NIGHT FESTIVAL AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM SINGAPORE

NIGHT FESTIVAL AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM SINGAPORE
We had been to the first ever Night Festival at the National Museum at Singapore and it was truly spectacular. Although we couldn’t cover all the activities on the schedule, we did manage to watch the air acrobatics on the 18th July 2008 and activities at the Peranakan Museum on the 25th July 2008. You can read about all the acitvities in detail on the National museum’s website, http://www.nationalmuseum.sg/
NIGHT FESTIVAL @ PERANAKAN MUSEUM
The Peranakan Museum had some fun interactive activities planned for kids on the 25th July 2008. The theme was “ glow in the Dark”.
The setting was perfect, the room was dark and had Balloons hanging with glow ribbons inside. There were activities for children like making mini photo frames, Create an original Peranakan print with a stencil and oil based crayons and making their own badges.

There was also a balloon sculptor twsiting balloons into various shapes for kids. The clown made this lovely frog(on the right) for my 5 year old using 2 balloons.



There was a booth with girls making tattoos for kids using face paints. Image on the left is the tattoo on my little ones arm, had to capture it asap.


My daughter sure did enjoy the events and the best part was it was for “FREE”


LIGHT INSTALLATION - BY ELECTRIC CANVAS
Later that night we went to watch Light Installation by the Electric Canvas which was installed by a Sydney based lighting effects company. The Electric Canvas specialises in large-scale projections on historic buildings. They truly transformed the facades of the National Museum into brilliant hues of colours and textures. One wouldn’t recognise that it was the same building when the façade changes from one to the other. It was truly a masterpiece, a great work of art as promised. I managed to capture some of the facades in my camera,




















PASAR MALAM (NIGHT MARKET)
After that, we went to the Pasar Malam(which actually means the “Night market”). The carnival atmosphere was truly recreated and there were a variety of food stalls and games kiosks where people could eat, shop and play.
There was a booth where girls were making glitter tattos...my little one was sure in a very sporty mood so she had this onea glittering butterfly(image on the right) done on her arm.



There were some long lost games like Tikam tikam - a very popular gambling game in the past - guess during the 60s or around that time.
Game of 5 stones - it is played with five small triangular cloth bags filled with seeds, rice or sand. Two or more players can play. The aim is to score as many points as possible. A point is scored when a player completes the eight steps in throwing and catching 'five' stones.
Marbles : There was a box of sand and Marbles were kept in for people to reminisce and play the games that kids used to play in early Singapore. We noticed that marbles were played differently by people from different countries. In India, We hold the marble with the thumb and index finger of the left hand and hitting the marble with the index finger of the right hand. We saw some others holding it between the thumb and index finger of the left hand but hitting it with the thumb and index finger of the right hand like we do when we play carrom.
One very interesting game that we saw was Main Lereng,
Main Lereng (Bicycle Rim) -This game was innovated by children in the late 50s in Singapore. With much energy to spare and no computer games to keep them occupied, children in that era were very innovative and find many ways to amuse themselves. This is one of many games innovated during that era.
Method of play
1 Basically, a bicycle rim (lereng) and a stick are used to play the game.
2 Two parallel lines are drawn 5metres apart, one marking the starting line, the other, the finishing.
3 The rim is held upright and when the signal is given to begin, it is thrust forward with the stick.
4 The player rolls it along with the stick, keeping the rim upright throughout until he reaches the finishing line.
5 The winner is the player who reaches the finishing line, first.
6 In team play, the game is played as a relay.
7 The player rolls it along with the stick, keeping the rim upright throughout until he reaches the finishing line.
8 The winner is the player who reaches the finishing line, first.
9 In team play, the game is played as a relay.
It was fun and we enjoyed it. Wholesome entertainment for the entire family. Looking forward to more Night Festivals…Singapore………

(Information on the game courtesy Wikipedia)