Things to Do With Kids in Marina Bay, the CBD and Tanjong Pagar, Singapore

18 September 2026 · 17 min read

Gardens by the Bay charges $34 for an adult to walk through its two glass domes. A few hundred metres away, inside the same attraction, there is a children's garden with water jets, a sand pit and treehouses, and it costs nothing at all.

That gap runs through the whole district. Marina Bay, the CBD and Tanjong Pagar hold almost no housing and a great deal of ticketing, and the assumption most families arrive with is that a day in town has to be paid for. It does not. The best things to do with kids in Marina Bay are free, and several of them sit three minutes' walk from the things that are not.

Ten of the nineteen places below cost nothing. Two more are free if you hold a pink or blue NRIC, and one of those two is free for everybody until 12 November 2026. Where something is ticketed, the price here is the Singapore resident rate read off the operator's own booking system in September 2026.

One date to write down. Marina Square closes on 31 March 2027 for a redevelopment of about four years, and it holds two of the indoor playgrounds in this guide. If your children love that mall, this is the year to go.

Next door: things to do with kids in Bugis, Bras Basah and Little India to the north, and HarbourFront, Telok Blangah and Sentosa to the west.

Free by the water at Marina Bay

1. Far East Organization Children's Garden, Gardens by the Bay

Photo: Far East Organization Children's Garden, Jungle listing

This is the one that surprises people. It has water play jets, a sand pit, treehouses and a rainforest walk, it is built for ages 1 to 12 rather than being a corner of a park with a slide in it, and Gardens by the Bay charges nothing to get in.

It does not open every day. Thursday to Sunday in term time, Tuesday to Sunday during school holidays, and closed on a Tuesday when the Monday before it was a holiday. The entrance along the Waterfront Promenade shut on 26 March 2026 for the Bay South-East bridge works, so walk to the new entrance near the Sun Pavilion.

Why kids will love it: Water that shoots out of the ground without warning, a sand pit big enough to lose a bucket in, and treehouses to climb between soakings. Bring a towel, a change of clothes and slippers, because the water play stops at 6.30pm and nobody leaves dry. Best for ages 2 to 10.

View on Jungle: Far East Organization Children's Garden
Website: Gardens by the Bay, Children's Garden
Address: 18 Marina Gardens Drive, Singapore 018953. Google Maps
Opening hours: Thursday to Sunday and public holidays 9am to 7pm, last admission 6pm, water play closes 6.30pm. School holidays Tuesday to Sunday, same times.
Price: Free.
Ages: 1 to 12.
Nearest MRT: Bayfront (CE1/DT16), 280m to the Gardens entrance. Nearest car park is Satay by the Bay.

2. Marina Barrage

Photo: RFNirmala, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

The dam that turned Marina Bay into a reservoir has a grass roof, and on a breezy Sunday it is covered in kites. Below the roof there is a free water playground and the Sustainable Singapore Gallery, and the whole site including the roof is open 24 hours.

Check the water playground times before you go, because they are not the same every day. It runs 12.30pm to 9pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and 9am to 9pm on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. It also shuts without notice in heavy rain or a lightning alert, so ring the information counter on 6514 5959 first.

Why kids will love it: A roof you are allowed to run on, a kite in the wind off the reservoir, then the water jets downstairs. The Barrage Cove shop sells kites and picnic bits, but it is shut on Monday and Tuesday and does not open until 4pm on Wednesday and Thursday, so buy the kite elsewhere on a weekday. Kite-flying at night is not allowed.

View on Jungle: Sustainable Singapore Gallery
Website: PUB, Marina Barrage visitor information
Address: 8 Marina Gardens Drive, Singapore 018951. Google Maps
Opening hours: Public areas and Green Roof open 24 hours. Water playground Monday, Wednesday and Friday 12.30pm to 9pm, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday 9am to 9pm. Sustainable Singapore Gallery 9am to 6pm daily, closed 12pm to 1pm and all day Tuesday.
Price: Free. Car park charges apply.
Nearest MRT: Gardens by the Bay (TE22), 370m.

3. Supertree Grove and Garden Rhapsody

Photo: Supertree Grove, Jungle listing

Twelve of the eighteen Supertrees stand in the Grove, the tallest of them about the height of a 16-storey building, carrying more than 162,900 plants between them. The outdoor gardens around them, which include the Serene Garden, the Heritage Gardens and the Dragonfly and Kingfisher Lakes, are open from 5am to 2am and cost nothing.

