We visited Singapore with kids twice as bookends to a three-week family trip through Indonesia, which gave us the chance to experience two very different sides of the city. On our first visit, we stayed in central Singapore and focused on family-friendly attractions like Singapore Zoo, Gardens by the Bay and the ArtScience Museum. When we returned at the end of our trip, we stayed on Sentosa Island for a few days of waterparks, the Singapore Oceanarium and other kid-friendly activities.
Singapore quickly became one of our favourite places to visit in Asia with kids, especially with so many excellent things to do with kids packed into a relatively small area. We also loved the variety. One day we were watching orangutans at the zoo, the next we were exploring Cloud Forest or eating our way through a Singapore food tour.
In this guide, we share our favourite things to do in Singapore with kids, where we stayed, where we ate and how we put everything together into a four-day Singapore family itinerary. We’ll also share which attractions our kids enjoyed most and the practical tips we learned along the way.
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Best Things to Do in Singapore with Kids
One of the most vibrant and exciting cities in the world, we had an amazing time during our trip. Below we share our favourite activities from our four day visit to Singapore with kids. We list them in the order we enjoyed them, starting with our favourites.
If you’d like to see the order in which we did these activities, keep reading to see our 4-day Singapore itinerary with kids.
Singapore Zoo
We arrived in Singapore very early in the morning after a 15-hour overnight flight from Canada, so we needed an engaging first-day activity to help everyone power through the jetlag. The Singapore Zoo was the obvious choice, and it was the perfect way to ease into the city. It’s a very large zoo, and it took us about 5 hours to see the whole thing.
We arrived shortly after opening, which was lucky as the animals are often more active early in the day. Once the intense equatorial midday heat kicks in, many of the animals will be resting in the shade.
Orangutans
As soon as we entered the Singapore Zoo, we headed straight for the orangutans. A large group of orangutans share a spacious area with plenty of climbing structures, which makes it fun for kids to watch them move around, climb, rest and interact. We also liked that other animals, including gibbons and otters, share the space with the orangutans. It’s more interesting to look at, and having company must be more interesting for the orangutans.
Seeing orangutans at the Singapore Zoo made us even more excited about our upcoming trip to Indonesia with kids. On this trip, I am knocking off a bucket list item by seeing orangutans in the wild.
For more info on our family adventure to see orangutans in Indonesia, you can see our posts on visiting Bukit Lawang with kids and visiting Borneo with kids.
Wild Africa
The Wild Africa section was another highlight for us, and it reminded us of our family trip to Kenya with kids two years prior. Of course, seeing African animals in a zoo is a very different experience than seeing them on safari, but our kids still enjoyed recognizing animals we had seen before and learning more about others.
We arrived at the southern white rhinos around feeding time, which made for an especially interesting stop. They were getting a little aggressive with each other over the food, so it was a good chance for the kids to see just how powerful these animals are.
Other highlights in this area included African painted dogs, cheetahs, zebras, red river hogs, nyala, meerkats and Rothschild’s giraffes. The lions were especially fun to watch as they played with a large ball and chased each other around.
This area also had a few animals our kids found especially memorable. They loved watching Sri Lankan leopard cubs playing in the trees, while the tiny naked mole rats were both fascinating and a little gross. We also saw a fossa.
RepTopia
We knew we were going to love RepTopia the moment we stepped inside the building and felt the air conditioning. After walking around in Singapore’s heat and humidity, stepping into an air-conditioned reptile house felt wonderful.
There are a great variety of reptiles and amphibians in RepYopia, including a king cobra, flying snake, vine snake, crocodile lizard, poison dart frogs, Gaboon viper, Philippine crocodile and a Mexican red leg tarantula. This was a good area to slow down and look closely for some of the well camouflaged animals; the frogs were especially fun to look for.
One of the more memorable stops for us was the Rote snake-necked turtles. A staff member shared a Singapore Zoo conservation story with us, explaining that they were extinct in the wild and are being reintroduced to an island in Indonesia. It was a great example of how zoo visits can lead to meaningful conversations with kids about conservation and endangered species.
