Project Homeland: Heritage playgrounds in Singapore

Quite a few parents got pretty excited when they discovered the heritage playground "replicas" over at the "It's Playtime Once More" exhibition at Marina Square in June. Nothing like a familiar playground to evolve those childhood memories of building with sand, and running about in a dragon with friends! The exhibition is over though (and according to this mummy, it looked better than it was), but hey, isn't it better to go visit the real deal?

With that in mind, and the reality that some of these playgrounds would become extinct in time to come, I thought I'd compile the list of existing heritage playgrounds into a list for everyone. We've visited almost all of those that are still standing, and I hope you'll be able to go, too!

Large Dragon playground at Toa Payoh Lorong 6

Location: Blk 28, Toa Payoh Lorong 6, S310028

This is the most famous of the heritage playgrounds, and would be preserved (so you don't need to rush to see it). The playground gets really crowded during the weekends, so try to visit on a weekday! The slides and coils are pretty high up, so do keep a close watch on younger kids.

You can click here for more details about our visit, and read more about this playground over at Life's Tiny Miracles. 

Little Dragon Playground at Toa Payoh Lorong 1

Location: Blk 240, Toa Payoh Lorong 1

If you are visiting the large dragon playground and have the time, take a swing nearby to visit his little brother nearby! This playground is much smaller, but the kids will have fun running up and down the stairs and trying to slide their way down the terrazzo slide. This playground is flanked by a modern playground as well as a fitness corner, which would provide some fun too!

And if your kids still have time, you can bring them to hunt for the blue animals statues which are just a block away, and enjoy a meal at the nearby coffeeshop, which serves great ramen and a really value for money fish and chips! (More details on both here.)

You can read more about our visit to the little dragon here, and about Mum's Calling's visit to the playground. There is one more little dragon playground in Singapore that is still standing, over at Block 57  Pipit Road, and that one is in a shade of pretty pink! You can read more about the Pipit little dragon over at A Juggling Mom. 

Large Dragon Playground at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3

Location: Blk 571, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3, S560571

This playground is much quieter compared to the one over at Toa Payoh. If you are concerned about the little ones, the sand in this playground has been replaced with the usual rubber flooring that you see at most modern playgrounds, and the slide platforms and coils are lower than the ones at Toa Payoh. 

You can read more about our visit here, or visit In the Wee Hours for an account of their visit.

Clock Playground at Bishan Street 13

Location: Blk 514C, Bishan Street 13, S570514

This playground is pretty cute, and I love the candy colors. Unfortunately, it isn't well maintained, so do watch out for jagged bits! It's a favourite smoke spot for people working around the area, so it's best to avoid the playground in the evenings. If the kids get bored sliding after awhile, they can also move to the modern playground next to it. 

One interesting thing about this playground though, is that it is flanked by trees that have these fruit (I'm not too sure what these are, but they are quite pretty!). The boys love picking up these and displaying them in their nature corner. 

You can read more about our visit to the playground here, or visit Life is in the Small Things to read more. 

Dove Playground at Dakota Crescent 

Location: Blk 10, Dakota Crescent, Mountbatten East, S390010

This was, by far, our favourite amongst the heritage playgrounds that we managed to visit. The playground is pretty quiet, and nestled in a charming estate. There are old-fashioned tyre swings which the boys loved, slides and a bridge. And I do so love the pretty blue shade of the mosaic tiles!

This is one playground to visit soon, as the estate would be vacated by the end of 2016 to make way for new developments (for more details, click here). You can read more about our visit here, or visit A Juggling Mom to read about her visit. 

Sampan Playground at Elias Road

Location: 625 Elias Road, S510625

This tiny playground is next to a food center, and features a wide terrazzo slide and tyres to climb on. It's pretty small, but you could plan to visit this playground enroute to Pasir Ris Park! 

You can read more about our visit here. 

Watermelon & Mangosteen Playgrounds at Tampines Street 83

Location: Blk 858, Tampines Street 83, S521858

We've tried visiting these two playgrounds twice, but do note that both are now undergoing restorative works, and are still not accessible. We'll update once they are open to the public again! 

Meanwhile, you can read more about them over at Sakura Haruka, or at Cheekiemonkies. 

Extinct Playgrounds

Source: Remember Singapore

Many of our heritage playgrounds are no longer standing (all the more reason to visit the existing ones today!). The Pelican playgrounds are gone, and the Elephant playground is currently locked up in the grounds of the Home Team Pasir Ris Chalets (which have ceased operations since March this year). We'll be checking up on the status of the Elephant playground, and will update should it ever be open to the public again!  

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We hope that this list would be useful for those hunting for a piece of Singapore's playground history to visit. You can read all our playground posts, here. Credits go to A Juggling Mom for running the Heritage Playground blog hop, which resulted in many of the blog posts mentioned here!

