When it comes to entertaining kids in Karachi, parents often complain that, “I’m too tired, not today, some other day, or where should we go , we’ve already been there.” And among themselves they discuss that,  “Sindbad is costly and the mall means we have to eat out. I’m on a budget these days so just turn on the TV and the kids will be fine.”

But I believe this is not a very healthy alternative for kids and doing some activity with kids does not necessarily always mean that you have to spend a good amount of money.

If you look around your city, there are many free fun activities and cost effective recreational things that can be done with kids.

1. Sea View

Karachi is the only port city of Pakistan, and it has some of the most beautiful beaches in Asia. Lately the government did put some efforts to restore and maintain the beaches.

Although there are many beaches in Karachi, like Hawks bay, French beach, Paradise point, Turtle beach, Sea view is pretty much in the center and easily accessible.

Good security, proper road and car parking, benches, food and drinks available, shaded permanent benches and good maintenance.

Many food vendors and bathrooms also available.

Collecting sea shells and enjoying a picnic with homemade snacks is always a good idea.

Try avoiding eating snacks from open food vendors as its not very hygienic.

Though many families don’t wish to go there because of the crowd coming there, they need to understand that Karachi belongs to all its citizens and most family people are well behaved and besides our children must be aware of their city and enjoy the beauty of nature that is bestowed upon their city.

Things to do:

• Horse riding and Camel riding is a must activity for kids in Sea View because its the only beach in Karachi where these activities are available so easily and at a fairly low price.
  
• Enjoy Buggy riding, but be extremely cautious.
  
• Walk along the coast.
  
• Blow bubbles.
• Play catch catch and Frisbee.
• Kite flying.
• Eat from different vendors or you can also eat at Mc Donalds, Village, or Burger King.

Tip: Please don’t be too tempted to let your children go very near the water and don’t eat roasted corn from there at all.

Sea View is a very convenient and cost effective activity for kids and they will have some beautiful memories to cherish forever.

2. Parks

Karachi city has a large number of parks and luckily most of them are well maintained. While some have free entrances others have a tickets price of only Rs5 to Rs10 which is totally negligible.

Every big area of Karachi has a park in the vicinity.
They have well maintained greenery, lots of plants and flowers,  a children play area with swings and slides, and clean benches.

All you need to do is pack a a picnic and wear comfortable shoes and clothes and there you go.

Things to do:

• Enjoy nature
• Walk on the tracks
• Enjoy a picnic
• Push the swings for your children
• Play ball

Best Parks in Karachi

Ibne Qasim

Hilal Park

Zamzama Park

Fateh Bagh

3.Visiting Family

I know this sounds very illogical as to how this can be a fun activity with kids, but Yes its very much fun and a very important activity for your child to learn social skills and interact with people other than school friends.

Many people claim Karachiites as to very self centered and protective about their privacy.

But Hey! People Need People and as long as they live they need people, so why not take your children to meet your own relatives and what could be better if they have kids of your children’s age group, who go to another school, have different interests and maybe their social economic standards also differ from your children.

Things your Child will Learn

• Making friends within the family
• Develop interpersonal skills
• Understanding the family’s background
• How differences coexist in a family
• Basic social etiquette for e. g how to meet and greet people

Its always a better idea to inform your relatives before going that way both the families will be prepared.

Kids will enjoy as long as you enjoy, they get to meet and greet people answer their questions even the illogical ones, and interact with children.

Besides who doesn’t enjoy Aloo kay samosa and the shaam ka nashta.

4.Karachi Zoo

All children love animals and visiting the zoo once in childhood becomes a memorable trip forever.

Karachi does have a Zoo and its pretty good not the way how most of you expect it to be.

I personally have been to Karachi zoo and its not that bad. The cages aren’t vacant, at least;  there are many animals and the tigers can be easily seen from a distance, not recommended to visit the reptile corner because its very smelly and humid.

Also eating inside the Zoo is not such a good idea, animal dander, fleas, ticks and mites and animal feces are in much concentrated amount within the environment of a zoo, so protect your health.

Things to do:

• You can easily cover the entire zoo by walking
• Rest on the benches and enjoy the view of animals
• Take a ride on the train
• Feed nuts to the monkeys
• You must show around the bird section, it has many native birds of Pakistan like the Houbara bustard

5.Quaid -e- Azam Mausoleum

Quaid-e-Azam’s Mausoleum is a landmark not only in Karachi but also across Pakistan.

Its our national heritage and taking our children there is a good idea.

Choose a cool bright day and wear simple clothes don’t look very flashy and you can reach there very easily as its in a central location in the city.

The mausoleum is spectacularly constructed at an elevation from the ground on a naturally formed platue. Then as you walk towards the monument it seems to grows in height.

It is expertly constructed with glorious fine-looking white marble stone with a dome nestled over a four sided building structure that have walls tapering.

The entrances on each wall of have original Islamic architecture’s style and strategy. The white marble structure looks marvelous with steps descending to a marble floor that in turn leads to fountains and lush emerald green lawns. The inside of the tomb has the sarcophagus(stone coffin) in the middle with a green chandelier hanging from the dome.

Its quite a wonder, when the city’s traffic, pollution and tensions are at rise you can see the mausoleum shining like a pearl and emitting positive vibes.

Its always cool and tranquil inside the monument and one cant help feeling a gush of patriotism in their blood.

The entire tomb is surrounded by a lush green park where people can sit and relax and have a picnic.

Tip: Although the Mausoleum is in the center of the city, the roads in that area are one of the busiest roads. Traffic jams are the heaviest in rush hours and especially on Monday and Friday, so choose any other day and a time from 10 am to 4 pm is best suited.

Things to do:

• Visit the museum inside the Mausoleum
• Offer prayers for our Father of the nation
• Talk about Pakistan history
• Take pictures
• Have a picnic in the park
  

6. Safari Park

Safari Park is a complete package, with a zoo and chair lift, safari tracks and two natural lakes.

For those who simply claim that the crowd isn’t very well behaved  well if the majority of Pakistani crowd was like you and me who ( people who want to mind their own business and ignore the others) well then Pakistan would also be like a European nation but unfortunately the ratio of such people is merely negligible and its going to take many years till people learn to mind their own business only so we cant afford to lose time, and deprive our children from seeing around their own city.

Appear simple, pack a picnic and take your kids to Safari Park.

If you don’t feel confident about the chairlifts you can simply walk on the tracks, enjoy the greenery and do some bird watching sit by the lake its quite a getaway from the hustle and bustle of the city.

For kids everything everything seems to be huge, and they surely will have a good time in Safari Park.

Things to do:-

• Go Aish Adventure
• Chair lift
• Bird watching
• See different animals
• Have a picnic
• Sit by the lake and enjoy the ducks
• Walk along the tracks and observe different kinds of trees

7.Watch an Animated
Movie Together

In the end if you are too lazy or tired to go anywhere but still want to do something fun with your kids then why not pop some pop corns and cuddle with your kids in the couch and watch fun, exciting, message oriented animation movie.

Movies  help kids in learning stories of different cultures and can enhance their language skills. Socialization and understanding how to work in a group are other benefits that children gain by watching movies. And, family time spent together while watching a movie can gives rise to family bonding as well.

Animated movies are among the best ones for kids that can offer them both entertainment and plenty of things to learn.

My Favorite Animated Movies Are:-

• Toy Story 1 and 2
• Madagascar 1 and 2
• Up
• Finding Nemo
• Tarzan

Children learn most from experience and its a very important part of parenting for parents to participate in recreational activities with them.