Fun activities Archives - Kids 'R' Simple

Safra Yishun Pool Reopens with Kids Play Pool and Slides!

Safra Yishun Swimming Pool is one of our most favourite pools! It was one of the earliest Safra pools that have kids’ slides. We love that the pool is nested among trees, beautiful landscaping, greenery, clear blue skies and lovely 90’s music playing in the background. You can’t see other buildings or HDB flats from the pool. I always feel like I have escaped to some beautiful resort away from the hustle and bustle of our busy city. Come dusk, the pool’s soft lights give the whole swimming pool a romantic feel. And it is also the very reason why our whole family are Safra members!

The reopening of Safra Yishun Pool is what our family is looking forward to for the longest time! We were honoured to be invited to the Aloha Pool Party to check out the newly refurbished pool. It has many improvements!

PIRATE THEMED PLAY AREA (WADING POOL)

The Wading Pool is now a Pirate themed play area suitable for 4-8 years old. There are slides out of treasure chest box, pirate hat and ship. There are several water play jets which are designed to only eject water spray within the pool so that those onlookers at the side do not get sprayed on. These are also common play features in all Safra kids’ pools.

I like that the water safety rules are big and visible too.

TRAINING POOL

Beside the Pirate themed play area is the Training Pool of 1.0m water level. This pool can be closed for FINS Swim School swimming class during the weekends in the morning and evening. They have kept the 2 pools connected by a shallow pool walkway. My kids always love to lie on their backs and tummies with their bodies partially submerged in water.

KIDS PLAY POOL WITH RAINBOW SLIDES

The 3rd pool is the Kids Play Pool with rainbow slides. There are two slides with a big waterfall in the middle. One slide has a gentle slope for younger kids. It is common to see young toddlers or babies accompanied by adults to slide down together. If not, there is always an adult to catch the young one when he/she slides down.

For older kids and adults, there is another slide which is steeper and longer. This slide is FAST! Parents, do take note to keep clear of the exit of this slide to prevent your kids or yourself being crashed into by the slide user!

The waterfall area is a hit too as many love to have the water come down hard on them.

OLYMPIC-SIZE LAP POOL

Similarly, the kids play pool with slides is connected by a shallow pool walkway to the Olympic-Size Lap Pool. Hence, parents need to be extra watchful for little kids wandering into the deep pool.

POOL CONNECTING TO JACUZZI POOL

The 5th pool area is another 1.0m pool connected to a Jacuzzi Pool. There are benches at the sides here to relax and watch your kids at the same time. During weekends, there will be some complimentary floats for the kids to play with too. Look at all these pizza floats, watermelon floats, lobsters, and even the coconut tree is sailing on the waters!

SHOWER ROOMS AND FACILITIES

The first thing that caught my attention is that there are many mirrors in the ladies. I am not too sure about gents though, but we ladies surely need more mirrors to check ourselves before and after swim!

WASHING AREA

Can you see the big mirror on the left of the photo? There is a washing basin for little ones too.

Here is a vanity area with hairdryer and hooks for bags by the side. There are more hairdryers outside the changing cubicles.

CHANGING CUBICLES

There is a changing area with 2 cubicles that have curtains, stools and mirrors, yes mirrors again LOL! I remember the previous changing room did not have curtains and I really hate to change in the toilet cubicle or the wet shower room. Hence, I am happy to see this improvement.

TOILET CUBICLES

There are several toilet cubicles, a kid urinal and a baby changing station.

SHOWER ROOMS

There are more shower rooms than before and a central area with hooks to cater for hanging of bags and clothes without wetting the seats when parents help their young children to change after bath. I think this is very considerate!

One thing we love about swimming in Safra pools is the rain shower head and water temperature control! We can bathe in warm water! But, the down side of this shower cubicle is that it does not have a lock. We wonder why? So, you had better leave your shoes outside the cubicle or hang a towel over the door to alert others that the shower cubicle is occupied, if you do not wish to have a rude shock of others pushing the door open!

