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! 

Let's make something bigger than ourselves

Many bloggers have blogged about the Singapore Art Museum's Imaginarium, so I'm not going to go into much details about the exhibits, except to say that if you've yet to bring your kids there, do! We've gone there twice thus far, and the kids enjoyed themselves throughly. 

What I think they really liked was being able to touch the exhibits, move things around, and basically interact with the installations, something that isn't usually the case with most visits to the art museum where they are usually told to "Hush!" and "Don't touch!". They were really busy in Chiang Yu Xiang's "We Built this Estate!", where the older kids worked together to stack and make buildings with all the blocks. Baby J just climbed up and down, and went around collecting some of the cushions that could be stuck on the wall.

The kids particularly liked Lee JeeYoung's Dream House. After all, it contained things in every child's dream: trees full of sweets, a gingerbread house, giant lollipops. They spent the most time here, just running in and out of the little house collecting sweets to hang on the trees. (Spot the overladen branch full of purple sweets, courtesy of Lil J!)

Junior J was fascinated with the drawings by the Band of Doodlers, and we spent some time looking at them and spotting familiar animals or objects.

They also spent a fair bit of time exploring Kumkum Fernando's "Kiko's Secrets", and were kept busy trying to fit the shapes back into the scales of a giant fish.

I loved the creations made from various materials. It was a reminder how a collection of ordinary, everyday materials could be transformed into something different, and strangely beautiful.

The kids also liked making pom poms over at Izziyana Suhaimi's "Let's Make! Studio", which explores the creation of small objects using textiles through techniques such as weaving and sewing.

All in all, both visits served to remind me that art is incorporated in our everyday, and our everyday can incorporate the making of art. I loved how each exhibit served to point us to the transformation of the simple into something bigger: from the building of towers, to the collection of screws, nuts and bolts to decorate the wings of an imaginary insect, from the winding and weaving of yarn into pompoms and mats, to the collection of these textiles into a wall of colour. 

So… I'll say it again, if you've yet to bring your kids, do! (But avoid the weekends when it can get crowded!)

PS: For more information on Imaginarium, download their exhibition brochure here. There are also educational activity sheets for Preschool, Primary and Secondary Schools (but personally, I prefer to just let the kids explore and have discussions with them!)

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.