Yangcheon-gu announced Wednesday that it has officially opened the "Seoul-Type Kids Cafe" in Sinwol 7-dong, a public indoor play facility designed to support children's healthy development and ease the childcare burden on parents.
The Seoul-Type Kids Cafe is a publicly operated indoor playground available at low cost regardless of weather or season. The district has been expanding the network of facilities to give children a safe place to play close to home, with each branch offering a different theme to provide a variety of play experiences.
The Sinwol 7-dong branch is the tenth Seoul-Type Kids Cafe to open in the district. It was created by fully remodeling the Haemaji Shared Childcare Room on the first floor of the Haemaji History Library. The branch's theme, "Sweet Dream," evokes a storybook fantasy world and is designed to help children build imagination and creativity through play while supporting balanced physical and emotional development.
The facility features several play zones tailored to children's developmental stages: a large-muscle development zone, a communication and social play zone, and a fine-motor skills zone.
The large-muscle zone is decorated to evoke the feeling of bouncing on cotton-candy clouds, with a wide ball pool, a ball-pool machine, and a slide-and-climbing tower to build gross motor skills.
The communication and social play zone draws on the motif of a magical dream village and provides spaces for house play and role play. Children naturally develop imagination and communication skills by taking on a variety of social roles.
The fine-motor skills zone is styled as a dream workshop collecting glowing stars from the night sky. A range of manipulative play materials are arranged to improve hand-eye coordination in infants and toddlers and to support fine-motor development and concentration.
The facility is open to children aged 0 to 6 who reside in Seoul. Admission is 2,000 won per child and 1,000 won per guardian for a two-hour session. Advance reservations are required and can be made through the Woori Dongne Kium Portal.
The facility operates Tuesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. To maintain a comfortable environment, sessions are divided into three showings on weekdays and four on weekends.
Yangcheon-gu now operates 10 Seoul-Type Kids Cafe branches: the Sinwol 7-dong branch along with locations in Mok 3-dong, Mok 4-dong, Sinwol 3-dong, Sinwol 5-dong, Sinjeong 4-dong, Sinjeong 7-dong, Sinjeong 7-dong No. 2, Sintree Park and Omok Park. The district plans to add an eleventh branch at Gangwol Children's Park in the second half of this year.
"We are expanding the Seoul-Type Kids Cafe network throughout residential areas so children can run and play freely regardless of the season," district mayor Lee Gi-jae said. "I hope the newly opened Sinwol 7-dong branch becomes the neighborhood's go-to childcare haven — a place where children and parents can laugh and recharge together."
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