Garden Rhapsody, the light and music show under the trees, runs twice a night at 7.45pm and 8.45pm and is also free. It uses 68 separate speakers spread through the Grove so the music appears to come from the trees. From 12 to 27 September 2026 the current show, Borealis, moves to 9pm for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Why kids will love it: Lying flat on the deck under a 50-metre tree while it changes colour to music. Get there ten minutes early for a spot on the ground rather than the walkway, and bring something to lie on. Small children do better at the 7.45pm show than the 8.45pm one.

View on Jungle: Supertree Grove
Website: Gardens by the Bay, Garden Rhapsody
Address: 18 Marina Gardens Drive, Singapore 018953. Google Maps
Opening hours: Outdoor gardens daily 5am to 2am. Supertree lights switch off at 11.30pm. Garden Rhapsody daily 7.45pm and 8.45pm.
Price: Free. Charges can apply during ticketed events such as Christmas Wonderland.
Nearest MRT: Bayfront (CE1/DT16), 280m.

4. The Singapore River walk, from Merlion Park to Esplanade Park

Photo: Merlion Park, Jungle listing

The flat, shaded, pram-friendly loop in this district runs from the Merlion at Fullerton Road, across the Jubilee Bridge, into the 2.4-hectare Esplanade Park opposite the Padang. It is about a kilometre, every metre of it is free, and it passes the Cenotaph, the Tan Kim Seng Fountain and a view of the bay that children will recognise from the back of a five-dollar note.

Esplanade Park is open 24 hours. Skateboarding is not allowed in it, which is worth knowing before you pack the board.

Why kids will love it: The Merlion spits water out of its mouth all day and there is a smaller cub behind it that most people walk past. Do the walk before 10am or after 5pm, because there is almost no shade on the Jubilee Bridge and the middle of the day is brutal. Bring water.

View on Jungle: Merlion Park
Website: NParks, Esplanade Park
Address: 1 Fullerton Road, Singapore 049213, walking to Connaught Drive. Google Maps
Opening hours: Open 24 hours.
Price: Free.
Nearest MRT: Raffles Place (EW14/NS26) for the Merlion, Esplanade (CC3) or City Hall (EW13/NS25) for the park end.

Fort Canning and the pocket parks nobody uses

5. Fort Canning Park

Photo: Fort Canning Tree Tunnel, Jungle listing

Twenty-two hectares of hill in the middle of town, open 24 hours, free, and almost empty on a weekday morning. Fort Canning holds nine historical gardens, the Fort Gate that is all that survives of the colonial hilltop fort, the ASEAN Sculpture Garden and a spice garden with more than 180 varieties of herbs and spices, which is the most diverse in Singapore.

The Tree Tunnel at Canning Rise is the spiral staircase everyone photographs. It is at its best before 9am, and NParks asks that enquiries about it go to the Land Transport Authority rather than to the park.

Why kids will love it: A tree trail with an upside-down tree, a cannonball tree and a tree whose bark peels off like paper, plus three outdoor murals to find and a real fort gate to walk through. Children can crush a curry leaf in the spice garden and smell their hands for the rest of the afternoon. Enter from Cox Terrace if you have a pram, because the other approaches are stairs.

View on Jungle: Fort Canning Tree Tunnel
Website: NParks, Fort Canning Park
Address: Bounded by Hill Street, Canning Rise, Clemenceau Avenue and River Valley Road, Singapore. Google Maps
Opening hours: Open 24 hours.
Price: Free. Three car parks on site, 142 car lots between them.
Nearest MRT: Fort Canning (DT20), Clarke Quay (NE5) or Dhoby Ghaut (NS24/NE6/CC1).

6. Telok Ayer Green and Ann Siang Hill Park

Photo: Terence Ong, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5

Two pocket parks sit a few minutes' walk apart in the middle of the financial district, and a self-guided Pioneers Trail links them. Telok Ayer Green is 0.13 hectares, with a pond shaped after the old Singapore shoreline, a bridge across it, and sculptures of a sampan, an Indian milk trader and a Chinese lantern procession, each with a board explaining what it is.

Ann Siang Hill Park, 0.38 hectares up the slope, holds the last remaining well from the 1800s in Chinatown, plus cinnamon, breadfruit, tamarind and nutmeg trees you can put your nose against.

