A family visit to The Science Centre, Singapore

We have recently returned from a fantastic family holiday to Asia, and while in Singapore we were invited to spend a fantastic day exploring the Science Centre, Singapore and trying out some of the different attractions there.

We started with the travelling exhibition Circus! Science Under the Big Top which will be at the Science Centre from 28th October 2017 to 18th March 2018. It's an interactive exhibition with an insight into the science behind the intriguing, gravity defying circus acts.

There were lots of things to discover, like how sword swallowers manage their tricks, and learning about the physics behind balance. Mia was brave enough to have a go on the High Wire cable suspended three metres above the ground, and both children had a great time dressing up as circus performers and putting on their own show.

Then we entered Butterflies Up-Close - a series of exhibits about caterpillars and butterflies followed by entry to the live butterfly enclosure with butterflies from Singapore and the region. We were given the chance to hold a huge butterfly, although only I was brave enough! There were some beautiful butterflies, and Mia loved identifying them in her spotters guide.

The Mind's Eye was our next stop - an exhibition on illusions and human perception that is one of the first exhibitions that visitors encounter in the entrance gallery. There are lots of different illusions to play with your mind. One of our favourites was a Lego sculpture that appeared to be a random collection of bricks, but when rotated cast shadows of a variety of different things. You can see it in action in my video at the bottom of this post!

Next we entered Professor Crackitt's Light Fantastic mirror maze experience, where we spent far longer than we probably should have! This mirror maze is Asia's largest, and it features 105 mirror cells and numerous interactive exhibits which bring out the science concepts behind lights, colours and reflection. Visitors are provided with a foam stick to wave ahead of them, which is a great help when it comes to identifying the mirrors. 

We entered at the same time as a school group and it was quite chaotic at first as everyone was running about trying to find the way though. Suddenly they all disappeared and we found ourselves alone, still stuck in the maze. We were so stuck that we even went back to the beginning to check with the assistant that there was actually an exit and that other people had found the way through. She assured us that yes, there was indeed a separate way out, so this time we tried a more systematic approach, and finally cracked it! It was really fun, and the children loved it!

We had a quick break for lunch, and after eating the children explored some of the exhibits in the Kinetic Garden where some large scale attractions demonstrate scientific principles and phenomena. There's also Waterworks outside with some brilliant wet hands on exhibits - we gave this a miss on this occasion although I'll be more more prepared with swimwear if we visit again!

After lunch we spent a fun hour or so inside Snow City Singapore, Singapore's first permanent indoor snow centre. There's an Arctic Snow Slide where you can race down a 60m long snow slope on a rubber ring, lots of fun, especially when you can slide down together as a family.

There's also a play area with a few slides and an igloo which had Halloween and Christmas themed areas. We were provided with jackets and gloves which was plenty to keep us warm, although perhaps we are quite used to cold temperatures from back home! 

Finally we finished our packed day at Kids Stop. Kids Stop is an edutainment centre aimed at young children aged from 18 months to 8 years, and ours absolutely loved it here. We spent nearly two hours inside at the end of a long day, and they were still not ready to leave. They started in a sandpit dinosaur dig, which they both loved and would probably have stayed there the whole time if we hadn't dragged them out! They they discovered the amazing climbing area made up of platforms and nets, with a musical area at the very top. It was open to adults too, (although perhaps only the smaller and more nimble ones!) and was a huge amount of fun.

Mia had a brilliant time playing in the pretend shop, using her hand as a shopping list and going around in search of what she was after, before beeping it through a till. It was fun to see a different range of play food that the ones that we are used to at home, with different types of fruit, bread and meat.

They also had great fun moving balls about with a crane, playing with large foam blocks and all sorts of interactive activities.

We had a fantastic day, there was loads to do and plenty left over for future visits if we make it that way again!

I made a short video showing some of the highlights of our day - enjoy!

We were provided with complimentary entry to the museum and the other attractions in exchange for sharing our visit on social media. Some of these attractions have an extra cost in addition to the entry price. You can find out more information, including opening hours and ticket prices, here - Science Centre Singapore.