LOCKERS

Outside the shower rooms, there is a water cooler and many lockers with a token of just $0.40 to keep your valuables and bags safe. The locker is big enough to put in a bag and shoes.

More information:

Safra Yishun

Address: 60 Yishun Avenue 4, Singapore 769027
Tel: 6852 8200
Website: Safra Yishun Pool

Operating Hours

Mon*	11am – 9.30pm
Tue – Fri	7am – 9.30pm
Sat, Sun, PH	8am – 9.30pm

* On Mondays, pools will resume normal operations after pool maintenance.

Swimming Pool Rates

Mon – Fri	$1.15 (Concession) $2.20 (Normal)
Sat, Sun & Public Holidays	$1.70 (Concession) $3.30 (Normal)

Terms & Conditions

SAFRA members enjoy FREE entry into the pools daily.
Guests would need to be signed in by a SAFRA member.
Each SAFRA member is only allowed to bring along a maximum of three accompanying paying guests per day to the swimming pools at all SAFRA clubs.
Children below the age of 5 enjoy FREE entry into the pools.
Concession rate applies to children above the age of 5 who are below the height of 140cm.
Anyone above 140cm in height will have to pay Normal Guest rate.

Disclaimer: Thank you Safra for inviting us to preview the reopening of Safra Yishun Pool and the awesome Aloha Pool Party! We certainly enjoyed ourselves to the fullest for 4 full hours checking out our favourite pool!

10 Things To Do While Staycationing at Village Hotel Changi

We are back for the second time to Village Hotel Changi! This time round, our youngest was old enough to enjoy the ‘Play and Stay’ package to the fullest! The first time we stayed in this hotel, Master 5 was only 3 and there were some things he could not do by himself. So, now, 2 years later, he is able to join us in all activities and yes, he has a bed for himself too.

We are back for the second time to Village Hotel Changi! This time round, our youngest was old enough to enjoy the ‘Play and Stay’ package to the fullest! The first time we stayed in this hotel, Master 5 was only 3 and there were some things he could not do by himself. So, now, 2 years later, he was able to join us in all activities and, he had a bed for himself too.

The check in was a breeze as it is with all Village Hotels Chain. If you do walk around the hotel premise, you will notice that this hotel has many conveniences for the guests in mind!

Booking machines for all cab companies / Luggage wrapping service for travellers / Shuttle Service to Town / Airport and Business Parks

Vending machine for Snacks on the go and Cup Noodles that do not break the bank / Vending machine for Hot soupy food, noodles and rice

I am impressed that the Hotel caters all these conveniences, even though there are so many choices at the nearby Changi Village hawker centre and numerous coffee shops.

A Tour of the Rooms

We had 2 connecting Deluxe Rooms. One room had a king size bed and a roll-away bed upon request and the other one had 2 single beds. Both rooms accommodated our family perfectly. Previously, Master 5 used to sleep in baby crib but now a roll-away bed is more comfortable for him. We put the bed side by side to our King Size Bed so that I could pat him to sleep and be near him.

One of the best thing about Village Hotel Changi rooms is that each room comes with a bathtub! Each bathtub has a window! We could watch out for the kids easily from the room if the blinds are up.

We have learnt that a bathtub is almost a MUST-HAVE for staycations! Why? Because on days when the pool is icy cold, the kids can still get their water fix in the tub! Also, after a cold swim, it is a heavenly treat to frolic in a warm tub. That is what a staycation is about: maximising the hotel room and amenities to the fullest!

Next, you will also want to know that each room comes with a handyphone just like the one we saw in Village Hotel Katong! This free network phone is for guests to use during their hotel stay. It is so handy to carry along without incurring hefty phone charges and data roaming charges. Best of all, you need not pay a single cent for using it!

This is the bedroom view overlooking the Koi Pond and the Infinity Pool is up there.

Considering this is more of a hotel for travellers with its proximity to the airport, the rooms have all the things needed for them.