Why kids will love it: Counting the people in the lantern-procession sculpture, then finding the well and working out that this is where Chinatown got its water. Do it as a 40-minute trail rather than a destination, ideally on a Sunday when the office crowd is gone and the two parks are yours. Good for ages 5 and up, who can read the boards.

View on Jungle: not yet listed.
Website: NParks, Telok Ayer Green
Address: Bounded by Amoy Street, Boon Tat Street and Telok Ayer Street, Singapore. Google Maps
Opening hours: Both parks open 24 hours.
Price: Free. No car park at either park, nearest is the open-air car park on Amoy Street.
Nearest MRT: Telok Ayer (DT18) for Telok Ayer Green, Maxwell (TE18) for Ann Siang Hill Park.

7. Duxton Plain Park

Neil Road from the bridge over Duxton Plain Park. Photo: Wzhkevin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

A 1.8-hectare strip of park that was a railway reserve before the Second World War, running behind the Tanjong Pagar shophouses from New Bridge Road to Yan Kit Road. It is the closest thing the estate has to a green spine, and it is open 24 hours.

Two heritage trees stand in it. A Bodhi tree on Neil Road opposite Bukit Pasoh Road, which can reach 35 metres, and an Indian rubber tree near Yan Kit Road with aerial roots hanging off it. There is also a memorial tree planted for Lee Kuan Yew, ringed with tribute beads, and a sundial with instructions for building your own.

Why kids will love it: Aerial roots you can stand under and a sundial that actually works if you hold your hand right. Walk the length of it and come out at the Pinnacle@Duxton, which is the tall block with the sky bridge your children will ask about. No car park here, so park at the URA car park on Teo Hong Road.

View on Jungle: not yet listed.
Website: NParks, Duxton Plain Park
Address: Entrances on New Bridge Road, Neil Road, Kreta Ayer Road and Yan Kit Road, Singapore. Google Maps
Opening hours: Open 24 hours.
Price: Free.
Nearest MRT: Maxwell (TE18) or Outram Park (EW16/NE3/TE17).

Museums and galleries that cost little or nothing

8. Children's Museum Singapore

Photo: Choo Yut Shing, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

The only museum in Singapore built for children 12 and under, in a colonial building on Coleman Street that is more than a hundred years old. Adults are admitted only when they are bringing a child, which is the rule that makes the place work: no tour groups, no photographers, just children touching things.

Entry is free for Singapore citizens and permanent residents on a pink or blue NRIC. Tourists and foreign residents pay $16.35 an adult and $10.90 a child, or $43.60 for a family of two adults and two children.

There is a window this autumn worth planning around. Into the Hawkerverse on Level 2 closes on 28 September 2026, and from 29 September to 12 November the museum opens Level 1 only and admission is free for everyone, tourists included. The whole museum shuts from 5 to 7 October. A new exhibition opens on 14 November 2026.

Why kids will love it: Everything is at their height and nearly all of it is meant to be handled. Book the 9am slot: the museum breaks for cleaning from 12.45pm to 2pm and the afternoon slots fill first. Advance booking is required even during the free period, and tickets are released 30 days ahead.

View on Jungle: not yet listed.
Website: Children's Museum Singapore, opening hours and location
Address: 23-B Coleman Street, Singapore 179807. Google Maps
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 9am to 5.45pm, closed Mondays, cleaning break 12.45pm to 2pm. Entry timeslots 9am, 11am, 2pm and 4pm.
Price: Free for citizens and permanent residents. Tourists and foreign residents $16.35 an adult, $10.90 a child, $43.60 a family of four. Free for everyone 29 September to 12 November 2026.
Ages: 12 and below.
Nearest MRT: City Hall (EW13/NS25), 430m, or Fort Canning (DT20), 490m.

9. ArtScience Museum

Photo: ArtScience Museum, Jungle listing

The lotus-shaped building on the waterfront is free to walk into. Marina Bay Sands charges only for the exhibitions inside it, which is not obvious from the outside and is the single most useful fact in this guide if you are in town with children and no plan.

If you do pay, teamLab Future World is the one for children: two immersive halls of interactive digital art where drawings children make on paper are scanned and released into a projected aquarium. Singapore residents pay from $28 an adult and from $22 concession. Strollers are not allowed inside Future World, and the Aerial Climbing artwork needs a height of 1.20m and covered shoes.

