A play spot for kids in Bali: Cubby House Kids Club

A play spot for kids in Bali: Cubby House Kids Club

Yes, there is puh-lenty of beach for kids to play on in Bali, but sometimes when you’re sick of the sand or the sun, or you’d like some beach bar time away from the kids, you’d like them to play on their own for a bit.

Several lots of doors keep the kids safely away, ahem, inside.

If you’re not staying somewhere with a kids’ club, this can be a tough call in Bali. Enter a solution: Cubby House Kids Club, attached to the Semara hotel on Jalan Petitenget near the entrance to Potato Head.

The pristine indoor play area has a fantastic range of toys and equipment, from a separate toddler area boasting beautiful wooden toys, through to Lego tables, plenty of cars (our Mr 2 gravitated towards these immediately, evaporating all fears he wouldn’t want to stay), arts and crafts (Ms 4 adored the beading), easels for painting masterpieces and PlayStations.

I confess I’m not so keen on paying to have my kids use up their screen-time allotment for the day, but at 2 and 4 they’re too young for that particular bit just now, so the selection of diversions on offer is perfect. (And I’m told they do limit the amount of screen time for older kids.) My kids could have happily stayed for hours.

Lego tables awaiting mini-masterpieces.

The price? It’s 100,000++ rupiah for the first 90 minutes, then 1,000++ rupiah per minute afterwards, with a 50,000 rupiah voucher for having a coffee or to put towards a meal at the downstairs Atrium restaurant (disclosure: the man responsible for the delicious food down there is a Travelfish.org friend).

My general feeling has been when I’ve dropped one child off for a play and eaten at Atrium with friends, it’s worth every last rupiah. With two kids, it starts to sting a tad if they stay longer than the initial period — or it’s something you do regularly. Alas, you’ll be here on holiday, right?

You could hire a nanny (via your hotel or guesthouse) to care for your kids while you’re here, but the high quality activities on offer in a safe, clean environment do make this a good deal — and aside from in-hotel kids’ clubs (which tend to have nowhere near the extent of what you’ll find here) there’s pretty much no competition in Bali for this sort of thing at the moment — Fun World over in Gianyar is probably the only thing coming close, but the concept is completely different and you need to be there with your kids.

Beads to the left, painting to the right, computers to the far right.

You can order snacks or meals for your children to be served at the time of your choosing — from wholewheat pancakes for brekky (30,000++) through to fried breaded schnitzel for dinner (58,000++). Recommended age for kids is 2 to 12. The warm staff seemed happy at my request to help Mr 2 use the toilet if he needed it.

Cubby House Kids’ Club
Semara Resort & Spa, Jalan Petitenget, next to Potato Head
(The signage may have you trying to turn into the car park before you really should if coming from the Batu Belig end — when you think you should turn, go slowly to look for security guards to wave you in at the proper spot.)
T: (0361) 847 6661
Open daily, 07:00-22:00

Source: travelfish.org