After moving to Pune, one of the hardest thing to do was find ways to entertain the children. Pune being a small town, it does not have many fun ways to entertain the children compared to Japan where I just had to walk down the street to one of the biggest park in Yokohama. However, after a while one hears of this place or another and decides to try it. Therefore here I give you a list of all the places I go to for the children.
1- Arcades
Pune would be nothing without arcades like Fun city in Phoenix Mall and Timezone in Inorbit mall. There are places with video games or other fun things with buttons and loud music that the kids seem to enjoy these days. There are even small playground, carousels, bowling alleys added to the mix. And they all have the same process: present rupees in exchange of a card, and swipe that card to start any game. I usually pay Rps 250 games for both kids and they enjoy roughly four games each. Plus some of those games offer tickets that can get you rewards. Timezone has cheaper games than Fun city but I think Fun city is more posh. There is also a new one called High Octane in Seasons Mall. It is funny that how when we arrived I hated those places for being too noisy. Now I could not do without them.
2- Joggers park
Joggers park is a small park (compared to the one we had in Yokohama) with playground, lots of green and a path for walkers and joggers. There is one located in Kalyani Nagar that we patronize. It is open every day in the early morning and late afternoon (it gets too hot mid days so it is closed). I found the playground to be dangerous and small at the beginning but everything looks better in time. My kids like to go there to play in the playground and run around the field, climbing trees, or playing Frisbee. It is perfect for play dates you do not want to have at your house. Furthermore it cost only 1 Rupee for entrance. There are many others so called Joggers park in the area (one in Koregaon park) but I prefer this one.
3- Kids club
Pune offers a wide range of kids activities whether as after school activities or summer camps. There are many I could list but so far I only tried one and I liked it. Artsphere, which is opposite Joggers park in Kalyani Nagar offers many activities for kids like dancing, sports and such. My kids used to take the Lego Brick on Brick activity during which they would build machines using legos and computers. They loved it. Often, I find that clubs like these are not as liable or professional so for a while I was hesitant to even enroll my kids. But that was not the case here. The best place to start looking for such activities is at your children school, than by asking other parents (try the Indian mothers first, then expats) or checking the newspaper for ads.
4- Cinemas
Cinemas are cheap in India and there are so many in every area that they are hard to miss. And India does provide many international movies and almost all Pixar and Disney movies. Since we have been here, my kids (and I) managed to watch all the latest children movies: Frozen, The Croods, Epic, Big hero 6, How to train your dragon 2, The Lego movie and so much more. I usually go on Wednesday afternoons after school because it is less crowded and cheaper. Weekends could be crazy depending on where you go. Indian cinemas are very good with nice clean seats, good (and overpriced) food and good screening quality. I like Big gold cinemas which is next to my house but PVR in Koregaon park is newer, nicer and offer 3D glasses that suits the kids face. I also heard that the cinema in Season mall is the best but I have yet to try it.
5- Happy Streets
This activity is fairly recent in Pune but it is very good. The city along with the Times of India newspaper have started what they call Happy Streets. Every Sunday from 7 till 10 AM, streets from an area of the city are closed and people come out to enjoy walking, cycling, yoga, zumba, soccer..whatever fun activity is provided from local vendors. Two months ago, it was my areas turn and the family went for a walk that was soothing because we were not afraid of being honked or run over by passing cars. The event is fairly unorganized but it is such a thrill to walk freely on the streets, saying hello to neighbors and enjoying the air. I just wished they did it everywhere in the city instead of taking turns. It may cause some traffic jams but it worth it on Sunday morning.
There you have it, my list of all entertaining things to do for kids. For more information, you can check Mycity4kids.com .
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