Hearing so many positive reports of the Children’s Season programme at the Singapore Art Museum this year, I decided to take Littlelam to the Art Garden at SAM once again. Last year we had a blast at 8Q at SAM, and silly me, I thought it was at the same place this year! Don’t make the same mistake if you go – it’s at the main museum this year! We were wondering why we didn’t see the giant inflatable Walter Rabbit this year and true enough, we were at the wrong place. Fortunately the main museum was just across the road!
Walter Rabbit immortalised - now there's even merchandise! Littlelam wanted me to buy her the plush toy but I refused. Heh
We started out rather confusedly at the first level, where we saw an elephant covered in flowers. Apparently this was part of the exhibit called “Elephant Sitting and Elephant at Rest“. A staff member came up to us and offered LittleLam a sticker. And she stuck it on her hand. The man just smiled and walked away. I was like “ok, how nice, a sticker.” Then I looked at the elephant and realised it was covered in the same kind of stickers that Littlelam was given. Ohhhhhhhh! So I got her to stick it on. I was already a bit miffed by the strange behaviour of the staff – I mean, he could have just explained to us what in the world he was giving us the sticker for!
Staring in confusion at the elephant
So after this confusion, there was YET ANOTHER confusion, and we were ignored and turned away again. I really have no idea why I had such a bad experience since all my friends with younger kids raved about Art Garden at SAM. Maybe Littlelam is too tall? Or maybe because we arrived there at 4pm and everyone was tired out? I don’t know, but I didn’t like the treatment at all. Anyhow, we headed to this room where there was a giant installation made up of wooden discs, and so it happened that it was my friend and her son slipping the discs in. Naturally, I thought it was some game so I allowed Littlelam to just run up the stairs to meet her friend and suddenly the staff stopped her and asked her to come down. Ok, so it was a turn-taking thing. So we headed down the stairs and was wondering what we were supposed to do. After a long time of standing around, I was the one who finally spotted a staff member and approached him to ask what this was all about! He finally deigned to tell me that the kids were supposed to colour a design in the dots using a piece of paper, and they would have to wait their turn to make their design life-sized by slotting in the discs. At this point, he told me, “Oh, but there are already 11 families waiting, so I don’t think you have time to do this.” RIGHT.
So we trooped off to the next room, which was supposedly the dress-up room. Named “Mummy Dearest” by Justin Lee, the installation was made up of giant dolls with velcro clothes you could dress them with, and a giant cake which you could also decorate with the velcro pieces. At least Littlelam FINALLY got to do something in this room.
Sticking a piece of topping on the fake cake
Next, we headed for SUPERHIGH, by Dawn Ng, a room that depicted coloured raindrops and the pools of water they formed using vinyl-covered acrylic and foam board. The kids were supposed to move the round stool-like platforms to match the shape on the ground. Guess what Littlelam ended up doing, hehe!
Jumping from platform to platform instead of pushing them to fit the dots on the ground! Obviously this was tailored for younger kids.. Too easy so Littlelam decided to adapt it to her own game!
Next we walked through a room filled with modular toy train tracks fixed on the floors, walls and even the ceilings. Named “Paramodelic-Graffit Paramodel“, it captured the children’s attention with the colourful and whimsical display of grass, animals and various vehicles. Once again, there was supposed to be a ‘workshop’ but it was only limited to 8 children at a time so obviously, it was too late, too full and Littlelam was turned away again.
Train tracks on the walls and ceiling!
The next room involved the making of a paper fruit, using a template that you could get with your entry ticket. Titled “Fruits“, the installation by Wit Pimkanchanapong (2007) was actually more engaging for the adults because of its difficulty level! A peek into the room saw many hapless parents struggling away at the little worktables while the kids looked on and occasionally helped squeeze on some glue. And mainly got restless and kept asking, “Is it ready yet?”. I myself was covered in glue by the time I was done with our Apple.
All the lovely paper fruits!
Our apple!
Finally, we headed upstairs to the chapel where there was a short film screening, but Littlelam promptly got bored and so I was at a loss when she asked, “Is there anything else to do?”. Poor child was clearly rather disappointed. Fortunately, I asked a nice lady staff member who directed us to the Glass House which was designated as the Activity Room. Here Littlelam finally got to play with a set of trains and tracks (with other kids), colour, and work on a giant puzzle. Actually, most of the work was also done by me, again. Heh.
Having fun building her "Downtown Line" to connect to the boys' main line!
Attempting to work on the giant puzzle - without a final picture guide! Some boys came and messed it up, but just ran off without fixing it. Then it fell to 3 mothers and their daughters to figure out how to fix it! How typical.
Yay! Our finished puzzle! It took nearly 30mins to do!
