Play the part

Kids enjoying in Kingdom of Fun

It's the middle of the week and I am out to explore Kingdom of Fun, a soft play area in Deonar, with four-year-old Arya and nine-year-old Dhruv.

Once you enter, the soft play area is on the right-hand with slides, ball pool, diving board, a zipline, passages of crawl and roll, punching bags, see-saw and fine motor skill games; the usual indoor soft play razz. To the left is the role-play area. And we were not expecting that.

We start with an area converted into a recording studio. Kids get to choose the song they want to sing. They are fitted with headphones in an ambience that is very recording-studio-esque. After singing Lakadi ki kaathi, Arya moves to the next zone which is a salon. Now, even I am enamoured. Waiting to get their hair styled is a row of mannequins. There are blow-dryers, hair sprays, hair accessories, curlers, the works. I'm itching to try my hand at this, but I stand by and watch, delight bubbling up.

Next is the fully-equipped play kitchen. The kids make an entry donning an apron and chef cap. Biscuits are propped on trays and cones are handed for kids to decorate with cream and sprinkles. You must eat what you make.

The art house comes after. For an additional fee, a child can pick a T-shirt or wall decor item and paint on it, which s/he can carry back home. Our next stop is a wall and a narrow picket fence, where roller brushes and pails of paint await us. It's a great feeling to paint sweeping large arcs on a wall.

Arya piles a few animals in a toy car and zooms off, then sits on the automatic merry-go-round. Nothing will make her go up the climb area, or the ladder to the diving board of a bounce pool. There is also a small pit with kinetic sand, and regular sand toy sets where kids can have fun as well as develop their fine motor skills.

There is a life-sized cow to be milked (the milk looks real, even if the cow is of shiny PoP), fish to be fished out into baskets (magnetic), and a fake petting zoo. Dhruv records a few songs, shrugs off the kitchen zone, milks the cow, competes with his sister to catch more fish and then starts an interactive session on the Xbox. It is the Kingdom of Fun, indeed.

Fact File

Where: Kingdom of Fun, Shakti Textiles, Sundar Baug, Deonar, Govandi East
Best for: Boys and girls, six months to 10 years
How to reach: Alight at Govandi Station and take an auto. We travelled by road, though. The landmark is Deonar bus depot.
Timings: 11.30 am to 8 pm on weekdays (closed on Tuesdays); and upto 9 pm on weekends
Budget: Rs 450 per head on weekdays and '550 on weekends
Food: Available
Water: Yes
Restroom facilities: Yes
Where else to go: Chembur has Diamond Garden if you are looking for the outdoors, while Acres Club offers bowling and go-karting. There's also KStar Mall, if you wish to shop

Parent Poll: Interesting concept; wish the staff or the founders were more engaged
Rating: 3 stars
Kids' Poll: Loved the salon, the recording studio and the Xbox
Rating: 4 stars

• What's Good: Loved the paint wall. There's also a room where young mommies can breastfeed
• What's Not So Good: While there are plenty of staff members, they do nothing to connect with the kids. The space lacks warmth

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