Taiwan Trip: Top 5 Language Exposure Activities Besides Camps

So you’re planning a Taiwan trip and you’re looking for other language immersion activities besides language camps? Perhaps you want something for your kids to do on weekends when they have time off from camp or you’re not doing a longe enough trip for camp. Well you’ve come to the right place!

(be sure to check out the local library while you’re in town! We loved this free activity that helped us preview books)

We recently returned from a two month visit in Taiwan. After looking around, talking to other local parents, here are my top five Taiwan trip activities.

Play Cafe: Stay 樂待親子共融空間

This beautiful play cafe is not only aesthetically pleasing (it looks more like a upscale cafe for moms) but the local workers at this cafe will actually play with your kids!

Not only that, you can schedule to have your nails done, eyelash extension plus a hair cut for your kids if you’d like.

The entrance fee is 280NT (about $10 USD) for three hours.

You can bring food there or Uber/Food Panda food there as well. You’re not required to eat their food.

You can either bring your own socks or buy socks there for your children. But both adults and children are required to wear socks like most indoor play areas in Taiwan.

As always, they’ll take your child’s temperature (make sure they don’t have a fever) and disinfect their hands before entering.

Details
- location: No. 305, Jiankang Road, Songshan District Taipei City/台北市松山區健康路305號
- age range: there isn’t an age limit, but from what I’ve heard from other parents it sounds like a place more appropriate for kids younger than 4 years old.
- cost: 280 NT (around $9.30) per person. This includes adults and children above one years old for 3 hours. For children younger than one, it’s 120 NT ($4) for unlimited hours. For each additional hour after 3 hours, it’s 40 NT ($1.30).
  - Extra services (reservation recommended)
    - children’s hair cut is 600NT ($20 USD)
    - eyelash extensions 1880-2880 NT ($63-96 USD)
    - manicure 200-2400NT ($7-80USD)
- reservations: call 02-2768-3038 or line: @stay2018 or FaceBook message them on their page

Take a Class with Local Kids

During our Taiwan trip, I signed my daughter up for ballet class and she loved it. The classes were ninety minutes each time, so much longer than classes in America for four year olds.

There are lots of classes to choose from. Most are similar to ones in the States, they range from dance, music, art, kung-fu, cooking to basically anything you can think of.

You probably do need to ask a local to help you communicate with the schools or look online for you if you’re unfamiliar with where you’re staying. You can even try just walking around the area where you’re staying to find a class.

My daughter loved taking ballet class in Taipei

Tip: Most cram schools will offer other classes besides English such as art. Cram schools are easier to spot.

Class Options for Your Taiwan Trip:

Some more well known schools with locations throughout Taiwan:

雲門舞集舞蹈教室/Cloud Gate Dance Studio: Well known modern dance company in Taiwan offering various dance classes for kids with multiple locations.
朱宗慶打擊樂教學系統/Ju Percussion Music School: percussion classes for kids. Perfect for the more active Chinese learners. They offer 50 minute classes for kids three and up. They even have classes for older kids and adults as well
救國團/China Youth Corp Local Community Center: Taiwan’s own version of YMCA. It’s been around since the 50s. Each district/neighborhood has its own community center offering a wide range of classes for both kids and adults. From mama and kids yoga, dance, art…there’s lots to choose from. The link above will take you to their page for courses and sign up.

Some Other Interesting Classes to Check Out on Your Taiwan Trip:

Dance Soul: Taipei’s hip hop school. Many of the teachers here either dance in or help choreograph Mando Pop music videos. They also teach K-pop dance routines for the K-pop loving parents out there.
Nice Day Cooking Classes for Kids: they also offer lots of other fun classes and camps as well! When looking for cooking classes, use the keyword 親子烘培
Corny Chicken Theatre: Acting classes for older grade school kids 11+

Visit a Local Parent Child Centers in Taiwan 親子館

Immerse your child with other local children at Taiwan’s own parent-child centers or locally know as 親子館.

These are free indoor play areas for local families.

Taiwan travel with kids — image from 甜蜜的家庭

You do need to make a reservation beforehand in order to get a spot.

The registration process requires Chinese so would be best to have a local help you register.

Children’s Crafts & Activities in Department Stores

During your Taiwan trip, be sure to stop by the children’s floor at department stores such as Mitukoshi (新光三月), Sogo and Eslite (誠品). There are many crafts and other hands-on projects available with local instructors.

These activities cost an average of 500NT ($15 USD) or more. They’re not super cheap (depending on what your definition of ‘cheap’ is I guess) but the activities are interesting and taught by locals in Mandarin Chinese.

Most department stores have clay art, painting and lego classes. See video below from 李小妹與潔西卡媽咪 for a glimpse into what these classes entail:

a glimpse into what a craft class in departments stores look like for kids. Thank you 李小妹與潔西卡媽咪 for this video!

During the class, you’re free to shop around and come back when your child’s done. Typically the class will last for at least 20 minutes or more depending on the type of craft/activity.

The Eslite Spectrum Songyan Store/誠品生活松菸 (No. 88號, Yanchang Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110/110台北市信義區菸廠路88號) has really interesting and fun activities.

Here’s a highlight and info on a few:

glass blowing (Kun’s Crystal/坤水晶 for ages 5+ around 1000NT or $30USD for 20-30 minutes)
leather craft (Hsu + Daughter more suitable for older kids)
jewelry making and screen printing (in Bloom, more suitable for older kids)

Be sure to check that location out if this seems like something your kids would be interested in.

Go to a Live Kid’s Show in Taiwan

One of the best things about a Taiwan trip is the option to attend a live kid’s show such as Ciao Hu or watch a Disney movie in Mandarin Chinese.

sample of a live show from a parent: Linda Chen

Below are some sites where you can find information on live shows and movies throughout Taiwan and links to purchase tickets:

年代售票：only in Chinese
兩廳院賣票：some information in English
九歌兒童劇團/Song Song Song Children’s & Puppet Theatre: some information in English. I linked their FaceBook page because they’re more active here.
If Kids Taiwan: only in Chinese
Vieshow Cinemas: one of the largest movie theater chains in Taiwan. You can also purchase tickets at the nearest convenient store. If you use a Citibank credit card to book tickets you get a 40% off discount on weekdays and 17% off on weekends.

Tips for Purchasing Tickets

I would recommend that you purchase your tickets for popular live shows like Ciao Hu early. I was considering taking my daughter to the Ciao Hu live show, but unfortunately by the time I found out about the event, the only seats left weren’t that great.

Price of Tickets

Prices for the Ciao Hu live show ranged from 400NT (about $13 USD)/ticket to 1300NT (about $43 USD)/ticket. Another show by a children’s theater group was only 250NT (about $8 USD).

Spend Time with Relatives and Local Friends

Perhaps this sounds like, duh! But I sometimes forget this really important option. If you have relatives in Taiwan or local friends, take time to hang out with them and their children.

四代同堂: four generations together. Glad we were able to hang out with my grandmother during our trip.

Building these relationships is an imperative part of encouraging the minority language. The main reason why we use language is to communicate and to relate with others.

This is one of the main reasons why I’m still bilingual despite the fact that we immigrated to the States when I was eight years old.