The best indoor things to do in Singapore for kids

There are as many playgrounds indoors as there are outdoors, so there’s no shortage of places for the kids to run riot. Indoor recreation spaces such as Kiztopia, Play! by Kinderplay, Amazonia, and even the Peranakan-inspired one in Khatib Clubhouse turn up the fun-o-metre with bouncy castles, trampolines, slides, ball pits, and various other games to engage their senses while playing to their hearts’ content. Most of these playgrounds also have a dedicated space for babies and toddlers to jump, slide and swing – all with the accompaniment of a parent or guardian, of course.

If your pint-sized bibliophiles would rather get their noses stuck in the pages of a picture book, take your little bookworms out for a day at the library. Most public libraries in Singapore come complete with a dedicated children's section filled with books, and interactive features for the curious tots, tykes, and tweens. Keep your eyes peeled for engaging storytelling sessions too, where children, as well as parents, are invited to journey through the exciting adventures of Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, Jack and the Beanstalk, and more.

There's nothing quite like the power of reading an amazing book. Allow them to stretch their minds and imagination as they learn more about the world – be it the realm of fantasy fairytales or fictional adventures that take them deep under the sea or up in the sky. If they’d rather get a book for keeps instead of borrowing one at the library, help them find a good one (or one by a local author) from the city’s many children bookstores where you’ll find shelves and shelves of reading material for kids of all ages.

Keep the children occupied and engaged with plenty of kid-friendly interactive exhibits and activities at the city’s many museums, from the National Museum of Singapore to the Asian Civilisations Museum. If you’re worried they’ll turn their noses up at the historical relics and heirlooms, introduce them to dinosaur fossils at Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum or fighter planes at the Republic of Singapore Air Force Museum. The Singapore Philatelic Museum is also set to open this year as a dedicated children's museum, so keep an eye out!

Let the kids try the grown-up world for size and fake it – hopefully – until they make it. After all, the kids of today will run Singapore one day. Featuring scaled-down ‘real-world’ venues, edutainment centres such as Kiztopia, and The City allows pint-sized kidults to run the city and test out career paths such as firefighters, dentists and radio broadcasters. They can even zip and zoom while learning all about road safety at Tayo Station’s mini road circuit.

At some point, you have to take your kids out for a meal, so why not order comforting treats at a kid-friendly restaurant? With many themed restaurants, eateries with play areas and diners with menus specifically catered for the kiddos like SandBank (it’s got a pool!) and Cafe Melba (it’s got a bouncy castle!), the young ’uns can dig into stacks of pancakes, mouth-watering Italian fare, or simple finger food while being kept entertained.

Splish, splash, splosh with the little ones at this indoor water wonderland. And by little ones, we also mean babies – those under 12 months get to enjoy free entry. Splash @ Kidz Amaze stretches out to 23,000-square-feet, with five slides and eight play decks that are all interconnected by climbing structures. Big buckets of water topple at random over a few areas, so expect most children to cluster around that splash pad to get dunked. For those with tots aged 18 to 36 months, head over to a separate wading area where water jets gently spray streams at you.

The MMA gym isn’t just adults to practice their fancy footwork and throw jabs, hooks, and uppercuts. The kids can get involved too. The Little Samurai Children’s Program introduces 'em to the world of martial arts, combining physical education, self-defense techniques, and cardiovascular conditioning. It’s also a great way to school the little ones on the different martial arts including Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Muay Thai.

Let your little ones channel their inner Spider-Man with The Rock School's climbing gym in Bedok. The colourful space is specially tailored for kids between the ages of four and fourteen, with kid-friendly handholds and programme resources, as well as gentler wall profiles. Rain or shine, your mini Spidey can scale the indoor bouldering room and the four-lane sheltered top-rope wall in a safe and comfortable environment.

There isn’t a moment of stillness at Bounce Singapore, where you can jump off walls and fly through the air. This addition to the trampoline scene has three areas designed for different interests and various levels of difficulty, so young tots, older teens, adults, and even fitness enthusiasts are catered for. Got a pre-schooler in the house? Specifically designed for kids aged three to five, KinderGym is equipped with a safe, multi-sensory environment to give them their jumping fix.

Time to get funky with the fam. Whether you're getting the kids to jump on the Tik Tok trend-wagon, or revisiting your favourite pastime, this indoor skating rink in Pasir Ris offers state-of-the-art experiences on both inline and roller skates – think disco lighting and thumping music – which makes for a fun introduction for the kids. You don't have to worry about them falling flat on their face – there are inline skating athletes and certified instructors to guide them through their glide.

This Olympic-sized rink maintains its frosty temperatures all year round, making it the perfect spot for some fun away from the sun – or rain. Aspiring figure skaters, ice hockey players and rookies can learn the basics of gliding and turning. There are also adorable ice skating aids in the form of penguins and seals for the extra confidence boost.

While natural snow is unlikely to fall in tropical Singapore, the city makes up for the lack of sub-zero temperatures with faux snow. Spanning at 3,000-square-metres, the three-storey-high winter wonderland has a 60-metre-long snow slope, an ice gallery, a bumper car arena, and photo opportunities to capture those magical moments. Keeping the energy high, the centre's latest addition is a Winter Shooting Arena where teens can have an icy paintball shoot-out. Younger children can play in the family-friendly Snow Chamber where there's an Inuit home, a snow playground, and a treehouse adventure playground.

Sing Under the Sea as you ogle at over 100,000 marine animals at S.E.A. Aquarium through a brand-new underwater experience complete with refreshed educational content and immersive audio-visual programmes. This complements the aquarium's recent facelift which features specially designed light effects and fascinating soundscapes. The kids can also learn all about marine animals and ocean conservation through various games dotted around the giant aquarium.

Be the next Bill Nye the Science Guy at this institute built for the cultivation of everything scientific (yeah, science!). There are various interactive exhibitions for the little Einsteins to discover more about physical, life, applied, technology and industry sciences. The centre also lays claim to Singapore’s only domed cinema, the Omni-Theatre, which is equipped with state-of-the-art IMAX technology. It’s also home to the 40-centimetre mega-telescope which gives little astronomers a closer view of the starry skies at the Science Centre Observatory.

As part of this year’s edition of Small Big Dreamers, the showcase titled An Artist’s Tropical Landscape features safe and engaging interactive activity stations for the little Picassos. Inspired by local painter Georgette Chen’s artwork Tropical Fruits, the stations invite kids to draw fruits and engage in sensorial play at the curious audio area where they can listen to the sounds various fruits might make. More imaginative fun awaits at the Keppel Centre for Art Education’s imaginative Art Playscape where there are various interactive kinetic zones to stimulate children’s curiosity and imagination through – what else – art.

The stunning lotus-shaped building is an iconic landmark in the Singapore skyline and also a place where art, science, culture and technology come together. Take your kids on a digital art adventure at the museum's permanent exhibition, Future World – Where Art Meets Science. Together with digital art installations by teamLab, a trip here will light up your kids’ creative bulb where they can watch their 2D crayon creation transform into animations, create thrones out of colour-changing blocks, and go down an interactive slide.

A huge hit with the kids and kidults since the late 80s, the iconic NERF brand opens the 18,000-square-feet dedicated Nerf entertainment centre that encourages active learning and team bonding. Get your heart pumping at multiple indoor themed activity zones that test your agility and creativity through active play, teamwork and more. And if all that shooting and dodging flying pellets got you working up an appetite, refuel at the food and beverage areas. There are also retail stalls with exclusive Nerf merchandise for you to expand your arsenal.