Things to Do With Kids in Novena, Newton and Thomson, Singapore (2026)

15 September 2026 · 14 min read

Novena is named after a prayer. The Redemptorists built the Church of St Alphonsus on Thomson Road, started a Saturday novena in January 1949, and the devotion drew such crowds that the estate and later the MRT station took the church's nickname. Novena is Latin for nine. Type "things to do in novena" into Google in Singapore and the autocomplete still offers "can you pray a novena in one day", which tells you roughly how much attention this estate gets from family guides.

That is the opportunity. Novena, Newton and Thomson run from a shopping centre that calls itself a learning hub straight into more than 2,000 hectares of rainforest, and almost nobody writes it up. The estate is also short of the two things a family town usually has. NLB's page for Toa Payoh Library says it serves the residents of Toa Payoh and Novena, which is a polite way of saying Novena has no library of its own, and there is no public pool inside the estate either. What there is instead: four free nature parks, two working stables inside the city, a free vertical climbing playground on a mall roof, 14 enrichment centres in one building, and 83 hawker stalls at Newton.

Fifteen places follow. Eight of them are free. If you are heading west afterwards, the sister guide is things to do with kids in Bukit Timah and Holland Village.

Free places you can walk to from the MRT

1. Novena Park

Novena Park is a small NParks park on Jalan Novena, five minutes off the main road and almost never crowded. It has play equipment, fitness equipment, a jogging track and a shelter, and it is open all night. This is not a destination park. It is the one you use when a toddler has been in a shopping centre for two hours and needs to run in a straight line before lunch.

One thing to check before you go. The shelter is being reroofed from 31 August to 31 October 2026 and is unavailable for that period, so there is nowhere dry to sit if it rains.

Why kids will love it: Space and quiet. There is no queue for anything, which for a three-year-old who has just been told to wait outside an enrichment class is the whole point. Go early, before the concrete gets hot, and bring water because there is no shop.

View on Jungle: not yet listed
Website: NParks, Novena Park
Address: Jalan Novena, Singapore. Google Maps
Opening hours: Open 24 hours.
Price: Free.
Nearest MRT: Novena (NS20).

2. Thomson Road Playground

This one sits on Thomson Road directly beside United Square, and that is the reason to know about it. It is an NParks playground with play equipment, fitness equipment and a jogging track, open 24 hours, and it is thirty seconds from a mall full of enrichment centres. If one child is in a class for an hour and the other is not, this is where the other one goes.

Why kids will love it: It is outdoors, it is free, and it is close enough to the car park that nobody has to be carried back. Best for under sevens. There is little shade, so late afternoon beats midday.

View on Jungle: not yet listed
Website: NParks, Thomson Road Playground
Address: Thomson Road, beside United Square, Singapore. Google Maps
Opening hours: Open 24 hours.
Price: Free.
Nearest MRT: Novena (NS20).

3. Burmese Buddhist Temple

Photo: Iloilo Wanderer, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Maha Sasanaramsi Burmese Buddhist Temple on Tai Gin Road holds a 3.3 metre white Buddha carved from a single ten-tonne block of marble found near Mandalay in 1918. It is the largest known marble Buddha statue outside Myanmar. The temple moved to this site in 1988 and the current building was completed in 1991. Entry is free, the main shrine hall on level one is wheelchair accessible, and families with children are explicitly welcome.

Worth saying plainly: the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall next door has been closed for restoration since 16 September 2024 and stays closed through 2027. Several guides to this area still send families there.

Why kids will love it: The statue is the size of a small lorry and carved from one piece of stone, which is a fact that lands with a seven-year-old faster than any amount of history. Fifteen quiet minutes, then out. No animals inside, and shoes come off at the shrine hall.

View on Jungle: not yet listed
Website: Burmese Buddhist Temple
Address: 14 Tai Gin Road, Singapore 327873. Google Maps
Opening hours: Daily 7am to 6pm. Times shift for festival days.
Price: Free.
Getting there: Toa Payoh MRT (NS19) is the closest at about 500 metres. Novena (NS20) is just under a kilometre. Buses along Balestier Road stop outside.

