Kids in Prague

Cerny Most Indoor Playground, Prague 9

Indoor Playgrounds on 20 October 2008 by Darina

I can say only positive things about this TIME OUT Indoor Playground. What will immediately strike you is the large amount of natural day light streaming in from the windows. The vast majority of ‘Detsky Kouteks’ (indoor playground in Czech) only have artificial light, so this small detail makes the whole place exceptionally bright and cheerful.

The play area is spacious and based on an ocean and sea animal theme. A big wooden climbing boat dominates the room, and the walls are decorated with paintings of creatures from the sea. There are 3 slides going down the sides of the boat and into plastic ball pools. Unlike our experience with the ball pools in the Sestka shopping mall’s play area, where my boys were almost ‘drowning’ in the balls, here there is just enough of them, to allow even a toddler to walk around unassisted. The boat section is separated off from the remainder of the play area by a net and children are not permitted to bring any other toys in here.

There is a long activity table with colouring-in equipment. Also available are many different types of toys such as a wooden kitchen, a little hoover, cars and wooden train tracks. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw my usually super-active Nicolas playing very calmly with the trains, all by himself. Another positive is the fact that the TV corner is separated off from the main play area, and went completely unnoticed by both of my boys. It only gets switched on during emergencies (busy periods or when kids get bored or over-tired).

When you first enter the play area it is necessary to register your child. After that you will be given a key to a locker and this key then works as your ID. In the locker there is always an apron with a number. If you want to leave your child to be baby-sat, you have to put this apron on them. Snacks and drinks for the children can be kept at a table located directly next to the entrance. The food we tried at the near-by food court was kind of average, so I would strongly recommend to bring your own food for your child. I did it for my boys.

The babysitters were very friendly and interacted with the children. One of them even spoke fluent English. On the whole, most of the women employed at these types of playgrounds don’t have any problems communicating with children of any nationality.

Please note that this particular play area is located in the same building as the Globus supermarket chain. Placed directly behind this building, is yet another structure called the Zbavni Centrum (or Entertainment Centre). It contains shops, cafes and a fitness centre. In the past, there used to be a play centre called Mikiland in here but unfortunately it has now closed down.

Even though this indoor playground is located at the opposite end of the city to where we live, I will happily visit it again in the near future.

Admittance:
0 - 60 min: 44 CZK
61 - 90 min: 59 CZK
91 - 120 min: 74 CZK
121 - 150 min: 89 CZK
151 - 180 min: 104 CZK
181 - 240 min: 164 CZK
every additional hour 60 CZK

!!! ATTENTION !!! All TIME OUT Indoor Playgrounds have a rule that allows children between the ages of 0 - 3 years, to only enter during the morning hours (9.00 until 12:00 noon). I have not yet come across any other indoor playground where this has been the case and both of my boys (aged under 3), have always been accepted elsewhere, without any trouble.