Last week the husband told me he wanted to go to the PC Show. IT Show, PC Show, Comex, Sitex… I can never figure out what’s the difference, and why men would love to be found in crazy fairs like these. He said he would zip in to get something real quick, and I could go walk about Suntec City with the kids.

I decided not to walk about because there is no way any walking will happen with two toddlers. They run. And touch things. And do funny things. Like sit on the floor in the middle of nowhere when they are tired.

So I whisked them to the new indoor playground at Level 3 which I’ve read about in some mommy blogs.

Hokey Pokey was a little different from the indoor playgrounds my kids have been to. Unlike the usual helter-skelter, gym-like play structures that involve plenty of climbing, sliding, rolling and running, kids can actually sit still to play at Hokey Pokey. In my opinion, they’ve cheated a fair bit – the only bit that qualifies the place as an indoor playground was the soft structured slide – the rest were all masak masak, Little Tikes rides and educational toys. Hokey Pokey divides the area into the Pretend Play section, Discovery Corner, Interactive Play area and Music Corner. I wasn’t too impressed, to be honest; twenty-five bucks per kid for something my kids would get Mondays to Fridays at their daycare, and weekends at home, plus having to share all the masak masak with a lot more other children than those in their playgroup at daycare. At least in school, they play with children their age. Because this place admits kids six months to six years, my daughter had to put up with two older girls bossing her around and telling her she wasn’t allowed to touch this and that when she was trying to bake me a chicken / pour me some ketchup / serve me a pizza at the little cooking corner. She was constantly terrorised by other kids who would snatch her donuts and pots and plates. In school, if this ever happened, I’m sure it would have been a teachable moment. Unfortunately, most kids there were accompanied by their domestic helpers, so you can imagine that they themselves were also busy making new friends all around.

Nonetheless, Ben and Becks enjoyed themselves. I made fatherkao wear the baby to the PC Show, which got many heads a-turning, and so he claimed, so I was free to have pretend tea with my daughter and watch my son stack colourful birthday cakes. I also watched my daughter cook and my son explore wooden trains and musical instruments.

I did feel a little silly to be paying money to do so though. We do this all the time at home. But at least the husband got his shopping fix.

More details:

• Hokey Pokey is at Suntec City Mall, Level 3-027E/F. next to the Groupon Store.
• Opening hours: 10 am – 7 pm from Sunday to Thursday and 10 am – 9 pm on Friday and Saturday
• Admission is $25 on weekends per kid for two-hour play and $15 for unlimited play on weekdays. Members get discounted rates. One accompanying adult per child only.
• The place is well-maintained and the staff ensured the kids and adults sanitised their hands. I saw them cleaning and scrubbing after the bubble play. There is also a diaper change table for babies, lockers for bags and some seats for the adults who want to kid-watch.