Plenty of reasons to treat your children to a break from Mom and Dad, and Mom and Dad can benefit too with some time together. One of those times is a romantic meal together, but how do the children get fed. Well, Ailafushi’s kids club features its own kids restaurant serving up pizza and pasta as well as sweets like cakes and cookies.
Best of the Maldives: Teletubbies – Ritz-Carlton Maldives
The most natural roof in the Maldives has to be the Ritz Carlton Maldives teletubbyesque “Ritz Kids” kids club. Its living turf dome provides a rare hill-like impression for its youngster haven. Its circular portal opens to an extensive playground of activities and features (see below) all protectively coddled in this knoll-y corral.
Best of the Maldives: Pirate Arcade Game – Ailafushi
Arrrggh, maties! Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day! And if you want to celebrate by playing like a pirate, then Ailafushi’s kid’s club features the arcade game – “Lost on the Island of the Tropics” ($5 buys tokens to use). Avast ye swabbies!
Best of the Maldives: In Water Table Tennis – Soneva Jani
The Maldives exists at that sweet spot right on the edge of land and ocean. The lagoon shallows make it one of the best places in the world for wading in mill pond calm water with refreshing ocean cooling your feet. Soneva Jani brings that vibe into its Den kids club with its in-water table tennis set-up. Cool!
Best of the Maldives: Kids Zip Line – Soneva Jani
Photo credit – Haneen @haneensiddiq
Another “Finally Seen”, in fact one of my earliest. Coincidentally, Lori gave me a 60th birthday gift of a trip to Belize partly motivated by its similarity to the Maldives. One of the activities on the agenda was a zipline through the rain forest. Soneva Jani’s now offers that high flying thrill for kids at its “The Den” facility.
Zipitty doodah day!
Best of the Maldives: Rope Climbing – Ritz-Carlton Maldives
Ropes courses are a classic team building activity in the corporate world, and for those budding executives, Ritz Carlton Maldives’ “Ritz Kids Club” offers and indoor and outdoor net-protected rope climbing (and clambering) frame. With the number of these “Climbing” features going higher and higher, I’ve added a tag for them with this post.
Best of the Maldives: Obstacle Course – Emerald
For all the budding young Gladiators looking to burn all the excess energy of from the excitement of arriving in paradise, Emerald’s Dolphin Kids Club offers a fun obstacle course to scamper through for hours on end so when Mom and Dad pick them up they are all spent and ready to sit calmly during cocktail hour.
Best of the Maldives: In-Ground Trampoline – Emerald
For those looking to burn a bit of their kid’s energy so they will be a bit more like the tranquil seas around them, Emerald’s Dolphin kids club features an in-ground trampoline (which makes it a bit safer than raised units where any tumbles fall that much further).
Best of the Maldives: Bike Blender – Ritz-Carlton Maldives
The Ritz Carlton Maldives kids club has come up with a way to turn all that energy from the holiday sugar-rush to productive use. The “Ritz Kids” features as a stationary bike where the pedals drive a blender to make healthy and refreshing fruit smoothies. The inspired concept made me think of a brilliant way to limit device use by children – rig one of these up to a generator and let your child use their phone as much as they like…as long as they charge it with pedal power. It could nurture a generation of Tour de France champions.
Best of the Maldives: Mini Biologist – Amilla
For all those budding Cousteaus out there, Amilla Maldives offers Junior Marine Biologist Course. In the same way some people wonder why resorts have fitness centres (“who wants to do workouts on holiday?”), you might wonder, what kids want to do schoolwork on holiday. Well, me for one. When I was a tyke (about 9 years old), I used to go away to Camp Belknap in New Hampshire for a fortnight. While other kids signed up for archery, swimming and baseball, I signed up for the nature activities. They taught you flowers, trees, animals, star constellations (which has come in handy one many a star-filled Maldives night). I thoroughly enjoyed walking around exploring the outdoor beauty and learning all about it.
Amilla’s course features a daily 1-hour activity that include a Marine Walk, Mini Marine Bio Programme – comprehensive learning about the ocean. Over 6 days (each day a different topic). It builds. Ocean, plankton, coral reef, parrot fish, sea turtles and sharks. The sessions included showing selected TED talks and National Geographic clips, but the focus is on engaging with the children with puzzles, book creation and other activities to implement the material they have learned:
- Monday: 17:00 – 17:30 – Marine Walk (different topics, such as the sea turtle nest, the origin of maldivian islands, some curiosities about Maldives etc.)
- Thursday: 10:00 – 11.00 – Introduction to Snorkeling (a short presentation followed by a snorkeling session. Location: Spa Jetty or Dive Centre Jetty, depending on the weather and current conditions). VERY IMPORTANT: Please note that equipment (life jackets, fins, mask) will not be provided, so please make sure they come with equipment and they wear a rash vest. FYI: 10 slots available (for the moment). Only 5 years and above can participate. If younger than 5, they can come accompanied underwater with parents.
- Sunday: 10:00 – 11:00 – Marine Biology Presentation and Q&A
The Mini Marine Bio Program is tailored to those kids who are keen to receive a comprehensive learning about the underwater world and its creatures. The program is run 6/7 days, 1 hour a day. Each session is about a different topic:
- Sunday: Facts about seas and oceans @15:00 – 16:00
- Monday: The plankton and its importance for our lives @10:00 – 11:00
- Tuesday: All about coral reefs @11:00 – 12:00
- Wednesday: Parrotfish (How to keep a balanced and healthy ecosystem) @16:00 – 17:00
- Thursday: Lets discover the sea turtles @15:00 – 16:00
- Friday: Sharks and their amazing world @10:00 – 11:00
At the end of the program, participants receive a certificate plus Amilla’s marine badges (see photos at top and bottom)