The Singapore Design Week (SDW) is back, stronger than ever, in its sixth edition this year. It is one of Asia’s premier design festivals that aim to showcase the impact of design on all aspects of our lives through meaningful activities and collaboration. Even cooler, the SDW involves a robust-line up of programmes, suited for everyone, including many exciting Singapore Design Week activities for kids and families!
Running from now until 17 March 2019, you can expect over 80 programmes and activities offered at the National Design Centre and various locations island-wide.
We have rounded up a list of exciting Singapore Design Week activities for kids and families. If you’re thinking of where to bring the little ones, you know where to go. Plus, these will surely spark their creative minds.
Selected Picks from Singapore Design Week Activities For Kids
1. Creative Festival by Street of Clans
Singapore Design Week activities for kids—don’t miss the interactive design installations housed within clan associations by Street of Clans!
From now until 10 March 2019, get ready for a fun-filled weekend at Bukit Pasoh Road!
Inspired by the age-old clam values of kinship and unity, Street of Clans, a vibrant creative festival, brings together the colourful history and Singapore’s creative communities of Bukit Pasoh Road.
View home-grown design installations, attend workshops and talks, explore collaborations, and enjoy food and music by local and locally based creatives and brands. For one weekend only, you and your family can also get rare access to selected heritage clan houses.
Here are some interesting highlights families can expect:
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Clan Open Doors
Explore the nooks and crannies of the different clan houses like Chin Kang Huay Kuan and Koh Clan – a rare opportunity, not to be missed!
Each clan house features interactive design installations by handpicked local artists and designers that tell old stories in new ways.
- Gan Clan x Matthew Sia
- Tung On Wui Kun x Binary Style and SCENE SHANG
- Chin Kang Huay Kuan x Ong Lijie
- Koh Clan x TO THE POWER OF
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Let the Good Times Roll with a Kinetic Installation
Photo credits: Street of Clans
Kids can look forward to an interaction installation by TO THE POWER OF which involves loads of balls, which the little ones will absolutely love! They can make use of these balls to complete tiny quests to active audio and kinetic elements. A super sensorial experience that will keep your kids entertained!
When: NOW till 10 March @ Koh Clan
Where: Bukit Pasoh Road
Admission: Free, no registration required
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Boat Painting Community Art
Singapore Design Week activities for kids: a communal creative experience. | Photo credits: Street of Clans
Grab a paintbrush, and let your imagination run loose by painting on BetaBeta’s boats with your little ones!
Let him/her hone their artistic skills (an inner Picasso could be in the making!) as they add their creative streaks to these uncoloured boats. He/she can freely mix colours and paint outside the lines — so no fear that he/she may cause any mess.
When: From NOW till 10 March (11am – 1pm and 2.30 – 4.30pm)
Where: Bukit Pasoh Road
Admission: Free, no registration required.
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Revel in street celebrations & experiences, and discover the neighbourhood
Roam around the neighbourhood of Bukit Pasoh Road—surprising neighbourhood discoveries await you and your family.
Hop on over to rave-worthy cafes in the neighbourhood and score a personalised illustration from Band of Doodlers. Soak up the atmosphere by grooving and bop to beats by Zouk and Bandwagon.
Admission: Free (no registration required)
Where: Bukit Pasoh Road
When: From NOW till 10 March, 11am – 10pm
For more event details, please check Street of Clans out here: https://streetofclans.peatix.com/view
2. Urban Interventions @ Bras Basah.Bugis
Supported by the National Heritage Board and DesignSingapore Council, Bras Basah.Bugis has rolled out three design intervention installations (awarded through an Open Call as part of a collaboration with Singapore Design Week 2019).
Get the chance to experience design as the installations—located along Queen Street and the National Design Centre—transform and enliven the street. Bring your kids along to interact with these highly “Instagrammable” installations as they offer a myriad of delightful encounters.
Perfect for both the old and young!
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Light Playground
One of the many Singapore Design Week activities for kids that your little one will appreciate!
Light Playground is an immersive installation which visualises a child’s imagination through light, taking inspiration from childhood toys such as the kaleidoscope and wind-spinner.