Room amenities

– Individually Controlled Air Conditioning
– Hair dryer
– In-room safe box
– Iron and ironing board
– Electric Kettle
– 42″ LED TV
– Cable TV Channels
– Wireless Broadband Access
– Handy Phone
– Toiletries
– Towel
– Clothes hanging line
– Torchlight
– Fridge

Hotel services
Free Wifi
24 hour security
24 hour guest services
Concierge
Business services (faxing and photocopying)
Laundry services
Parking

What are nearby the hotel within walking distance:

Changi Ferry Terminal for those who wish to go to Pulau Ubin and Chek Jawa or even day trip to Desaru!
Changi Beach for a swim and beach play and Cycling
3 Playgrounds
Civil Service Club for Bowling
Changi Village Hawker Centre for food
Public Transport

Breakfast Spread at Saltwater

There is a decent variety for the breakfast buffet at Saltwater restaurant at Level 1. Most of the foods are local cuisine, like Otah, soup noodles, rice, porridge, etc. They have Western cuisine like pastries, chicken ham, chicken hotdogs, hashbrown, cereals, etc. Service was good and food is Halal. The glass doors at the side has the Swimming Pool view, hence, we could eat in peace while we were able to see our kids in full view when they ventured near the pool.

10 Things to Do during our Village Hotel Changi Staycation:

1) Eating Cup Noodles and eating snacks on the bed

Hey! This is one of the things that the kids very much look forward to! We hardly eat cup noodles at home and not allowed to eat snacks on the bed. Well, rules are certainly more relaxed when we stay in hotels!

2) Playing card games, Reading and Relaxing

We never fail to bring some cards, simple toys, bath toys, books and writing materials to our staycation. These can entertain the kids while the adults are busy unpacking stuff.

3) Swimming in 2 Swimming Pools!

The number one reason that we love Village Hotel Changi is because it has not one, but two swimming pools! One on the top level as an infinity pool with awesome view, and the other on the first level outside the dining area with a glass wall. You can watch your kids swim in the big ‘fish tank’ swimming pool at the leisure of having your breakfast!

4) Checking out the vicinity

Village Hotel Changi puts up this small handy booklet to introduce the places to check out within walking distance. We left the hotel earlier for dinner to have a leisurely walk over at the Changi beach area. As Changi Village is quite far out from the city, we hardly come to this place. Hence, staying at this hotel allows us to enjoy the beach and sight fishermen’s harvest for the day.

5) Bowling at Civil Service Club Changi

As part of the staycation package, we were given a game of bowling each at Civil Service Club which is directly opposite the Hotel. The bowling lanes have bumpers for kids. Just tell the staff which bowler needs a bumper, and when it is his/her turn, the bumper will be erected. The last time we came, the elder kids needed bumpers and the youngest was not old enough to bowl. This time round, the elder kids could bowl without the need for bumpers and there was a shoe size suitable for the youngest and hence, he could join us for the first time!

6) Cycling at Changi Village

Also as part of the Play and Stay package, we were given a coupon each for an hour of cycling. The bicycle shop, which is really a hardware shop with some rental bicycles, is located just directly facing the Changi Village Hawker Centre. I must say that the bicycles had seen better days and you may not find the best bicycles here to ride on. There was only 1 or 2 bicycles with child seat and not much choices for kids bicycles. We made use of the coupons anyway, and cycled along the Changi beach together, stopping to play at the playgrounds on the way.

7) 3 Playgrounds at Changi Village

There are 3 playgrounds at Changi Village if you do not already know! The one with the plastic tubular slides is located just beside the hawker centre while the other 2 are along the Changi Beach.

8) Soaking in Bathtub

This is a must-have as I had mentioned earlier! Love the window view beside the bathtub!

9) Koi Feeding

There is a Koi pond that your kids can feed the fishes in it. For both times that we stayed here, we skipped the complimentary feeding activity because we had too many things to do. Further, we have a mini koi pond in our house and that explains!