4. Shaw Plaza Sky Terrace playground

Photo: Zhou Guanhuai, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The level 3 Sky Terrace at Shaw Plaza has a free Wall-Holla vertical playground, the caged climbing structure children go up inside rather than over, with a slide from the top, a small trampoline, a tunnel for younger ones and a flying fox. It was built by Playpoint and opened in March 2023. The terrace is sheltered and planted, so light rain does not end the visit.

Upstairs on level 4, Shaw Theatres Balestier reopened with 11 halls: six regular, four Lumiere and one Dreamers, which is Shaw's family hall. Downstairs at #03-04 there is an indoor heated pool run by Little Splashes Aquatics, so a swim lesson and a climb can be the same trip.

Why kids will love it: A climbing frame you get inside, three storeys of it, and nobody charges for it. Best from about four upwards. Bring socks and expect to lose forty minutes.

View on Jungle: not yet listed
Website: Shaw Theatres Balestier
Address: 360 Balestier Road, Shaw Plaza, Singapore 329783. Google Maps
Opening hours: Shaw publishes no separate hours for the Sky Terrace playground. It is open while Shaw Plaza is trading.
Price: Free.
Getting there: Buses along Balestier Road stop outside. Toa Payoh (NS19) and Novena (NS20) are both a shade under a kilometre away.

The reservoirs and the rainforest

5. MacRitchie Reservoir Park

Photo: MacRitchie Reservoir Park, Jungle listing

MacRitchie is the front door to the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, over 2,000 hectares of forest with more than 20km of trails running through it. The park itself is flat, shaded and easy: the Prunus Trail is 3km and takes about an hour, and the Chemperai Boardwalk is 1.5km and takes about thirty minutes. Long-tailed macaques live along the water's edge, so food stays in the bag.

One correction, because several guides still get this wrong. The Singapore Canoe Federation's Paddle Lodge at MacRitchie now lists only the closed-deck recreational kayak, and that requires a 1 Star kayaking certificate. You can no longer turn up as a family and hire a sit-on-top here.

Why kids will love it: Monkeys, for better and worse, and a boardwalk that runs out over the water so the reservoir is on both sides of you. The 1.5km Chemperai Boardwalk is the right length for a five-year-old. Start by 8am, because there is no breeze by eleven.

View on Jungle: MacRitchie Reservoir Park
Website: NParks, Central Catchment Nature Reserve
Address: Lornie Road, MacRitchie Reservoir Park, Singapore 298735. Google Maps
Opening hours: 7am to 7pm.
Price: Free.
Nearest MRT: Caldecott (TE9 / CC17).

6. HSBC TreeTop Walk

Photo: Mokkie, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

The TreeTop Walk is a 250 metre suspension bridge strung 25 metres above the forest floor, and the Jelutong Tower in the same reserve is a seven-storey observation tower with an open staircase up through the canopy. Both are free and both are genuinely spectacular.

Now the honest part, because this is the entry most guides oversell. NParks states the TreeTop Walk is not suitable for young children, along with pregnant women and anyone afraid of heights. Getting there is the real obstacle: the loop from MacRitchie is 10.3km and rated moderate to difficult, three to four hours on foot, and even the short route in from Windsor Nature Park is 7km. There is no shortcut, no shuttle and no water for long stretches.

Why kids will love it: Standing on a bridge that sways, level with the tops of trees, with nothing underneath. It is a genuine achievement for a confident walker of about eight or older. For anyone smaller, do Windsor Nature Park instead and come back in three years.

