Play Area – Faraway Tree – Adyar – Autism Spectrum Disorder

Hi All,

sharing our experience with the play area we visited recently. The place name is Faraway Tree, located in Adyar.
Full address is 18/1/41, B Ramachandra Adithanar Rd, Gandhi Nagar, Adyar, Chennai – 600020 and contact details are +91 6379049794. Their website is https://www.farawaytree.co.in, and google location is accurate. They are easy to locate, however there is no car parking facility provided, you have to park in the roadside. Since the roads are wide, no issues if you park the car in the street.

The place is a very unique design from all the other play areas we have been to, it has 3 floors. The first floor contains the play area for the kids, second floor contains the place to play with puzzles and read books and also few play activities, third floor is the place where the major physical activity happens. It is close to a year since they have opened up.

1) Found the place very clean and safe.

2) Caretaker women/girls very helpful.

3) Clean toilets and a nice waiting area for parents.

4) Socks is a must, it is charged 100 rs i guess. The socks given by them is the BEST … it comes with anti skid layer for the foot, which gives a proper grip to kids while walking or playing inside. Every other play center should give socks like this.

5) The first floor play area is very small and not much time can be spent on it. May be 10-15 minutes at the max. It has a tunnel, slide,etc..

6) The second floor is the best for my son who loves playing with puzzles and reading books. The books available here were all imported/international nicely stacked in the shelf. Also the building blocks and other puzzles kept for playing is also of good quality. They also have wall mounted games/puzzles.

7) The third floor is where the Ninja/rope course and wall climbing activities are available. These activities were challenging even for 6-7 years old kid. However very safe to try it out. They provide the kid with safety harness and helmets. My son who is 5 years old on the spectrum did not like this floor, not because it was challenging, but was due to the noise made by the chains linked from the roof to his safety harness, he felt it was a sensory overload and became uncomfortable.

8) The charges are Rs 400 for Indoor play area and Ninja Course and for additional hour it will be 200 rs. They also have monthly packages.

9) There are no arcade games or any outdoor activities available here.

10) They do not serve any food here, also there is no restriction on having outside food there, however it should be had in the waiting area and not inside the play area.

This place is very unique due to its design, it does not have what you expect from a typical play area for kids, which is their specialty. However they do not attract a much younger age group, say kids below 3 years old. It is good for kids especially boys above 5 or 6 years old. I am sure few parents visiting the place with made up expectations would be either disappointed or Surprised.

My suggestion will be to add more to the puzzle collection and books collection with some Indian flavor, since the space is cramped i would suggest parents taking younger kids to this place to visit during non peak hours so that there is no threat from rough play by older kids.

Few picks taken during our visit