The best thing about being a kid today is that you have plenty of physically and mentally challenging sports options at your disposal. From swimming and cycling to trampolining, there’s so much fun to be had around the Lion City.
If you’re an adventurous family it might be time to try rock climbing. It’s a great place for kids as young as four to hone their motor skills, flexibility and logical thinking. From scaling to new heights to charting out paths across bouldering walls, you’ll be able to push yourselves to the limit on both indoor and outdoor walls – surrounded by plenty of soft foam mats and strapped into safety harnesses, of course!
Here’s our round-up of the most family-friendly rock climbing gyms around Singapore…
Climb Central
Looking for a fun weekend activity? Pop into Kallang Wave Mall for a walk-in climbing sesh or sign up for one of the kids’ programmes for little ones aged five to 12. Climb Central (top image) has dedicated climbing lanes for kids (adults are welcome to try it out too), as well as kid-sized climbing shoes and harnesses. Parents can get in on the action or leave it to the professionals and watch from the comforts of the viewing platform. Climb Central also holds birthday parties and camps for extra-keen climbers. Check out our full review of this wicked climbing gym.
Climb Central, #B1-01 Kallang Wave Mall, 1 Stadium Place, Singapore 397718; www.climbcentral.sg
There’s tons of fun and colourful walls at Clip ‘n Climb for kids to try their hand at.
Clip ‘n Climb HomeTeamNS
Located at Our Tampines Hub, one of our fave family haunts, Clip ‘n Climb HomeTeamNS is a climbing theme park with 19 different climbing courses suitable for all ages. Kids weighing over 10kg ( four years old and up) are able to scale themed-walls, while strapped safely into the TruBlue Automatic Belay System. The little ones will also have a ball checking out the multi-coloured courses. Choose from simple ones like The Twister, and an abstract staircase, to the more challenging beanstalk-esque course, The Triffid. Check out our review of Clip ‘n’ Climb to see how we fared on the course.
Clip ‘n Climb HomeTeamNS, HomeTeamNS Tampines, 1 Tampines Walk #03-03, Our Tampines Hub, Singapore 528523; www.hometeamns.sg
SAFRA Adventure Sports Centre
Daredevil teens can embark on the daunting 15m or the 25m outdoor climbing walls at SAFRA’s Adventure Sports Centre. There are chimney, crack and slab walls for more experienced climbers, and a canopy challenge walk for kids to tackle with their parents. After something a little simpler for little legs? They also have a two-story indoor bouldering gym that’ll challenge your problem-solving skills.
SAFRA Adventure Sports Centre, 60 Yishun Avenue 4, Singapore 769027; www.safra.sg
The Rock School has indoor and outdoor rock walls so kids can climb rain or shine.
The Rock School
Singapore’s first ever climbing school, The Rock School, is aimed at kids four to 14 years of age. It has classes for all ages and experience levels, including first timers and parent-child bonding sessions. There are rock walls suited for kids with child-friendly handholds, bright colours and gentle wall profiles. There are also indoor bouldering and rope walls and outdoor rock climbing walls in both Bedok Community Centre and the newest branch at Our Tampines Hub. Full body harnesses and rubber flooring are also available at Our Tampines Hub.
The Rock School, Bedok Community Centre, 850 New Upper Changi Rd #01-06, Singapore 467352; Our Tampines Hub, 1 Tampines Walk, #02-81, Singapore 528523; therockschool.sg
Oyeyo Boulder Home
Kids who want to try their hand at bouldering can head to this cosy bouldering gym for a climb across the horizontal rock courses. Tucked away in Little India, Oyeyo Boulder Home has no shortage of fun routes and obstacles for kids and adults to challenge themselves.
Oyeyo Boulder Home, 148 Mackenzie Road, Singapore 228724; www.facebook.com/pg/oyeyoboulderhome
Ground Up has opportunities for kids to join competitive classes in rock climbing.
Ground Up Climbing
Ground Up provides graded walls for climbers of all levels and offers family classes and two- hour taster sessions. Whether it’s indoor rock climbing, scaling the snakes-and-ladders bouldering wall or attempting the more challenging inclined walls, kids will be challenged to solve problems and train their motor skills. There are even competitive classes for little sports enthusiasts who want to get serious about climbing.
