Monkey Business: Amusement centre for little imps opens in Clifton

Coffee and tea for mummy and daddy and playdates for baby.

KARACHI: Parents of toddlers have good reason to rejoice — they now have a place where they can sit back and enjoy a coffee while their little ones run around in a safe and clean environment, playing with toys, watching cartoons or even getting a haircut.

‘Monkey Business’, an amusement centre for children opened its doors to children aged between eight months to 12 years on Wednesday.

Located near Bilawal House, Clifton, the centre is spread over an area of around 5,000 square feet. It boasts a jungle gym with an indoor play place of 900 square feet, a ball pit, maze and slides. There is also an ‘arts and crafts’ section for activities such as baking, designing and painting, a cinema for children, an exclusive hair saloon and a café for parents.

Mehr Hussain, who is heading this family initiative is a mother of two herself. She said that the main idea behind the project was to provide a place of recreation for children in the city. “As a parent I [felt I] had no place to take my kids and that is what inspired me,” she said. Surprised at the significant response that she received without any prior marketing, she said that she had not been expecting so many parents and children to turn up.

Ishma Alvi, a working mother, who took her one-and-a-half-year old daughter to the opening, found the place “very safe and secure”. “I was also very comfortable with the place because it was clean - not many places in Karachi are!” she said. Alvi said that while her daughter is too young to enjoy all the activities, she did think that some of them were very creative, such as textile painting. She also liked that the place is constructed such that the children are always in view of their caretakers. The glass walls used in the centre give parents some time to relax and let the children be on their own.

Calling it a much needed initiative, Shoaib Ahmed, the father of a young boy, said, “The best part is that it’s not like a daycare centre where you have to leave your kid but a place where you can go with him/her and have an interactive time together making pottery or other stuff.”

Shoaib said that the children seemed to have ‘loads of fun’. He liked the organised atmosphere of the place, the disciplined staff and the idea that they take hygiene seriously. He also loved the jungle gym, the kids’ saloon and the colorful cinema, while his five-year-old chipped in saying, “I loved the jungle gym the most because there were a lot of balls and so many things to play with!”

The amusement centre will be open seven days a week from 12 pm to 8 pm on weekdays and 12 pm to 10 pm on weekends. Hussain said that they charge according to the activity but there is no admission fee.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2011.