Tuesday, August 5, 2008 at 11:41AM To liven up these inflationary days, here's a nice little treat. In celebration of National Heritage Board's 15th birthday, enjoy free entry to the following NHB museums and institutions from 1500 hours between 1 and 15 August.
Museum Thursday, June 26, 2008 at 11:36PM There's nothing scary about these nights at the museum. The first weekend features aerial performances on the premises and in its gardens by Italian group Studio Festi who have performed at the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
If your kids are the the kind who fight for their right to party into the night, the National Museum and other museums including the ACM and SAM will offer free admission to the public on July 25 till 2am. I'd think this one was more to draw the teenagers in, though there are a couple of younger child friendly activities from 6pm - 10pm including open-air screenings of the original 1971 film adaptation of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Hairspray.
Since we're hitting the museums a lot these days, thought I might get the annual individual membership costing $50 (LO is below 3 so she gets in for free most times) next time I'm there as they have a discount of 15% off membership subscriptions till 6 July. Dual membership is $80, family $120 and student $20. More details here.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 08:54PM I think I've mentioned before how much we love Reuben and Mark, the duo that are ToyBox. So, though we'd been to the Mozart exhibition at the National Museum last month, we decided to book ourselves into the Museum Toddler special session last Sunday too. And what fun we had!
The exhibition is geared to slightly older children so even though LO enjoyed the dress-up in a glittery skirt, sitting in the carriage and romping on the bed, I don't think she quite got what it was about the first time around.
Museum Toddlers changed all that. Reuben and Mark did some warm-up sing alongs and then delved into who Mozart was. I liked what they did but didn't realize till later how cleverly they explained Mozart.
Reuben first dressed up in a shiny glove and hat and did a disco number before donning a wig, ruffles and long coat to enter into his Mozart persona, replete with a mole and a faux German accent, before conducting a piece of music. We then had a guided tour through the exhibition. All very fun and terribly entertaining.
But wonder of wonders, LO still talks of Mozart a few days after the show and how he wore a white wig and conducted music. What more can one ask for.
Unfortunately their last Mozart session on the 29th is booked out. The good news is that ToyBox do regular themed Museum Toddler sessions every Sunday. More details here.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 10:55PM There's a workshop afoot to introduce children to three museums and their collections and ending with a dramatic showcase for....$300. At the current fulltime student rate of $5, that would buy 60 museum visits. I mean I see the value of such a programme but just had to point that out.
Heritage Child runs 9 - 14 June, and is conducted by Act3, whose holiday workshops that run 2- 21 June are also of a similar structure except their themes are not so local: Peter Pan and Prince and the Pauper.
Act3 incidentally also does a walkthrough of the National Museum with iconic characters from Singapore's history. The dates for these are 9 Aug, 1 Oct & 28 Oct. Incidentally there's barely any info on the museum websites so best call Act3 direct at 67359988.
Saturday, May 31, 2008 at 10:39PM 
We went along with some friends and their kids to the Mozart exhibition at the National Museum last Friday. After giggling past the David in lace - any one else think it's a really wierd installation? - and playing with Twardzik Ching's magnetic wall and Imprint, we passed the turnstiles into the exhibition, which at $16 for an adult ($8.50 for kids above 6)was probably one of the most expensive exhibitions I've been to here.
I have to say that all the kids had a great time despite the exhibition being targeted to kids aged 6-12. The older one went around almost all the exhibits, wrote the script with an inkwell, got her face painted, learnt about Classical toothpaste (cloves, fennel and baking soda) and made sachets of peppermint tea. The younger ones romped around the canopy bed and the carriage playing dress-up with the clothes, though refusing to wear the wigs for some reason.
We spent over an hour in there, then went out to let the young uns into the Murmurs playground outside which was policed by highly enthusiastic staff making sure no over 4s went in. Somehow the playground with its primary colours seemed so bland after the colours and rich velvets and brocades inside. But the ballpit and a small maze were as expected, a draw.
I just wish there was some more structure to the exhibition. It felt like it was all laid out a bit haphazard so you'd miss out the bits like the kitchen (laid in a corner near the entrance) if you jumped into the middle and wandered off. Tellingly, the multimedia section which had video screens hardly seemed a draw. Also I can't remember hearing his music in the background.
The friends I went with echoed my sentiments. They coincidentally were visiting from Indianapolis, which is apparently home to the largest children's museum in the world. Their kids couldn't stop talking about their experiences there and judging by the website, citations and pics, it is impressive.
I found one degree of separation to Singapore. The piece de resistance at the Indianapolis Children's Museum is a stupendous 5 storey tall, 4800 piece glass sculpture by Dave Chihuly - the artist's largest permanent installation. Chihuly's works Sunrise and Sunset can be seen at the Ritz Carlton Millenia's Chihuly Lounge and Greenhouse restaurant (check them out if you're a guest, or go on a self-guided podcast tour of the hotel's 4200 art pieces). But I digress.
A children's museum in Singapore would be such a great starting point to introduce children to the arts and also to natural history, history and world cultures. Sure we have bits and pieces in each of the museums here for children but a whole structure full of it all year round? Wouldn't that be fantastic? The Indianapolis museum draws a million visitors with a populaton of 1.9 million. Any arts-policy makers listening?
Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 12:10PM There's free entry to the museums on 31 May to celebrate International Museum Day.
Asian Civilisations Museum
National Museum Of Singapore
NEWater Visitor Centre
NUS Museum
Memories at Old Ford Factory
Peranakan Museum
Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research
Reflections at Bukit Chandu
red dot design museum
Republic of Singapore Air Force Museum
Singapore Art Museum
Singapore City Gallery
Singapore Philatelic Museum
Museum Sunday, May 25, 2008 at 12:28AM For those of you who missed the grand opening, there still a children's workshop session available."Sarong Stories is a three-day workshop that explores Peranakan themes and collections in the galleries using folktales and nursery rhymes. The final day of the workshop culminates in a mini-presentation for family and friends of the participants." Is not cheap at $180 per child. Suitable for children aged 7 - 9 years. More details on the website.
Art, Exhibition, Museum Sunday, April 6, 2008 at 11:36PM Celebrate Songkran at the ACM on April 13th. I haven't seen anything on the website that indicates any sort of mass soak-n-splash, only storytelling, dress-ups and lotus-making type craft activities. Need to find out more.
Incidentally as the summer temps climb across Asia, Thailand is not the only country that tries a mass cool-off. Myanmar has Thingyan, India has Holi, and Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos have their own versions.
In these days of resource conservation, Singapore has International Water Week.
Museum 