August in Paris

Singaporean holidays are just around the corner, that’s good news for the kids ! Here is 5 ideas to keep them happy this week end…

1 – Share your passion for movies with your kids at the Asian Civilisation Museum where on saturday from 5pm there will be free outdoor screenings of Monsters vs Aliens and Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. And all this with fun craft activities !

2 – Register them for a Manga drawing workshop saturday from 3pm to 4pm at the Jurong Regional Library. It’s free and all you have to do is to register at e-kiosks in all public libraries. For 10 years old and above. 21 Jurong East Central.

3 – Do you know Ni Hao Kai Lan ? She is the equivalent of Dora, but Chinese ! She will be at the Central Public Library on saturday from 1.30 to 2.30pm.

4 – A mini Ferrari exhibition will please the boys, featuring postage stamps, apparel and goodies. This is at the Philatelic Museum (238 Coleman Street) until September 30

5 – The Mozart Experience : The Esplanade Concert hall will be featuring a Singapore Symphony Orchestra  Concert for kids aged 5 to 12 on saturday 11am and 1pm. And all this with the Magic Circle Mime company illustrating the music !($21 and $38)

Well, with all this on Saturday, all you have to do on Sunday is rest !!!

And as a bonus, take note of this last one…

Discover the wonderful art of kamishibai : this is a japanese storytelling form using large illustrated cards, hence its name meaning “paper drama”. This will happen next wednesday at 4pm in the Bedok Public Library, Explorer Room, 21 Bedok North Street 1.

hi guys !

OMG ! almost 2 months without posting anything, what a shame ! well life has been quite hectic and my schedule tighter than ever. Blame it on our new and beautiful home, various projects and well deserved holidays But, believe it or not, I am still there for you, preparing some surprises, and even promotions for September.

For this week end I have picked a few things for you and your family.

1 – For adventurous kids, head to United Square on Thomson Road, where a range of activities have been lined up to celebrate the 8th anniversary of the place : pole walking, abseiling, rock climbing and plank walking ! Kids aged from 5 to 15 will love it.

2 – Get prepared for the Singapore Kite Festival (to be held on Sept 18 and 19, do not miss it !) at Plaza Singapura : stunning kite displays, indoor kites demonstrations and kite-making workshops. Free.

3 – Once again the Asian Civilisation Museum is opening its doors to everyone this week end for free, to celebrate its exhibition “The great Sumatran Adventure!”. Craft making for kids, sumatran coffee making for adults, and so many treasures to discover  ! (Free, MRT Raffles Place)

4 – Raining ? head for one of the many indoor playgrounds around town. One of my favourite is GoGo Bambini in Dempsey Hill : very secure (they even take you and your child in picture so they can recognise you easily if needed), and fun of course, this place has a cafe attached to it, and the food, while not being gourmet, is quite OK.

5 – Join in the Celebrations of the Hungry Ghost Festival : head for the heartlands and you will certainly encounter one of these huge tents where long shows are displayed to entertain the deads. Do sit, but not at the front row, reserved for our invisible guests…

Have a great week end !

Pfiou ! My life is like a twister at the moment : I am moving house, my kids are on summer break, I work on new projects…. and I am taking a vacation to Bali next week… I meant to keep the weekly post alive over the last weeks but it has proven to be difficult. Therefore, I will just take a small break from it, and get back late july, early august. Stay tuned, some new stuff will be added to the shop !

Love you all !

Flo

The weekly post comes back ! you might notice a bit of a slow down in the blog recently… so many things are happening at the moment, and on top of that I got a nasty cold last week which completely stranded me in bed for 3 days ! So, my deepest apologies for not having delivered last week…. I hope you will find plenty of ideas this week to make up for it ! and this week end…. waouwww ! check this out !

1 – Take part in the family sports day at the Bishan Active park : you’ll be able to play baseball, football, aerobics and netball. All details on http://www.nfc.sg.

2 – Be dazzled by kids from 7 to 19 from around the world performing for the Singapore Performing Arts Junior Championships. It’s held on saturday at the outdoor theater at the Esplanade at 6 pm, and it’s free ! (Esplanade MRT)

3 - The Singapore River festival is back, and that’s surely an excellent destination to treat your kids with a night out. Saturday and Sunday at 7.30 and 10 pm you will enjoy Air, a show blending acrobatics, dance, larger than life costumes, exploring the themes of life and the rich diversity of Singapore. From 8 to 9 pm, everynight until the 3rd July, there will be a bumboat parade and firefly dance. And take a stroll on the quays and the Asian Civilisation Museums, enjoying live bands and outdoor performances.