Ground Up Climbing, Civil Service Club Level 2, 60 Tessensohn Road, Singapore 217664; www.groundupsg.com
Climbers Laboratory
Looking for a challenge? Head to Climbers Laboratory where its team of trained climbers hold climbing clinics and certification courses for tweens aged 13 and up. There’s a variety of walls available, from the themed walls in Climb Lah!, to the augmented reality walls that will have your kids climbing through the galaxy itself. There’s even a more challenging boulder wall for teens who want to hone their climbing skills.
Climber’s Laboratory, The Arena 48 Woodleigh Park Singapore 357844, PUB Recreation Club; www.exponentasia.com.sg/climbers-laboratory
Waka Waka’s safari-themed playground even has fun themed climbing walls.
Waka Waka by the Polliwogs Annex @ Furama
“Waka Waka” by The Polliwogs in River Valley has some safari-themed climbing fun for kids. Other than the wave slides, bouncy castle and futuristic air mattress, this indoor playground has an obstacle rope course that’s worth shelling out an extra $16 for, plus a Waka Adventure Zone. Equipped with safety harnesses and helmets, kids will scale padded climbing walls, totem poles and test their grit!
Waka Waka by the Pollywogs, 407 Havelock Road, Annex@Furama #05-01, Singapore 169634; www.thepolliwogs.com/waka-waka
Kinetics Climbing
Kinetics Climbing has bouldering and top rope courses with a variety of colour-coded routes suited for climbers of all levels. Its climbing classes, Rugrats and the Kinetics Junior Climbing Team are perfect for kids aged four to 13 years old. It aims to equip young ones with proper climbing techniques, so they’re able to scale the walls independently.
Kinetics Climbing, Orion @ Paya Lebar #02-07, 160 Paya Lebar Road, Singapore 409022; www.kineticsclimbing.com.sg
At Zoom Park Singapore, who needs harnesses when you’ve got a soft squishy foam pit behind you?
Zoom Park Singapore
Zoom Park Singapore isn’t just great for bouncing around, this trampoline park also has an awesome rock climbing wall with a foam pit. Recently reopened in March 2018, it has unlimited jumps on Tuesdays and ‘Zoom Kids’ days for kids under five to enter for free with every adult ticket purchased (all day Mon-Thur and 9am to 12pm, Fri-Sun). Kitted out with a dodgeball court, parkour walls and slam dunk rings, there are plenty of other things for kids to do when they’re done climbing!
Zoom Park Singapore, Sports Stage, 200 Pandan Gardens #01-14, Singapore 609336; www.zoomparkasia.com/singapore
Onsight Climbing
Onsight Climbing is one of the biggest indoor climbing gym in Singapore, boasting 2000 sqft. of bouldering surface, 43 lanes, and more than a hundred climbing routes. For $38 per child, kids aged five to 12 years old will learn how to master wall climbing under the watchful eye of experienced instructors.
Onsight Climbing, 100 Guillemard Road, Singapore 399718 (Old Singapore Badminton Hall); onsight.com.sg
Check out the Augmented Reality rock climbing walls at Let ’em Play.
Let ‘em Play
There’s so much to do for little climbers here. After a warm up climbing sesh on the “Let ’em Play Wall”, little monkeys can face off in a race up the transparent climb wall, or recruit the whole family to compete on an augmented reality (AR) wall. You can also play games like rock climbing pinball, thanks to the projected graphics and proprietary body tracking technology hailing from Finland. There’s even a drop-off discovery session for kids aged five and up, so parents can have a breather while the kids burn off some energy scaling rock walls and obstacle courses.
Let ‘em Play, 18 Boon Lay Way, Trade Hub 21 #01-100, Singapore 609966; www.letemplay.com.sg
Gorilla Climbing Gym
Cool off in this full-facility (and air-conditioned!) indoor climbing gym while the kids learn bouldering, top-rope and speed climbing. While the little ones are kept busy you can opt to either take a stab at it yourself or stay firmly on solid ground for the Yoga classes.
Gorilla Climbing Gym, 750B Chai Chee Road, #01-02, Viva Business Park, Singapore 469002; www.gorillaclimbing.com
Top image: Climb Central
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