The Far East Organization Children's Garden - A trip to the Splash Zone

by Rebecca

The rain almost foiled our plans for the large splash zone within the Far East Organization Children's Garden at Garden's by the Bay.

It began to rain as we emerged from the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) station, so we had a snack, wandered around under the covered areas, and then realizing the rain was not letting up, headed off the Mall to find some lunch. After navigating the maze to get to the food court by elevator, the girls discovered Pandan Cake. This Malaysian dessert cake uses coconut milk instead of dairy. Kaya, the filling, is a jam made from coconut milk, eggs and sugar.

It was merely overcast at this point, so the girls tossed on their bathing suits and discovered the joy of this free splash zone. There are good, clean change rooms and showers here. The splash zone is a large circular space filled with fountains. There are a number of staff to direct small kids away from the exit and stop any rough play.

The view of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel from the Children's Garden.

Ms.C made a friend and ran around without stopping for over an hour. She loved waiting for the flowers to dump their pots of water on her head. Ms.E practiced her "dancing in the rain" moves, and liked figuring out how to block the flow of water from the different types of fountains.

The 5 and under fish fountains in the Children's Garden.

The 5 and under play space is right next to the more adventurous, very wet play space. There was also lots of shady seating around for us adults. The attached coffee shop looked to have pretty reasonable prices ($2-3 for coffee/tea).

I only got a bit wet chasing our 2 year old around, which I really didn't mind in the heat. The area felt enclosed and I wasn't worried about losing anyone. Ms.I tried to follow her sisters, but was a ultimately intimidated by the huge amount of water raining down in the larger play space. She loved splashing around the outside of the large circle and enjoyed the fish fountains.

We had a very enjoyable afternoon; it's hard to believed this is a free play space. I forgot to mention that they were blasting Disney Princess songs while we splashed around. There is something very satisfying about belting out the Moana song while getting soaked.

Don't forget a towel! Even adults might want to wear a bathing suit here.