Fragile Forest
Fragile Forest was another favourite area of ours at Singapore Zoo. We loved how up close and personal the animal encounters felt here, which made it especially engaging for the kids.
This walk-through area included stick bugs, butterfly gardens, birds and parrots, lemurs, bats and tiny deer. Because some of the animals are free-roaming or very close to the pathways, it feels much more immersive than simply looking through glass or across an enclosure.
Fragile Forest is also a good area to move slowly. Kids will likely spot things adults miss, especially with smaller animals like stick bugs or birds tucked into the trees. We also saw macaque monkeys here, which added to the feeling that there was always something moving or happening around us.
Australasia
We finished our day with a trip through Australasia. Some of the highlights here included the colourful cassowary bird and a group of kangaroos.
We also saw the Asian elephants feeding, which was a fun stop for the kids, and ended our day with a very vocal tiger. It was a memorable way to finish our visit, especially after a full day of animal encounters.
These animal highlights were rounded out by countless other animals throughout Singapore Zoo, far too many to mention in one post. That is what makes the zoo such a great activity for families visiting Singapore with kids.
Getting to the Singapore Zoo
The Singapore Zoo is located quite a ways away from central Singapore. We got there by taking a Grab from our hotel (the local equivalent to Uber). It was easy to get a Grab on the way, but we found it very hard to get one to go home.
Recommended Tour
You can get around this problem by booking this package which includes tickets to the Singapore Zoo, along with round-trip transportation from your hotel.
Cloud Forest at Gardens by the Bay
The Cloud Forest at Gardens by the Bay is one of the most impressive indoor attractions in Singapore with kids, especially if you need a break from the heat. It is cool, lush and easy to explore at a relaxed pace, which makes it a great option for families.
During our visit to the Cloud Forest, the Jurassic World experience was taking place, which made it even more exciting for our kids. Even without the dinosaur theme, the Cloud Forest has a huge wow factor as soon as you walk inside.
First Impressions Inside the Cloud Forest
The first impression when entering the Cloud Forest was amazing. You walk in and are immediately greeted by a towering indoor waterfall surrounded by lush vertical gardens. It feels completely different from being outside in the heat of Singapore, and everyone in our family just stopped to take it all in.
With the Jurassic World experience, there were two massive Brachiosaurus dinosaurs near the waterfall, which made the entrance even more fun for kids. The combination of the tall waterfall, dense greenery and dinosaurs made it feel like we had stepped into a prehistoric jungle.
The Jurassic World Experience
The Jurassic World experience added a fun layer to our visit to the Cloud Forest, especially for kids who enjoy dinosaurs. One of the highlights was an amazingly realistic animated T-rex, which was very fun and impressive to see up close.
There were also velociraptors who spit water at you, which added a bit of excitement as we made our way through the Cloud Forest. Younger kids may find some of the dinosaurs a little intense, especially the larger animated ones, but for many families this will be part of the fun.
Walking Down Through the Cloud Forest
After exploring the lower level, we took the elevator up to the sixth floor of the Cloud Forest and began our easy walk back down. This is a great way to experience the attraction, as you gradually make your way down along elevated walkways with different views of the gardens below.
One of our favourite stops on the sixth floor was the waterfall viewpoint. It gives you a completely different perspective than when you first enter, and it helps kids appreciate just how tall the indoor waterfall really is.
The walk back down the Cloud Forest was easy and gave us plenty to look at along the way. Between the plants, elevated pathways, waterfall views and dinosaur displays during our visit, it stayed interesting from start to finish.
Is the Cloud Forest Worth Visiting with Kids?
For us, the Cloud Forest was well worth it. It is one of the best things to do in Singapore with kids if you want something that feels unique, memorable and family-friendly, while also giving everyone an air-conditioned break from the heat.
