Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden

Two weeks ago, we went to Children’s Garden at Gardens by the Bay. This week, we went to another garden built specially for kids… Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden.

We’ve been to the garden quite a few times since it’s not too far from where we live. It is a part of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, but it has a separate entrance located next to NUS Bukit Timah campus.

Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden is not too big, but there are enough things to keep kids happy. Have a look at the map of the garden, you can click it to make it bigger.

This is the treehouse, with two slides and a sand play area. Carla said the treehouse had “the most slippery slides in the whole world”. She always complains that slides are usually not slippery enough, so she was very happy with these ones.

Carla and Renan enjoyed watching the turtles and the fish in the pond.

And of course, they both loved playing in the playground. There is also a small water play area next to the playground, but we didn’t go there.

  

Carla enjoyed jumping around on the suspension bridge to make it super wobbly.

We found another bridge… A log bridge. There was just a bit of water in the small river yesterday, so it wasn’t too scary to cross….

But have a look at this picture, taken on a previous visit. I found it quite scary. I didn’t have to worry, though… Papai was always there to make sure the kids were safe.

There is a big tree close to the playground that is perfect for climbing. Carla was so excited to be able to climb a real tree (not the usual climbing structures) and pretend to be a leopard, while Renan was quite happy to just watch.

As for Papai…

There are a lot of educational activities that children can do in the garden. They can learn about different types and uses of plants, for example what plants can be used to make dyes or to make drinks.

Carla and Renan’s favourite educational activity is The Magic of Photosynthesis. See what happens when you turn the handle on each station….

You can see here that the garden was built specially for children… look at the tiny sinks (the toilets are all child-size too).

The small cafe close to the entrance was also designed with children in mind. Just look at the small tables and chairs…. Poor Papai even had to sit on the floor.

Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden is open everyday from 8 am to 7 pm, closed on Mondays. Admission is free. It is accessible from the junction of Dunearn- Kheam Hock Road or Bukit Timah-Kheam Hock Road.

Taken from nparks.gov.sg