Fridays are the value day. One adult ticket admits up to four children under 12 free, though not on public holidays or Singapore school holidays.

Why kids will love it: Colouring in a fish, feeding it into a scanner and watching it swim off across a wall forty times its size. Book a timed slot for Future World rather than turning up. Park the pram at the entrance and use a carrier for toddlers.

View on Jungle: ArtScience Museum
Website: ArtScience Museum, plan your visit
Address: 6 Bayfront Avenue, Singapore 018974. Google Maps
Opening hours: Daily 9am to 6pm, last entry 5pm. Box office 9am to 5pm.
Price: Free to enter the museum. teamLab Future World from $28 an adult and $22 concession for Singapore residents, from $35 and $29 for tourists. Two-exhibition Museum Ticket from $35.
Nearest MRT: Bayfront (CE1/DT16), 480m, Exit D.

10. Singapore City Gallery

Photo: Singapore City Gallery, Jungle listing

The URA's own gallery on Maxwell Road, free, three floors, and built around a scale model of the central area that fills a room. Children who like Lego understand it immediately: it is Singapore, laid out flat, with every building in the right place.

A three-minute projection mapping show runs across the model every 20 minutes, starting on the hour. Elsewhere there are touch panels where you brush a hand across an old photograph of a shophouse to reveal what stands there today.

Why kids will love it: Finding their own block on the city model and then finding their school. Go on a Saturday morning, because the gallery is closed on Sundays and public holidays and it is full of architecture students on weekday afternoons. It is next door to Maxwell Food Centre, which solves lunch.

View on Jungle: Singapore City Gallery
Website: URA, Singapore City Gallery
Address: 45 Maxwell Road, The URA Centre, Singapore 069118. Google Maps
Opening hours: Monday to Saturday 9am to 5pm. Closed Sundays and public holidays.
Price: Free. Groups over 20 must book a time slot.
Ages: 5 and up.
Nearest MRT: Telok Ayer (DT18), 460m, or Maxwell (TE18).

11. PIP's PLAYbox, Esplanade

Photo: PIP's PLAYbox, Jungle listing

A children's arts space on Level 4 of the Esplanade with a loft to climb into, a craft area, an outdoor play deck and a reading corner stocked with books by Singapore writers and illustrators. The wall mural is by the illustrator Shelly Liew and has PIP, the Esplanade's mascot, hidden in it several times over.

Admission is free, but only to Esplanade&Me members. The Discover tier costs nothing, so sign up online before you go rather than queueing at the door. Everyone in your party registers at the entrance, including an infant in arms.

Why kids will love it: A hideout with the shoes off, a mural to hunt PIP through, and a craft kit to take home for whatever you choose to donate. It closes for cleaning between 2pm and 3pm, so either come at 11am or after 3pm. Aimed at ages 2 to 8.

View on Jungle: PIP's PLAYbox
Website: Esplanade, PIP's PLAYbox
Address: Level 4, Esplanade, 1 Esplanade Drive, Singapore 038981. Google Maps
Opening hours: Monday to Sunday 11am to 6pm, closed for cleaning 2pm to 3pm.
Price: Free with free Esplanade&Me Discover membership.
Ages: 2 to 8.
Nearest MRT: Esplanade (CC3), 165m.

12. Chinatown Library

The library entrance inside Chinatown Point. Photo: Rockbrarian (Low Jiaxin), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

There is one public library in these eight postal sectors, it is on the fourth floor of Chinatown Point, and it is open from 11am to 9pm every day of the week. It is also the first volunteer-run library NLB has opened, built around Chinese arts and culture.

It is small. This is a rain shelter with air conditioning and books rather than a destination, and on a wet afternoon in the CBD that is exactly what you need.

Why kids will love it: Somewhere dry, quiet and free when the sky opens over Chinatown, with picture books in Chinese and English. It closes at 5pm on the eves of Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year, and all day on public holidays, which catches people out.

View on Jungle: not yet listed.
Website: NLB, Chinatown Library
Address: 133 New Bridge Road, Chinatown Point #04-12, Singapore 059413. Google Maps
Opening hours: Monday to Sunday 11am to 9pm. Closes 5pm on the eves of Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year. Closed on public holidays.
Price: Free.
Nearest MRT: Chinatown (NE4/DT19), 210m.

