Looking for ideas on where to head out to have fun with your kids without digging deep into your pockets?
May we suggest outdoor playgrounds to you. They promise hours of fun for the kids and parents alike, and the family could create many wonderful memories together.
Besides the usual adventure-based playgrounds, there are also several themed outdoor playgrounds in Singapore for you to choose from.
Here are 12 outdoor playgrounds for kids to head out for unlimited free play in Singapore.
1. Marsiling Park
(Photo: Shopee)
Marsiling Park, formerly known as Woodlands Town Garden, has seen a total revamp and now offers a range of new day and night experiences for visitors to enjoy. The entire space area features improved lighting, new boardwalks and activity spaces and amenities such as the ribbon playscape, three playgrounds and a 24-hour food and beverage outlet.
The most striking playground in this nature-inspired park has to be the brightly-coloured butterfly-shaped rope playground. It is complete with butterfly-attracting plants and educational interpretive boards to get the children to know the various species of butterflies that can be found within the park. Next to the butterfly playground is a slightly more challenging one that resembles a ropes course. This would appeal to the older kids while a fun play area (with musical play equipment) located further away from this playground would attract the younger children.
The western edge of Marsiling Park is made up of mangroves which have been restored and enhanced. There are even signs erected to inform visitors about the area. Marsiling Park has certainly seen a remarkable change, making it one of the more educational outdoor playgrounds for kids and adults alike.
Address: Woodlands Centre Road, adjacent to Bukit Timah Expressway
Nearest MRT: Marsiling
2. Fu Shan Garden
(Photo: Playpoint)
Step into the world of dinosaurs as you enter Fu Shan Garden and have fun searching for the different types of prehistoric creatures in this park.
Especially suitable for younger kids, the children could slide down the back of a brontosaurus and a dimetrodon, tread along the back of a stegosaurus or go in search of tyrannosaurus rex which is located at the further end of the compound.
This dinosaur-themed playground is complemented with interesting facts about the dinosaurs found in this garden, along with the period each creature lived in and its diet. For additional fun, there is also a play structure located near these dinosaurs. This is a great outdoor playground for kids who love dinosaurs!
Address: Block 827 Woodlands St 81 Singapore 730827
Nearest MRT: Woodlands
3. Woodlands Glen
(Photo: Playpoint)
Woodlands Glen houses an insect-inspired outdoor playground and kids will be greeted by a gigantic grasshopper, ant, grass and a treehouse playground.
Kids can have fun climbing up the “body” of the grasshopper structure and then sliding down on it back. For the more adventurous children, they could enjoy the thrill of sliding down the ‘feelers’ of the grasshopper. Kids then have to tread along the tall grass before climbing up to the treehouse and then slide down the spiral slide.
The gigantic ant would be suitable for younger kids who are content with climbing through its body and enjoying the slide down.
Address: Block 574 Woodlands Drive 16 Singapore 751574
Nearest MRT: Admiralty
4. Eastbank @ Canberra
(Photo: Playpoint)
If your kids are into boats and ships, they would be attracted to this bright red steamer.
Though this is a rather small playground and therefore more appealing to the younger ones, you can always increase the challenge by getting them to navigate the enormous seaweed from one end in order to reach the ship. There is a climbing deck and children can have a closer look at the smokestack once they have climbed up to the second level.
Address: Block 121 Canberra Street Singapore 751121
Nearest MRT: Yishun
5. Sembawang Park
(Photo: National Parks Board)
Located at Sembawang Park is the naval-battleship payground which resembles a ship with smoke chimney, propellers, gun-turret and rudder. This warship provides opportunities for kids to role-play and imagine themselves to be captains and sailors. Kids can board the ship by climbing the rope-ladder to explore the sloping decks which add to the challenge and fun. They can then zip down the slides that are disguised as escape hatches to get back to the soft sand.
This unique outdoor playground for kids is a fitting reminder of its naval heritage when hundreds of seamen worked in the nearby Sembawang Naval Base during the British Colonial Administration.
When the kids are exhausted from playing at the battleship, the family could take a stroll along Sembawang seaside or perhaps admire the historic seaside bungalow that dates back to the 1910s.
Address: Sembawang Park, At the end of Sembawang Road
Nearest MRT: Yishun
6. Tiong Bahru Park Playground
(Photo: National Parks Board)
Kids who are train lovers are in for a treat!
The train playground at Tiong Bahru Park will have them squeal for joy as they meet this tilting train structure. Kids can have fun navigating the train interior which is set at an unnatural angle before getting off through one of the slides that leads out of the train.
This playground also has a maze (just next to the locomotive), a zip line, swings and a merry-go-round that could get the whole family in a merry state.
Address: Tiong Bahru Road Singapore 168732
Nearest MRT: Tiong Bahru
7. Seletar Aerospace Park
(Photo: YouTube)
Kids who are aspiring pilots will love the aviation-themed playground at The Oval @ Seletar Aerospace Park.
