Toa Payoh Dragon Playground

The Housing Board designed a series of playgrounds in the 1970s with local motifs, and the dragon at Lorong 6 Toa Payoh, built in 1979 to a design by Khor Ean Ghee, became the best known: a segmented body of concrete and terrazzo tiled in red and yellow mosaic, with a head to climb into and a slide down the tail. Most were replaced with rubber-floored equipment; this one kept its sand base, which is why people come to see it.

What you actually see

• The mosaic dragon - a segmented body tiled in red and yellow terrazzo.
• The sand base - the original sand pit, removed from almost every other example.
• The dragon head - the climbing structure at one end with the slide at the other.
• The 1979 design - Khor Ean Ghee's work for the Housing Board.

When to go

Year round; it is a working playground in a housing estate and open at all hours. Late afternoon brings children. Mornings are quiet for photography.

Honest expectations

It is a small playground in a residential block, not an attraction, and takes ten minutes. Children use it and adults photographing it should be mindful. The nearby blocks are people's homes.

Nearby

Lian Shan Shuang Lin is nearby, and Bishan is north.