How much does a pre-schooler know about Singapore?
From what I can gather from Kyle’s understanding, he has very limited knowledge beyond Singapore’s flag, National Day and the races in Singapore. Information that he has gathered from celebrating the nation’s birthday in school twice the last 2 years, watched glimpses of the National Day Parade from the TV screen last August and experienced Racial Harmony Day in school.
As a pre-cusor to celebrate Singapore’s National Day in August and in an attempt to help our pre-schoolers to learn about the country that they live in, Pauline and I brought our kids to visit the Quays for the first time. This post jumpstarts this series of ‘The Little Singaporeans Discover Singapore’ on this blog.
Smug smiles for the camera
This photo was taken right after Kyle asked me if they could play tag while waiting, and looking at their expressions (except for Joyce), you can probably guess what was my answer.
Could this be the bumboat that we will be taking?
One of the best ways to visit the Quays is to take the River Bumboat rides from Clarke Quay, which travels along the Singapore River for 60 minutes and passes through the 3 Quays of Clarke Quay, Robertson Quay and Boat Quay.
Sights on Robertson Quay
So what are the sights that we can spot on this river bumboat ride?
Top – Clarke Quay, Middle – Asian Civilisations Museums from http://www.travelstripe.com/ , Bottom – Boat Quay from http://images.travelpod.com/
Taking note of the places of the sights of he saw along the way
Some of the key landmarks are found on the map we have
Top left – Merlion from http://upload.wikimedia.org/, Bottom left – Victoria Memorial Hall from http://www.panoramio.com/photo/17031775, Right – Sir Stanford Raffles Statue from http://upload.wikimedia.org/
The river bumboat ride felt like a typical touristy experience, especially since we were the only group of locals on the boat, but it was an informational experience for the kids nonetheless. It will make a good excursion for pre-schoolers to learn about key landmarks in the Quays of Singapore, added with a gentle immersion of the history of Singapore using the activity sheets that we developed. So how does this river bumboat experience compare to Duck Tours? These bumboat rides were alot more comfortable than the Duck Tour activity that we did with Kyle’s kindergarten a while back. In comparison, Duck Tours seemed more kitschy and gimmicky.
We will be exposing the kids to some cultural experiences in and around Singapore the next couple of weeks, so stay tune for the second part from this series, where the little Singaporeans will check out a place bubbling with cultural heritage and a distinct ethnic personality…
It’s like an excuse to be a tourist in your own country! So fun =)
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Rachel Reply:
July 6th, 2012 at 9:45 pm
It was really quite fun to see Singapore in a different perspective; through a child’s eyes.
Oooh!! I would love to take that bumboat – Caden would love it, too!
Unfortunately, they have that minimum age requirement, so I guess we’ll have to wait for a bit.
Rachel Reply:
July 6th, 2012 at 9:45 pm
Do they have a minimal age requirement? I didn’t notice that!