Sign up for a speech and drama workshop. Take up a craft-based project. Visit an interactive exhibition. Or get into the festive spirit with a Christmas-themed programme. These are some of the activities parents and their children can have fun with when the year-end school holidays have begun!
Here are eight of the best indoor activities for families, especially when it’s pouring outside.
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Text: Bryna Singh, The Sunday Times
What: Arabian Nights – 1001 Nights Of Songs, Rhymes And Stories.
Through role-playing, movement, dance, mime and improvisational activities, participants will learn how to use their voices and bodies to dramatise stories.
Older children will also be working together with fellow participants to stage a performance.
Where: One-Two-Six Cairnhill Arts Centre, 126 Cairnhill Road
When: Nov 20 to Dec 16. Duration of workshops depends on children’s age
Price: $50 to $380
Age: 18 months to 15 years old
What: Dreamseeds Arts Fest.
Apart from an arts exhibition, an arts market, a performing arts concert and a film screening, this second edition of Dreamseeds Arts Fest also hosts workshops that will let participants try their hand at silkscreen printing, leather craft-making and upcycling old T-shirts into drawstring pouches, among other do-it-yourself projects.
This arts festival is organised by Club Rainbow (Singapore), which helps chronically ill children and their families.
Where: *Scape, Media Hub, Level 5, 2 Orchard Link
When: Nov 18 to 25
Price: Free
Age: Four years old and older
Info: www.clubrainbow.org/events-archive/dreamseedsartsfest2017
What: Family programmes including story-telling sessions and hands-on workshops that involve participants in creating collage portraits, experimenting with Chinese ink and clay and drawing with pastels.
Where: 1 St Andrew’s Road
When: Till Dec 31
Price: Some programmes are free while others are ticketed
Age: Three to 16 years old
What: Sketch Town, an existing interactive art installation in the museum’s permanent exhibition, Future World: Where Art Meets Science, will be transformed into Sketch Christmas from Dec 1.
Visitors will be able to colour objects and scan their artworks. The pictures will become part of a Christmas-themed backdrop that will be projected onto a large screen.
The museum will also have various family-friendly activities during the school holiday period, including a tote bag printing workshop and free film screenings.
Where: 6 Bayfront Avenue
When: From Nov 18
Price:Various
Age: Various
What: I Spy With My Little Eye exhibition.
This interactive geometric spatial installation at multi-disciplinary arts centre The Artground is inspired by the golden ratio that is found in nature and the body – represented by the Greek letter phi – and is designed by artist Shahrul Jamili. Children are encouraged to move through and play around Jamili’s 3D structures.
Apart from this exhibition, The Artground also has its ongoing Weekends at The Artground programme on Saturdays and Sundays, comprising a variety of art-related, drop-in activities for families to enjoy.
Where: Goodman Arts Centre, 90 Goodman Road, 01-40 Block J
When: Exhibition – Till April 1 (closed on Mondays and Tuesdays); Weekends at The Artground – Saturdays and Sundays
Price: The exhibition is free. Weekends at The Artground – $10 for each programme for each parent-child pair
Age: 12 years old and younger
Info: www.theartground.com.sg
What: Four interactive exhibitions invite visitors to explore and understand the science behind death-defying circus acts, flying, phobias and ageing.
Circus! Science Under The Big Top features close to 20 interactive exhibits where visitors can try their hand at circus tricks from juggling and balancing on a high wire to learning from contortionists the art of getting one’s body into very small spaces.
Above & Beyond explores aerospace innovation and reveals the science behind flight.
The other two exhibitions – Dialogue With Time – Embrace Ageing and Phobia2: The Science Of Fear – are permanent.
Where: 15 Science Centre Road
When: Till March 18 (Circus! Science Under The Big Top); till April 8 ( Above & Beyond)
Admission: Free for the permanent exhibitions, but entry fees to Science Centre apply
Info: www.science.edu.sg
What: Celebrate December – an annual festival organised by the Esplanade – includes programmes for the little ones where they can learn how to create their own sparklers, make a wish on a bell charm, fold beautiful origami butterflies, participate in music and movement sessions, and meet PIP, Esplanade’s cute and cuddly mascot.
Where: 1 Esplanade Drive
When: Dec 1 to 31
Price: Free
Age: Various
What: Holiday workshops for children to create items such as hats, flotation devices and Christmas sleighs through upcycling and recycling materials.
Playeum, a creative space for children, is currently also hosting a hands-on exhibition called Making It Home, which celebrates the home as a source of creativity.
The centre will also be organising a one-day holiday camp on Nov 24 and Dec 15, where children will be challenged to build their own cities using recycled materials.
Where: Gillman Barracks, 47 Malan Road, 01-23
When: Nov 19 to Dec 15
Price: Various
Age: Five to 12 years old (for workshops and holiday camp)
Info: www.playeum.com