10) Play Snake and Ladder

There is a huge Snake and Ladder on Level 1 of the Hotel just beside the breakfast area in the chill out section. This is a good bonding activity with young and old.

Play and Stay Package

If you are bringing your kids or even parents to stay in Village Hotel Changi, you may want to book their Play and Stay Package which includes:
– One-night accommodation
– Complimentary buffet breakfast for two at Saltwater Café
– Complimentary two-hour bicycle ride OR
– 2 games of bowling per stay
– Complimentary koi feeding (first-come first-served basis, please enquire at front desk)
– Complimentary Changi Village cycling reference guide
– Complimentary parking

Superior Room – S$200.09 inclusive of all tax
Deluxe Room – S$223.63 inclusive of all tax
Club Room – S$258.94 inclusive of all tax

Room rates subject to availability and sometimes, there are super good deals that you could look out for!

I would say that this is pretty affordable to have a short staycation over a weekend for family bonding fun! Click here to check availability for the rooms!

Village Hotel Changi
1 Netheravon Road Singapore 508502
Email: info.vhc@fareast.com.sg
Hotel: +65 6379 7111 / Reservations: +65 6881 8888

Disclaimer: We were invited for a one night stay in Village Hotel Changi. We love the Far East Hospitality’s chain of hotels with its warm hospitality each time we checked in!

Spurbox Advent Calendar Activity Box {+Giveaway}

What is the Spurbox Advent Calendar about?

It is a craft box with 12 different activities to complete within 24 days before Christmas. And you know kids are kids. The moment my kids laid hands on the Spurbox, they did 2 activities in one go in an hour! So, you may time the craft sessions with your kids according to your own schedule.

You may have read about our home-made Advent Calendar in the previous post. In a few of the advent activities, I included the kids’ favourite activity, i.e. Art and Craft. I love doing art and craft with them. When the elder kids were having exams, we shelved off all craft activities and life was kind of boring with revision, revision and revision. And now, with the school holidays, is the best time to do craft work together. Especially when the 2 elder kids are still interested enough to not label it as ‘boring’ and the youngest is old enough to do many crafts with minimal supervision.

We received the Spurbox Advent Calendar which comes in time for making our crafts as part of the Advent Calendar activities. Save me the effort to think of craft ideas!

What is the Spurbox Advent Calendar about?

I realize that each pack of activity contains the craft supplies needed but not in entirety. Some common things like scissors, markers, glue are not included but most families with kids should have them ready in the house. I would actually prefer that Spurbox includes ALL the supplies needed just like some other subscription boxes have. However, this is a small thing, we have plenty of common craft supplies and we can live with that.

There is a piece of puzzle that comes with each activity pack. Upon completion of the 12 activities, we are supposed to piece the 12 pieces of puzzles on an A4 sheet with 12 boxes to reveal the picture. We are certainly looking forward to what picture it will be!

snowman-in-a-cup — Activity – Snowman In A Cup

Perhaps you may like to get one Spurbox Advent Calendar for your child or as a gift.

Each Spurbox is priced at SGD36.90 and if you order 2 or more, the price will be SGD28.

Do check out other activity boxes and more information over here.

Craft and Baking Classes

Apart from Spurbox Advent Calendar Activities, Spurbox holds craft and baking classes too! The holiday classes are held from 3 Dec to 23 Dec and they have regular weekend classes. We tried out 1 craft class and 1 baking class over 2 different days.

Magic Pocky Wand Baking Class

Suitable for 2 and above (young children to be accompanied by parent(s))

Duration: 1.5 hours

We had really lots of fun baking together and the best part is the recipe is sooooo simple and yet tastes sooooo good that I am going to do it at home during our Christmas Party!

