7 Family-Friendly Activities To Do from 1- 7 August
Here’s our guide to start the pre-NDP celebrations with the family as well as kid-friendly activities this coming week
By Ynez Lim -
It’s a jam-packed week as families are awaiting the return of the National Day Parade for Singapore’s 57th Birthday. This week, meet Singapore’s first mermaid Syrena at Wild Wild Wet or introduce the little ones to native horticulture at the Singapore Garden Festival. Here are our top picks:
Compete in a floral competition with the kids @ Singapore Garden Festival
After a four-year hiatus, the Singapore Garden Festival (SGF) is finally back with a series of floral and tropical horticultural themed shows and activities.
This year, the festival will be held at Orchard Road and the Singapore Botanical Gardens. Both locations will hold a variety of activities and competitions for anyone who has a green thumb.
At Orchard Road, participate in activities such as the Community Garden Edibles Competition, in which gardening hobbyists get to showcase their homegrown fresh produce and compete with other fellow gardeners.
At the Singapore Botanical Gardens, there will be a variety of programmes including concerts and heritage tours to celebrate the Garden’s rich history.
Catch the Singapore Garden Festival at the following locations:
Orchard Road (from 30 July to 7 August, 10am - 10pm): Edibles Competition, Floral competitions and Floral Installation Displays at ION Orchard. Show Garden Competition at Civic Plaza, Ngee Ann City.
Singapore Botanic Gardens (from 30 July to 9 August, 8.30am - 7pm): Orchid Competition at National Orchid Garden. Landscape Design Challenge at Eco-Garden, Bukit Timah Core. Singapore Gardeners’ Cup at Eco-Garden, Bukit Timah Core. MarketPlace at Tyersall Coach Park, Central Core
From 1 to 31 August, Wild Wild Wet brings you Mermaid Tales, a fantasy-filled event for the whole family!
At Mermaid Tales, you get to meet Singapore’s first ever mermaid - Syrena in an exclusive meet and greet session. The mermaid experience is more than just a photo opportunity as there will be events including a mermaid tail posing workshop, synchronised swimming performance and more.
In celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Downtown East is hosting a Tsum Tsum's illuminated lantern tunnel, so stay till late for even more photo opportunities.
Weekday passes start at $20 for Mermaid Tales and $50 for the Mermaid Tail Posing Workshop Bundle. Get your tickets here.
Skim Alley is Singapore’s first and only flatland skimboarding pool facility situated in Heritage Chalet along Pasir Ris Beach. Skimming is essentially a boardsport where a skimboard is used to glide across the water’s surface in a shallow pool. Think: homemade slip and slide but with professional instructors and cool tricks on a skimboard.
Skimming is a great sport for families to do together as it enhances balance, coordination and boosts confidence as a unit. Not experienced? Fret not! Sessions with instructors will be mandatory for first timers.
To note: Skim Alley welcomes young children age three and above. Kids 12 and below will need to be accompanied by a parent. Sessions start at $28 with no instructors and $40 with instructors.
Bring the glamping experience into the comfort of your home without slumming it out with creepy crawlies and bad weather. The operator comes directly to your home and sets everything up with insta-worthy paraphernalia and sleepover snacks that kids love.
As the experience is a safari-themed slumber party, each kid gets an animal plushie to go with the teepee set-up. Sleepover Campcation is a wholesome and novel idea for kids who are celebrating birthdays or to mark the start of a school vacation.
Starting from $200 for a Duo Campcation and $800 for an Octet Campcation, the sleepover experience operates on an open date booking system.
Let’s Play @ D’Marquee is the biggest bouncy castle event in Singapore with eight different obstacle courses. Perfect for adventurous kids, the Vroom your Way Out is a wheely fun course that tests agility and coordination skills, while the Pandora Box requires more strategic thinking as you navigate your way out of this maze.
150 minutes too short? There are options to purchase additional rides such as the king kong robot, six-seater 4D VR Ride and choo choo train.
From now till 9 August, entrance to the Indoor Playground at Downtown East starts at $25 for 150 minutes of playtime. Open plaza activities are available at an additional fee. Book your tickets here.
Explore the limits of creative mediums with Superfluous Things: Paper & Lonely Vectors at SAM
With all the buzz around National Day coming up, museum-goers who are trying to escape the fanfare can opt for a rather inconspicuous exhibit at the Singapore Art Museum. Superfluous Things: Paper, is an exhibit that shines the spotlight on the medium of paper; but unlike a more commonly adapted form of paper-art, origami paper is used here in the abstract and towering exhibits.
Walk through the installations to experience the lives and memories of contemporary artists through the long tradition of paper manipulation.
28 May to 14 August, Gallery 2, SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, free for all Singapore Citizens and PR. Enjoy $5* off your Gojek ride to SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark (39 Keppel Road) with the promo code, 'GOSAM'