free family fun: kwun tong road safety town

Today was our second time visiting the Kwun Tong Road Safety Town. 'Road safety towns' are actually little government playgrounds with miniature road features like traffic lights, crosswalks, and road signs; they are run by the Leisure and Cultures Services Department  and there are four in total in Hong Kong. You can fun more information on where they are located here. They are closed to the public on weekdays (kindergartens like to book them for school visits- more on this below) but free and open to the public on weekends.

Kwun Tong Road Safety Town

I first learned about them after Bobo went on a field trip the Kwun Tong Road Safety Town with his kindergarten class. His class got to ride little tricycles and listen to a police officer tell them about the importance of road safety.

The first time we visited as a family, we didn't know we had to/could bring our own tricycles, so we just enjoyed the little park on foot. The second time, we knew better and brought the children's trikes and had even more fun pretending to be drivers and pedestrians. When we arrived today, Bobo excitedly said 'Mama and Baba, you be the people and we'll be the drivers!' 

the traffic lights work!

The park is adorable - tiny functional versions of everything you'd normally see on a road in Hong Kong. The traffic lights change colors, and the crosswalk buttons 'beep' and speed up the wait for pedestrians just as they would at a real crosswalk. It's all delightfully realistic, just tiny!! This is the shortest crosswalk, ever:

Red means stop

Beep!

There is a flyover, a subway, a parking lot - and the best part is, it's perfectly safe for children to explore because there are no cars (or people - it was completely empty both times we visited)! 

Miniature parking lot 

Enjoying the park together

On the two days that we've been there, the park was completely empty. This is a shame, as it is a wonderful place for little kids to learn about road safety and just have fun.

For families who want to visit, here are our tips: 

1) it's quite a small park; plan on staying for no more than an hour or so

2) bring your sun gear! there aren't too many shady areas and it gets hot fast

3) bring your tricycles. the park is intended for very young children; bikes (even with training wheels) aren't allowed 

4) there is a big shopping mall (Sau Mau Ping Shopping Centre) with lots of food options across the street

5) there are no MTR stations nearby, so your best bet may be to do as we did and take a taxi! The Chinese name is 秀茂坪道交通安全城

Kwun Tong Road Safety Town is one of my favorite places to go with the children. I can't wait to go back again when it's a bit cooler. I hope your family enjoys it as much as we did!