20161126_155321 — Making a small craft while waiting for Pocky Wands to be baked

Recipe

100g Condense Milk

4 TBSP Water

256g of Plain Flour

40g Butter

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 150C
Mix condensed milk with water and set aside
Then mix in the flour until it’s well mixed
Add the butter and keep mixing till mixtures resembles cornmeal
Mould into a stick and bake for 15 minutes, then spread melted white chocolate and sprinkle on top! Note that the white chocolate can harden pretty quick and do add the sprinkles as soon as possible

You can get the sprinkles from Phoon Huat, so I was told, and I am going to buy them to sprinkle on cookies and even ice-cream!

Santa Mug Pottery

Suitable for 2 and above (young children to be accompanied by parent(s))

Duration: 3 hours

This was the first time we did pottery and it was not difficult for Master 4, but not without my supervision. Each of us was given an apron and a piece of clay. The friendly staff guided us step by step with rather simple instructions. Nothing too difficult to handle for kids.

20161127_135348 — Helping Master 4 to cut the pottery

More information on Spurbox Holiday Camps and Term Classes:

Spurbox Junior Gourmet classes cater to children age 2 and above. They are currently having chocolate logcakes and gingerbread house classes for the Christmas season. They have also rolled out CNY classes such as custard cookies and tangerine cakes. Each Junior Gourmet class is 90mins and children can also enjoy an interactive and engaging storytelling session, as well as a craft session. All materials are provided and accompanying parent(s) do not need to purchase a ticket. Ticket is usually priced at SGD40 per kid and SGD70 for 2 kids. More information on Spurbox Holiday Camps and term classes, do check out here.

If you really like their classes, they do have a Super Saver Pass promotion where children can attend any 5 classes at only $150, working out to be $30 per class, which I think is fairly reasonable if one or two parents are able to do it with the child FOC.

Giveaway Time!

Spurbox is very generous to sponsor 4 Spurbox Advent Calendar Activity Box to 4 lucky winners! I thought this is really kind of them!

Steps to participate:

1) Leave a comment on the facebook post telling me what bonding activities do you do with your kids during the day time (if you are a SAHM) or after working hours (if you are a PTWM or FTWM).

2) Tag 5 friends along with your comment.

3) Sign up to follow my blog via email, please refer to sidebar of blog page. Do remember to tell me in the facebook comments that you have done this step so that I can look out for it.

This is a Flash Giveaway so that winners are in time to craft with their children before Christmas!

Giveaway ends on 12 December 2359 and will be announced on facebook and this post on 13 December.

UPDATE!!

Winners of the giveaway are: Grace Ng, Debra Li, Theresa Tay and Carol Lim! Congrats! I have your email addresses through subscriber list and the organizer shall contact you soon! Happy Crafting!

Further, the organizer is happy to give a 15% discount for individual CNY Craft and Baking classes! Just quote “CHRISTY“!

Happy Crafting and Happy Holidays! Ho! Ho! Ho! 🙂

Disclaimer: We were sponsored the Spurbox Advent Calendar Activity Boxes, Santa Mug Pottery and Pocky Wand Classes for the purpose of this review. All opinions are 100% mine. For working mums like me, the Activity Box is a great help for crafting with the kids without cracking my brains on craft ideas and craft supplies. So, I do hope you will find it fun too!

Our Hand-made Advent Calendar with Activities!

I would need to plan according to the dates from 1 Dec to 24 Dec. Advent Calendar begins on 1 Dec for 24 days if you do not already know. An Advent Calendar is a special calendar used to count or celebrate the days in anticipation of Christmas. You may read more about the Advent Calendar over here.

Even though we are not Christians, we love Christmas anyway. Somehow with the cool weather, with Christmas decorations dressing the malls plus the school holiday season put together, the Christmas mood does make me happier than other months. I have seen many pretty Pinterest photos on Christmas ranging from party ideas to activities. One of them is the Advent Calendar. This year, I decided to do a hand-made Advent Calendar with activities.