View on Jungle: not yet listed
Website: NParks, hiking at Central Catchment Nature Reserve
Address: Central Catchment Nature Reserve, 601 Island Club Road, Singapore. Google Maps
Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday 9am to 5pm. Saturday, Sunday and public holidays 8.30am to 5pm. Closed Mondays except public holidays. Last entry 4.45pm.
Price: Free.
Getting there: Shortest approach is from Windsor Nature Park, 30 Venus Drive. Nearest MRT Bright Hill (TE7), about 750 metres from the Venus Drive car park.

7. Windsor Nature Park

Windsor is the nature park to bring small children to, and it is the one nobody mentions. The Hanguana Trail is 350 metres and takes ten minutes. The Squirrel and Drongo loop is 2.2km of elevated boardwalk, an hour at a child's pace, and the Drongo section runs four metres above the forest floor along a stream. The Venus Loop is 1.8km and about forty-five minutes, part boardwalk and part earth. There are 104 car park spaces and parking is free.

Pets are not allowed anywhere in the park, which catches families out.

Why kids will love it: A walkway through the treetops that a four-year-old can manage on their own legs, with a stream underneath and the racket-tailed drongo the trail is named after somewhere overhead. Start with the 350 metre Hanguana Trail and see how it goes before committing to the long loop.

View on Jungle: not yet listed
Website: NParks, Windsor Nature Park
Address: 30 Venus Drive, Singapore 573858. Google Maps
Opening hours: 7am to 7pm. Car park 7am to 7pm, no overnight parking.
Price: Free, including the car park.
Nearest MRT: Bright Hill (TE7), about 750 metres.

8. Lower Peirce Reservoir Park

Photo: Wzhkevin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Lower Peirce sits on Old Upper Thomson Road and its draw is a 900 metre wooden boardwalk that runs through mature secondary forest right at the water line. NParks puts it near Bright Hill station, which makes it the reservoir park in this guide you can actually reach on the train without a bus.

Check the date before you drive over. The boardwalk is closed for maintenance with an expected completion date of 30 September 2026. Until then, use the Casuarina or Jacaranda entrances for the rest of the park. The boardwalk is not wheelchair accessible in any case.

Why kids will love it: Once the boardwalk reopens it is a flat 900 metre walk out over the water on planks, and the whole thing takes half an hour, which is about the limit for a five-year-old in this heat. Shelters and toilets are on site. The 38 space car park charges, so the train is easier.

View on Jungle: not yet listed
Website: NParks, Lower Peirce Reservoir Park
Address: Old Upper Thomson Road, Singapore. Google Maps
Opening hours: Park open 24 hours. Boardwalk 7am to 7pm when open, currently closed until 30 September 2026.
Price: Free. Car park charges apply.
Nearest MRT: Bright Hill (TE7).

Two working stables in the middle of the city

9. Singapore Polo Club Riding Academy

Photo: Singapore Polo Club, Jungle listing

There are working stables on Mount Pleasant Road, about two kilometres from a hospital district, and most people who live in Novena have never been through the gate. The Singapore Polo Club runs a riding academy that takes riders from six years old, and non-members can ride here for up to three months before they have to join. Lessons run Tuesday to Sunday, 7am to 10am and 4pm to 7pm, which are the two windows when it is cool enough for the horses.

The club does not publish lesson rates online, so treat the first email as part of the process.

Why kids will love it: Being led round a sand school on an animal four times their size, in a city where most children only see horses at the police stables on television. Go for the 7am slot. By nine it is too hot for everyone, including the horse.

Book on Jungle: Singapore Polo Club
Website: Singapore Polo Club Riding Academy
Address: 80 Mount Pleasant Road, Singapore 298334. Google Maps
Opening hours: Riding lessons Tuesday to Sunday, 7am to 10am and 4pm to 7pm.
Price: Contact provider for pricing.
Ages: 6 and above.
Nearest MRT: Caldecott (TE9 / CC17).

10. Healing Horses Singapore

Photo: Healing Horses Singapore, Jungle listing

A second stable sits a few hundred metres away on Jalan Mashhor. Healing Horses Singapore runs therapeutic riding rather than riding lessons: outdoor sessions on horseback, indoor sessions on a mechanical horse, assessments, and early intervention work. It takes children from three.

This one needs saying clearly, because it is not a drop-in and should not be treated as an afternoon out. It is a therapy service, and sessions are arranged with the centre. The Riding for the Disabled Association also runs from 5 Jalan Mashhor on the same road, as a charity with its own referral process.

Why kids will love it: For a child who finds a busy classroom hard, sitting on a warm, slow animal in an open paddock does something a room never does. Ask about the mechanical horse first if your child has never been near a real one.

Book on Jungle: Healing Horses Singapore
Website: Healing Horses Singapore
Address: 100 Jalan Mashhor, Singapore 299177. Google Maps
Opening hours: Not published. Sessions are arranged when you book.
Price: Contact provider for pricing.
Ages: 3 to 18.
Getting there: Jalan Mashhor runs off Thomson Road. Nearest MRT Caldecott (TE9 / CC17).

Indoors, for a wet afternoon

11. United Square

Photo: Terence Ong, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5

United Square calls itself a learning hub and it is not marketing. The mall's own directory lists 14 enrichment centres across five floors, which is more than most towns manage in an entire estate, and it is why half of Novena's under-twelves pass through the building every Saturday.

For the children who are not in a class, two things. Smigy at B1-01 is an indoor playground with a ball pit, a sandpit of non-toxic granules and tube slides, open 10am to 8pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 9pm from Friday to Sunday and through the school holidays. Single admission runs $23 to $35, covering one child and one adult, for either one hour or two. Mini Me Racing in the B1 Back Atrium is a first-person-view miniature car circuit where the cars carry a camera and you drive from the car's point of view, open 12pm to 10pm. The nursing room is on level 1.

Zoomoov has left this mall, whatever older listings say.

Why kids will love it: Driving a model car around a miniature street circuit while looking through its windscreen is a genuinely odd thing to be able to do in a basement. Smigy suits under eights, Mini Me Racing suits about six upwards. The class list is at the end of this guide.

Book on Jungle: Smigy Playground
Website: United Square
Address: 101 Thomson Road, Singapore 307591. Google Maps
Opening hours: Mall 10am to 10pm daily. Smigy 10am to 8pm Monday to Thursday, 10am to 9pm Friday to Sunday and on holidays. Mini Me Racing 12pm to 10pm.
Price: Free to enter. Smigy single admission $23 to $35 for one child and one adult. Mini Me Racing does not publish a rate, so contact provider for pricing.
Nearest MRT: Novena (NS20).

12. Climb Central Novena

Photo: Climb Central, Jungle listing

Climb Central's Novena wall sits on the third floor of Velocity at Novena Square, and it is the biggest single reason to bring an older child to this end of Thomson Road. No prior climbing experience is needed, which is the point: every first-time visitor sits through a mandatory safety briefing of fifteen to thirty minutes and then climbs.

The numbers, all including GST and current as of 1 May 2026. Adult entry $27.30, youth 13 to 17 $21.80, child add-on $19.70, adult and child together $37.10. Shoes and harness together are $9. First-time registration is a one-off $10.90. Children must be between 4 and 12, over 16kg and over one metre tall, and one adult may supervise a maximum of two children.

Why kids will love it: Getting to the top of a wall taller than the house and then coming down off it under their own steam. A nine-year-old who has never climbed can be on the wall within half an hour of walking in. Weekday afternoons from 1pm are quiet. Weekends open at 9am and fill fast.

Book on Jungle: Climb Central Novena
Website: Climb Central entry rates
Address: Velocity at Novena Square, 238 Thomson Road, #03-23/25, Singapore 307683. Google Maps
Opening hours: Monday to Friday 1pm to 11pm. Saturday, Sunday and public holidays 9am to 9pm.
Price: Adult $27.30, youth 13 to 17 $21.80, child add-on $19.70, adult and child $37.10. Shoes and harness $9. One-off registration $10.90.
Ages: 4 to 12 for the child rate, over 16kg and over 1m.
Nearest MRT: Novena (NS20).

