Going with Stacey to the Peranakan Museum {Giveaway}

When exploring places of interest, whether locally or overseas on holiday, I tend to gravitate towards museums. The husband prefers zoos and anything where animals are involved but me, not so much. Perhaps that’s why natural history museums always such hits for the whole family!

Anyway, I disgress.

As a parent, I’ve transferred that love for museums to my kids by bringing to kids to museums regularly, both in Singapore and whenever we travel to other countries. They actually suggest museums sometimes when I ask them where they would like to go when I take them out to play, which I consider an achievement in itself! That said, I do think that the museums in Singapore have some way to go to catch up with some of the museums we have visited in Australia and the UK to engage kids. Play@NMS is a good start, and Children’s Season each year is one of the highlights on our calendar, though I wish they would find a way to make at least some of the exhibits and activities available the whole year round.

Still, I’m really glad that in recent years, there has been an effort made to reach out to kids and make museums more accessible to them. In this regard, I was very excited to receive a copy of Stacey goes to the Peranakan Museum, the second book in the Stacey and the Museums series by Lianne Ong, published in partnership with the National Heritage Board. We had enjoyed reading about Stacey’s adventures in the National Museum and couldn’t wait to find out what she would discover in the Peranakan Museum.

In this story, Stacey follows her aunt on an errand to the Peranakan Museum and makes a friend who brings her on an unexpected tour of the museum. On this little tour, Stacey is introduced to a handful of exhibits that can be found around the Peranakan Museum, and gets a little taste of magic too!

Just like the previous volume, I thought this book provided a good introduction to the museum, a taster of some of the highlights and served as a guidebook to help children relate to the exhibits. I again also really loved the illustrations by James Tan, which captured the look of the museum and the exhibits in a manner that was recognisable and also appealing to children. Noey was quick to point out that he is the same illustrator who illustrates his beloved Danger Dan too.

So intrigued were my children with the exhibits featured in the book that I thought I would put the book to the test and seize the opportunity to visit the Peranakan Museum to see the real deal. When Mei had a morning off from school one morning not too long ago, we made the Peranakan Museum our Mummy-and-Mei date. (Poor Noey had to miss out as he was in school!)

Just for fun, I got Mei got dressed for the part!

She was really excited when we were on-route and would remind me of things Stacey encountered that we could expect to see. We were really early since the museum only opened at 10am so there was time for a quick refresher before we stepped in. Not that she really needed one.

The very first “person” we spotted was Mei! (From the book, that is. Not my Mei, haha.) My little miss was very excited and ran over to hold her hand and give her a friendly pat on the head.

Inside the museum, we found three levels of galleries to explore. I was quite disappointed that they have taken away the children’s corner that used to be in the room to the right of the door which I thought was quite nice when I visited with Noey some years back. They do still have the family treasures embossing stations which my kids always enjoy so we made sure to take one of the discs.

We wandered through the galleries, taking a bit more time to look at some of the exhibits that were highlighted in the book. We marvelled over the beaded tablecloth — it was such an exquisite piece of handiwork! Mei was very excited when we walked into the gallery with the Tok Panjang (long table). We took some time to look over the elaborate table setting and found out the last name of the family to whom the set used to belong (It’s the “Yap” (葉) family as you can see on the pieces, specifically that of Yap Ah Loy.) Other than these there was quite a bit to see and some to touch and feel too as we made our way through the galleries learning about the lives and culture of the Peranakans of South East Asia.

Her favourite moment though was walking into gift shop. For there amongst the cabinets of jewellery and kerosang on sale, we found a set of kerosang just for her! We also met the lovely Aunty Shirley, who helped us find an appropriate and inexpensive set for our little lady. It was just the thing to complete her kebaya look, and boy, was she stoked. It was the perfect end to our visit.

My little nonya and I certainly had fun retracing Stacey’s footsteps through the Peranakan Museum! We’re now looking forward to the next volume in this series! Nothing like a little literary magic to help us see things in a new light. Stacey Goes To The Peranakan Museum can be purchased at www.armourpublishing.com for the special web price of $13.64 (RRP $16.05).

For more reviews of this title, check out what Lil Blue Bottle and A Pancake Princess have to say!

GIVEAWAY!

We had to give you a chance to win a copy of this Stacey’s latest adventure, so here it is! We have ONE COPY of Stacey Goes To The Peranakan Museum to give away to one lucky winner.

To enter this draw to win a copy of this book, you have to complete the following steps:

1. Visit the Armour Publishing Facebook Page

2. Visit the Life is in the Small Things Facebook Page

(While you’re there, we would greatly appreciate it if you could “LIKE” these pages!)

3. Comment on this Facebook photo telling me your favourite museum (whether local or overseas) AND Tag 2 friends!

You have to complete all 3 steps to qualify so don’t miss any out! Use the Rafflecopter widget below to indicate that you’ve done the above. You can also get additional chances by completing the rest of the steps.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms & Conditions:

• This giveaway ends on Mon 20 Apr 2015, 11.59pm and is open to Singapore residents only.
• The winner will have to collect from Armour Publishing’s showroom at Jalan Bukit Merah.
• Winners will be contacted using the contact particulars provided when entering this giveaway and will have 24 hours to respond, failing which a new winner will be drawn.
• All incomplete entries will be disqualified. All entries will be verified before the winners are announced.
• To be fair to our sponsors, please note that all fake Facebook accounts (eg. accounts set up purely to take part in contests with no or very few real friends) will also be ineligible to win.