My first inspiration was really from A Million Little Echoes, a very talented mum blogger who did an Advent Calendar last Christmas, unveiling one activity each for her kids to do. As I am a full-time working mum, I do not have the luxury to bring the kids out every single day to surprise them, and many of the advent activities have to be in the evening when I come home from work. So, I decided to plan evening home activities and impromptu ideas to make each day an interesting one for the kids!

I started by checking my calendar for special events, and drafted a list of activities that I could input into each day of the 24 days. Some ideas are pretty crazy like.. “Accompanying Ye Ye (Grandpa, my father-in-law) to take a bus home to find Ah Ma (Grandma, my MIL)!” This will be a pleasant surprise and I think it is a great idea to let the kids take an out-of-norm impromptu bus ride to accompany my FIL on his journey home. Did I mention I have the best in-laws in the world? Without my FIL’s help each day to come my house to take care of the kids, I cannot work in peace. I know my kids are in good hands. My MIL is a kind grandma whom my kids are blessed to have. So, giving her a surprise by turning up at her childcare workplace will certainly please her greatly! The kids will certainly be thrilled and for me, I have planned it to be a Friday activity so that I can stay up late with the kids since the next day is a weekend 😃

Some other ideas for activities include movie nights, staycation surprise, a walk along Orchard Road to view Christmas Lightings, Reading Wizard of Oz to my kids, Art and Craft nights, Baking, etc, etc. You can think of your own activities to do with your kids too! It need not be bringing them out if you are busy at work on weekdays. The activities that I plan are mostly taking place at night after work hours.

There are plenty of Advent Calendars out there on Pinterest to find your inspiration. What I did was really a simple one and I got all my supplies from Daiso!

A pack of transparent gift bags
A roll of brown string
A pack of colour paper stickers
A pack of wooden clips
A pack of adhesive fancy ribbons
Small gift cards – I found cute Christmas templates and print them out

I roped in all the kids to help on this very first activity on the Advent Calendar on 1 Dec: To make an Advent Calendar! LOL!

It was easy to task the kids now that the elder 2 are good with their hands and have lots of creative juices. First, they helped me to paste the ribbons on the wooden clips to make the clips look Christmasy and lovely. Even the youngest can do this!

Then I cut a few templates of stickers meant for writing the dates on them and Missy 11 could follow my templates to duplicate to 24 of them.

Next comes the interesting part of writing the dates on the stickers. For Pinterest worthy, my initial thought was to write the dates big and legible with a nice lettering. But I decided to get the kids to write for me and they came out with their favorite drawings, with one creative snowman representing the number 8, a reindeer with a red nose using the red colour paper sticker, a tiger, butterfly and lots more! As a result, even though these bags with the cute drawings are not as glam and Pinterest showcase worthy, I really much prefer these designs as they truly make the otherwise boring advent calendar so much fun and unique!

After the bags were prepared, I spent an hour writing the activities for each day on 3 pieces of Christmas cards and slot them into each bag. One card for each of the 3 kiddos. As the youngest needs help in reading, I drew a picture on some of the cards so that he understands.

The last part of it is to string each bag and hang on the wall!

Each morning, the kids will look forward to opening up that day’s bag and read the messages inside. One thing to note is not to write the date on the message cards so that I can change my activity plans around as and when necessary.

Do you have an Advent Calendar in your home? Perhaps you can try this activity with your kids and have fun everyday till Christmas!

U Escape @ Plaza Singapura – Escape Room suitable for Family!

I am pretty excited to share about our addiction to Escape Room concept game!

Previously I have read reviews from The Little Mom and Mummy Ed and I was not sure if the kids could handle, but after we went to U Escape at Plaza Singapura during the September holidays, we all got hooked! And 2 days later, we went again, but as we did not book for it, we checked out another Escape Room and we loved that too!

I am pretty excited to share about our addiction to Escape Room concept game!

What is an Escape Room?

An Escape Room is usually designed with a theme, for instance the one that we went is a CASINO room.

The ultimate aim is to break codes and locks to finally unlock the door of the room within a limited time, like 60 min.