4 – To catch a more exotic performance, head to the Lower Seletar reservoir for a Vietnamese Water Puppet Show. Performances on saturday 7.30 and 8.15pm and sunday 6 and 7.15pm. Family Bay, along Yishun avenue 1. Free.

5 – and last but not least, something definitely worth to catch on a sunday morning… forget about fancy brunches in a plush hotel, head to Ang Mo Kio in the open field near block 162 of Ang Mo Kio avenue 5 to listen to 600 longtail sharma, jambul, mataputeh and merbok. What are they ? Birds ! that’s a bird singing competition. I am pretty sure you will meet me there ! Sunday from 9 to noon. Free.

(and yes, all these activities are FREE ! you don’t need to be rich to have fun !)

Have an excellent week end ! see you next friday !

Quick quick today ! My schedule is already full ! I don’t know if it’s an islandwide initiative, but today is the “Bring your kids at work day” at my husband’s office… So this afternoon me and my two monsters will show up in “the big tower” and let the kids discover the wonderful world of computers and cubicles. After that, I understand that there are special activities lined up at the Asian Civilisations Museum. This is going to be fun ! In any case here is a list of 5 things to do with your kids this week end …

1 – Continue to celebrate the children season at the National Museum (what ? you haven’t been there yet? hurry up !) . On saturday you will be able to meet with Miel the artist behind the giant mural (2 to 5pm), or run into Mr and Mrs White, a couple from the fifties visiting the museum ! (saturday and sunday from 12pm to 3.30pm). Kids will also be invited to craft a Pegasus, or build their own book.  And don’t miss Duckie Can’t Swim, a puppet show about care, helpfulness and perseverance (sat and sun 4.30pm). There will also be a special tour for families, where you will discover flora and fauna that flourished in early Singapore (Explore, Imagine and Create sat/sun 11.30 am and 2pm, best for age 6 to 12, $25 per family of 4 – visit sistic to book) .

2 – Discover the secret lives of the trees in Singapore at Fort Canning Park : Join the Trees of the Fort walk every second saturday of the month from 4 to 6 pm. More details here.

3 – If you are like me a dog owner, and want the kids to have a good opportunity to play and run with him or her, head to East Coast Park (Dalbergia Green, between car parks C4 and D1) for the Doggie Thon, a 2 km circuit. This happens on Sunday 13th June from 8 to 11 am. Log on to Petsmagazine website for more info.

4 – Mad about Sudoku ? I know many kids are, and so are their parents. Outplay other families at the 2GS Mind Games competition on sunday 10 am to 1pm at the Braddell Heights CC Multipurpose Hall. This is free !

5 – As the world cup begins, prepare your kids for the Milo Freestyle Football constest. Juggling and flicking will happen at Suntec City on July 3 and 4, and competitors can win up to $800. Registration closes this sunday midnight ! email mkghealthandyou@sph.com.sg with your name, IC, and contact number. Indicate “Milo freestyle football contest”in the subject.

Have an excellent week end !

This week end is the French school annual fair… please have a thought for me as the dedicated parent’s representative supervising one of the bouncing castles under the sun for 2 hours saturday afternoon ! For the ones not having these kind of obligations, here is our usual list of 5 ideas to entertain the kids and have family fun this week end !

1 -On saturday morning, let your kids climb on a firemen truck ! At the Central Fire Station, they’ll be able to meet real firemen and even try the fire hose ! My kids loved it ! Every saturday, free, 62 Hill Street.

At the Central Firestation

2 – Join in a very original initiative from the National Library : the 10 000 fathers reading, a mass-story telling session on board a MRT train starting from Punggol. Each train carriage will have a group of story tellers  throuhought the journey ! Saturday from 9.30 to 11 am. And more activities are planned afterwards at the Compass Point atrium in Sengkang. More info on the 10000 fathers website. And if you can’t get enough of story telling, join the Berlitz Kids storytelling, games and origami session Ädventures with Nicolas”  at Ngee Ann City Kinokuniya saturday from 2 to 4.30 pm.

