A west-side family day, while Jurong is mid-makeover

Half of Jurong is newly finished and the other half is about to move. Choose one side.

Pick a side of the expressway and leave the other for next time. On a dry day with children who climb, go to Jurong Lake Gardens: Forest Ramble is free, and the rebuilt Chinese and Japanese Gardens are next door. On a wet day, or with children who prefer buttons to bark, go to the Science Centre in Jurong East, and book KidsSTOP before you leave home. The catch on both sides is Mondays and maintenance, so check the official pages that morning. Squeezing four places into one afternoon is how a good outing ends in back-seat tears.

It is a good moment for either. The Chinese and Japanese Gardens reopened in September 2024 after about five years of works, completing Jurong Lake Gardens: 90 hectares, and Singapore’s first national garden in the heartlands. Across the expressway, Science Centre Singapore has been in Jurong East since 1977 and is counting down to a new building by Zaha Hadid Architects in the Jurong Lake District, targeted for around the end of 2027, its 50th anniversary year. It keeps running until then.

Forest Ramble: play like a swamp creature

The pick in the west for children who need to burn something off. Lakeside Garden’s Forest Ramble bills itself as the largest nature playgarden in the heartlands: 2.3 hectares and 13 adventure stations based on the animals of a freshwater swamp forest. Children glide like the grey heron, leap like the squirrel and splash like the smooth-coated otter, on tyre swings, net bridges, twisting slides and log towers, and some of the equipment is designed so children of all abilities can play together. Entry is free.

Read the official page before you go. NParks lists Heron Play and Snake Play as closed for maintenance until further notice, and Clusia Cove, elsewhere in Lakeside Garden, is shut too. The playgarden stays open well into the evening, which is the way to avoid the midday sun, and closes on Mondays unless it is a public holiday. If your child is set on one station, check it first and change the plan before you leave home. Lakeside MRT is the closest station.

The Chinese and Japanese Gardens: the add-on

Add as much garden as small legs will allow. The Chinese Garden was completed in 1975 and the Japanese Garden built in 1974, and the rejuvenation kept the familiar pieces: the Cloud Pagoda, Twin Pagoda and Bonsai Garden. It added a Bonsai Gallery, a Pagoda Plaza and, in the Japanese Garden, a Sunken Garden, a valley-like space with green walls and a water feature inspired by cenotes, the water-filled sinkholes of Mexico. There is an edible garden in the Chinese Garden and a water lily garden with more than 150 varieties.

The new Waterwall Court, a courtyard ringed by three-metre waterfalls, is closed for maintenance. Chinese Garden MRT is next to its namesake, and the Japanese Garden takes more walking, so pace yourselves (small legs set the itinerary, not the map).

Science Centre: the wet-day side

KidsSTOP is the Science Centre’s gallery for children aged 18 months to eight, and timed-entry slots are compulsory, annual pass holders included, so book first. When it opened in 2014 its zones included a dinosaur dig pit, a cockpit, a crane that drops plastic balls, a play supermarket with a working barcode scanner and the Giant J, a seven-metre slide where staff suggest a drop height for each child.

Older siblings can roam the main centre, which also houses the Omni-Theatre, Singapore’s first OMNIMAX theatre when it opened in 1987; special events can need separate tickets. The centre closes on Mondays except on public holidays and gazetted school holidays, and last admission comes well before closing, so arrive by early afternoon. Go while this building is still the Science Centre.

End softly

Whichever side you choose, finish with a meal rather than another timed slot, and ask the children what they would do next time. With the gardens newly finished and a new science centre on the way, Jurong will give you the reason to come back.

Good to know Forest Ramble is free, open from 8am to 10pm and closed on Mondays (except public holidays), with Heron Play and Snake Play shut for maintenance. Science Centre Singapore opens from 10am to 5pm, last admission 4.15pm, and closes on Mondays except public holidays and gazetted school holidays. KidsSTOP needs a timed-entry booking, so check the NParks and Science Centre pages on the day.

More days out the children get to choose…