You have to move around the room and find clues which will lead to a combination code of a lock or a key to a lock to unlock the next clue and so on.

It requires team work, wit, and creativity.

There are different theme rooms to choose from, ranging from family friendly, to more challenging ones and even Virtual Reality Scary ones. There is music played in the background which adds to the mood of the game.

Number of pax: typically from 2 – 14

How do we play?

There are many versions of Escape Rooms in Singapore.

U Escape, being our first Escape Room experience, is very suitable for kids and family in my opinion. That is from our experience of 2 different Escape Room concept between U Escape and another similar Escape Room provider.

First of all, U Escape has 4 rooms to choose from: River Quay Casino, Szechuan Secret, The Atomic Bunker and Room 13.

We were told the River Quay Casino is the most family friendly and has a more vibrant theme and Room 13 is the more challenging one. We decided to try out River Quay Casino as it might be more suitable for our young kids especially when we had the 4yo with us too.

I like that U Escape has a Game Master dedicated to guide us in our game. We were led into the Casino room and after a short briefing by the Game Master, he left us to explore the room on our own. The timer started to count down from 60 min.

Initially I thought that both Kel and I would have to break most codes since the kids may not be as witty as us, how wrong was I!! The kids were happy to explore around and dared to touch anything and anywhere, and they had better chances in finding clues than us. Usually, they get warned on itchy hands when their curiosity get the better of them in new places, but over here in this room, my first instruction to them is ”Go ahead and explore and feel around.”

Whenever we got stuck, we had 3 chances to shout for clues, in which the Game Master will type out the clue on the computer screen on the wall. Perhaps, seeing that we have 3 young kids and time was running out quick, he typed subtle clues whenever he saw that we spent too much time at a location. Each time his message comes, there will be a soft “Ding” and we would all look up at the screen for his message. Sometimes, we even talked to him, and he replied on the screen. I thought this was really, really helpful for us as there were really many codes to break and spending more than even 5 min at one part is considered too much time wasted.

There was a moment when my youngest was a little upset that he did not know what we were all busy searching around for that he started to cry. We had neglected him in our urgency to search for clues. So, I brought him to a corner and got him to unlock a door combination lock again and again by repeating the numbers to him to which he opened that lock numerous times. Thankfully for him, when the door was accidentally closed, no one could remember the lock combination anymore as we had advanced to many other locks, except me who had chanted the code, and this time the little one could open the door and beamed with pride that he helped “solve” a clue!

I would say many of the clues are cleverly thought and arranged. We were amazed at some of the ingeniously hidden ones. When the time was up, we were still left with 2 locks. The Game Master appeared and revealed the final clues that we did not solve. We left the room feeling all hyped up on the fun. The older 2 kids could not stop talking about the experience and pestered us to go again. I feel that this is a really good place for family bonding as we need to work together and use our wit to break out of the room together. In fact, we loved it so much that I suggested going again 2 days later when we went for a playdate with Master 9’s classmates.

On the second occasion when we checked out the other Escape concept place, we were a little shocked that they do not have a Game Master like U Escape. Hence, we struggled in solving the clues within only 45 minutes, compared to U Escape’s 60 minutes. There were no clues typed out for us to read and whenever we got stuck, we pressed a bell for help and a staff member would appear to guide us on wherever we were at. As 45 minutes was really too fast for us kids and mummies, I find that this Escape room provider is more suited for experts who need minimal or no help. It is certainly not so easy for young kids to start with.

If you ask me, I will tell you that we will certainly be planning Escape Room fun for the kids again! And what’s more, for the start of the school holidays from now till 30 November, just quote

“Christy15”

to the U Escape staff and you will be entitled to 15% discount!

More information on U Escape @ Plaza Singapura:

U Escape is powered by Timezone, in partnership with Breakout Kansas City (Breakout KC).

What rooms do they have?

