Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden

Do you know the nearest HDB estate to Singapore Botanic Gardens (SBG) is Farrer Gardens? (See location map below)

A leisure stroll from Farrer Gardens Blk 4 to its Bukit Timah Core’s side gate is only 15min! I’ve timed and tried this morning

Imagine living next to a three-Michelin-star rating garden which was also selected by Time magazine as ‘Asia’s Best Urban Jungle’. This award winning garden has recently added a new attraction for the families – Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden.

So, here we go! Remember to wear comfortable walking shoes!

This is our starting point. Farrer Garden Blk 4.

Enter side road Jln Kembang Melati after crossing Farrer Road using traffic lights near Lutheran Towers (The orange building seen in the picture below. I’ve just discovered that it was a HDB flat before!)

You will see the side gate very soon

Botanic Gardens station under construction

So fret not if you are living much further away. Very soon, everyone can have convenient access to this garden via the new circle line (which is currently under construction) and alight at Botanic Gardens station. Though Farrer Road station at Farrer Gardens will also be ready then, I will prefer to walk to the garden to save money and exercise for health

These are some pictures taken in SBG along the way to Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden.

You need to be observant to discover flowers, fruits, leaves, insects, animals etc that are part of this SBG experience. Do you have the time and patience to slow down your pace to discover?

We’ve finally reached our Destination!

A huge tree sculpture named Mystree at the entrance created by Zadok Ben-David…

A closer look shows the tree sculpture is made up of more than 500 human forms! Perhaps, that’s the reason for “mys”+ “tree”? What would the children think of looking at this sculpture?

A children’s cafe! Colourful furniture built for them

*Shock*

Is entry chargeable???

Thanks goodness. This garden is free. I didn’t have a cent with me

yay! Let’s go in!

I love these colourful signages. Compare them to the ones for adults. It’s more informative and bigger! PErhaps, NParks should do the same for adult’s signages?

This looks very much like an adult signage though…

Check this out!

Do you know what is this??? Can you tell from these 3 pictures?

It’s not bananas. Did you know?

I was surprised to find 4 classrooms in the garden.

Furniture and teaching tools were available too!

So small and cute!

A water feature area.

Kids love water!

A tree house?

Nope. slides.

u should see how those 4 lovely kids played on the slides over and over again!

Looks like fun!

If your kids are older, you might want to go for guided tours by these young volunteers!

I was a little startled when one of young volunteers greeted “Good Morning” from my back. Just smiled back.

Didn’t know what was going on till I saw them providing free guided tour to some park visitors

Now, instead of spending time in shopping malls and air-conditioned places… how about bringing your kids to SBG’s Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden this weekend for a fun adventure?

Address:
Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden
481 Bukit Timah Road S(259769)

Location (click on the map for a bigger version):