(Mình sẽ dịch sang tiếng Việt bài này sớm – vì nhiều bạn bè nước ngoài hỏi mình về chủ đề này nên mình ưu tiên viết post bằng tiếng Anh trước)
So finally, as promised in my last post, this post is to review ‘hangout’ places for baby and toddlers in Saigon. There are lots of places for more grown-up kids, (Dam Sen/ Suoi Tien/ kizciti etc.), but a safe place where the parents could help kids from 10 months to 3 years old ‘discover the world’ is not that many. I’ll review the pros and cons of each of the place we’ve taken our Bailey to, and you could decide which one is best for your child and family. This review is purely my personal review and absolutely not tainted by any type of sponsors or advertising
A. INDOOR ACTIVITIES
- Kidsyard
As soon as Bailey started to walk (10 months old), we often took her to Kidsyard in Parson Paragon (District 7). It is a nice little place located at level B1, next to the foodcourt. As it is indoor, and all are covered with safety mattresses, you could take your child any day without worrying about the weather. As it is a small place, it does not attract too many older kids and hence you don’t have to worry your baby could be ‘run’ off by other older careless kids either! But as Bailey grows older, she gets bored with the games (or maybe I get bored with the place – I don’t know) as there are not too many activities you could do there. Basically an inflated house, a jumping zone, cars, big legos, a house full of balls (for lack of vocabs here, pls help!) and some playing pipes for climbing and such. They have more branches so just visit their website to know the one nearest to your house.
Entrance fee: 50k, sometimes they run hotdeal and you could get it with 20-30k, the second adult accompaning the child will be charged 10k
- Maika Wonderland
Located at Tran Huy Lieu street, it is a perfect places for toddlers and older children, as the building includes several storeys with lots of activities – even water-based one, all are indoors. Even younger one could find something here. It even has its own canteen so family could easily take the kids for lunch/dinner if they are hungry. The only complaint is that each storey has limited space and lighting, so with many children it becomes a little bit ‘suffocated’ to me.
Entrance fee: 80k – if I remember correctly, with the second adult charged for 20k – basically more expensive than kidsyard, but quite worth it.
- ‘The gioi tre tho’ Beebee (i.e the children world Beebee)
Located at Tran Nao street, district 2, it is a 1-storey building with a mix of physical activities with gaming machines and the kind of merry-go-round planes – the later two could not be found in kidsyard or maika wonderland. However, I personally prefer my child to take more logical and physical activities than the electronic/merry-go-round types, so although this place has more variety, I might not take her here again. The highlight of the experience for us is the ‘candy buffet’ – you pay for 30k or so for a can of candies of your choice – We all enjoy it so much because like me, Bailey has sweet tooth!
*NOTE: Most of these indoor playground ‘centres’ will have discount on ‘hotdeal’, ‘nhommua’ or the similar sites so I usually just pick a deal and discover a new place.
B. OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
- Public park at Pham Ngu Lao – Cach Mang Thang Tam’s corner
A public one so it is free and to me it is the cheapest way for the family to enjoy a day out with a kid. Although it is not that big, it has quite many physical activities for kids from 2 years onward. The best thing about the place is that although it is public, the ground are covered with safety material – I am so surprised by the amount of consideration of the staff who build this place – mind you we are talking about Vietnam’s government. The minus point is that it could get so crowded that your kid has to compete with other children to play. And Bailey is a good child – she is always giving up way for others and hence ending up have little time to play.
- Amusement park at district 7
This one is located around Tran Luong Bang or Tran Van Tra street, district 7. This is a cheap and fast alternative to Dam Sen amusement park. The ticket to each game is cheaper (10k-30k/game), but the quality is not good and the hygiene there is extremely bad. Most of the games are roller-coasters like (but smaller scale, like the merry go round but at much higher speed), which we didn’t enjoy at all as it made us feel nauseous. There is an areas for smaller kids too, but it is so dirty and unsafe.
- Playground for kids at condos
People who live at condos will know this really well. I used to take Bailey to City Garden and Imperia An Phu. The later has a small but nice playground on sands whereas the former has cool indoor toys. This suits babies perfectly as they don’t need many activities or a big place anyway. Of course it is free for residents, you might just need to know a friend or relative living in these places..
- Restaurants/café that has kids playground
When our babies become toddlers, sometimes the family might want to find a place where the adults could eat out whereas there are places for the kids to entertain themselves. One of the places like that is SNAP café at district 2, which is like a nice little garden complex kind including fashion, food, toys… shops. There is a nice playground with sands underneath, although a little bit old and dirty but still quite ok to keep an eye on them from your seats. The food is very pricey though, as it is located at Thao Dien area so it aims more at expats and the local rich.
Have you taken your child to any other places other than the above ones? Pls share with us in the comments!
Next post will be to address concerns of one of my smartest friends who is working at World Bank ‘How to make workwear less boring?’ In fact, I’ll post a series of posts about this topic, so stay tuned!
If you’d like to receive more tips like these, send me your email and let me know what kind of info you want me to share, I’ll be more than happy to help!
Trudy 's Note 