Bengaluru’s child-friendly spaces offer Nature walks, outdoor play dates, and more 

From Nature walks and sensory play dates to athletics and music, Bengaluru is fast becoming a family-friendly city 

The latest addition to Bengaluru’s kid-centric community is Coro, a members-only family club. Founded by Tena Pick and Tanushree Seth — who met through a Whatsapp support group for mothers during the pandemic — Coro offers parents a space to work, and children to play and connect. “We were aware of the lack of adequate infrastructure for children and families in Bengaluru, and mothers were constantly having to choose between their professional lives and parenting,” says Tena, also the founder of Project Kal, a gender leadership academy in the city. 

Coro currently offers in-house activities through the week, as well as events and workshops by a curated lineup of facilitators and organisations such as the LooRoo Club and Moving Minds. “Our aim is to create a space where children can play, explore, and foster a sense of independence. Our playshapers use a variety of approaches that all fall under methodology of play,” says Tena, “Every week has a different theme, such as ‘the world around us’ or ‘little explorers’, and every day that theme is explored through different modalities, such as music, theatre, arts, and storytelling.”

For the summer, a range of movement, dance, music, arts, crafts, sensory play and children’s theatre activities are being planned. “We also have food pop-ups, events for the adults on the work floor, and networking opportunities for our families. In the months of April and May, we will host our own summer camp for children,” she adds. 

Membership plans start at ₹15,000 a month. For non-members, upwards of ₹500 for an activity.

With play-based learning at the core of  The LooRoo Club, founders Lakshmi Kaushik and Sangeetha Arjun say it represents “everything we cherish — childhood wonder, deep roots in nature, and a love for our city”.

“Sangeetha, a nutritionist and play-based educator, and I have been friends since third grade, growing up in the 90s with unstructured outdoor play. As parents, we wanted our children to experience the same joy of exploring nature and learning through play – making concoctions with mud, leaves and flowers, and making mud cakes,” says Lakshmi. What began as small playdates for their children quickly grew into a larger community.

The name LooRoo, she says, is inspired by their children, Luca (Loo) and Rudra (Roo). “It’s also a perfect short form of our beloved city, Bengaluru!” says the architect and paper-cut artist.