13. Splat Paint House

Photo: Splat Paint House, Jungle listing

Splat Paint House on Upper Thomson is a room you are allowed to throw paint in. You get a canvas, 400ml of paint, a syringe, a squirt bottle or a water gun, and a set of protective gear: coveralls, shoe covers, safety glasses and gloves. Then you ruin the canvas on purpose and take it home.

The starter package is $46 and runs an hour. The weekday happy hour is $43, Monday to Friday excluding public holidays, 3pm to 6pm with the last booking at 5pm. A party pack for four is $195 and runs ninety minutes. A child under six can share an adult's session for an extra $15, which covers their tools, protective wear and a small canvas of their own.

Why kids will love it: Being handed a loaded water gun and told to aim it at a canvas is the single most permissive thing that will happen to them all month. Wear clothes you have already given up on, because the tempera still stains through the coveralls.

Book on Jungle: Splat Paint House
Website: Splat Paint House menu
Address: 207A Upper Thomson Road, Singapore 574346. Google Maps
Opening hours: The studio does not publish fixed weekly hours. The weekday happy hour runs 3pm to 6pm, Monday to Friday excluding public holidays, last booking 5pm. All other sessions go by online booking.
Price: Starter package $46. Weekday happy hour $43. Party pack for four $195. Child under 6 sharing an adult $15.
Ages: 3 to 18.
Nearest MRT: Upper Thomson (TE8).

The lunch stop

14. Newton Food Centre

Photo: Kbseah, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Newton has 83 cooked food stalls and no market stalls at all, which is unusual and tells you what the place is for. It is NEA-run, it is five minutes from Newton station, and it is the obvious end to a Novena morning. NEA's own description calls it extremely crowded at dinner and supper, so a family with small children should come for a late lunch instead.

Diary note: the centre closes for quarterly cleaning on 7 and 8 December 2026.

Why kids will love it: Eighty-three stalls means the fussy one gets plain rice and the adventurous one gets satay, and neither has to compromise. Send one adult ahead to hold a table. Carrot cake and popiah are the child-friendly stalls to head for first.

View on Jungle: not yet listed
Website: NEA hawker centre listing
Address: 500 Clemenceau Avenue North, Singapore 229495. Google Maps
Opening hours: Individual stalls set their own hours and most trade into the night. Closed 7 and 8 December 2026 for quarterly cleaning.
Price: Hawker prices. Entry is free.
Nearest MRT: Newton (NS21 / DT11).

15. Sembawang Hills Food Centre

Photo: BenTanXiaoMing, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

If your day has been the Thomson end, this is the place to stop instead of driving back into town. Sembawang Hills Food Centre, also called Jalan Leban Food Centre, sits on Upper Thomson Road with 36 cooked food stalls, and it is a ten minute drive from both Windsor Nature Park and the Venus Drive car park. It is smaller, older and far calmer than Newton.

It closes for quarterly cleaning on 12 October 2026.

Why kids will love it: Thirty-six stalls is a manageable number for a child to actually choose from, and there is no queue and no crowd to lose them in after a morning in the forest. Muddy shoes are not a problem here.

View on Jungle: not yet listed
Website: NEA hawker centre listing
Address: 590 Upper Thomson Road, Singapore 574419. Google Maps
Opening hours: Individual stalls set their own hours. Closed 12 October 2026 for quarterly cleaning.
Price: Hawker prices. Entry is free.
Getting there: On Upper Thomson Road at the Sembawang Hills Estate junction. This one needs a bus or a car. The nearest station, Bright Hill (TE7), is 1.1km away.

Enrichment classes in Novena, Newton and Thomson you can book on Jungle

This is the densest strip of children's classes in central Singapore, and it clusters in five places: United Square, Goldhill, Thomson Plaza, the Upper Thomson shophouses and Winstedt Road.