It works especially well for families who enjoy nature, gardens, dinosaurs, waterfalls or indoor attractions that still feel active. It is not a playground-style attraction, so younger kids may need some encouragement to keep moving, but there is enough to see that our family found it very enjoyable.
Cloud Forest Tickets
Get your tickets for the Cloud Forest and the many other Gardens by the Bay attractions here.
Singapore Oceanarium
The Singapore Oceanarium was one of our favourite indoor attractions during our family trip to Singapore. Located on Sentosa Island, the new Singapore Oceanarium takes visitors through a series of habitats covering everything from prehistoric life and coral reefs to sharks and the strange creatures found in the deepest parts of the ocean.
We have visited a lot of aquariums around the world with our kids, so it takes something special to really impress us. With an impressive mix of enormous showpiece tanks and smaller exhibits, the Singapore Oceanarium was one of the best aquariums we’ve ever visited.
Jellyfish Displays
One of the biggest highlights for us was the Ocean Wonders jellyfish exhibit. Jellyfish are always one of our favourite attractions at aquariums, and this was one of the most extensive we have encountered anywhere in the world.
The centrepiece is an enormous circular habitat filled with thousands of moon jellies, along with additional tanks featuring several other really unique and interesting species of sea jellies.
Shark Seas and the Open Ocean
If your kids love sharks and rays, there are two sections you won’t want to miss.
Shark Seas has a huge tank filled with several species of sharks, but the best part is walking through the glass underwater tunnel with sharks swimming above and around you. It was easily one of the most memorable parts of our visit.
The Open Ocean habitat is impressive for a completely different reason. Its enormous viewing window fills an entire wall, giving you a chance to sit back and watch manta rays, rays, sharks and schools of fish move through the water.
We recently swam with manta rays on our family trip to Hawai’i, so seeing them again was a huge thrill. There was so much going on in this tank that we simply stopped and watched for a long while, something that we rarely do.
Smaller Exhibits Worth Slowing Down For
Although the giant tanks get most of the attention, some of our favourite animals were found in the smaller exhibits.
Celine was thrilled to see two of her favourite creatures on Earth: brightly coloured poison dart frogs, and weedy seadragons.
There were also seahorses, clownfish (Little Nemo), moray eels, coral reef fish and plenty of other animals to look for along the way. The Coral Gardens even includes a small viewing tunnel where you can get very close to the moray eels.
The large and interesting variety is one of the things we liked most about the Singapore Oceanarium.
Prehistoric Life, Shipwrecks and the Deep Ocean
Singapore Oceanarium isn’t only a traditional aquarium. Several sections help kids understand how ocean life developed and what happens in parts of the ocean that humans rarely get to see.
Near the beginning, there are displays about prehistoric animals along with live species such as axolotls and poison dart frogs. Digital recreations bring extinct animals into the displays, which helps make this section more interesting for kids than simply looking at fossils or information panels.
We enjoyed the large shipwreck display, along with exhibits about unusual deep-sea creatures. One of the most memorable displays lets you walk through a replica whale-fall skeleton. Standing underneath those enormous bones gives kids a much better appreciation for just how large whales really are. The surrounding exhibit also explains how a whale carcass can support an entire deep-sea ecosystem for years.
How Long Do You Need at Singapore Oceanarium?
It took our family about two hours to visit the Singapore Oceanarium, which felt like a good amount of time for us. We stopped at all of the exhibits without feeling like we needed to rush.
Families with younger kids who want to linger at every tank, participate in interactive displays or watch one of the scheduled presentations could easily spend longer. There is no official time limit once you enter, so you can move through at whatever pace works best for your family.
I would plan for at least two hours, and leave some flexibility in your schedule if your kids are especially interested in marine animals.
Is Singapore Oceanarium Worth Visiting with Kids?
For families who enjoy wildlife and aquariums, we think the Singapore Oceanarium is well worth adding to a Singapore itinerary with kids. The combination of huge sharks, manta rays, jellyfish, coral reefs and smaller unusual animals kept all four of us interested throughout our visit.