1) Szechuan Secret (4 – 14 players): Ever fantasized about stepping into the polished shoes of brilliant CIA Agents and tackle adventurous missions? Well, here’s your chance to live the fantasy!

2) Atomic Bunker (4 – 12 players): Imagine stepping into an atomic bunker only to realise that the only way to save mankind from world destruction is to stop a reactor meltdown! And you only have 60 minutes! — tick tock…

3) Room 13 (4 – 12 players): You don’t know how you checked in, that’s why this is one hotel room you would want to check out of as soon as you can!

4) River Quay Casino (2 – 10 players): Take on the role of an eagle-eyed investigator and find out a corrupt employee who has been looting the Casino.

5) INTENSE mission – NEW!

U Escape has recently launched ten-minute Escape Room missions. Typically, each game at U Escape is 60 minutes long. But now, for the first time in Singapore, people will be able to experience the adventures of an Escape Room in just ten minutes. This works for those who are looking for some quick thrills and proof of their mental prowess and also for first-timers who may want to get a feel of Escape Rooms before they commit an entire hour to it.

Priced at $6 per person, U Escape currently has the following five types of missions:

No.	Mission	Description
1.	Operation Firefly	Special Agent, Our inside man has got some really important information. This information is code named Firefly. We will only have a 10min window to pick Firefly up. Failure is not an option. Your mission is to BRING BACK FIREFLY. Be Swift.
2.	Hit List	Special Agent, At 0041hrs this morning, one of our agents, code named The Skull, was killed in the enemy territory. It is believed he was a double agent working for both sides. His loyalties were unknown. Now, we need to retrieve The Skull’s Hit List diary, a notebook believe to contain the names of people he was tasked to assassinate. There is little time to waste, once in the mission zone, you will only have 10mins, before the enemy retrieves it themselves. Your mission is to RETREIVE THE HIT LIST DIARY BEFORE THE ENEMY GETS THEIR HANDS ON IT.
3.	Hell’s Gate	Special Agent, There are ORBS code named “Hell’s Gate”. ORBS is believed to be an unknown technology able to open a gateway to another dimension. We cannot let the enemy have this. We have come to know that all the orbs are within the same zone, but you will only have 10mins to retrieve them all. Your mission is to FIND & SECURE ALL FOUR ORBS.
4.	King Solo	Special Agent, You have been selected for this retrieval mission, code name “KING SOLO”. There is a key that will open the gates to King Solomon’s Treasures, which we have found to be located in the Szechuan area in China. Your country needs this key. Your mission is to FIND THE KEY AND BRING IT BACK TO MISSION CONTROL.
5.	Raven’s Tale	Special Agent, We believe the enemy will be instigating an attack on our lands. We can get you into the heart of the territory where we believe the plans are stored in a SAFE, but you only have 10 minutes to find it, remember everything, and get out of there. Save your Nation. Your mission is to FIND OUT WHAT THEIR PLAN IS. REMEMBER THE DETAILS; WHAT, HOW AND WHEN.

Each mission can be attempted by one to three players.

Location:

Plaza Singapura #07-08A
68 Orchard Road
Singapore 238839

Tel: 6337 0049

Email: info@uescape.sg

Website: http://www.uescape.sg/

Opening Hours :
Mon – Thurs : 10am to 11pm
Fri – Sun : 10am – 12mn

Price:

Off-peak (Mondays to Thursdays before 6pm) – $26 for Adult and $20 for student

Peak (Mondays to Thursdays after 6pm, Friday to Sunday whole day) – $29 for Adult and $26 for student

Children under 12 years old will be allowed student prices. Children under 6 years old are free.

To check for promotions which they do have value for money on and off, click here.

Functions: Corporate booking for team building events or Birthday and private functions, you may write to them at info@uescape.sg

It is advisable to book in advance before going to U Escape to secure an Escape Room to avoid disappointment.

Disclaimer: We were invited for a review experience at U Escape. As you can see, we loved it so much that we had to go twice within a week! That kind of sum up our experience! 🙂