List of indoor play-space(s) for children!

[Isha]

Rain and Taipei have become synonyms so I was wondering if someone has complied the list of places we can take kids to on the weekends? If not, please post the one you know about.

Moderator's note: please provide contact information when possible for these venues. This sticky is only for a list of venues; discussions of specific venues should be started in their specific threads.

[AmoyMama]

Oh, how I wish such a list existed.

Honestly, for a place that gets so much rain in the winter and is so blazing hot in the summer, Taipei has surprisingly few good indoor play areas where kids can burn off energy. They exist, but most aren't that fab, or are expensive. (I was told about an indoor trampoline place in Xinyi that is $600 per child, per session!)

Asiababy's site has a few listed: http://kidzone-tw.blogspot.com/search/l ... 0Playareas

There is also Happy Bear in the Living Mall (same floor as Baby Boss). Or your local McDonald's.

On a rainy weekend, I would expect any of those places to be insanely busy, so be prepared for that.

[dahsiung]

Well, this may not help those of you like the OP who live in Taipei, but down here in Tainan there is a great two-floor indoor play area attached to the city hall. It is run by the city government and is therefore quite cheap for hours of fun. There are lots of different rooms and themes, although for maximum enjoyment your kids should be 2-8 years old.
It's called the Tainan Children Center (or sometimes The Children's Theme Museum of Tainan) (台南兒童館 06-2999381)
Great fun for a rainy day - although we don't have too many of those down here.

[914]

In Taipei:

Shinkong Mitsukoshi Tianmu:
-6th floor Yu Kids Island http://www.bld.com.tw $200

AMart by Miramar Dazhi:
-3rd floor Yu Kids Island (this one's bigger and badder and birthday party room)
-also upstairs are some coin operated ride-ons if kiddos get bored of Yu Kids Island

Dayeh Takashimaya Tianmu:
-3rd floor kids club (membership required),
-3rd floor free play space with some basic ride-on toys for the younger set

Living Mall:
-7th floor Baby Boss http://www.babyboss.tw/english
-children $900; adults $500
-5th floor everything caters to kids ie. clothing stores, toy stores, fishing games, ride-on animals you can sit on and cruise the whole floor

[Isha]

I visited 國立台灣科學教育館 today. It was worth, excellent play area for kids of all ages in B1 (some adults too were busy playing games); fee is only 60 NT for four and half hours of afternoon session + free trip to typhoon exhibition with real time experiments. It's pretty far from my place, 3 hr to and fro but I have a direct bus .

[mtml888]

1) Yu Kids Island
2) Happy Bear
3) Leo's Playground
4) Playspace
5) Gymboree

[asiababy]

Once the kids are at toddler stage, you can add a few museums and eateries to the list, too.

The kids land area in the Museum of World Religions (Yonghe) has a wonderful magical playland with a small library, and kids' bathroom facility. They have a one-year membership that is $1500 and gives you access to the museum for a year, and you can take vistors to Taipei with you for free, too.
As Isha mentioned, the Children's Science Museum up in Tianmu has a good play area for kids in the basement. Kids can also get excercise going round the atrium, and there are places to eat inside. They have a one-year membership available, too.
The Children's Art Museum in Tianmu is a wonderful little adventure for children from toddler age through to about 10 years.
Taipei Storyhouse in Xinyi area is free and has three floors of interactive displays that children can enjoy.

I know some parents also like Lollypops for very little ones. (Family restaurant up in Tianmu.)
I really like the MacDonald's playarea in their Reifang branch. If you are out in the North-East Coast area and get caught by weather, the 2nd floor of their MacDonald's is usually empty and the play area is quite big. They have a big car park out the back.

It's also easy to forget things like a short rainy-day train ride to break up the monotony of the weather. Even just from Taipei to Keelung (Jilong) or Banqiao and back, with maybe a stop for a drink or treat, can break up a day. Dad used to take us on rainy-day drives to buy an ice-cream, and they are wonderful memories for me now.

[kaimui22]

Hi all!

I'm new here (on the forum) and I've been living in Taiwan for about 5 months now..I have 2 kids myself so I know how hard it is to find a suitable (and not too expensive) indoor play area for my kids.

One place I've been frequenting has been the Beitou Community Centre. It's called 北投會館 and it's actually quite similar to the community centres in Canada with a gym, swimming pool and of course, a generous-sized playarea. It costs $90 per kid and you can play for 1hrs50mins each session. If you live in Beitou, you can get a discount on membership with proof of residency or for folks not from the area, you can apply for a yearly membership and then pay $60 per session for the playarea. It costs $40 for parking and there's also a mini-arcade beside the playarea. Adults can grab a newspaper/magazine and read in the sitting area.

The place is never too crowded, even on the weekends. Right now, other than Tom's World, this has to be my kids favourite place to be.

[Isha]

Thanks.
I would like to add taipei water park to the list. Cheap (~60NT) and lots of area for kids to run around. The negative side, it is usually crowded and you would need to keep an eye on your baby.
Another place I have been frequenting is National Science education center. Nice indoor play space in B1.

[David_J]

I'll second the B1 play area at the science museum.

There's a big indoor playground on the 4th floor of RT Mart (I think that's the one) in Neihu. Chinese name in pinyin would be Qi Shi Bao. Similar to the one in Living Mall, but bigger, and much more fun. Depending on how much oversight your kids need, there's also a rest area for parents. Ball volcano, ball pool, slides, dinosaur theme all over, special baby room, etc. My son enjoys it immensely.

Also, across the street from the 228 peace park, there's a dinosaur museum with fossils, mammoth skeleton and so on (Ask a local for "Kong Long Bo Wu Guan"). Not much of a play area, but if your kids are into dinosaurs they'll love this place!

I would also recommend the community sports centers. Depending on how big your kids are, there's usually swimming pools and wall climbing and such. The sports center in Wen Shan (close to WanFang Hospital MRT) also has a small indoor playground on the 1st floor.