17 Things To Do With Kids In Kallang, Paya Lebar And Geylang, Singapore

16 September 2026 · 15 min read

Kallang lost both of its headline family attractions inside eighteen months. Splash-N-Surf, the water park under the National Stadium, closed its Lazy River and Stingray slides on 31 December 2025 and its Kids Water Playground on 31 March 2026. The Singapore Sports Museum shut for upgrading on 24 March 2026 and is not due back until the second quarter of 2027. Kallang Wave Mall is under enhancement works from May 2026 to 2028, so parts of it are hoarded off.

None of that is a reason to skip the estate. The Sports Hub has renamed itself The Kallang, and the free things it quietly runs are better than the paid things it lost. There is a padded rooftop playground above the old library that never closes. There is a 3km walking trail with 14 benches built from the timber seats of the old National Stadium. Two MRT stops away, Geylang and Paya Lebar hold a library with a cookery collection, a heritage gallery, and the two busiest hawker centres in the east.

This guide covers 17 places across Kallang, Paya Lebar and Geylang, grouped so you can pick by weather and budget. Nine of them cost nothing to enter. Every price was checked against the operator's own rate card in September 2026, not copied from a listing.

Free days out at The Kallang

1. Kids Playground at The Kallang

The Kallang runs a small outdoor playground on Level 3, on the roof of The Kallang Library building, looking across at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. It has climbing structures, slides and see-saws on a soft-padded floor. It is open 24 hours and it costs nothing, which makes it the most useful thing in the precinct for a family with an hour to fill between a swim and dinner.

The Kallang Library itself is no longer a library. The Sports Hub Library closed on 12 November 2023 and its collection went to the National Library and Tampines. The building kept the name and the playground sits on top of it.

Why kids will love it: Slides and see-saws with no queue and no ticket, at the top of a building most children never get to climb. The padded floor means a toddler can be put down and left to it. Come after 5pm when the concrete has cooled, because there is very little shade up there.

View on Jungle: Not yet listed
Website: The Kallang, Kids Playground
Address: Level 3, above The Kallang Library, The Kallang, 6 Stadium Walk, Singapore 397698. Google Maps
Opening hours: Open 24 hours.
Price: Free.
Nearest MRT: Stadium (CC6).

2. Sports, Arts and Heritage Trail

The National Stadium, one of the stops on the Stadium Trail. Photo: Dietmar Rabich, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

A 3km self-guided walking trail around the Kallang precinct, roughly 4,000 steps end to end. It splits into three routes. The Waterfront Trail follows the Kallang Basin and the riverine communities who lived on it. The Stadium Trail covers the National Stadium grounds and the architecture around them. The Park Trail crosses the former Kallang Park and the site of the old Wonderland Amusement Park, finishing at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Along the way are 14 benches made from the repurposed timber seats of the old National Stadium. Download the trail map and booklet from The Kallang's own page before you set off, because there is no visitor centre handing them out.

Why kids will love it: It is a treasure hunt with benches instead of prizes. Give an older child the booklet and let them navigate. The Park Trail is the one to pick with under-sevens, because it is the shortest and it ends at an air-conditioned stadium foyer. Go early, carry water, and expect 40 minutes for one route.

View on Jungle: Not yet listed
Website: The Kallang, Sports, Arts and Heritage Trail
Address: Starts at The Kallang, 6 Stadium Walk, Singapore 397698. Google Maps
Opening hours: Self-guided and outdoors, walkable at any hour. Download the map first.
Price: Free.
Nearest MRT: Stadium (CC6).

3. Giant Chess at The Kallang

A life-sized chess set in the precinct's community spaces, with pieces a child has to walk across the board to move. It is open from 7am to 10pm every day. The catch is the booking. The Kallang asks you to start the process at least seven days before you want to play, by email to experience.sports@thekallang.com.sg. This is not a walk-up attraction, so it only works if you plan the weekend a week ahead.

The Kallang publishes no charge for it. Ask when you write in.

Why kids will love it: Chess where you push the pieces with both hands and run to the other end of the board. It turns a quiet game into a physical one, and it suits the child who loses interest in a normal board after ten minutes. Best for ages 6 and up, when the rules start to stick.