Indoor play for a wet afternoon

13. SuperPark Singapore, Suntec City

Photo: SuperPark Singapore, Jungle listing

A Finnish indoor activity park on the first floor of Suntec City, split into an Adventure Area, a Game Arena and a Freestyle Hall. It is the only indoor play space in this district with a rate card published on its own booking system.

Prices move by session rather than by age. A Super Daypass from $23.45 buys the whole day from 9am to 9pm. Two hours in the Super Pulse session, any two hours between 10am and 6pm, starts at $18.95. The off-peak Super Playdate, 10.30am to 12.30pm, gives one adult free entry with every junior ticket, which is the cheapest way in if you can go on a weekday morning.

Why kids will love it: A pedal-car track, a trampoline area, a climbing wall and a ball game arena in one room, so nobody has to agree on what to do first. Bring your own SuperPark grip socks and take $2 off a regular ticket. The park is quietest before 11am at weekends.

Book on Jungle: SuperPark Singapore
Website: SuperPark Singapore
Address: 3 Temasek Boulevard #01-488, Suntec City Mall, Singapore 038983. Google Maps
Opening hours: Monday to Thursday 10.30am to 8pm. Friday 10.30am to 9pm. Saturday, public holidays and school holidays 9am to 9pm. Sunday 9am to 8pm.
Price: Super Daypass from $23.45. Two-hour Super Pulse from $18.95. Two-hour Super Rise, 9am to 11am, from $31.90.
Ages: 3 to 12, with plenty for older children.
Nearest MRT: Promenade (CC4/DT15), 260m.

14. Kiztopia and Pororo Park, Marina Square

Photo: Kiztopia Marina Square, Jungle listing

Two large indoor playgrounds sit in the same mall. Kiztopia is Singapore's home-grown edutainment brand, themed around eight characters, and Marina Square is its flagship. Pororo Park, one floor up at #02-29 to 31, is 11,000 square feet built around the Korean cartoon penguin, with a train ride, a mini parade and character shows through the day.

Both are worth knowing about now rather than later. Marina Square closes on 31 March 2027 for a redevelopment of roughly four years, after its owner received written permission for the scheme on 1 September 2026. Pororo Park has said it will stay in Singapore, but neither operator has announced where.

Neither publishes a current rate card on its own domain. Kiztopia sells only through booking partners and Pororo Park's website does not resolve, so ring or check at the counter rather than trusting a price you read elsewhere.

Why kids will love it: A ball pit the size of a room at Kiztopia, and at Pororo Park a train that goes round the whole playground with them on it. Go on a weekday afternoon in term time. Both are inside a mall open 10am to 10pm, so a rainy Saturday is the worst possible slot.

Book on Jungle: Kiztopia, Marina Square and Pororo Park Singapore
Website: Kiztopia
Address: 6 Raffles Boulevard, Marina Square, Singapore 039594. Google Maps
Opening hours: Marina Square is open 10am to 10pm daily.
Price: Contact provider for pricing.
Ages: 1 to 12 at Kiztopia, 2 to 7 at Pororo Park.
Nearest MRT: Promenade (CC4/DT15), 310m, or Esplanade (CC3), 450m.

The big tickets, priced honestly

15. Cloud Forest and Flower Dome

Photo: Cloud Forest, Jungle listing

The two conservatories are the part of Gardens by the Bay people picture, and they are the part that costs money. Cloud Forest is a planted indoor mountain with a 35-metre waterfall down the middle of it, one of the tallest indoor waterfalls in the world, and the waterfall show runs at 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm and 8pm. Flower Dome is cooler, flatter and easier with a pram.

Singapore residents pay $34 an adult and $26 a child for both domes, or $12 and $8 for the Flower Dome alone. Tourists pay $46 and $32 for the pair. Cloud Forest currently carries Jurassic World: The Experience, which is either the reason to go or the reason not to, depending on the child.

Why kids will love it: Walking behind a 35-metre waterfall and coming out the other side wet. Do the Flower Dome first while everyone is fresh, then Cloud Forest, then the free children's garden outside. If your budget allows only one, take the $8 child ticket to the Flower Dome and spend the rest on ice cream.

