Learning through play — Children (and even adults) love to play, and one of the best ways to learn is by playing. Thankfully, playgrounds are found everywhere, and we visited one of the best indoor playgrounds, Play at Okada Manila.
All children love to play. From the first day of their existence, they are already learning through play. When parents and siblings play with a newborn baby, the baby smiles and reacts. It teaches them how to communicate with the people around them.
As children are growing up, we know that we have to teach them many things.
From learning the ABCs to counting one through ten, we sing songs to help them learn easily. And singing is a form of symbolic play, where children learn to explore emotions and ideas.
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Learning through play in the early years
According to learningthroughplay.com, children master many life skills through play. By allowing your children to learn through play, not only you are fueling their curiosities but also inspiring your children to love learning as they grow up.
Have you noticed that your child is more responsive to learning when you incorporate play? It goes to say that play is a part of their life that you cannot take away. Many childcare facilities teach children by playing with them.
Preschool teachers sing, dance, make crafts, play tag, and many more so they can stimulate children’s interest in learning. As adults, you know that you can learn well when you are interested in a subject matter. The same goes for children: they learn best when they are curious and excited about something.
Benefits of learning through play
If you are still unconvinced why learning through play is beneficial to your child, the following are the advantages of playing. By providing the right kinds of toys to play with, your child can learn many life skills that could help them conquer the world when they grow up.
- Gross and fine motor skills development
- Language development
- Social and emotional skills
- Problem-solving
- Knowing about cause and effect
- Enhancement of creativity
- Improves memory and Math skills
Play at Okada Manila
We decided to bring our toddler to indoor Play at Okada Manila one weekday afternoon. We had to ask for directions from security to locate the play area since the hotel is quite big. Thankfully people working there know how to give detailed directions to customers.
When we arrived at the Okada playground, it wasn’t that packed yet.
We saw about 5 groups of people entering at the same time as us. Play at Okada schedule starts at 12:30 noon until 7:30 PM from Mondays through Thursdays and ends at 10:00 PM from Fridays through Sundays.
Play at Okada Entrance Fee
For Play at Okada ticket price of 588 PHP, your kid can enjoy playing for two hours. Accompanying adults aged 18 and up shall pay 288 PHP to get in. Marshals perform sanitation and decontamination every 30 minutes.
After scanning the QR code and registering, we paid and then entered. There was a locker space where you could leave your belongings. You should put your shoes on the racks right after entering.
Take note also that you need to wear socks upon entering. So be sure to bring a pair for all of you. In our experience, almost all indoor playgrounds require people to wear socks for sanitation purposes.
Play at Okada Manila activities offer a wide variety of games to play. They have a Sports Zone where kids and kids at heart can play basketball and soccer. The used-to-be Wizard’s Den was changed to a ball pit where children can throw balls to the wall.
Next to the Ball Pit is called Mini Steps, where you can dance along to a “Just Dance” game. It’s very nostalgic as I used to enjoy playing the Dance Revolution, which has the same concept as the Mini Steps.
Then next to it is the Mini Me, where young children can play on their own even if guardians want to sit and watch them play.
There’s a Little Town in the Play at Okada playground, and in it, there is a mini grocery, kitchen, bank, and study area. There are also two Twist Car Ride-ons and a mower toy. This area is one of our toddler’s favorites!
In the mini grocery, 3 pushcarts are just the right size for toddlers.
So cute! Inside the supermarket shelves, there are lots of toy fruits and veggies, bread, spreads, cereals, and canned goods.
After shopping at Okada Play grocery, your child can go to the mini kitchen and prepare food. There is a small sink, stove, and cabinet below. There is also a table where plates, cups, cutleries, and a chopping board are placed.
Beside it is a mini refrigerator and a dining table where you can dine. Our toddler and the other children had lots of fun playing in the mini kitchen.
The bank is one of the most unnoticed sections inside the Little Town. It has a cash registry and a table set, and nothing more.
Beside the bank is the study area with lots of toys children can play with. There are puzzles, stacking rings, and books. So children stayed there longer than the bank.
After we played at the Little Town, we moved on to the Little Park.
This section is for children aged 4 to 7, as it has smaller slides and a safer space. Younger children can play with soft building blocks too.
Okada Hotel Manila kids’ playground has a movable pole that children can stand on, and another could push them to the other side. Outside of Little Park is a wall climbing area. However, it was also not popular with the kids as it was painful to the soles when we tried to climb.
Next to the wall climbing area is the Janguru.
This area looks a lot like a jungle, probably a reason why they called it Janguru. It has big slides and many activities that support gross motor skills play.
Besides the children, what’s included in the Play at Okada price are game console games such as Minecraft and NBA. So older children can also have a blast while their younger siblings enjoy their 2 hours at the indoor playground in Okada Manila Hotel.
If you need to go to the comfort room, there is one inside the playroom. So you do not have to leave and wear your shoes to relieve yourselves.
The only thing that got us concerned was that there was one kid who kept coughing during his stay. Apart from that, he did not wear his face mask properly.
Thankfully, when we reported the incident to the marshal, he immediately called the child’s attention to keep him away from the rest of the people inside.
Play at Okada Manila Reviews Conclusion
Our toddler had lots of fun, especially at the slides at Janguru and the grocery part of Little Town. It would be great to return some other time during the weekdays. Play at Okada Manila might be too packed over the weekends as anyone can enter even without bookings at Okada.
There are many ways we can help promote learning through play for our children. You do not have to bring them to expensive playrooms, but you can also do it at home. I believe that children learn best as long as parents are intentional about parenting.
Since the space at our home is very limited, what we do is try to expose our toddler to nature, the zoo, and other places. This way, we know that we are giving our all to ensure that our child is learning and exploring through play.
I hope that these Play at Okada Manila photos have convinced you to check it out one of these days. I promise you it will be worth it. 😉
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