View on Jungle: Not yet listed
Website: The Kallang, Giant Chess
Address: The Kallang, 6 Stadium Walk, Singapore 397698. Google Maps
Opening hours: Monday to Sunday, 7am to 10pm.
Price: Contact provider for pricing. Email at least seven days ahead.
Nearest MRT: Stadium (CC6).

4. Kallang Riverside Park

Photo: Shroom lattes, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

A 5-hectare NParks park along Kallang Road, Stadium Road and Crawford Street, on the water at the mouth of the Kallang River. It is open 24 hours and free. The headline sight is the Kallang Gas Holder, a remnant of the Kallang Gasworks built in 1862, the first site in Singapore dedicated to making street lighting gas from coal.

A family of smooth-coated otters uses the river bank here, most often near Stadium Link by the allotment garden. Between September and March, Little Egrets and Grey Herons come in. The park is wheelchair accessible, though the toilets are not. Kampong Bugis Carpark has 18 car lots and charges.

Why kids will love it: Otters, if you come early or near dusk and stay quiet. The park tracks are smooth and flat, which makes this one of the better places in the centre of town for a child on a first bicycle or a pair of inline skates. Bring the bikes, because there is no rental on site.

View on Jungle: Not yet listed
Website: NParks, Kallang Riverside Park
Address: Along Kallang Road, Stadium Road and Crawford Street, Singapore. Google Maps
Opening hours: Open 24 hours.
Price: Free. Car park charges apply.
Nearest MRT: Kallang (EW10), 583m. Lavender (EW11) is the other side.

Water play and swimming

Splash-N-Surf is gone, so the water in Kallang is now a proper pool or a proper boat. Both are cheaper than the water park was.

5. OCBC Aquatic Centre

Photo: OCBC Aquatic Centre, Jungle listing

The competition pool that hosted the 2015 SEA Games, open to the public for lane swimming most days of the week. Entry for a Singapore resident is $2.20 for an adult and $1.10 for a child under 18. The standard rate is $2.90 and $1.40. It is shut all day on Tuesdays.

Read the age rule before you go. The Competition Pool is 16 and over only. Children swim in the Training Pool, which takes all ages. Families who turn up expecting to use the big pool together are turned away at the gate.

Why kids will love it: Swimming in the lane a national swimmer raced in, in a stadium-sized hall with tiered spectator seating. The Training Pool is the one that matters for a child, and it is quiet on a weekday morning. Bring goggles, because there are no rentals.

Book on Jungle: OCBC Aquatic Centre
Website: The Kallang, OCBC Aquatic Centre
Address: 7 Stadium Drive, Singapore 397632. Google Maps
Opening hours: Monday and Wednesday to Sunday, 7am to 9.30pm. Closed Tuesday.
Price: Resident $2.20 adult, $1.10 child under 18. Standard $2.90 and $1.40.
Ages: All ages in the Training Pool. Competition Pool is 16 and over.
Nearest MRT: Stadium (CC6), 396m.

6. Geylang East ActiveSG Swimming Complex

Photo: Geylang East ActiveSG Swimming Complex, Jungle listing

The cheapest swim in this guide by a wide margin. It is an ActiveSG normal-rate pool, so a child pays 50 cents on a weekday and 60 cents at a weekend, and an adult pays $1 and $1.30. The rate card was last updated on 25 August 2026.

It closes all day every Monday unless the Monday is a public holiday. On the other six days it runs 8am to 9.30pm, and on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday the competition pool opens early at 6.30am for anyone doing laps before school.

Why kids will love it: A full afternoon in the water for the price of a packet of biscuits. It is a neighbourhood pool rather than a destination, which means shorter queues and more room than the flagship complexes on a Saturday. Come on a weekday afternoon in term time and you will nearly have it.

Book on Jungle: Geylang East ActiveSG Swimming Complex
Website: ActiveSG, Geylang East Swimming Complex
Address: 601 Aljunied Avenue 1, Singapore 389862. Google Maps
Opening hours: 8am to 9.30pm, Tuesday to Sunday. Closed Monday unless it is a public holiday. Competition pool opens 6.30am on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Price: Weekday $1 adult, $0.50 child. Weekend $1.30 and $0.60.
Nearest MRT: MacPherson (CC10/DT26), 638m. Paya Lebar (EW8/CC9) 671m, Aljunied (EW9) 739m.

