Yesterday, my six-year-old daughter asked beseechingly, not for the first time, “When can we go back to the Singapore Museum? I can’t wait to listen to all the recordings again.” Elisa has astonished me over the last few weeks with her unflagging interest in The National Museum of Singapore. My surprise lay not in her enjoyment of our outing last month, which Erik and I noted at the time, but in her continued recollection of specific exhibits and facts, not to mention her utterances that it remains the highlight of her stay in Singapore to date. “Better than swimming?” I asked yesterday. “Yes!” was her emphatic reply.
The Museum first opened in 1887 in honor of Queen Victoria’s jubilee. Following the latest, three-year renovation, it re-opened its doors in 2006 as The National Museum of Singapore with a mandate to share the country’s art, history and ethnography with citizens and tourists alike. A plaque in the lovely older wing informs us that “…the dome was so daunting that it drove the first contractor to madness.” Indeed, it is striking, so much so that the architectural highlight of the new wing, a Glass Rotunda, was built as a tribute to the older structure and stands at 16-meters high and 24-meters wide.
Still, you may be wondering, what’s so appealing to kids? The real gem of this museum – in children’s terms – lies in the area dedicated to Singapore’s history. Here, as you enter, there is an option to pick up either a standard audio guide, resembling those you’ve seen at all the other museums you’ve visited, or one created especially for children aged 7 and above. The latter is bigger and more user-friendly as it takes youngsters on their own unique journey through the exhibit. The child-friendly content transforms facts and figures into stories designed to captivate and feed the young imagination – and left my daughter begging for more. Elisa followed her audio trail for no less than one hour and twenty minutes (!), as she painstakingly found each cue and listened to the corresponding information attentively.
At lunch in the museum cafe, we discussed what we had learned. In the past, similar content would have elicited a few sentences from my daughter, followed by some “I don’t knows” and “I don’t remembers.” On this day, Elisa shared several interesting tales and told us about her favorite exhibits. Listening to her, I felt an overwhelming urge to write to curators of all the great museums of the world and ask them to take a similar child-focused, approach to their institutions.
Following our meal, we ventured into a hall focused on the most popular dishes found in Singapore and then to the costume rooms, which explored the country’s history of fashion. Both were multimedia delights, offering photos, video and engaging exhibits to convey the information. Walking through the exhibit on Singapore cuisine, I could almost smell the curries and noodles as I watched them being prepared on the video screen. Packaging of key ingredients could be seen under Plexiglas bubbles.
The exhibition covering the 50-year anniversary since Singapore began its industrialization was less engaging for Elisa but interesting to her parents. It told the story of the small country’s ascent from a per capita income of S$960 in the 1960’s – when manufacturing focused on joss sticks and mosquito coils – to S$59,000 today.
While it probably is not worth making a special trip to Singapore to see how this museum has creatively engaged children (unless, of course you are a curator), it’s a must see for all who happen to visit – with or without their kids.
You may find more information on the National Museum of Singapore here:
www.nationalmuseum.sg or at 93 Stamford Road, Singapore, 178897, tel. (65) 6332-3659.