United Square, 101 Thomson Road

• Aureus Academy, music, ages 2 to 18, #03-27/29
• Mandeville Conservatory of Music, music, ages 4 to 18, #03-21
• Hua Language Centre, Chinese, ages 3 to 18, #03-25
• Tree Art, art, ages 3 to 18, #01-50
• Chess at Three, chess through stories, #01-45
• Coding Lab, coding and robotics

Ten more of the mall's 14 learning tenants are not on Jungle yet: Aspire Hub Education at 01-33, Futurum Academy at 02-18, Geniebook at B1-26, I Can Read at 01-41, Lorna Whiston Schools at 03-18, Mind Stretcher at 04-20, The Ballet and Music Company at 04-26, The Learning Lab at 03-03 and 04-10, The Physics Cafe at 01-29, and The Gentle Art martial arts at 01-39B.

Goldhill Plaza and Goldhill Centre, Thomson Road

• ARTARY Novena, art, ages 3 to 18, Goldhill Plaza #03-45
• Global Art, art, ages 2 to 12, #02-05
• Music for Young Children, ages 2 to 12, #03-11 Podium Block
• My English School, English, ages 2 to 12, #01-31/33
• Lil' but Mighty, English, ages 6 to 18, #02-25
• Groove Music School, ages 4 to 18, 177B Thomson Road
• KTMA Taekwondo Novena, ages 3 to 12, 171A Thomson Road
• Dance At The Difference, dance, ages 3 to 18, 203A Thomson Road
• Elite Sports Academy, sports, ages 3 to 18, 191B Thomson Road

Thomson Plaza, 301 Upper Thomson Road

• Aureus Academy, music, ages 2 to 18, #03-51
• Artlette Art Studio, art, ages 3 to 18, #03-18
• Yamaha Music School, music, ages 2 to 18, #03-24

The Upper Thomson shophouses

• Thunder Rock School, rock band and instruments, ages 5 to 18, 227A
• White Canvas Studio, art, ages 2 to 18, 229A
• Art Grain, art, ages 2 to 18, 228
• The Right Word, English, ages 6 to 16, 205A
• Eurolingo, European languages, ages 5 to 18, 220A #02-01
• French Toast Language Centre, French, ages 6 to 18, 220A #02-00
• Johan Taekwondo, ages 3 to 18, 200 #01-06
• CADRE Self Defense and Martial Arts, ages 5 to 18, 200 #01-08
• Redwood Campus, academic, ages 4 to 18, 263A

Newton, Winstedt Road and Bukit Timah Road

• All That Jazz Dance Academy, dance, ages 3 to 18, 10 Winstedt Road
• Fiaba Language Centre, Italian, ages 4 to 12, 10 Winstedt Road #01-03
• Mindful Space, ages 5 to 14, 10 Winstedt Road #02-02
• Gaonhae Taekwondo Newton, ages 4 to 18, 271 Bukit Timah Road #02-08
• Cheng Ballet Academy, ballet, ages 3 to 18, 204 Bukit Timah Road
• aquaDucks Newton, swimming from birth, 25 Gilstead Road
• Swimfast Aquatic Group, swimming, ages 4 to 18, 60 Barker Road
• ACT 3 International, drama, ages 1 to 15, 126 Cairnhill Road

Balestier

• BazGym Gymnastics School, ages 3 to 18, 31 Ah Hood Road
• Little Splashes Aquatics, indoor heated pool, from birth, Shaw Plaza #03-04
• Spartans Boxing Club, boxing, ages 4 to 18, 573 Balestier Road
• HAO Chinese Tuition Centre, Chinese, ages 3 to 16, 501 Balestier Road
• Technique Pro Football Academy, football, ages 5 to 18, 69 Balestier Road

At a glance

Novena rewards a parent who plans around the weather: the forest in the morning, the mall in the afternoon, Newton at four o'clock before the crowd arrives.

Every class above can be booked through kids' activities in central Singapore on Jungle.