Children’s Season 2012: Island Adventures at the NMS

Guess what? Children’s Season isn’t quite over yet!

Island Adventures at the National Museum of Singapore is still running, and a couple of Fridays ago, I made a date with some Mums from church and their kiddos to check it out. I had heard good reviews from other friends and thought that it might be a good place for the littler ones to visit. 

The programme is pitched as a child-friendly  “entry point into understanding Singapore’s history and heritage”. To achieve this, there were activities designed and set out in three different areas.

We arrived at 10am and were dismayed that our plan to visit on a quiet Friday morning had been foiled by a big group of PCF kids on excursion. Argh. Unfortunately there was no way to really avoid them though we tried to wait it out a bit and move in slightly after they had passed through. So we just had to put up with the din and make the most of it. 

The first stop is Ahoy! All Aboard! in the Concourse at Level 1. Here, you hop aboard a ship which is bound for the island of Singapura in 1820 and find out more about the travellers making the journey to this new land at that time, the things they brought with them, and the challenges they faced. There were quite a few interactive exhibits — the kids could turn a turbine to generate electricity to light up some bulbs, spin some threads, use a magnet to learn how a compass works, and hunt for gold, minerals and precious stones in a sand pit, amongst other things. Unsurprsingly, playing with sand was Noey’s favourite!

Learning about spinning

Hunting for precious stones and materials

“Why are you looking at me instead of taking a peek down this port hole, Mummy?”

There was also a little room which showed the routes taken by the early visitors to Singapura, and the kids had some fun moving big ship magnets along the routes on the giant map. 

My unwilling models.

Nomi watching K and M move the ships along the lighted routes.

After disembarking from the ship, we arrived in the second room: Port City, also at Level 1. Here visitors get to explore and discover what life was like on the island of Singapura back in the 19th and 20th centuries. They learn about kampongs and the development of Singapura into a Port City.

There are different stations where the kids can try their hand at being a cobbler, a letter writer, a street hawker, a coolie, and a fisherman. The kids really had a ball of a time here, doing everything over and over!

S, the happy little hawker, mixing up her teh tarik.

Her hungry little customers await.

Mmm! This teh tarik is good!

Noey tries his hand at letter writing. And learns Korean from a previous visitor!

The impatient Nomi can’t wait for her slow letter writer to be done and decides to try writing the letter herself.

S fixing soles to shoes.

The fishing station. Totally had the boys captivated for a long time.

Unloading the ship. And loading it again. And unloading it. And loading it again. And…

Nomi picks on a sack her own size.

Building a house on stilts.

You can also put together your own village.

We let the children play for quite a while before we hauled them outside with the promise of blocks and buildings. At Building Singapore in the Salon Foyer at Level 1, there were model of old iconic buildings that have, sadly, made way for development. I enjoyed reading about the old National Library and the Van Kleef Aquarium, both of which I remember fondly. It’s so sad that my children will never know these old structures! There are also tables at which you can sit and complete join-the-dots sheets on the different buildings, which I thought was a much better activity than mere colouring. But with blocks around, my son wasn’t too interested. They kindly let me bring a couple of sheets home instead, which I appreciated.

Lining up old iconic buildings in a row! That’s the National Museum on the right, followed by the National Theater, Great World Amusement Park, and the National Library. 

Some of the posters with information on these old buildings. Really made me feel nostalgic!

Our attempt at a group shot in front of the magnetic board installation. These are all the kids but I guess it was a bit much to hope that they’d all be looking at the camera!

The kids really had a lot of fun here. Maybe the big boys (we had a couple of primary schoolers with us) not so much, but it was perfect for the littler ones who were under 6. One of the mums who went with us is visiting from the US was really happy to have come. She said it was a wonderful space to learn about Singapore’s history and that it really should be permanent. I personally agree. It would have been better with the live performing acts, but those sadly only take place in the weekend. Actually, I had misunderstood and thought that the live roving acts were only held during the open house days but have since realised that it’s every weekend. So maybe we should have made the visit in the weekend instead!

Island Adventures is on till this Sunday, 22 Jul 2012 at the National Museum of Singapore. This closing weekend is also an Open House – free entry, plus extra activities, plus roving acts! I would bring the kids again, except that I won’t be in town this weekend. If you are, it’s worth this checking out.