Book on Jungle: Cloud Forest and Flower Dome
Website: Gardens by the Bay, Cloud Forest
Address: 18 Marina Gardens Drive, Singapore 018953. Google Maps
Opening hours: Both domes daily 9am to 9pm. Last admission 8.30pm for Flower Dome, 8pm for Cloud Forest.
Price: Singapore residents $34 an adult, $26 a child aged 3 to 12, $29 a senior for both domes. Flower Dome alone $12, $8 and $8. Non-residents $46 an adult and $32 a child for both.
Nearest MRT: Bayfront (CE1/DT16), 280m.

16. OCBC Skyway and the Supertree Observatory

Photo: Supertree Observatory, Jungle listing

Two ways up the Supertrees, both cheap by Marina Bay standards. The OCBC Skyway is a 128-metre aerial walkway suspended 22 metres above ground between two Supertrees, and it takes about 15 minutes. The Supertree Observatory sits on top of the tallest tree with a view straight down the bay.

Singapore residents pay $10 an adult and $7 a child for the Skyway, or $10 and $6 for the Observatory. For a family of four that is under $40 for the best view in the district, which compares well with everything else on the waterfront.

Both close for maintenance on scheduled days. The next Skyway closure is 14 October 2026 and the next Observatory closure is 15 October 2026.

Why kids will love it: Walking on a metal grille high enough to see the tops of the trees through their shoes. Go 30 minutes before Garden Rhapsody at 7.45pm and watch the lights come on from above. Not for a child who dislikes heights: the Skyway has no floor to speak of.

Book on Jungle: Supertree Observatory
Website: Gardens by the Bay, OCBC Skyway
Address: 18 Marina Gardens Drive, Singapore 018953. Google Maps
Opening hours: Both daily 9am to 9pm, last admission 8.30pm.
Price: OCBC Skyway, Singapore residents $10 an adult, $7 a child aged 3 to 12, $7 a senior. Supertree Observatory, Singapore residents $10, $6 and $6. Non-residents $14 an adult and $10 a child for either.
Ages: 3 and up.
Nearest MRT: Bayfront (CE1/DT16), 280m.

17. Singapore Flyer

Photo: Singapore Flyer, Jungle listing

The 165-metre observation wheel at the top of the bay. A ticket is a 75-minute outing rather than a ride: Time Capsule, an indoor walk-through of Singapore's history, then one 30-minute rotation in a shared capsule, with an augmented-reality app that labels the landmarks through the glass.

It is the most expensive entry in this guide. Adults pay $46, children $28 and seniors $28, and children under 3 go free. The online-only family bundle of two adults and one child is $110, which saves $10 on buying the three separately.

Why kids will love it: Thirty minutes in a glass room that moves, with the whole city laid out underneath and no queue once you are in. Book the family bundle online, and go in the late afternoon so the rotation catches both daylight and the lights coming on. A capsule is shared, so a child who needs to run about will find it long.

Book on Jungle: Singapore Flyer
Website: Singapore Flyer
Address: 30 Raffles Avenue, Singapore 039803. Google Maps
Opening hours: Contact provider for current opening hours.
Price: $46 an adult, $28 a child, $28 a senior. Under 3 free. Online family bundle of two adults and one child $110.
Ages: 3 and up.
Nearest MRT: Promenade (CC4/DT15), 470m.

Lunch, then dinner

18. Maxwell Food Centre

Photo: Aaaatu, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The lunch stop for the Tanjong Pagar half of this guide, 103 cooked food stalls and no market stalls, trading on Kadayanallur Street since 1935. It is a two-minute walk from the Singapore City Gallery and five from Ann Siang Hill Park, which makes it the natural middle of a CBD day.

It is busy from 11.45am to 1.30pm with office workers and it is not pram-friendly at that hour. Come at 11.15am or after 2pm.

The other option, 500 metres east, is Amoy Street Food Centre at Telok Ayer Street, which has 134 cooked food stalls over two floors. Both close for quarterly spring cleaning: Maxwell next on 14 December 2026, Amoy Street on 19 September and again from 5 to 6 December 2026.

Why kids will love it: Chicken rice, chwee kueh and sugar cane juice for the price of one sandwich in the office towers overhead. Send one adult to queue and one to hold a table, because at Maxwell you will not get both. Tapioca kueh and the dessert stalls are the easy win with small children.

View on Jungle: not yet listed.
Website: NEA hawker centre listing, Maxwell Food Centre
Address: 1 Kadayanallur Street, Singapore 069184. Google Maps
Opening hours: Stall hours vary. Most stalls trade from mid-morning to early evening.
Price: Pay per dish. Most stalls are under $8.
Nearest MRT: Maxwell (TE18) or Telok Ayer (DT18), 460m.