For our family, the jellyfish, Shark Seas and enormous Open Ocean tank alone made the visit worthwhile. Add in poison dart frogs, weedy seadragons, deep-sea creatures and that very cool whale skeleton, and it ended up being one of our favourite things to do in Singapore with kids.
It is also a great option for an especially hot or rainy part of the day in Singapore, and its Sentosa location makes it easy to combine with other attractions on the island.
If you are planning to visit, we recommend booking your Singapore Oceanarium tickets in advance so you can have your tickets sorted before arriving on Sentosa.
Visit the ArtScience Museum
Another of our favourite things to do in Singapore with kids was the ArtScience Museum. You may know it as the beautiful building on the waterfront which looks like a lotus. We loved how this very kid-friendly Singapore museum was visual and interactive, with each stop encouraging the kids to create something and then enjoy their art on a much bigger scale.
This is a great option for families visiting Singapore with kids, especially if you want an active and engaging indoor activity that gives everyone a break from the heat. Our visit through the Future World exhibit took about an hour, which felt like a good amount of time for this exhibit.
Future World Exhibit
We started our visit to the ArtScience Museum in a room where every wall was an interactive screen. Our kids used special wands to create things, or move magnetic items around the wall to change how the little creatures and the world on the screen responded. They loved how hands-on this activity was, and it was just the beginning of the fun.
The next room was another of our favourites. We created paper airplanes using special paper with instructions, then threw them into a futuristic space filled with fog and laser lights. It was a simple activity, but very fun for kids, as it combined making something with actually using it in the exhibit. The slo-mo videos we took of the planes flying were pretty cool!
Another room had a colourful ropes course, which added a nice physical element to the visit.
There was also an art station where we could choose from templates, including an airplane, butterfly or dolphin. After colouring our designs, the museum scanned the artwork and it came alive on a giant display on the wall. All of the recently generated artwork moved around on the giant display, which was a ton of fun to watch.
There is something really fun about watching your own drawing become part of a large animated world, and it was one of the best examples of how interactive the Future World exhibit is for kids.
We finished by walking through the Crystal Universe, a room filled with mirrors and dangling lights designed to create amazing optical illusions. It was a memorable way to end the visit, and another great spot for photos.
ArtScience Museum: Good to Know
Future World works especially well for kids who like drawing, building, lights, screens and interactive activities. It does not take a full day, but it is a great one-hour indoor stop near Marina Bay, especially when you need a break from Singapore’s heat.
Adventure Cove Waterpark
After spending so much time sweating in the jungles of Indonesia, our kids were very excited to spend our first full day on Sentosa Island at Adventure Cove Waterpark. In fact, while our kids were sweltering in the jungle, they were fantasizing about their upcoming day at the waterpark!
Although Adventure Cove Waterpark turned out to be a bit smaller than I’d expected, there are waterslides for different thrill levels, along with a large wave pool and other water attractions. Our kids were 11 and 13 during our visit, and they spent most of their time trying the bigger slides again and again.
Their clear favourite was Riptide Rocket, a hydro-magnetic water coaster with uphill sections, twists and drops. It was easily the waterslide they enjoyed most and they rode it over and over, until the line started getting too long.
They also loved Whirlpool Washout, Tidal Twister and Dueling Racer. Tidal Twister was especially fun because parts of the ride can send you down the slide backwards, which our kids thought was hilarious.
When they needed a break from the waterslides, they spent plenty of time playing in Bluwater Bay, the large wave pool. We also enjoyed a fun and relaxing trip around the waterpark on tubes in Adventure River.
Adventure Cove Waterpark is a great option for families spending more than one day on Sentosa, especially with older kids who enjoy waterslides. Our three-week family trip to Indonesia was really hot and sweaty and our visit to the waterpark in Sentosa was the perfect way to wash that all away!
Adventure Cove Waterpark: Good to Know
Get to the Adventure Cove Waterpark right at opening. This is the least busy time of day and is a great time to get in lots of rides on the top waterslides in the park. For example, we were able to ride Riptide Rocket, the most popular waterslide at the Adventure Cove Waterpark, three times in a row with no waiting!
