Your kids love popular science but you’ve already been to Guangdong Science Centre or found your kids are too young for most of what’s on offer there. Where else to go? Which place is interactive, fun and will satisfy the younger science-lovers in Guangzhou? I found the perfect place!

Step forward Guangzhou Children’s Activity Center! What an amazing place! I cannot recommend it enough. I drove past it countless times on the way to Children’s Park but always thought it was just another Children’s Palace (I will never understand why those places are called in this very misleading way), where kids go purely to have paid classes. I also knew that Activity Centre organised free educational outings and seasonal activities for kids (info on their Wechat account) but you had to register for those and need to speak Chinese. Thank you Wechat Subscriptions– that’s where I stumbled upon an article explaining that this centre actually also has some fun attractions for kids, open to everyone!

So there we were, trying to decide where to go on a potentially rainy day (yay for wet season!), choosing between indoor sports, theatre shows (now that my son is older we can enjoy what Guangzhou’s kids’ theatres have on offer and so far have been really satisfied!I particularly recommend Guangdong Arts Theatre!) or the library (we visit Guangzhou Library regularly but want to explore more smaller branches)when I remembered about this Children’s Activity Centre. Without knowing much about it, we settled on that with Plan B being the park next door to it.

First thing that we wished we had known about earlier-you need to make an appointment to enter! We made one whilst in the queue, so no stress, but I suggest you don’t leave it till last minute as the place gets very busy! For the appointment, once you scan the QR code, it will prompt you to enter your and your child’s ID/passport number and then you will need to choose a time because there are several slots to choose from, with various activities taking place at specific times (the centre is not open all day). Now, we did not know any of that and still had a fabulous time. We definitely missed some of the scheduled activities but, to be honest, there is SO MUCH to see and do there that it made no difference. Next time though, we might try to come earlier, just for our son to have a chance to participate in more of those special activities.

As soon as we walked in, everyone seemed to be heading in the same direction so the sheep that we are, we followed and very quickly discovered that this place was way better than we expected! Immediately, there were queues for the two VR stations so you’ve got to be quick for those but aside from that, there wasn’t much lining up to do. Note: Your kids height will be checked upon entry and if they are over 110cm, they’ll be given tickets for VR.

One floor is dedicated to flying/space travel and so there are flight simulators, gravity simulator, really great immersive videos about planets and space, a small section dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci, the Wright brothers, examples of space shuttles, rockets, rovers, etc. Your kids will be able to fly a plane, see how flying machines evolved over the years and do lots of interactive activities.

Another floor is all about the natural world and it basically looks like a massive indoor garden. The entire place is incredibly colourful and visually appealing with one area kept dark to display life underground, a play area with ‘fireflies’, audio-visual activity focused on recognising nature sounds, another on insects, you name it!

Aside from the educational stuff, there are also swings, slides, cushions to rest on, iPads for special tasks. SO.MUCH FUN.

We were pretty tired after the first two floors but heard others recommend the area at -2 and I’m really glad we went down there as that’s where the large ship-slide and ball bit are! If nothing else will, this will put a massive smile on your child’s face:) That’s also the floor dedicated to local culture and so our son was able to ‘row’ a dragon boat (one of the scheduled activities one needs to queue up for), was transformed into a Cantonese Opera singer with the help of AI and had the pleasure of hearing old Cantonese children’s songs, to name just a few! I’m big on educating my son about the Cantonese/Lignan culture so really liked everything on that floor but even if you’re not, you’ll still have a good time.

In addition to the above, there is also a special play area for toddlers, outdoor play area, a theatre, a mini kitchen and a shop but all were closed at the time of our visit (Sunday afternoon). Floor 3 and 4 are not open to public as that’s where the classes take place and I’m pretty sure, they are all in Chinese. Overall, we were blown away by the amount of fun, educational resources and activities there and bearing in mind, it is all completely FREE, we thought the quality was excellent!

Some of you might be wondering, so far so good but we don’t speak Chinese, will my kids still enjoy it? YES, THEY WILL! Sure, being able to understand and, especially, read Chinese would make your visit potentially even more educational and you’d be able to really make the most of it but trust me, your kids will love the place even if they have zero knowledge of Chinese!

I feel it’s important to mention that this place is aimed at a younger audience than the Guangdong Science Centre in Panyu, which is amazing but targeted mostly at school-age kids. The standard of the venue is also not the same; you can’t compare a provincial-level science centre, one of the best in the country, with what is basically a public facility but believe you me-any young kid will be thrilled with this place!

Have you visited Guangzhou Children’s Activity Centre before? Are there other places, such as this one, in other district? Do let me know!

---

Info:

Address: Guangzhou Children’s Activity Center, Qixin Road, Baiyun, Guangzhou

Opening times: Vary depending on wether it’s the weekend or a weekday but generally 9-17.30 with a break 12-2pm. Closed on Mondays. Various interactive activities take place at scheduled times(those times are on display next to the given activity area), usually at 10:30, 2pm, 4:30.

Getting there: Metro Line 2 to Baiyun Park, exit C, is located right outside the centre-perfect! If you prefer taking a taxi, go to: or drive to CapitaLand mall, which is just opposite.

Parking: Best to park at CapitaLand mall, then simply cross the road. Parking is way cheaper now and costs only 4rmb per hour! There is also parking at Children’s Park but is further away and very limited.

Price: FREE! Appointment required via official Wechat channel: “广州儿童活动中心 (pinyin: guang zhou er tong huo dong zhong xin)”

Food: No food sold inside the centre, in fact eating is not allowed so make sure your little monster is fed beforehand, e.g. by purchasing food at one of the many snack stalls/cafes outside (there’s also a KFC) or even better take them to one of the MANY eating outlets at CapitaLand mall. We love XIBEI restaurant as the service is fantastic, menu is children-friendly, has English and pictures of every dish, they have high chairs, colouring, magician shows and balloons!Food is yummy and very reasonably-priced!

Facilities: Plenty of toilets and some baby changing rooms. Prams are not allowed inside so you need to leave them, as well as any other larger items, at the entry gate. There is a lift and staircases leading to each floor.

Age: I saw kids as old as 12 (I assume) enjoying the VR rides but I honestly feel that children below the age of 8 would be happiest there. What that also means is that you will be surrounded by hordes of very noisy, very rowdy little kids running around like they’ve just had new batteries put in. You have been warned!:)

Tips:

-Photos are helpful but with these kind of places, it’s the videos that sell it best so check out my social media channels (IG, FB, Pinterest, YT) as I will be posting short clips from my visit there:) I just don’t have time to be uploading regularly but I will try my best!

-As a side note, I will add that some carers seem to consider this place a free softplay centre/playground and so you might see very young, unsupervised children roaming around the place, being kids. Older children would be fine exploring this facility by themselves, toddlers-not so much because staff, though present, focus on running the activities and don’t pay much attention to kids’ behaviour/safety.