Does Koh Tao have any child-friendly restaurants?

Thailand without a doubt has to be one of the easiest and most enjoyable countries to travel with kids as the Thai and Burmese people simply love children and welcome them with open arms. You will find both men and women are very comfortable with babies and children as in their culture, families; grandmothers, siblings, cousins, Aunties and Uncles all play a role in raising the children and help is always at hand. When it comes to eating in restaurants the experience is a pleasant one here. Usually before I've even sat down one of the staff is already after a cuddle with Crew, which I welcome, and is often taken into the kitchen and will reappear with a handful of carrot, cucumber or bread, they usually ask before giving him food but as he's such a fussy eater I usually encourage him to eat anything. The only thing I will say about this is that the hand back can often be done with little to no communication on account of the restaurant getting busy or orders coming in, so just keep an eye on the staff and offer to have your child back if they look flustered.

Here is a list of our favourite family/child-friendly restaurants on the Koh Tao. Some of these choices are rated for their excellent food and fine dining, some for their children's menu and others for the atmosphere and comfort with children:

Sairee Cottage- One of the few restaurants on Koh Tao that offer a kids menu, they also have a fresh seafood BBQ in the evening, lots of Thai and western dishes, and offer some of the best pizzas on Koh Tao. Their menu will have something to suit everyone in the family. You can eat on the beach and watch the sunset while the little ones run and play. This is a great place for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and the prices are pretty good too.

Christmas on Koh Tao with kids

Scuba Santa arriving on the beach to deliver gifts to all the children on Koh Tao 

Santa's elf arriving but where's Santa?

Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year on Koh Tao, despite missing the traditions of a snow festive morning and trudging through the rain with bags of shopping. Hahaha!  On Koh Tao, we like to celebrate it in style with bikini's and Santa hats, roast dinners and parties on the beach. For the kids, it's a completely unique experience and one they may never forget...

Here he comes...

The Koh Tao kids Christmas party began back in 2008, the idea came from my mother Gigi, who grew up on a tea plantation in Darjeeling, India. Every year one of the expat tea planters (one of the lucky dads) would be selected to ride in on an elephant dressed as Santa delivering presents to all the children on the tea estate. So my mum and I thought it would be a really fun idea to have Santa visit Koh Tao and deliver presents to all the children on the island, with a little help from their parents.

Koh Tao doesn't have any elephants, they did try to bring a couple to the island and one of them passed away followed by its mate dying of what can only be described as a broken heart... So instead we had Santa arrive on a long-tail and it was an absolute hit! We had parents deliver a present for their child to our house, located next door to the Koh Tao Playskool and Daycare, wrapped with their child's name written in big letters. We also had some spare presents labeled 'boy/girl' which were kindly donated by the other parents so no child would be left out.

Getting ready to perform Christmas carols

Since then we have held this event the last weekend before Christmas and it has grown, starting with just 18 children and babies the first year and 8 years on has around 70 children. Now we have a scuba diving Santa that arrives at Fishbowl, our latest and favorite venue. Santa's elf arrives off the long-tail to tell all the children 'Oh no kids, I've lost Santa, he thought he saw a whale shark and jumped off the boat'... Moments later the bubbles appear and out comes Scuba Santa himself. It's an absolutely magical experience!!

The Koh Tao Playskool children also perform Christmas carols before the main event and sell Christmas cookies they helped decorate to go towards buying more books for the school. I have yet to see our children perform as I'm always Santa's elf but we have some sweet videos of them performing on our youtube channel.

Our next party will take place on the 23rd December 2017, please bring your child/children's present to our house located next door to the Koh Tao Playskool, wrapped, clearly labelled and no more than the value of 300 baht. There will be a box with a lid labelled 'presents' on our doorstep, just pop it in there. We are usually in so feel free to pop your head in and say 'hi'.

What to bring when you're travelling with kids and babies to Koh Tao

Traveling with babies, toddlers, and kids can be so tricky, you question which equipment to bring, will the hotel have a highchair or cot, can I buy nappies, do they have baby food etc..

As a Koh Tao local, having lived here for over a decade and having raised 2 kids on this island I can tell you it is so much easier these days. When Phoenix was born,10 years ago, finding nappies, milk powder and supplies was a nightmare, we'd actually go to the mainland and stock up or ask a friend on a visa run to bring us anything we needed.

Today nappies, milk powder, baby cereal, mosquito cream, sunblock, baby paracetamol and pool toys are widely available. However, if you have the room in your luggage I would definitely bring your own nappies from home, they don't weigh a lot, they'll be your preferred brand and probably cheaper, and you'll be left with room at the end of your trip for some holiday souvenirs. Here is my list of essential items and where and what you can buy if you run out.

Koh Tao childcare

Little man on his 1st birthday and grand opening party

Back in 2008, Koh Tao was still a hidden secret known by only backpackers and divers. The need for childcare was an unknown territory but as I was a single mum of 1 boy, I decided to venture into these unchartered waters. I opened the Koh Tao Playskool and Daycare whilst my little man was still in nappies and was lucky enough to have had the help of my mum who also moved to Koh Tao back in 2004. I had left my career in Bangkok behind me but walked away with plenty of skills as I had been the Headteacher of the English program of one of Bangkok's most prestigious kindergartens and nurseries. Even though I left my job

Our 1st Anniversary party and Phoenix's 2nd birthday

behind, I still wanted to continue my work in childcare as my focus from a young age was looking after children. I had been incredibly lucky with having premises built next to my house and opened with just 4 children. The first years were incredibly hard, I ended up working 2 other jobs to pay the rent but still kept going as I didn't want to give up on this dream. With just a handful of the expat locals having children we all became very close friends, my son's best friend and him were born 19 days apart and spent almost every day together for 8 years and are
still best friends to this day. Our school formed, grew and developed for this handful of children. We didn't want to leave our homes and businesses but we also didn't want our children's education to suffer which lead us to teach primary school ages, the Playskool grew with these children. By 2011 the numbers were starting to rise and we even noticed an increase in tourists with children, they had heard about us and wanted to experience a holiday where they could drop their children off for the morning and go diving with their partner.