Singapore Food Tour
One of the best things we did in Singapore with kids was a food tour. Singapore is famous for its hawker centres, but if you’re visiting for the first time, it can feel a little intimidating.
Not knowing what to order, which stalls are good and safe to eat at, or which dishes your kids might actually eat can add to the stress. As we often do in a new city with exotic food, we took a kid-friendly food tour in Singapore to learn more about the local food, and to find options our kids would like.
Read More
Other memorable food tours we have enjoyed in Asia were in Seoul with kids and Siem Reap with kids.
Maxwell Food Centre
Our tour started at Maxwell Food Centre, where we immediately jumped into several classic Singapore dishes. We tried chai tow kway, better known as Singapore carrot cake, which is confusing because it’s made with daikon radish and not carrots at all. We also had char kway teow, a stir-fried noodle dish with both wide flat noodles and thinner noodles, plus Chinese sausage, fish cake and cockles.
We also tried laksa, a rich coconut curry noodle soup, and popiah, a fresh spring roll filled with different textures and flavours. These were all dishes we probably would have walked right past on our own, simply because we wouldn’t have known what they were.
Hawker Chan
From there, we went to Hawker Chan in Chinatown, famous for being the first street hawker stall to receive a coveted Michelin star. Here we tried the soya sauce chicken rice, served with deep-fried tofu. This was one of the easiest dishes for the kids to enjoy, and it was fun to have a little Michelin-starred food experience in such a casual setting.
Little India
Next, we took the MRT to Little India and visited the Tekka Centre hawker centre. This part of the tour felt completely different from Maxwell Food Centre and Chinatown, which is exactly what made it so interesting. We had lemonade, Indian rojak, thosai served in a fun cone shape, murtabak, and appam, a soft rice flour pancake-style dessert made with coconut milk.
Haji Lane
We finished the tour by taking the MRT to the very colourful and touristy Haji Lane area. Our final stop was at a Turkish restaurant, where we tried künefe, a sweet pastry dessert, along with Turkish goat milk ice cream.
This food tour was an excellent way to try a ton of new foods in Singapore in a short amount of time. Singapore has such an incredible food scene, but it can be intimidating when you don’t know the dishes, the ordering system, or what your kids might like. Having a guide made it so much easier.
It was also a great experience for our kids. Trying one new food can feel like a big ask, but when there are lots of small tastings, it takes the pressure off. They could try a bite, decide what they liked, and move on to the next thing. It helped build their confidence with trying new foods, because they realized they just might like something completely unfamiliar.
Recommended Tour
We really enjoyed the Singapore Stories Food Tour. It was a fun way to learn about local cuisine and a great way to introduce kids to food in Singapore!
Marina Bay Waterfront Walk
One of our favourite ways to explore Singapore with kids was by walking along the waterfront. Singapore is an easy city to enjoy on foot, especially around Marina Bay, where many of the city’s most famous sights are close enough to connect into one family-friendly walking route.
We started our self-guided Singapore walk at 7:30 AM to avoid the worst heat of the day, and we were very glad we did. Singapore is hot and humid, and even a fairly easy walk can feel much harder once the sun is higher. If you are visiting Singapore with kids, we recommend starting as early as you can, bringing plenty of water and planning for air-conditioned breaks along the way.
Merlion Park
We walked directly from our kid-friendly central Singapore hotel to Merlion Park, which was a fun first stop on our Singapore walking tour. The Merlion is one of Singapore’s most recognizable icons, and our kids enjoyed seeing it in person after seeing pictures of it before our trip.
Good to Know: Merlion Park can get very busy, so visiting early in the morning worked well for us. It was still warm, but much more manageable than later in the day.
Jubilee Bridge
From Merlion Park, we crossed the Jubilee Bridge, which gives you some of the best views of the waterfront. From here, we enjoyed looking back at the Merlion and across the bay toward the ArtScience Museum and the famous Marina Bay Sands Hotel.
