Get your socks on, IT’S PLAYTIME!
A parent’s guide to indoor play areas in and around Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
By Judy James Lewis
Let them play! Maria Montessori called play ‘the work of the child’! Yes, play is an essential part of childhood and the numerous benefits of active play are invaluable to the successful development of our precious children. Playing with peers enables them to develop social skills, and this in turn helps children to learn moral values such as empathy and kindness, invaluable life qualities!
Using their vivid imaginations in role playing games has been proven to be vital for cognitive development in children. In fact Einstein once called play the ‘highest form of research!’. Do your little ones love to climb and run? Let them! Physical exertion and ‘testing one’s limits’ builds strength which can lead to high self esteem as well as self confidence and reliance.
Are you convinced?? Ready to head out the door to the nearest park to do a bit of ‘work’? Let’s go! Oh... hang on!
We live Sabah and it’s a scorching 31 degrees outside!! The little ones will be worn out and sun frazzled after half an hour in this heat, and let’s not even mention the dreaded haze! Don’t reach for the remote control just yet, Kota Kinabalu has several fantastic indoor play areas for you to choose from. Let me introduce them to you.
KIDZOONA, 1 BORNEO HYPERMALL RM10
(RM17 on weekends and public holidays, 11th visit free)
Kidzoona is a Japan-based company and has play areas in three of the malls around KK. Kidzoona 1 Borneo is a large play area, it boasts a huge ball pit and a bouncy slide.
Fancy working in a sushi bar? Or playing doctors and nurses? Kids have hours of fun in Kidzoona’s model play shops. My pre-schooler likes to load up his car with ice cream cones and then go on to sell them to passersby! The sand pit is an unusual idea and has a helpful ‘Do Not Eat the Sand’ notice, although my toddler doesn’t heed the command (which is why I avoid the sand pit like the plague!). The staff here are friendly, helpful and stick to a rigid but reassuring cleaning and tidying routine. Toys are disinfected weekly, including all the balls in the ball pit (it’s true- I’ve seen them do it!).
To their credit, Kidzoona has attempted to make the play area safe by softening hard corners with foam bumpers, although to my dismay there are still open plug sockets scattered along the walls at the perfect height for dainty little baby fingers! There’s a nice seating area for parents and although there’s a sign that says ‘Not Allowed to Eat Inside Here’, I always sneak in my Starbucks mug and a snack (now you know where my little one gets his flagrant disregard for the rules from!!).
There’s seating outside too from where you can observe the kids through a long glass window. Some enterprising soul has even opened up a little snack shop with seating area there too, perfect!
Cost of entrance is RM10 (RM17 on weekends and public holidays) for unlimited play and
you get one free play after 10 visits. Get your money’s worth by heading there in the morning for a play followed by lunch and then back for more! Your little munchkins will be worn out after a full day of ‘work’!
MOLLY FANTASY, IMAGO SHOPPING MALL
RM5 per 30 minutes, RM6 on weekends and public holidays.
This particular outlet has a stricter entrance fee timing system, charging you RM5/6 for the first half hour and then RM1 per subsequent 10 minutes. Smaller in size, this play area has a ball pit and bouncy slide as well as several play shops and puzzles. To be honest my two kids tend to get bored quickly here and are more attracted to the arcade games surrounding the play area.
KID’S WORLD, CAPCOM STATION, CITY MALL
RM7 Monday-Friday, RM8 Weekends and school holidays
Situated at the back of a small amusement arcade, Kid’s World is small but great fun! It consists of a rabbit warren style climbing frame and a bouncy castle. There are also several small rocking horses, seesaws and balls of various sizes. My preschooler loves the huge balls here and has ample fun trying to carry them around the climbing frame! The only downside for me personally is the irritating music from the arcade games, although it doesn’t bother my kids!
OCEAN PLAY, OCEANUS MALL
RM10 weekdays, RM15 weekends and public holidays
For my four year old boy this is hands down ‘the bestest play area ever’!! It covers a huge area and is equipped with a multi levelled playground, slides, a ball pit, a trampoline, a bouncy castle, a spherical roundabout cage, a squidgy pond and a rotating octopus to name but a few! OK- so you’ll have to check them out yourself to see what I mean!
Parents can sit along the outer wall and watch, for the privilege of entering and taking care of your kids you have to pay RM5, which always seems peculiar to me- perhaps a ploy to keep away those pesky helicopter parents!
So, get your socks on and head out the door to let your little tykes do some ‘work’ while you chill out with a coffee and the latest edition of Parents Avenue!!
Which is your favourite play area, and why? Follow me on Instagram and share your thoughts @judyjameslewis. I’d love to hear what you and your little ones think!
Any potty training mums out there? When you’re in Oceanus Shopping Mall check out the baby change area next to the toilets on the first floor in the North Wing, it’ll blow your mind! (Well, it blew mine but then again I don’t get out much and this kind of thing excites me!) As well as a diaper changing area and a hot water dispenser there’s also a room set out with chairs, a separate room with a comfy chair for breastfeeding in private, and a dinky little itsy bitsy toilet for toddlers! So cute!! I was so excited when I first saw it, it was the first time I’d seen one since I was in reception class in the UK!
