l’m forever on the hunt for outdoor kids activities in Singapore. And it’s kinda my mission to do one outdoor kid activity over each weekend, when we’re all together as a family. I can’t think of anything worse than for all of us to be traipsing through a mall over the weekend, along with ten thousand other people. I have a morbid fear of malls on weekends – they’re so packed with people shoving away and loud music blaring. Ack!! Nightmare central.

I’ve been wanting to bring the kids to the Kid’s Kampong at Pasir Ris for a loooong time now.. but considering it’s at the opposite end of the country for us, we never got round to it. But, we finally bit the bullet and did so last weekend!

It’s all completely outdoors, so come prepared for the hot weather. We were blessed with cloudy skies and a cool breeze, so it was actually quite pleasant to be out!

So the premise is… back in the day, there were “kampongs” (villages) where kids would catch fish in “longkangs” (drains). Singapore is all developed now, so this Kid’s Kampong hopes to preserve some of this “longkang fishing” fun for today’s modern day kids.

They also house a HUGE variety of other fish and crustaceans for kids to have a look at.

 

 

 

 

So here’s the deal: $4 gets you a bucket and small net, and 30 mins of fishing time. You get to keep all the fish you catch.

BARGAIN!!!!

And so we got started…

 

Ummmm….. fishing is WAY harder than you’d think!!! The annoying guppies wouldn’t just sit still or swim nicely into our (super tiny) net. How rude 😉

They’re actually blimmin’ FAST. They zip around and maybe I’m going old, but my eyes could hardly keep up with them! Ack!!! Half an hour went by and Chris caught……. ZERO.

Then I stepped in, and managed to catch THREE! Haha! Guess I have a back-up career in being a fisher(wo)man.

Unfortunately, there was a sacrifice. I also dropped my Balenciaga bag into the water. Gah!!!!

 

 

Here’s a little secret: there is a tiny sectioned off area, that’s JAM PACKED with guppies. They are a lot smaller (I think they put the babies in there) but since the area is so small, you’re pretty much guaranteed to catch some.

And so, after we still only had our 3 measly fish after 20 mins.. we decided to cave and go to the “baby area” to catch more fish.

And we did! Like 10 or so more fish. Hunter even caught one 😀

 

So here’s the fish that we caught!!!!!!

 

NAH JUST KIDDING.

We caught teeny guppies. But there were also these large orange Koi fish, that were so pretty. $1 buys you a packet of fish food to feed them.

 

 

 

 

They pack your fish up in an oxygen-sealed bag, which lasts up to 10 hours. I think we caught around 15 guppies??

 

We bought a plastic tank (only $2.50!) from them, and some oxygen balls ($2 a tube). And *plop* in went the fish!

This is Day 5 that we’ve had them and so far so good! We’ve had 2 fish go belly-up (or rather “gone to sleep”) the first night, but since then they’ve all been fine. Whew!

 

This is a GREAT outing for toddlers and young children. It’s so engaging, and it’s a ton of fun catching those fish. It’s really rewarding for them to be able to catch their own fish, and bring them home to look after as pets.

I kinda like having them in the home too. It’s therapeutic watching them swim around and poke around for food. And, hello, just $4 for a great activity and a bunch of fish to bring home!! Super deal!