Helix Bridge
We loved crossing the Helix Bridge. It has such interesting architecture, and it is so much different than a typical pedestrian bridge. This is another great place to slow down and take in the views. You can see Marina Bay Sands, the ArtScience Museum and the waterfront from different viewing platforms as you walk across.
ArtScience Museum
After crossing the Helix Bridge, we stopped to admire the lotus flowers in front of the ArtScience Museum. Even if you don’t go inside the museum, this area is worth a short stop.
The building itself is one of the most recognizable sights around Marina Bay, and the lotus pond in front of it makes it especially pretty. It was during our walking tour of the Singapore waterfront that we decided to come back later and visit the ArtScience Museum with our kids.
The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands
One of the best parts of this walk with kids was being able to escape into air-conditioning when we needed a break. We stopped at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, and it felt wonderful to cool down for a while after walking in the heat.
The stores within the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands are mostly high-end fashion, so we didn’t do much aside from window shopping. Still, it worked perfectly as a rest stop. If you are walking around Marina Bay with kids, it is a great place to use the bathrooms, cool off and regroup before heading back outside.
Parent Tip
Don’t underestimate how helpful air-conditioned breaks are in Singapore. Even a short break indoors can make the rest of your walk much more enjoyable with kids.
Gardens by the Bay
We finished our walking tour of Singapore with a visit to Gardens by the Bay. We really enjoyed walking through the gardens and loved how beautiful and well-maintained everything was. It felt like a peaceful change from the busy waterfront, and there was plenty of space for the kids to walk around.
The Supertrees were interesting to see during the day, but I imagine they would be even more impressive at night when they are lit up. If your kids can handle a later evening, this would be a great place to return for Garden Rhapsody, the nighttime light show.
For us, Gardens by the Bay was a great way to finish our Singapore waterfront walk. It gave us a mix of city views, unique architecture, garden paths and plenty of family-friendly stops along the way.
Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay
After visiting the Cloud Forest, we also visited the Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay, though we went through it fairly quickly. It was nice enough, with beautiful floral displays and a cool indoor setting, but for our family it wasn’t nearly as memorable as the Cloud Forest.
The Flower Dome was also very crowded during our visit, which made it harder to slow down and enjoy. Compared to the dramatic waterfall, elevated walkways and Jurassic World experience in the Cloud Forest, the Flower Dome felt a little boring for everyone, especially our kids.
That said, it may still be worth visiting if you already have a combined ticket, if your family enjoys flowers and gardens, or if you want another air-conditioned break while visiting Gardens by the Bay. It is stroller-friendly and easy to walk through, so it works well for families who want a calm, low-effort indoor attraction.
Good to Know: If you are short on time or trying to choose just one paid attraction at Gardens by the Bay with kids, we would recommend the Cloud Forest over the Flower Dome.
Recommended Tour
Get your tickets for the Flower Dome and the many other Gardens by the Bay attractions here.
Sentosa 4D Adventureland
Finally, our least favourite activity in Singapore with kids was Sentosa 4D Adventureland. This is one of the third-tier attractions in Sentosa and we only did it as a way to kill an hour before heading to our Changi Airport hotel.
The 4D Adventureland was a mildly entertaining attraction. It begins with watching a short 3D animated movie with 4D elements such as wind, water and moving seats.
You then transfer to a different theatre where you get into a 6-seat compartment. Here we watched two short 3D movies: a log ride and a haunted mine. The combination of the 3D movie and the moving compartment makes the whole thing feel very real.
We finished with Desperados, a 3D wild-west shooting game, where you sit on a horse and shoot targets on the screen.
4D Adventure is really starting to show its age, both technology-wise and in the condition of the equipment. I’d only recommend this attraction if you have an hour to kill and have low expectations. For a similar amount of money, I wish we would have done the Harry Potter attraction instead.
