Play Area – Kiddos Castle – OMR (Thoraipakkam) – Autism Spectrum Disorder

Hi,

sharing our experience on another play area in OMR (Old Mahabalipuram Road), Chennai….

Kiddo Castle is located in OMR, Thoraipakkam. Google map location is accurate. But still it is easy to miss, as it is located in the service road, and the entrance is very small. The locality looked like an industrial area. This is one of the very few play areas closer to
the city location and not part of a mall.

The play area looks very big as they have high rise ceiling and they have one of the largest slides i have seen in any play area. But they lacked variety. They have a big longer Slide, small wider slide, Trampoline area, Ball Pit, smaller size swings, wall climbing zone, Toy cars, cycles, bikes that can be driven outside (they call it outdoor go kart), also a mini play area in the center for the 2 year old’s, Kids story books stacked for reading, a place for birthday party celebrations, few bean bags.

They have a vending machine where hot beverages are available and a refrigerator that contains mineral water and some juices which normally does not sell well in any other shops, and a freezer for ice creams were available as well.

We went on a weekday evening, (we normally do, to avoid crowds), no one was around, it was like our own play area. The staff (girls) were with the kids all the time, they were encouraging my son to play all different sections kept there. Must appreciate that.

Socks were mandatory for the kids.
Parents are allowed inside, but cannot climb the rides and play with the child. Socks for parents were not insisted.
Restroom facility is kept outside.
For kids below 3 years it was 250 Rs per Hour and For kids above 3 years it is 350 Rs per Hour. This was the only place where they did not ask for advance payment, we only made an entry in the registry where in-time was noted. We only paid the amount when we decided to leave the place.
This is again a pure play area place, there are no arcade games section here.
They have a decent parking place for cars, not sure if the space is sufficient for weekend rush….

My son did not like this place a lot, he finished playing all the sections multiple times in less than 30 mins and there is nothing more available for him to play further. We had to push him for another 15 mins, then we decided to leave.

The place is not air-conditioned, its purely dependent on fans. The ventilation system is decent enough that you wont feel the suffocation, however kids sweat excessively while playing as a result they get irritated a lot quickly. This must be one of the reason why my son wanted to leave the place in 30 mins.

They should add more variety to it, in order to engage the kids for longer duration. In my opinion, you can spend 30 mins max with
a 5 year old, for kids younger than that have limited options as they cannot use trampoline and bigger slides.

The bigger slides should help overcome kids who has the fear of heights. Trampoline park will give them the jumping sensation (vestibular Input). The Trampoline park has a basket ball hoop, where one can jump, aim and shoot for points.

Few picks taken during our visit: