Days and Nights at the Museums

BLOG BY FELICIA (29th August 2012)

Most of us would have thought the museums would be boring, seeing old, historical stuffs. The Singapore Museums have done a great job and installed exhibits not just for the historical values. They have exhibits for family and kids too! There were many good programs and mostly interactive ones that were really interesting and kids loved it!

Here’s our 4 days trip to the Museums over 2 weeks!

The Peranakan Museum
(Armenian Street)

Thinking it would be just a showcase of old Peranakan heritage objects, furniture and outfits, I didn’t have much expectation. But I had always wanted to come coz the museum building was my formal primary school (Tao Nan School) building back in 1912! By the time I enrolled in this school, she had moved to her second home at Marine Parade.

Elkan and Jovin were wondering around this small three-stories building looking out for motifs to be embossed on their little handouts where upon completion of all the motifs found in the museum, they will receive a small gift! They get to do some fun ink stampings on postcards. And we watching Elkan and Jovin did a stint pretending to be a character in “Emily of Emerald Hill”, a famous play about a young Peranakan bride in the 20th century. They were both all dressed up in the sarong and kebaya! After the stint is recorded, we get to view other videos, and vote our favorite!

My mum and me walked around looking and admiring the exhibits. I must say the exhibits was really a great collection and well presented. The famous bead works on their traditional shoes was amazing! So much details made from the tiny beads. We came visit this museum two days in a row as Elkan wanted to do more embossing and try the stint again, pretending to be another character. We spent a good 2 hours there each visit. Better than straying in the malls!

Singapore Art Museum at Q8
(Queen Street)

This is a museum just for kids! There was not many exhibits but more interactive and little fun activities to engage your kids with handy crafts and drawings. There was a round table tennis table which Joe had blogged before. Unfortunately, when Joe was back then, the museum was closed that day. So we came back again.

A giant octopus that flashes colourful lights from its body when it sensed that you are near! A thrill for young toddlers. Grow a night garden in the city! Learn to fold flower and butterfly origami and grow them in a glowing night garden. Scream…. kids! And see what comes out from your screams on the screen! Doreamon, flowers, cartoons or super heros?? Dance silly and have a good laugh! Save mother earth, colour and plant your own trees on the wall. Use mummy’s cloths peg from the kitchen and make nice repeat patterns on a piece of clay.

We went there twice too. Elkan sweats it out with other kids in a game of table tennis at the outdoor round table tennis table. While I sit comfortably on a sofa indoors with aircon, gaming on my iphone :p. Heee…..

Singapore National Museum
(Stamford Road)

We signed up for a museum tour about weddings old and new from 200 years ago, Victorian styles to our local weddings of different ethnic groups. So we got up early that day, arrived on time. But found out that we were the only ones who turned up……. Well, the organizers decides to go ahead even with just two of us. So while waiting…… Suddenly, a Caucasian lady dashed into the exhibit hall frantically and crumbled onto the ground, crying loudly! Elkan was shocked and hid behind me. I was taken aback too. But after a while I realised that it was an act! An interactive performance with the audience to help this lady plan her wedding. Haha… it was a brilliant idea.

And so, she relates to us, showing us her awful bright green wedding dress that was supposed to be white. And all preparations were not ready for her wedding which falls on the next day. So help came when another performer walked in and introduced himself as a wedding dress designer and we got involved in this wedding planning! Elkan managed to find some veils, gloves and picked his favorite dress design and put together a wedding dress for the lady. Learned interesting customs like breaking a glass to signify congratulating to a Jewish couple. He even helped wrote a wedding vow for the lady, completing a simple poems that rhymes. No prizes won. But was great fun.

Singapore Art Museum
(Bras Basah Road)

It’s a colorful event of the Night Festival. A series of light installations that stretches from The School of the Arts (SOTA) to the Singapore Art Museum (SAM), Singapore Management University (SMU) and the National Museum of Singapore.

There were enlarged children’s drawing of fairy tale characters lighted up outside SOTA. Musicians and dancers attracted lots of passerby to stop and enjoy their performance along the streets and in the big open space within the SMU compound. The projected images on the facade of the SAM and National Museum was fascinating! Old, new, nature, faces, animals, and architectural images were flashed onto the building. It was sightisfying!