3 – Meet Dora at the zoo ! (actually this month is packed with celebrities visiting shopping malls … I hope to have time to recap these for you…). She will be at the Shaw Foundation Amphitheatre at 12 pm and 3pm every saturday and sunday of june. In addition to that exciting workshops are held like a jungle themed drama class and a yoga session featuring animal poses ! Check on the Zoo website for timings.

4 – Enjoy a street theater and puppetry performance from the French company Trois, saturday and sunday 5 and 7 pm at the Merlion Park : An outdoor show that incorporates puppetry, dance, mime, stilts and masks, Trois is a poetic and touching tale illustrating the circle of life. And of course, this is free ! Part of the Singapore Arts Festival.

5 – And at last… the museum again ! you might have missed last week’s great carnival, but the National Museum has new activities for you. For kids aged 5 to 12, the Build out of the box workshop will teach them to build a diorama and be able to write is own short story on a scroll (sat-sun, 10.30 am and 4pm, 90 min – $25 per child – you can book tickets on Sistic here ) . At 5pm on saturday and sunday, kids from all ages will enjoy a 60 min music and drama show telling the indian folk tale “Monkey see – Monkey do”. I have been lucky to see the performers a few weeks ago at a birthday party, do not miss them, they are great ! You can also head to the Philatelic museum currently displaying stamps and memorabilia from past Football worldcups. I guess the boys will enjoy this !

Don’t want to miss the friday post ? Subscribe to the newsletter, join our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter !

A long week end again, plenty of Singaporean families are on their way to Genting, Bali or Langkawi. But you don’t have to go very far to have fun, on the contrary ! Look at all that is on offer, especially with the school break…

1- Catch great shows like The Graffiti Classics, a british string quartet who will teach 5 to 12 year old kids about string instruments , classical composition, singing and dancing with jazz and folk music. Later this week there are still places left for Shiro and the Cherry Blossom at the Gallery Theater : book now !

2 – The Singapore Dance week 2010 is coming to an end with panache. Kids and teens alike might want to try jazz, hip hop or ballet ? step into the DanzStudio for their open house day on saturday 29th May. All details here. You can catch also a free Indian Classical dance performance at the Global Indian International  School saturday from 6.30 to 7.30 pm. More details on the Singapore Dance week website.

3 – Enjoy movies in a totally different way. At the National Museum of Singapore, Stamford Green, outdoor screenings will feature Chitty Chity Bang Bang (friday 28, 8pm) and Mary Poppins (as a sing along ! – saturday 29, 8pm)… and of course, this is free ! While at Eng Wah Suntec the BerriWerks company will allow all the family to enjoy together Shrek 4 : activities are lined up from 10 am to noon, and the film will be screened from 1pm. $14 per seat. To register, email Pamela@berriwerks.com .

4 – I reviewed this week the Singapore Art Museum, don’t miss it ! but head also to the National Museum who has lined up great activities for the kids : meet tubby the robot, listen to story teller Roger Jenkins (sat 2.30pm), create secret messages (workshops from 5 year old), catch clown performances (saturday and sunday, 1, 2, 3, 4.30 pm), create colourful creatures with clay and plastic bottles (sat and sun, 11 am 12.30 pm). For more details go to the National Museum website.

5 – On saturday (9 am to 6pm) join the family day out carnival at Palawan Beach Sentosa, for challenges, games, tug of war, story telling and games ! Part of the National Family Celebrations.

Unfortunately fate has decided for us : my elder daughter is stuck at hospital to fight a nasty bacteria… hopefully she will be discharged tomorrow… still in time to enjoy the National Museum !

Don’t forget : you can… browse through previous posts in the agenda category… comment on each post to give your feedback…. subscribe to our newsletter… join our Facebook page … and don’t hesitate to share with your friends !