7. Water Sports Centre

Photo: Water Sports Centre, Jungle listing

Kayaks and dragon boats on the Kallang Basin, run from the precinct's own boathouse. A two-hour rental costs $14 for a resident adult and $10 for a child. It is walk-ins only, with no online booking, and the last rental goes out at 5pm even though the centre stays open until 8pm.

The age rule is firm. Minimum age is 7, and a child aged 7 to 12 must have an adult in the same boat. Like the pool, it is closed all day on Tuesdays.

Why kids will love it: Paddling out onto open water with the National Stadium roof behind them, which is a view most children only see from a bus. Two hours is long enough to get past the wobbling stage. Book nothing, but arrive before 3pm at a weekend, because the boats go out and the queue builds.

Book on Jungle: Water Sports Centre
Website: The Kallang, Kayak and Canoe
Address: 8 Stadium Walk, Singapore 397699. Google Maps
Opening hours: Monday and Wednesday to Sunday, 9am to 8pm. Closed Tuesday, selected events and public holidays. Last rental 5pm.
Price: Two-hour rental, resident $14 adult, $10 child. Standard $18 and $13.
Ages: 7 and up. Ages 7 to 12 need an adult in the boat.
Nearest MRT: Stadium (CC6), 328m.

Indoor and rainy-day

8. Kallang Ice World

Singapore has had no Olympic-size ice rink since The Rink at JCube closed on 6 August 2023. Two rinks are left in the country, and this is one of them. It sits on Level 3 of Leisure Park Kallang, built to competition standards with gallery-style spectator seating, which means the parent who is not skating gets a seat and a view rather than a cold wall to lean on.

Kallang Ice World publishes no rate card or session times of its own. The operator's website is not live and the mall page carries only a phone number. Call 6348 1123 before you set out, and budget for skate hire on top of admission. Learn-to-skate courses run from beginner upwards.

Why kids will love it: Ice, in a country where the pavement reads 33 degrees. A first hour on skates is mostly falling over, and the padded walls and the rail make that survivable. Bring long socks and gloves, and wear long trousers, because the ice is wet and a child on the floor gets soaked.

View on Jungle: Not yet listed
Website: Leisure Park Kallang, Kallang Ice World
Address: 5 Stadium Walk, #03-08 Leisure Park Kallang, Singapore 397693. Google Maps
Opening hours: Not published by the operator. Leisure Park Kallang opens 10.30am to 10pm daily. Call 6348 1123 to confirm session times.
Price: Contact provider for pricing.
Nearest MRT: Stadium (CC6).

9. Kallang Bowl

Photo: Kallang Bowl, Jungle listing

Twenty-two competition-standard lanes on Level 2 of Leisure Park Kallang, with touch-screen control panels and interactive screen displays. It is the reopened version of what was once one of the earliest and largest bowling centres in Singapore, so the older relatives you drag along will have been here before.

As with the ice rink, the operator publishes no rates online and its corporate site is under construction. Phone 6345 0545 for the game rate and shoe hire before you go, especially at a weekend, when lanes go quickly.

Why kids will love it: Bumpers up and a ball ramp turns a five-year-old into someone who knocks pins down, and the screens do the rest. Two games is about the limit of a young child's attention. Go on a weekday afternoon, when the lanes are quiet and nobody is waiting behind you.

View on Jungle: Kallang Bowl
Website: Leisure Park Kallang, Kallang Bowl
Address: 5 Stadium Walk, #02-22 Leisure Park Kallang, Singapore 397693. Google Maps
Opening hours: Not published by the operator. Leisure Park Kallang opens 10.30am to 10pm daily. Call 6345 0545 to confirm.
Price: Contact provider for pricing.
Ages: 5 and up.
Nearest MRT: Stadium (CC6).

