Chiba City Friendship Center for Children Playroom

A Fun and Free Indoor Play Space

A place my children have enjoyed a lot over the last few years is the playroom at the Chiba City Friendship Center for Children (I will refer to it as the children’s center from here). It is a fun, colorful place with slides, climbing frames, and rope nets to swing in. There are plenty of soft surfaces and the children’s center staff are vigilant about supervising the place. The children’s center is located on floors 3-6 at Qiball, the building which also houses the Chiba City science museum and the Chuo-ku ward office. The playroom is accessible after registering at the front desk on the third floor, which is fairly straightforward and free. They limit the number of people who can go in at a time to about 45 for safety reasons, including both the children playing and any accompanying adults in the count. Each session lasts 45 minutes. Shoes must be taken off at the entrance and left inside, and there are small lockers available for children to store phones and wallets if they have brought them. Clean and spacious toilets are available on the same floor as the playroom, still part of the children’s center, and while there is no eating or drinking allowed on the play equipment, kids can step just outside the playroom if they need a drink. Beware the parking if you come by car - there is a car park that is part of Qiball, but it fills up during weekends and school holiday periods and the parking fees can add up, particularly if you’re forced to use one of the other private parking facilities nearby. Also, there are age limitations to bear in mind at the playroom. Preschoolers and children in the first three years of elementary school are allowed in for play sessions 1-7 (basically, between 9:00 and 15:45). The eighth and last session of the day is for elementary school students only, from grades 1-6. For my kids, this continues to be a reliably fun thing to do, more often than not during school holiday periods, and we usually add it on to a visit to the nearby science museum or similar. It’s definitely a good way for them to use up some energy, either because the weather isn’t ideal for outdoor play or just for fun regardless! Link to the children’s center website: https://www.kodomo-koryukan.jp/