19. Lau Pa Sat and Satay Street

Photo: GoAheadFan95, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

A cast-iron Victorian market building in the middle of the banking district, 130 years old in 2026, a national monument, open 24 hours and holding more than 80 stalls, six of them Michelin-mentioned. The building alone is worth the walk: children notice the octagonal roof and the iron columns before they notice the food.

Then there is Satay Street. Boon Tat Street closes to traffic and nine satay carts set up in the road itself, with tables under the sky. It runs from 7pm on weekdays and from 3pm at weekends, until 3am. The world record for the longest satay, 140.02 metres, was set on this street in 2007.

Why kids will love it: Eating dinner in the middle of a road that cars use during the day, with smoke off the charcoal and skewers arriving ten at a time. Weekends are the family slot, because 3pm is an hour children can manage and 7pm on a weekday is not. Order the chicken satay and go easy on the chilli.

View on Jungle: not yet listed.
Website: Lau Pa Sat, Satay Street
Address: 18 Raffles Quay, Singapore 048582. Google Maps
Opening hours: Lau Pa Sat open 24 hours, individual stall hours vary. Satay Street weekdays 7pm to 3am, weekends 3pm to 3am.
Price: Pay per dish.
Nearest MRT: Telok Ayer (DT18), 260m, or Downtown (DT17), 300m.

Enrichment classes in the CBD and Tanjong Pagar you can book on Jungle

Jungle lists 86 locations inside postal sectors 01 to 08, across 83 merchants. Most serve the whole island rather than a neighbourhood, because the children come in from everywhere on the MRT. These are the ones with a fixed address you can walk to.

Note the date on the first eight. Marina Square and its tenants close on 31 March 2027.

• The Little Gym of Singapore, #03-163 Marina Square, 6 Raffles Boulevard. Non-competitive gymnastics and movement, ages 0 to 12.
• CocoArt, #03-154 Marina Square. Art studio classes, ages 4 to 18.
• Legacy Dance Co, #03-03 Marina Square. Dance, ages 4 to 18.
• Danz People, #02-15/17 Marina Square. Dance classes for children and adults, ages 4 to 18.
• Kidodo DIY Handicraft, #02-37 Marina Square. Drop-in craft workshops, ages 3 to 12.
• Leon and Friends, #03-156 Marina Square. Play and learning programmes, ages 1 to 10.
• VroomTown Driving City, #01-208 Marina Square. Ride-on driving city, ages 2 to 12.
• Singapore Ski and Snowboard Academy, #01-218 Marina Square. Dry-slope ski and snowboard lessons, ages 6 to 18.
• Aureus Academy, #02-734 Suntec City, 3 Temasek Boulevard. Music school, ages 2 to 18.
• Kidodo Space Indoor Playground, #03-350/351 Suntec City Tower 3. Indoor playground, ages 1 to 12.
• HiArt, #02-20 Esplanade Mall, 8 Raffles Avenue. Art classes, ages 2 to 18.
• Boulder Movement, #B1-03 Downtown Gallery, 6A Shenton Way. Bouldering, ages 5 to 18.
• English Explorer, #07-04, 137 Cecil Street. English language school, ages 6 to 18.
• Believer Music, #03-28 International Plaza, 10 Anson Road. Music lessons, ages 5 to 18.
• Amped Trampoline Park, Block C Level 2, 10 Raeburn Park, Tanjong Pagar. Trampoline sessions and classes, ages 3 to 16.
• Arrows Music, 18B Keong Saik Road. Music school, ages 5 to 18.
• The Movement Studio, #02-08, 334 Kreta Ayer Road. Movement and dance, all ages.
• Zoom! Academy, Level 3, 70B Smith Street, Chinatown. Enrichment classes, ages 6 to 16.
• The Polliwogs, #04-63 Clarke Quay Central, 6 Eu Tong Sen Street. Indoor playground and parties, ages 1 to 12.
• Food Playground, 24A Sago Street, Chinatown. Hands-on local cooking classes, ages 7 and up.

At a glance

Ten of those cost nothing, and you could fill a whole day from the free column alone: the children's garden in the morning, the Barrage at lunchtime, the river walk at five and Garden Rhapsody at 7.45pm.

Browse classes and activities across Singapore on Jungle.