Once in a while, I come across a playground that stops me right in my tracks and make me go, 'WOW!' I did it when I saw the Battleship playground at Sembawang Park for the first time, and did it again when this came along.
I first stumbled onto this newly erected playground structure along Cambridge Road at Cambridge Estate last week, snapped a photo and showed it to the monkies the same night.
You can probably guessed what happened next, don't you?
Understandably, the monkies
A quick research online told me that this vertical playground, otherwise known as 'Wallholla', was first constructed in Bishan and has the distinction of being Asia's first vertical playground at that time.
Encased in a three-storey high metal grid cage, the Wallholla is made up of undulating ribbon-like layers. The play structure is suitable for children aged five to 12, and big enough to hold 30 children at once.
Kids can walk on the orange wavy layers at some points, or scale them at others. As they navigate their way through the cage, some surfaces change to become rope mesh or simply gaps, encouraging kids to think of ways to conquer the obstacles.
The exterior vertical grills also have climbing holds - much like those on rock-climbing walls - to allow kids to climb around on the exterior surface and enter the structure midway through a window. There is even a fireman pole for those who crave for that rush of adrenaline!
Okay, I know some of the concerns that may arise - that the structure is too high and kids could fall and injure themselves. But I learnt that the playground had been built to conform to Safety Standard 457, which is essentially the local guideline for safety measures for playground design, installation and maintenance.
This means that it had been assessed by independent safety inspectors for elements such as protruding parts and gaps, which might cause children to fall through or get limbs stuck or their clothes entangled. In addition, the orange surfaces are made of hardened synthetic rubber so I guess that makes falling on it not as painful as it looks.
Frankly, I am impressed by the design of the vertical playground. The standard playgrounds at most parks nowadays usually consist of a simple climbing structure, slide, and swings. This vertical playground, on the other hand, encourages kids to climb, hang, swing, slide, run, jump, hide and pretty much come up with ingenious ways to play compared to any other playing equipment.
Like Ale, who was initially unsure of vaulting across the orange levels due to the gaps or faced difficulty in climbing onto the rope mesh. But by the end of the play session, she managed to overcome them and was scampering freely from surface to surface - just like a true monkie!
And yes, even the wifey could not resist joining in the fun.
So I guess everyone loves the Wallholla, and could not get enough of it! Which to me, is actually quite amazing since the structure is essentially one rectangular box. But I guess the ingenuity lies in its design, which embodies the the spirit of creative play and allows kids to play with the same equipment in varying ways.
Besides the one at Cambridge Estate, there are currently two other vertical playgrounds of a similar nature in Singapore. One of them is rather accessible at Junction 8 Shopping Centre, Level 3.
Boasting additional polygonal climbing structures, the Wallholla has a slide which brings screaming kids from mid-level to the ground.
The other is at Block 158 Bishan Street 13, and is similar to the one at Cambridge Estate in terms of set-up.
But it will probably be worth your time making a trip down to this vertical playground in Bishan as there are two other climbing structures for kids to totally expend their energy!
One is shaped like a huge barrel while the other comes in the form of a tall net tower and comes attached with a slide.
Looks like these vertical playgrounds will be the default choice for the monkies whenever it is playground time from now on!
If you know of other vertical playgrounds, do let me know in the comments below too. Thanks in advance!
Useful Information
Wallholla @ Bishan St 13
158 Bishan St 13, Singapore 570514
Wallholla @ Junction 8 Shopping Centre
9 Bishan Pl, Singapore 579837
Level 3
Wallholla @ Cambridge Estate
Along Cambridge Road
Note: There is another vertical playground at Bukit Panjang Plaza but at the time of writing, the playground is closed for renovation works.