More Things to Do in Singapore with Kids
With only four days to spend in Singapore with kids, there’s no way we could see it all. Here are some of the other things to do with kids in Singapore that we considered for our family vacation, but didn’t get around to doing.
Universal Studios
Universal Studios Singapore is another popular family attraction on Sentosa Island, especially for kids who love theme parks, movie characters and thrill rides. The park has a mix of roller coasters, family rides, shows and themed areas, so it works best for families who are happy to devote most of a day to it.
We chose not to visit Universal Studios Singapore in our itinerary, as the park was very similar to the Universal Studios Hollywood, which we visited on our trip to Los Angeles with kids. If your family enjoys theme parks, Universal Studios should be high on your list of things to do in Sentosa with kids.
Harry Potter: Visions of Magic
Harry Potter: Visions of Magic is an immersive, interactive experience at Resorts World Sentosa that brings several locations from the Wizarding World to life through lighting, sound, projections and interactive elements.
Rather than rides like you would find at a theme park, you walk through a series of environments inspired by places such as the Ministry of Magic, Knockturn Alley and the Room of Requirement, using a wand to reveal some of the magic along the way.
We didn’t manage to fit Harry Potter: Visions of Magic into our Singapore itinerary, but it would be worth considering for families with Harry Potter fans. It is located at Resorts World Sentosa, making it easy to combine with other Sentosa attractions.
4 Day Singapore Itinerary with Kids
Day 1: Singapore Zoo
Begin your family trip to Singapore with a visit to one of the best zoos in the world. The Singapore Zoo is known worldwide for its outstanding collection of animals and its interesting, and realistic enclosures. Likely the single best thing to do in Singapore with kids, the Singapore Zoo is the perfect activity for the first day of your family trip.
Day 2: Marina Bay and Gardens by the Bay
With the Singapore Zoo out of the way, it’s time to see Singapore’s famous waterfront. Start as early in the day as possible to avoid the heat. During your walking tour, you can visit the iconic Merlion and Gardens by the Bay, including the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome.
If you still have time in the afternoon, spend an hour at the fun and interactive ArtScience Museum. This is one of the coolest science museums we have visited anywhere in the world.
End your second day in Singapore with kids with a food tour. This fun family activity will introduce you to many of Singapore’s most notable and interesting dishes, and will hopefully help build your kids’ confidence in trying new foods during your trip.
Day 3: Sentosa and Adventure Cove Waterpark
Now that you’ve seen the main sights in central Singapore, you can transfer your family base to Sentosa. Home to a wide variety of theme parks and attractions, Sentosa is an incredibly fun place to visit in Singapore with kids.
The biggest attraction in Sentosa is Universal Studios Singapore. We would have taken our kids here during our family trip to Sentosa, but there was a significant overlap to the attractions we recently enjoyed at Universal Studios Hollywood.
If you haven’t been, Universal Studios should be your top choice for things to do with kids in Sentosa. But if, like us, you have reason not to go to Universal Studios, the other top two attractions are the Adventure Cove Waterpark and the Singapore Oceanarium.
For the third day in Singapore with kids (and our first day in Sentosa), we chose to enjoy the Adventure Cove Waterpark.
Day 4: Singapore Oceanarium and Sentosa
Given that we were not interested in visiting Universal Studios Singapore, and we had done the Adventure Cove Waterpark the day before, we began our final day in Singapore with kids at the Singapore Oceanarium; one of the most extensive and impressive aquariums we’ve visited anywhere in the world. We got to the Singapore Oceanarium at its 10 AM opening time and were done by lunch.
Afterwards, we had lunch and walked through some of Sentosa’s kid-friendly shops, including Pop Mart (which always had a long lineup to get in), Lego, Hershey’s, etc.
We still had a few hours to kill before heading to our Changi airport hotel, so we elected to enjoy one of the additional family-friendly attractions in Sentosa. The obvious choice was Harry Potter: Visions of Magic, but for whatever reason, the kids weren’t too excited about it, and we didn’t go.
We ended up at the 4D Adventure, which was just ok. If I had a do-over, I’d have done Harry Potter instead.