Art Garden exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum

Let’s go straight to the point : As part of the children season of Singapore museums, the Singapore Art Museum has created the best exhibition I have seen in years. And I am not only talking about exhibition for kids, adults will enjoy it too ! An Art Garden has been laid out over 4 floors at 8 Queen Street, very close from the SAM main building on Bras Basah, and will stay until 18th July 2010. A perfect timing for the Singaporean school holidays ! You will be welcomed in the courtyard by Walter a giant inflatable rabbit, and on the ground floor you will be able to play in his garden. At the second level, an arts and craft room welcomes groups and individuals alike, with great facilities and enough space to create wonderful art pieces. At level 3 awaits you the Enchanted Forest, as if you were immersing yourself into a story book , while in another room you will observe a bunch of robotic flowers blossoming in not so random movements. At level 4, get into battle with Chocolate Monsters or play with virtual flowers and water…

What I loved in these installations is the possibility to immerse oneself in the works of art, feel and play with art, shapes, sounds, movements and colours. There’s no need to apply fancy intellectual explanations to understand what it is all about, you make it your own instantly. In Walter’s garden, kids knew instantly how to play with the cushions, different groups of kids joined to create a “mountain”of cushions, even my daughter who still has difficulty to communicate in English joined them, and as soon as the mountain was over they scattered the cushions again. The play was never ending and entirely driven by the kids’ imagination… which was exactly the intent of the artist ! In the Enchanted Forest, my kids (and myself I must admit) pictured themselves as characters from their books, asked questions about the strange creatures, were proud to create a butterfly to stick on the wall… I could go on and on about what they did, I think we spent at least 2 hours there and we could have stayed more ! Some would say it’s only some kind of fancy playground : playground yes, but an art playground !

Art Garden 8Q, Singapore Art Museum, 8 Queen Street, Bras Basah MRT.

$10 per adult, $5 per student, free for kids aged 6 and below accompanied by an adult with a valid ticket. Free for all every friday from 6 to 9 pm !

I visited yesterday a new art gallery in Orchard, vue privée, dedicated to photography…

New year games

Geisha

For their first exhibition, they chose ancient coloured japanese pictures, restored to their brightness and issued in large formats. These scenes of the Edo period feature mostly women in their daily activities : preparing meals, bathing, playing music, chatting…. As I am preparing our move in our new appartment, an idea popped in my mind … why not acquire one or two for my daughter’s bedroom ? Ranging from $250 to $500, these pieces are still affordable, and will be kept for a lifetime….

At the Gallery, I have been told that they would develop projects around photography for kids, I will watch this space for you, and keep you informed…

Technicolour Japan, until 7th July @ vue privée, 20 Cairnhill Road, Singapore (MRT Somerset)

It might not have escaped you : Shrek 4 is out in movie theaters ! Well, we have the whole month of June to see it, so let’s see what else we can do this week end in Singapore…

1 – Join the fun in the museums ! At the Asian Civilisations Museum, have fun with the whole family saturday 22 : enjoy free entry from 9am to 5 pm and a wide array of activities, performances, workshops and even a hunt in the galleries to win goodies bags ! At The Peranakan Museum and the Philatelic Museum will also hold their open houses day on sunday 23 : at the Peranakan there will be dress up workshops and peranakan themed crafts; while at the Philatelic the kids will be able to play chefs and cook Filipino snacks and complete a fun quiz.

2 – Contribute to a giant cartoon mural at the National Museum of Singapore (until 14th June) : “Contribute your memories on this panoramic cartoon mural by artist and cartoonist, Miel.  Illustrating the events, people and places from Singapore’s past, present and future, the mural is a time machine that can bring you back to the Kampong days, with street hawkers and amusement parks and then to the futuristic shopping malls, skyscrapers and more. This project is an interactive platform for parents, grandparents and educators to pass on personal stories of the past to their young, and build new memories inspired by the drawings on the mural.”

3 – There are a few seats still available tonight and tomorrow for the Carnival of the Animals and Peter and the Wolf concert at the Esplanade (7.30pm) : this double bill concert will feature a live show of jugglers and dancers illustrating Camille Saint Saens’ Carnival of the Animals and an animated movie of Peter and the Wolf. All details and booking on Sistic, as usual !

4 – For the most active, join in the fun race to discover Marina Barrage on saturday from 10 am to 1 pm, or you might have registered for the Cold Storage Kids Run this sunday at the F1 Pit building ?

5 – … and why not let them try rugby ! every sunday morning, at the Tanglin Rugby Club from age 3 to 5 your kids can start training ! The coaches aim to develop ball handling skills through a variety of games. Kids begin to get used to working in teams and following simple instructions from their coach. More info on their website !  It’s free but it does require registration on their website here.

Need more ideas ? Browse through our previous postings, where you might find new ideas ! and if you know great stuff to do with the kids, and want to share with all fellow readers, do drop a comment ! thanks !