There are two aeroplane play structures – one for the younger children and another more challenging one with climbing handholds, monkey bars and slides for the older kids. There is also a ‘control tower’ for the kids to climb up through a cylindrical rope ladder and then descend via a curving slide. For board game lovers, there is even a life-sized Ludo (Aeroplane Chess) game board on the playground floor.
Besides the playground, The Oval @ Seletar Aerospace Park provides plenty of open green spaces for the kids to have a good workout. There is also an airport runway nearby and if you are lucky, you might just be able to see a private jet take off!
There are eateries within the vicinity which makes this park a great place for a family hangout.
Address: 2 Park Lane Singapore 798386
8. Military Truck and Tank Playgrounds in Choa Chu Kang
If your children have a deep respect for men in green and dream of operating the military vehicles, they will certainly love the military-themed playgrounds.
The bright green army truck located in Keat Hong Mirage will get the little ones to make-believe as soldiers as they clamber onto the truck and pretend to drive through an imaginative jungle. The lookout tower near the truck provides kids much challenge as they could choose to climb up the rope ladder or rock wall and then muster the courage to get back down using the fireman pole.
Hop over to Keat Hong Quad (a short walk away) and you can spot the big white tank which encourages kids to get on their fours to get through the interior of the tank that is lined with rope nettings. These two playgrounds will provide hours of fun and imaginative play.
Army Truck Playground @ Keat Hong Mirage
Address: 818B & 818C Choa Chu Kang Avenue 1 Singapore 683818
Tank Playground @ Keat Hong Quad
Address: 815C Choa Chu Kang Avenue 1, Singapore 683815
Nearest MRT: Bukit Panjang
9. Clock Playground at Bishan
(Photo: Kidlander)
Situated at the edge of the Bishan bus interchange is the Clock Playground, one of the mosaic outdoor playgrounds for kids that was introduced in the 1980s.
This playground which stands on a sandpit, is designed around nursery rhymes. It is made up of two clock designs – a cuckoo clock and an alarm clock – and are topped with a candy-coloured roof. Kids can climb up the ladder on one end to view the outside world through the blue-grilled gears of the clock and get back to the sandpit through the terrazzo slide.
This playground is one of the heritage playgrounds which still remains standing in Singapore. The next time you bring the kids to this Mosaic Clock Playground, you could perhaps share some childhood tales of yours and sing a few nursery rhymes together with them.
Address: 514A Bishan Street 13 Singapore 571514
Nearest MRT: Bishan
10. Dragon Playground at Toa Payoh
(Photo: Flickr)
The iconic Dragon Playground at Toa Payoh Lorong 6, that is designed in the 1970s by the Housing & Development Board, is one of the two remaining outdoor playgrounds in Singapore with this particular design (the other one being located in Ang Mo Kio).
This heritage playground rises out of a sand pit, with a dragon head that is tiled with orange and white terrazzo and tiles, and a body that is made up of colourfully-painted steel rings which the kids could spend many rounds of sliding or climbing through.
The Dragon Playground will get kids all worked out with hours of fun playing catching, hide-and-seek or just collecting fallen leaves, twigs, and dried fruits on the sand pit, just like the good old days.
Address: 28 Toa Payoh Lorong 6 Singapore 310028
Nearest MRT: Toa Payoh
11. Watermelon & Mangosteen Playground at Tampines
On days when your kids are thinking of a fruit feast, you may like to bring them to the iconic Watermelon and Mangosteen Playgrounds at Tampines Central Park. These two fruit-themed playgrounds were locally designed, just like the Dragon Playground, and they are a reminder of the fruit farms that were once found in Tampines.
The Watermelon Playground is shaped as a slice of the tropical fruit, with the structure decorated with red, yellow and green mosaic tiles to resemble the flesh and rind of the watermelon. There are holes on the walls that look like the seeds of the fruit and kids could climb up a set of stairs to look through these holes before sliding down to the rubber flooring.
A short walk away from the Watermelon Playground is the Mangosteen Playground. It is a pair of mangosteen structure that offers kids much fun playing hide-and-seek and perhaps, an area for the children to rest while playing in the hot weather.
Address: Block 858 Tampines Ave 5 Singapore 520858
Nearest MRT: Tampines
12. Bumboat Playground at Pasir Ris
Located next to Elias Mall is the Bumboat Playground, otherwise known as the Sampan Playground.
It was designed to resemble the bumboats or twakows, the workhorses of the busy Singapore River in the olden days. This playground features a tyre ladder and a simple terrazzo slide and kids could clamber onto the sides of the structure to strike a seated pose.
The Bumboat is rested on a sandpit and kids could imagine themselves to be fishermen and busy themselves with making ‘sandfish’. As with the other iconic outdoor playgrounds in Singapore, this bumboat is decorated with colourful mosaic tiles, making it an insta-worthy shot.
Address: 625 Elias Road Singapore 510625
Nearest MRT: Pasir Ris
