Travel back in time and explore Singapore's history with the Once Upon a Tide and Get Curious! Building Our Singapore edition of Children’s Season.
As Singapore enters its sweet sixties, we should take the time to appreciate the tremendous growth it achieved, even way before gaining independence. It felt extremely surreal travelling through 700 years of Singapore’s history at Once Upon a Tide, the number of well-preserved relics on display blew me away. While it might sound pretty dry, there were actually lots of activities for the little ones, from interactive exhibits to play areas. Plus, it’s free for all Singaporeans and PRs! If you’re not convinced yet, read on as I go more in-depth on my experience at Once Upon a Tide and the Get Curious! Building Our Singapore interactive installation that complements it.
Five sections to explore
Cool artefacts
Each section of Once Upon a Tide takes you through Singapore’s historic journey, with a total of 350 artefacts from the National Collection. Maps that date all the way back to the 1800s, audio testimonials from people who built the country, a letter from Sir Stamford Raffles to the town planning committee – there are so many well-preserved pieces of history for you to check out! I learnt so much about Singapore’s journey, and it makes me proud seeing how far we’ve come and the global impact we have today.
Interactive elements
Before you even walk into the exhibit, you’ll be given an RFID tag that you can use throughout the exhibit to collect your responses to questions about Singapore’s history. At the end of the exhibit, you’ll be assigned one of four virtual avatars based on your responses and will add to a larger cityscape visual that represents the collective vision of Singapore’s tomorrow, made up by all those who visited.
Each section also has its own interactive elements – one of my personal favourites was the Sampan Challenge in Section Two: The River Road! Pick up the oars and “row across” the Singapore River in this interactive video game where you ferry passengers to their destination.
Beautiful art and displays
The amount of reading can be overwhelming when you go to exhibits like these, but don’t worry, there’s so much beautiful art to admire! Don’t get me wrong, learning about Singapore’s history is interesting but if you want to take a break and process what you’ve learnt, take some time to appreciate how visually stunning the exhibition is.
Things for kids to do
11 colourful books in Once Upon a Tide
This one is for the kiddos! There are 11 colourful Waves of Wonder books throughout the exhibit that offer bite-sized summaries of the sections with cute graphics. Plus, they’re placed closer to the floor – just at the right height for the little ones to read and enjoy! To encourage them to learn, these books also contain missions for them to complete with information they can gather in each section. Just make sure they don’t cheat and read the answers at the back like I did!
Photo opps and play areas
To help the kiddos better engage with the exhibition, the National Museum has created a Programmes Cart filled with activities that pre-school and special needs schools can use during their self-guided visits. There are colouring activities, puzzles to solve, and fun books to flip through – and they’re all local-themed! In the Children’s Season Get Curious! Building Our Singapore installation, they also have several play areas. One of them has tables themed after the old void-deck tables and a selection of traditional games like Old Maid, spinning tops, pick up sticks, and more!
Tips and things to note
How to get to the National Museum of Singapore
Don’t make the mistake I made when I went down to check it out and get off at Dhoby Ghaut – I had to take a 10-15 minute walk to the National Museum in the sweltering heat. If you want to take the MRT, stop at Bencoolen or Bras Basah station instead and you’ll have a shorter walk. For those taking the bus, alight at the YMCA bus stop for a two to five minute walk over! Those planning to drive over, be warned. Their car park is currently closed to facilitate upgrading works so you’ll have to park at nearby buildings like Singapore Management University, the Lazada One building, Fort Canning Park and YMCA.
Accesibility
In general, the National Museum is extremely accessible with complimentary manual wheelchairs, stroller parking outside galleries, and even sensory bags to help children on the autism spectrum calm down if they get overstimulated. As for the Once Upon a Tide exhibition specifically, they are also wheelchair and pram friendly too. But some sections do become a little narrow so it might be a bit challenging to navigate if there’s a crowd. As for the Get Curious! Building Our Singapore installation, there should be no issues navigating through it as it’s mostly open areas.
Places to eat near the National Museum of Singapore
There’s quite a few options if you’re looking to fuel up after a visit. While walking back, I noticed 90 Minutes – Korean Tteokbokki Hotpot Buffet and Buddy Hoagies Steak & Grill Restaurant, which would make great places for the fam to check out. But since I was alone, I headed to Plaza Singapura which has so many options to choose from! They even had a Halal Korean cafe that served classics like jjapaghetti, tteokbokki, and bingsu that I thoroughly enjoyed.