10. Climb Central The Kallang

Photo: Climb Central, Jungle listing

The climbing gym in Kallang Wave Mall, renamed along with the precinct. A first-time visit for one adult and one child aged 4 to 12 costs $44.70, which covers registration, entry and one equipment rental. If you have both climbed here before, the adult-and-child entry pass is $37.10. The rate card was last updated on 1 May 2026.

The child has to be over 16kg and over 1m tall. One adult may supervise two children, which makes the second child much cheaper than the first. Weekday opening is 11am to 11pm, and weekends and public holidays run 9am to 9pm.

Why kids will love it: Auto-belay walls, so a child clips in and climbs without a parent holding a rope. Reaching the top of a wall taller than the house is a thing they will talk about for a week. Book the first weekend slot at 9am, because the queue for the auto-belays builds by mid-morning.

Book on Jungle: Climb Central
Website: Climb Central
Address: 1 Stadium Place, #B1-01 Kallang Wave Mall, Singapore 397628. Google Maps
Opening hours: Weekdays 11am to 11pm. Weekends and public holidays 9am to 9pm.
Price: First-time adult and child $44.70 including registration and one equipment rental. Returning adult and child $37.10.
Ages: 4 to 12 for the child rate. Over 16kg and over 1m.
Nearest MRT: Stadium (CC6), 245m.

11. Smigy Playground, PLQ Mall

Photo: Smigy Playground, Jungle listing

An indoor playground on Level 3 of PLQ Mall, sixty seconds from Paya Lebar MRT. Single admission runs $23 to $35 and covers one child and one adult for either one hour or two, and the ticket stays valid for a year, so an unused one is not wasted. It takes children from 0 to 8.

Smigy does not publish opening hours for this outlet. PLQ Mall's own trading hours are the safe assumption, and the mall is directly connected to the station, which matters on a wet afternoon.

Why kids will love it: Soft play with a ball pit and slides, indoors and air-conditioned, at the age when an outdoor playground at 2pm is not an option. The under-threes get a separated toddler zone. Bring socks for the child and for yourself, because both of you will need them to go in.

Book on Jungle: Smigy Playground
Website: Smigy
Address: 10 Paya Lebar Road, #03-05/06 PLQ Mall, Singapore 409057. Google Maps
Opening hours: Not published for this outlet. Follow PLQ Mall trading hours and call ahead.
Price: $23 to $35 single admission for one child and one adult, one or two hours. Valid for one year.
Ages: 0 to 8.
Nearest MRT: Paya Lebar (EW8/CC9), 60m.

12. Spin Paint House

Photo: Spin Paint House, Jungle listing

A spin-painting studio in Kaki Bukit, at the eastern edge of this district. You sit at a spinning wheel, drip paint onto a canvas as it turns, and take the result home. An hour on the kids' wheel is $80 for two children and one adult, or $95 for one adult and one child.

It is shut on Mondays and Tuesdays, and it does not open until 3pm from Wednesday to Friday, so this is a weekend activity unless you are collecting a child from school early. Saturday runs 10am to 9pm and Sunday 10am to 8pm.

Why kids will love it: Paint is supposed to go everywhere, and here that is the point. A child watches a mess turn into a pattern in ninety seconds and immediately wants to do another. Wear clothes you have already written off. Suits ages 5 and up, mostly because of the reach to the wheel.

Book on Jungle: Spin Paint House
Website: Spin Paint House
Address: 61 Kaki Bukit Place, #04-00 SRK Building, Singapore 416233. Google Maps
Opening hours: Wednesday to Friday 3pm to 9pm. Saturday 10am to 9pm. Sunday 10am to 8pm. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
Price: $80 for two children and one adult for one hour on the kids' wheel. $95 for one adult and one child.
Ages: 5 and up.
Nearest MRT: Kaki Bukit (DT28).

Free in Paya Lebar and Geylang

13. PLQ Parkside playground and the PLQ Mall roof garden

Photo: LN9267, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Paya Lebar Quarter has two free outdoor spaces for children and they are at opposite ends of the precinct. The outdoor playground is at PLQ Parkside, on Level 1 of PLQ 3 and Park Place Residences, straight across Sims Avenue from the mall, and it runs 9am to 9pm daily. The roof garden is on Level 7 of PLQ Mall, open 10am to 10pm daily, reached by the passenger lifts next to 6ixty 8ight.