Here are more resources to check out:

:: A Google Maps listing of the heritage playgrounds. 

:: Mosaic Memories, a booklet looking at the history behind these mosaic playgrounds, and how these have inspired people today. This is a really good read. 

:: A very comprehensive and through list of old playgrounds in Singapore, some of which are no longer standing. Lots of photos!

:: A Million Little Echoes' "amazing race" where they visited four of the heritage playgrounds in one day. 

:: SengKangBabies' Playground Project, where they visited many of the heritage playgrounds. 

Also, if you are a parent, and you would like to explore more places in Singapore to bring the kids to, you can check out "Got Kids, Go Where?" by daddy blogger Kelvin Ang. We've yet to purchase or read the book, but it looks pretty useful! 

Project Homeland: The Clock Playground

We visited the clock playground over the long weekend. This playground is next to Blk 514C on Bishan Street 13, and is located next to the bus interchange. I find it strange that a playground would be built where it is noisy and dusty with all the buses roaring past. However, I guess this playground probably saw happier days where kids would play there while on their way home from school. 

The playground itself has a pretty cute design, with two clock faces topped with a candy-coloured roof. The kids spent a short while exploring and sliding. 

Strangely enough, they were not too keen on playing on the structure itself, but preferred digging about in the sand. 

Unfortunately though, the sand was littered with lots of cigarette butts (we see people frequently gathered there for smoke breaks in the evenings), and there was a fair bit of trash lying around. That aside, the playground itself is not very well-maintained, so if you plan to visit, do caution your kids to watch out for jagged edges, like at the base of the slide (the hubby accidentally scraped his leg while sliding with the kids). 

Located next to the clock playground is a newer playground, one of the usual ones made mainly from plastic. The kids seemed to prefer this one, but also didn't spend much time playing on it. 

What they did spend time doing though, were hunting for these fruit pods, which littered the ground next to the playgrounds. 

Seems like when it comes to play, nature always wins. We brought back lots of these pods and they are now piled up in the nature corner. We might try painting them one of these days!

PS: You can read about our visits to various heritage playgrounds here, and another mummy's visit to the clock playground here.

Project Homeland: The Toa Payoh Blue Animals (and Suzuki Ramen Bar)

We chanced upon this little play area one evening after visiting the large Dragon playground at Toa Payoh Lorong 5. Actually, we were on a hunt for food for dinner, and were delighted to find that the area we picked to dine at was actually near the little Dragon playground, as well as this open square with a series of blue animal statues (located next to Blk 201, Toa Payoh North). 

This isn't a playground per se, but the kids had fun trying to climb up every single statue. There's a goat, monkey, horse and dog, which initially led us to think they based the statues on the Chinese zodiac, but there were also other animals such as an elephant, squirrel and dolphin. 

The kids had a really good time, running around and climbing all the animals!

Just a few blocks away (Blk 203 Toa Payoh North), you'll find one of those ordinary coffeeshops. We love eating there because one of the stalls (Suzuki Ramen Bar, which has two other branches in Boat Quay and Tanjong Pagar) serves a really good ramen, with a thick, fragrant broth. 

You get a choice between red (spicy), white or black (squid ink) soup (we've tried all three, and liked the red spicy broth best!). 

If ramen isn't your thing, Collin's Grill serves up a decent (and HUGE) fish and chips for less than 10 bucks. The serving is so big, that both the older boys can share a plate but still have difficulty finishing it! 

It's good food, at great prices... but it is still a regular coffeeshop. So come prepared to face the heat, and bring your own clip-on high chair if you need one. We'll definitely be back next time!

Project Homeland: The Little Dragon at Toa Payoh

Toa Payoh not only has the iconic large dragon playground, but also a little dragon playground too! Located in front of Blk 240 at Toa Payoh Lorong 1, this playground features a winding slide. It wasn't easy to slide down the terrazzo slide, but the boys still had a go, and sometimes opted to go up instead of down.

The boys had fun exploring, and Lil J was again kept busy picking leaves, while the baby was busy climbing up and sliding down the slide.

Just next to the little dragon is a more modern playground, which the kids turned their attention to after they were done running up and down the dragon. 

And adjacent to the two playground structures is a fitness corner, which was fair game for the kids. They spent a fair bit of time rocking and pushing and pulling at the various stations. 

Compared to the larger dragon playgrounds at Ang Mo Kio and Toa Payoh, as well as the dove playground at Dakota Crescent, this playground is tiny. However, we'll probably be back in the area soon. Why? You'll have to stay tuned to find out!

PS: You can follow our heritage playground adventures here. And read another mum's account of her visit to the little dragon here.