Why not take a moment to pause, wonder, play, and fully experience the architecture while immersing in some child-like nostalgia of the precinct?
Venue: National Design Centre, corridor along Middle Road
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Tree Harp (a musical playground and a pavilion for nature)
The Tree Harp features a free-form structure of colourful nylon ropes with metal bells that turns and wraps the tree forming an intimate space around.
Tree Harp, designed by AaaM Architects, is an urban experiment attempting to re-link the human body and nature.
It can be seen as a small pavilion that celebrates nature, or even a musical playground when one plays with the ropes or compose their own tunes under the tree. A perfect way to encourage multidimensional activities and invite participation from all walks of life.
Venue: Along Artsplace at Waterloo Centre, Queen Street
- Urban Constellations
Singapore Design Week activities for kids—explore constellations through an app!
Another interactive installation to look out for is Urban Constellations, a series of parasitic canopies installed along Queen Street.
Inspired by the stars, the canopies filter street light to simulate constellations hidden in the night sky. And by day, they shade pedestrians like colourful clouds. Extremely awe-inspiring for kids and adults alike!
If that isn’t enough and you would like to explore and learn more about constellations with your little ones, you can even download their Planets mobile application, via a QR code.
Venue: Various venues along Queen Street
Urban Interventions: Bras Basah.Bugis x Singapore Design Week 2019
When: 4 March to 31 August 2019 (Monday – Saturday), 12.30am – 11.30pm
Where: National Design Centre and various locations along Queen Street
Admission: Free (no registration required)
For more information, visit Bras Basah.Bugis’s website here.
3. HASSELL Junior workshops
Singapore Design Week activities for kids: What better way to inspire creativity in the young and reinvigorate a child-like wonder in adults through such workshops by HASSELL Junior?
As part of Singapore Design Week 2019, HASSELL is opening their studio doors to kids (young and old)!
If your child has always wanted to reimagine his/her world or build a whole new cityscape, then HASSELL’s junior workshops is something not to be missed!
Your little one will be able to work with HASSELL’s best architects, interior designers and urban specialists to dream up an amazing future—of how he/she envisions it to be—together.
What to expect during the HASSELL Junior workshops:
- Your young one will learn alongside veteran and professional designers while engaging in these fun yet safe activities: they will make use of building blocks, draw tools, craft models to experiment in their own terms.
- Small design tokens and goodie bags will be provided for your special young designer.
Admission: Free (no registration required)
Where: HASSELL, 33 Tras Street, #02-01, Singapore 078973
When: 16th March 2019, Saturday, 10am – 1pm
4. Open Unstructured Play programme by OneMaker Group
The 3D Gello Pen is a kid-friendly, low-temperature 3D printing pen that is perfect for aspiring young makers to hone their building skills and unleash their creativity as they put pen to paper and watch it come to form! | Image: OneMaker Group
While we as parents encourage our little ones to think, doing—or rather, making—holds equal importance. At least, that is the belief held by the OneMaker Group when it comes to the way they operate.
As part of the Singapore Design Week 2019, the OneMaker Group is holding an Open Unstructured Play programme (a maker playground) for parents and children alike. If your child is aged 5 years and up, this programme will be a fun way to spend time and learn together as a family.
What to expect:
- Discover new technologies and enjoy creative and educational play with rapid prototyping tools, such as the 3D Gello Pen and Polymorph
- Educational activities: adults and children alike can learn the basics of programming on Glicode™, a fun and educational mobile app
- Also, discover the basic elements of a robotic system with Strawbotics—walk away triumphant with a better understanding of robot locomotion
- Free-play of all the above activities during the stipulated time frame with facilitators on site
When: NOW to 16 March 2019 (Monday – Saturday), 10am – 5pm
Where: Makerspace@NDC, National Design Centre (Level 1)
Admission: Pay per entry, $20 for 1 hour (Walk-in registration)
For more information on the slew of other events and registration as part of Singapore Design Week 2019, please visit www.designsingapore.org/sdw/events/2019
All images are credited to DesignSingapore and the respective organisations.