One correction worth making, because several guides carry it. PLQ has no water play. Lendlease's own amenities page lists a playground, a roof garden, family rooms and parent rooms, and no water feature anywhere. Do not pack a swimming costume on the strength of a listing elsewhere.

There are family rooms with feeding rooms, changing stations and hot and cold water at B1 and L4 of the mall, and parent rooms with changing stations and child-height toilets at L1, L2 and L3.

Why kids will love it: A proper outdoor playground sixty seconds from an MRT station, with alfresco food tables beside it so a parent can sit down. The roof garden is the better option at 11am, when it catches a breeze seven floors up. Do the playground after 5pm, because Parkside gets full sun.

View on Jungle: Not yet listed
Website: Paya Lebar Quarter, Amenities
Address: 10 Paya Lebar Road, Singapore 409057. Google Maps
Opening hours: Outdoor playground 9am to 9pm daily. Roof garden 10am to 10pm daily.
Price: Free.
Nearest MRT: Paya Lebar (EW8/CC9), 60m.

14. Geylang East Library

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

A 38-year-old neighbourhood library that opened on 26 July 1988 at a cost of $4.5 million, renovated in 2012 with a nature theme running through the interior. NLB's own history of it records that this was the first public library in Singapore to hold a thematic collection on cookery, which is a fitting thing for a branch sitting between two of the country's better hawker centres.

It opens 10am to 9pm every day of the week and closes on public holidays. Aljunied MRT is 345m away.

Why kids will love it: Air conditioning, a children's section, and the run of a building where nobody tells them to hurry up. This is the wet-afternoon answer that costs nothing at all, and unlike a mall there is nothing in it to buy. Borrowing needs a card, but reading on the floor does not.

View on Jungle: Not yet listed
Website: NLB, Geylang East Library
Address: 50 Geylang East Avenue 1, Singapore 389777. Google Maps
Opening hours: Monday to Sunday, 10am to 9pm. Closed on public holidays.
Price: Free.
Nearest MRT: Aljunied (EW9), 345m.

15. Geylang Serai Heritage Gallery

Photo: Chainwit., Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

A small National Heritage Board gallery inside Wisma Geylang Serai, curated by the Malay Heritage Centre. It covers the history of Geylang Serai through archival material and objects, alongside the memories and contributions of the people who have lived there. It is the only permanent museum in this guide, which matters now that the Singapore Sports Museum is shut until 2027.

Check the day before you go. The gallery opens Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm, but on a weekday during the school term it is closed to the public from 9am to 4.30pm because school groups have it. On a term-time Tuesday, that leaves you a window of 4.30pm to 6pm.

Why kids will love it: Objects from an estate they are standing in, which makes the history local rather than abstract. It is small enough to finish in half an hour, which is about right for a primary-school child and a museum. Pair it with lunch at the market next door and the whole afternoon is one stop.

View on Jungle: Not yet listed
Website: Roots, Geylang Serai Heritage Gallery
Address: Wisma Geylang Serai, 1 Engku Aman Turn, Singapore 408528. Google Maps
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm. Closed to the public on term-time weekdays from 9am to 4.30pm.
Price: No admission charge is published by NHB.
Nearest MRT: Paya Lebar (EW8/CC9).

The lunch stop

16. Geylang Serai Market

Photo: Chainwit., Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

A two-storey market and food centre with 63 cooked food stalls and 302 market stalls, according to NEA's own dataset. The wet market downstairs is the busiest Malay market in Singapore and the food centre above it is where most families end up. It is a three-minute walk from Wisma Geylang Serai, so entries 15 and 16 are one trip.

Note the closure. NEA has the centre shut for cleaning from 14 to 16 December 2026. Nothing else closes it for a full day.

Why kids will love it: Nasi padang with the dishes laid out where a child can point at what they want, which removes the whole problem of reading a menu. The wet market downstairs is the better half for a small child: live fish, buckets of chillies and a noise level nobody minds. Go before 11.30am for a table.

