Water play & keeping cool with children in Singapore

Coming from a New Zealand winter the heat and humidity of Singapore was both welcoming and – at times – exhausting. However, plentiful air conditioned spaces and a great apartment to sleep in meant we were given respite from the heat – failing that we simply sought out water; by way of drinking it, playing in it or floating along the Singapore River in a boat!

Alice on a 'BumBoat' on the Singapore River — Alice on a ‘BumBoat’ on the Singapore River

All along the Singapore River are street vendors selling bottled water, so there’s always a chance to quench the thirst. There are restaurants and cafes aplenty too, at Clarke Quay and Boat Quay, where stronger drinks can be enjoyed a leisure too!

Singapore River, Clarke Quay area — Singapore River

The shopping malls of Orchard Road, Bugis Junction and Vivo City are all wonderfully air-conditioned and some even have rooftop water play areas – like Vivo City – for the children to cool down!

We also made good use of umbrellas to shade us from the sun (as well as the occasional tropical downpour).

We learned to take a towel and spare change of clothes for the children, just in case there was an unexpected place to play in water too (whilst we could enjoy a quiet moment to sip on a Singapore Sling)!

Here’s some fabulous places we found to cool down whilst holidaying in Singapore…

Singapore Zoo wet play area – this is positioned halfway around the Zoo – on the other side of the Zoo to the main entrance.

There’s a cafe there too and a jungle adventure obstacle course. It’s a perfect place to cool off and take a break!

Gardens By The Bay – Far East Organisation Children’s Garden & water play area.

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Set in these beautiful gardens is this wonderful children’s garden (free to the public). Included in the garden is a water play area. Perfect!

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Sophie took the opportunity to enjoy a good cool down!

Children's Garden at Gardens By The Bay, Singapore — Children’s Garden at Gardens By The Bay, Singapore

I adore this photograph Dan took of her, playing in the moment. Meanwhile, I took the other two children back to the apartment – as the heat had got too much for them! Dan and Sophie stayed on to have a great time.

Adventure Cove Waterpark on Sentosa Island. This is a wonderful water park that also gives visitors the opportunity to see marine animals (even get up close to dolphins!), as well as enjoy the thrills of water-slides.

There’s a long adventure river, that goes past an aquarium of sting-ray and through a glass-roofed tunnel of fish.

Taken on the adventure river, Adventure Cove, Sentosa Island.

The river floats through many themed environments, which you can either float around in a rubber ring or swim.

It was a perfect depth – just under a metre high.

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I spent hours swimming around it with Alice.

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She adored the river and ditched the rubber rings in favour of swimming. Alice tucked her face down, and into the water every time we went through a tunnel, and swam like a little fish.

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The highlight of the water park, for our two older daughters, was the opportunity to snorkel with tropical fish (included in the basic admission cost).

Our youngest did it once too – which was quite brave of her, at only five years of age!

Snorkelling with tropical fish at Adventure Cove, Sentosa Island

There was also a great wave pool area.

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Wild Wild Wet water park, Downtown East. This was a really affordable and fun water-park. It had none of the live marine animals, but was all about family play and fun.

Universal Studios – Jurassic Park – this area of the park not only had an awesome couple of rides, but this wet play area by a large, air-conditioned dining hall. I spent an hour with my youngest daughter here, whilst hubby and the older two went into the air-conditioned restaurant to take a break from the heat.

Jurassic Park, Universal Studios, Sentosa Island, Singapore

She loved playing in this space so much.

Beaches – Sentosa Island – We didn’t really make the most of visiting the beaches. Alice and I rode the cable-cars one day and briefly visited Siloso Beach, but there are so many activities to do here (maybe next time!).