Insects, caves, clay and creatures! What's next at Playeum? Hideaways – Creating With Nature opens April 16 and offers interactive, imaginative fun that brings kids back to nature.
Since Playeum launched as Singapore’s Children’s Centre for Creativity, we’ve fallen in love. This little haven in Gillman Barracks one of our all-time favourite indoor activities in Singapore for kids, and a life-saver for parents looking for inspiration when it comes to raising creative children. (Playeum’s Creative Director, Anna Salaman, has shared her top tips for encouraging creativity at home and the benefits of play with HoneyKids – it’s an essential read!).
We’ve spent a lot of our weekends at the amazing interactive exhibit, The Art of Speed, and while we’ve had the best time creating our own vehicles to race down a giant ramp, tinkering and playing in the shadow room, we’ve had a sneak peek of its new exhibit Hideaways – Creating with Nature and we can’t even begin to tell you how brilliant it is. It all kicks off on Saturday 16 April and will run until 30 October 2016 – believe us, you’ll be making repeat visits. And you’ll want to be a kid again.
This brilliant mix of hands-on exhibits, artists’ installations, craft and activities will fire up children’s imaginations, while helping young minds to discover and explore sounds and textures from nature – and encounter some of the creatures who share this world with them!
Creative Director Jeremy Chu, along with artists’ collectives The People’s Atelier and Shogun Creatives as well as artists Madhvi Subrahmanian and Isabelle Desjeux have come up with some seriously wild fun. From creating quirky little cities out of clay, to making instruments out of coconuts, tiptoeing through a dark space surrounded by the sounds of birds and frogs, to running through a jungle-like tunnel making music as you go, we think this is some of the best fun to be had in Singapore.
Here’s more on what your kids can explore…
- Knock, Knock! Who Lives There? by Isabelle Desjeux
Use special surveillance screens to see creepy crawlies up close and in their natural habitats! Spy on spiders, inspect specimens and take a peek at the ‘Bug Hotel’. - Sounds of Earth: Nature’s Ensemble, by Shogun Creatives
You have to experience this in the flesh to fully appreciate its brilliance. First, use natural materials to create your own musical instruments – we saw a coconut guitar, shakers filled with seeds and wind chimes made of shells. Make your way through the leafy ‘Tunnel of Sounds’ making music as you go – take a stick to bang on some coconuts and run your hands through a massive bamboo chime. You’re going to have to tear yourselves away from this one. - Welcome to My World, by People’s Atelier
Enter a giant-scale world and imagine your’re as tiny as an insect! Help make shelters from egg cartons, leaves and strong that will keep growing throughout the exhibit. - Make-believe Hideaway, by Madhvi Subrahmanian
Play with clay to create your own miniature hideaway in an imaginary world. Artist Madhvi Subrahmanian describes the concept as creating a ‘HDB for bugs’– we love the quirky, Dr Seuss-esque shapes formed as the clay creations come together to form little communities. - Dark Space, by Richard Kearns
Super sensory fun. Enter a darkened room where the sound of birds and frogs intensifies as you move around the space. Play with glow-in-the-dark velcro threads to create a web and move insects around the room for a totally immersive experience. - Creature Cave, by Bartholomew Ting
For the little ones: babies and toddlers will love this sensory experience full of mirrors, natural textures, light, dark, plants and animals!Now this is how you encourage urban kids to connect with nature.
When: Saturday 16 April-Sunday 30 October 2016, Open Tuesdays-Sundays, 10am-6pm
Where: Playeum, Children’s Centre for Creativity; Block 47 Malan Road, Gillman Barracks, #01-21 to #01-23, Singapore 109444
Cost: Child aged one to 12: $20; accompanying adult: free; additional accompanying adult: $10.
Visit www.playeum.com
Photography by Richard Kearns