View on Jungle: Not yet listed
Website: NEA, Hawker Management
Address: 1 Geylang Serai, Singapore 402001. Google Maps
Opening hours: Stall hours vary. Closed for cleaning 14 to 16 December 2026.
Price: Free to enter. Hawker prices.
Nearest MRT: Paya Lebar (EW8/CC9), 568m. Eunos (EW7) 675m.

17. Old Airport Road Food Centre

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

The largest hawker centre in this guide and one of the largest in Singapore: 168 cooked food stalls and 54 market stalls in Block 51. It sits on the old Kallang Airport runway, which is where the road gets its name, and it is 363m from Dakota MRT rather than Mountbatten, which is the mistake most guides make.

One date matters if you are reading this soon after publication. NEA has the centre closed for cleaning from 28 September to 1 October 2026.

Why kids will love it: 168 stalls means a fussy eater and an adventurous one can be fed at the same table. Carrot cake, satay and sugarcane juice are the standard order with children. Send one adult ahead for a table at noon, because the centre fills and stays full until two.

View on Jungle: Not yet listed
Website: NEA, Hawker Management
Address: Block 51 Old Airport Road, Singapore 390051. Google Maps
Opening hours: Stall hours vary. Closed for cleaning 28 September to 1 October 2026.
Price: Free to enter. Hawker prices.
Nearest MRT: Dakota (CC8), 363m.

Enrichment classes in Kallang, Paya Lebar and Geylang you can book on Jungle

The precinct and the two estates beside it hold a dense run of enrichment centres, most of them clustered in Kallang Wave Mall, Leisure Park Kallang, PLQ Mall and SingPost Centre. These are the ones with a branch inside postal sectors 38 to 41.

• Little Splashes Aquatics. Indoor heated pool for babies and toddlers, SingPost Centre #01-204/205/206, 10 Eunos Road 8.
• NorthStar Gymnastics and Fitness. Gymnastics from age 2, SingPost Centre #03-02 South Lobby, 10 Eunos Road 8.
• GymKraft. Gymnastics for ages 3 to 18, Kallang Wave Mall #01-69/70, 1 Stadium Place.
• Xuan Sports. Multi-sport from age 1, Kallang Wave Mall #02-01, 1 Stadium Place.
• Neue Fit. Fitness for ages 5 to 18, Kallang Wave Mall #02-07, 1 Stadium Place.
• Nullspace Robotics. Robotics and coding, Kallang Wave Mall #01-72, 1 Stadium Place.
• Singapore Ballet Academy. Ballet from age 4, Leisure Park Kallang #04-01, 5 Stadium Walk.
• Yamaha Music School. Music from age 2, Leisure Park Kallang #03-07, 5 Stadium Walk.
• Global Art. Drawing for ages 2 to 12, Leisure Park Kallang #03-04A, 5 Stadium Walk.
• Ballet Quarter. Ballet for ages 3 to 18, PLQ Mall #03-23, 10 Paya Lebar Road.
• Our Art Studio. Art for ages 5 to 18, PLQ Mall #02-10, 10 Paya Lebar Road.
• Barca Football Academy Singapore. Football for ages 5 to 16, Nexus International School, 1 Aljunied Walk.
• Lion City Sailors Training Centre. Football from age 4, 8 Mattar Road.
• aquaDucks. Swimming from birth, Mountbatten Centre #01-02/03, 231 Mountbatten Road.
• The Karate Academy. Karate for ages 4 to 18, 231 Mountbatten Road Block F #01-02.
• STEP Studio. Dance for ages 3 to 18, 231 Mountbatten Road Block G #01-05.
• Kodecoon Academy. Coding for ages 6 to 18, SingPost Centre #03-01/03, 10 Eunos Road 8.
• KAMAL ARTS. Batik and painting for ages 5 to 18, Wisma Geylang Serai #04-05/06, 1 Engku Aman Turn.
• Cristofori Music School. Music for ages 3 to 18, Block 51 Old Airport Road #02-56.
• SUL Academy. Football for ages 4 to 18, 60 Lorong 23 Geylang #06-01.

At a glance

Kallang is the estate that lost its water park and kept everything else. Nine of these 17 places cost nothing, and the two that cost most are both under $45 for an adult and a child together.

Browse every listed class, camp and venue across the Central region on Jungle.