Where We Stayed in Singapore with Kids
Even though we only spent four days in Singapore with kids, we managed to stay at three separate kid-friendly Singapore hotels. The first two nights were in a centrally located hotel near the Singapore waterfront. The next two nights were at an amazing family-friendly resort hotel in Sentosa, while our final night was spent in a Family Room at a hotel connected to the Singapore airport.
For details on these excellent places to stay in Singapore, check out our post on Family Friendly Hotels in Singapore.
Where to Eat in Singapore with Kids
Toast Box
When Celine and I first visited Singapore pre-kids, we discovered a fun little breakfast place called Toast Box. It’s a fast food place, but we fell in love with their peanut butter toast. We’ve been telling our kids about it for years and were excited to finally take them there.
Luckily we had a Toast Box in the same building as our kid-friendly central Singapore hotel, so on our arrival day we headed down for some grilled peanut butter toast on thick bread. This time we also tried some banana bread and iced coffee for the parents. The peanut butter toast was every bit as good as we remembered, and the kids thought it was great too!
During our stay in Sentosa, we made several trips to a nearby Toast Box for breakfast too!
If you’re looking for a simple, affordable, non-threatening breakfast for your kids in Singapore, Toast Box is a solid option. There are locations all over Singapore.
Funan Center Food Court
Another reason why we loved our family-friendly hotel in central Singapore so much is that it was on top of a large, brand new shopping mall. The experience of walking through a Singaporean shopping mall is an adventure itself, but it’s also a great option for families who need a place to eat.
There’s a large number of restaurants throughout the mall, especially on the second floor where they have a large food court. This was especially useful for us on our first night in Singapore with kids.
After a super long day of travel and seeing animals at the zoo, they didn’t want anything adventurous for dinner. They each got a chicken gyro from the kebab place. Celine and I, on the other hand, enjoyed bowls of steaming hot dumplings. Going to the food court was a great compromise which kept everyone happy and full.
Food Fair at the Marina Bay Shoppes
This option is especially handy for families after visiting the nearby ArtScience Museum. You won’t find any McDonald’s at the bustling food fair on the bottom floor of the mall. Instead, you’ll find an astonishing selection of local food stalls, many of which were a little intimidating for us. But we persevered and found a dim sum place which had many of our favourites from home, including BBQ pork steamed buns.
I really liked this food court, as it encouraged the kids to eat local food, instead of just settling for a western fast food joint. It felt adventurous eating there and I’m certain our kids were proud of themselves for finding something local to eat that they enjoyed.
Din Tai Fung
Our son is a very picky eater, which makes it challenging when the rest of us want to eat local food. One clever solution for this common problem for families travelling to Singapore is to go for dim sum.
There’s always something our son will eat on a dim sum menu, usually some form of pork steam bun. This allows the rest of us to enjoy a variety of noodles, dumplings, etc.
We found a great dim sum place near the Pop Mart store called Din Tai Fung. It was so good that we ate at this restaurant chain again near our hotel at the Singapore Airport.
Shake Shack
After spending 3 weeks in Indonesia with kids, most of which was off the beaten track, our kids were dying for some familiar food. So, we don’t usually go for American fast food while travelling, but in this case they had earned it.
We took them to Shake Shack on our first night in Sentosa where they filled their faces with burgers, fries, onion rings and ice cream floats. They were in heaven, and we could tell there were many other kids in there in the exact same boat.
Our Singapore and Indonesia Family Trip
Singapore was the starting and ending point for our family trip to Indonesia. As described above, we spent two days in Singapore with our kids on either end of our Indonesia family adventure.
After our first two days in Singapore, we flew to Sumatra and spent five days in Bukit Lawang with kids, where we trekked through the jungle to see orangutans. This was followed by a trip to Pulau Weh with kids, a little known tropical island with outstanding snorkeling.
We then spent five days in Bali with kids, before spending 6 days living on a river boat in Borneo, where we got to see orangutans every day.