SingaporeMotherhood | Parenting
April 2017
Aeroplane Playground, Runway Boardwalk, Hip Restaurants and more make Seletar Aerospace Park a must-go for Kids & Families in the know!
Aeroplane playground? Boardwalk? An actual, working runway where you can watch planes take off and land? It’s all at The Oval @ Seletar Aerospace Park (SAP), the newest must-go fun place for families and kids in Singapore
All it took was two words — aeroplane playground – and the kids were ready to leave before I could say “but have you done your homework?” In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new eat-and-play space in Singapore at The Oval @ Seletar Aerospace Park that has succeeded in doing something that advertisers and governments alike have yet to achieve. It has both hip young things, and parents – excited.
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That’s because apart from housing destination dining places with mile-high Insta-worthy quotients, The Oval @ Seletar Aerospace Park also has a cool new aviation themed playground, and a stroller- and wheelchair-friendly boardwalk, right next to the Seletar Airport runway! So yes, you can indulge in a bit of plane-spotting and chill (even when you’re with the kids :).
I did my research before going there and discovered that the one eatery closest to the playground is Wheeler’s Estate. Opened by the people behind Wheeler’s Yard, this restaurant boasts the same photo-friendly decor that made the Balestier cafe (with its iconic blue doors) a regular feature on IG.
So that’s where we went. The food was okay. The playground was just about 150m away from our table on the ground floor, across a large, lush, grassy lawn. Perfect.
The Seletar Aerospace Park Aeroplane Playground
The playground is divided into two sections: one for younger children aged 2-5 years, and one for older kids aged 5-12 years. It’s the plane that you spot first. This medium-sized structure has two slides, a little slope with climbing handholds, monkey bars, and a little tunnel for kids to climb through to get to the slides.
There’s also a bowl swing where you can lie back and relax while watching the sun set over the trees in the park. It’s big enough for two (or three, or even four) kids to lie down in – yes, we checked.
A ‘control tower’ climbing structure sits next to this. Kids can clamber up a cylindrical rope ladder to enter the tower and push off down on the curving slide.
The playground for younger children (aged 2-5 years) has its own smaller-sized plane structure that little ones can climb into more easily.
And there’s even something for the adults to play together with the kids. Remember Ludo? They call it Aeroplane Chess here but it’s the same great game that we enjoyed when we were young.
The coolest thing? Its dice system. You have to spin a horizontal wheel on the “Rocket” to get the number of steps to take.
There are two little rockers as well, a round helipad, and a two-seater aeroplane. And two baby/toddler swings.
Fun on the Lawn
When the kids need to take a break from the playground, just mosey on across to the lawn. It’s big, it’s green, and there’s hella lot of space to play in.
Some ideas: catching, ball play, frisbee play (we brought our own), or you could probably organise a Kiddolympics sesh here with the kids and their friends too.
Fun on the Boardwalk
To the right of the playground, about 200m away, is a newly constructed boardwalk. This lies alongside the Seletar Airbase runway, and is a lovely, lovely, place to wind down after all that play. There’s a proper path all the way from the playground, but you’ll have to cross one small road. Just hold their hands and teach the kids to watch out for vehicles.
There are planes taking off and landing at the airport throughout the day and the sound of their propellers whirring soon becomes white noise. Another one takes off and we track its flight as it makes an almost 90 degree turn to the right.
By now the little ones and their families have left (it’s probably bedtime for them) and we have the entire boardwalk to ourselves. The kids squeeze onto the park seats which are shaped like origami paper airplanes and pretend to fly. Behind them, the setting sun has turned the sky into a tapestry of orange, yellow, and blue hues.
If you ignore the fierce fencing and the barb wire above it (a bit too concentration camp-y), it’s out-of-this-world beautiful. As the sun dips below the horizon, we make our way back to the rest of civilisation… and CTE jams. But we’ll be back!
Where we were:
The Oval @ Seletar Aerospace Park
Where 3 Park Ln, Singapore 798387
Where we ate:
Wheeler’s Estate
Where 2 Park Lane, Seletar Aerospace Park, Singapore 798386
Tel 6262 0001
Web https://www.facebook.com/wheelersestate/
Opening hours 11am – 10pm (Tuesdays to Thursdays); 11am – 10.30pm (Fridays); 8am – 11pm (Saturdays and Sundays). Closed on Mondays.
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