down a lot faster than the newer playgrounds and the flying fox which the Bo got him on for the first time. Our little adrenalin junkie had so much fun, he almost threw one of ’em nasty tantrums when it was time to leave, thank goodness for the wonders of an Ikea ice cream as the reward.
It was nice to see Liam having such a good time. But it would have been nicer if there was a nearby cafe or maccas where I could get that much needed cold drink.
The Tiong Bahru Train Playground is at the Tiong Bahru Park (which is at the junction of Tiong Bahru meets Lower Delta Road). And it’s a playground that I’m sure Liam will be asking us to frequent more of. Hope to bump into you there someday!
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