We look forward to the Children’s Season programme at National Museum of Singapore every year and the kids always have fun even though there are usually some hits and misses. We love how Playgrounds on the Lawn looks but have never actually played on them. It’s only available for play on weekends from 10 am to 12 pm and 4 to 6 pm. Every year I give the same feedback about how the programmes and activities that are only available on weekends should be made available at least on one weekday since it’s the school holidays after all!

Masak Masak

dragon playground

watermelon playground

elephant playground

climbing

Spectrum of Paper

In the basement, you can find Memory Stations where kids can learn about the art of woodblock printing and also stamp different shapes on paper. They had fun stamping but didn’t really bother with the exhibition. I wonder if there’s a better way to connect the activity with the exhibition because I found the woodblock prints very interesting but the activity was not that similar to woodblock printing.

Memory Stations

stamping

Also in the basement is Wanderlust. The enchanted forest is visually very attractive to children but there’s nothing much to do there. Before entering, the kids were told not to run and not to touch anything. I feel that art for children should be as interactive as possible and I didn’t like having to follow the kids every step of the way telling them not to touch anything.

Wanderlust

they forgot they weren’t suppose to run

Back on Level 1, the kids spent a lot of time playing Garden Games. This was probably their favourite section. I liked how the eraser game and the retro pasar malam ring toss game were converted into giant versions in Flag Attack! and Can or Not? but I felt that the Hello, Hello? cups and string set-up could be a wee bit unhygienic. Somewhere in between were the see-no-touch Dancing Solar Flowers.

giant erasers

can you hear me??

giant ring toss game

getting a ball through a maze

watching the dancing solar flowers

Anya said her favourite part was Luma-City on the 3rd floor. We had trouble finding it because it’s tucked away in a little corner, but we had it all to ourselves so the kids went quite mad pushing the vehicles around and leaving light trails in their wake.

who needs organised exercise?

whee!

Finally, we visited the Salon on Level 1 twice. Once on a weekend for the Queen of the Forest puppet performance, and once on a weekday to avoid the crowds. Anya is doing a school project on puppets so we spent some time there making a puppet. Before leaving for lunch, the kids did some coloring at Simple Pleasures in Life and etching at Life’s Best Journey is With the One You Love. Simple activities but the kids liked it and I did a bit of colouring too.

Spectrum of Paper

puppet show

behind the scenes

colouring their puppets

more colouring

and some etching

Masak Masak is on at National Museum of Singapore until 10 August 2015. On the weekday that we visited, we spent about 3 hours there. Click here for more information about special programmes, workshops and activities.