Kids will have fun learning about our natural environment and its inhabitants through interactive features at the Living Worlds: An Animal Planet Experience exhibition at Singapore Science Centre.
The Living Worlds: An Animal Planet Experience exhibition at the Singapore Science Centre had started on 16 November this year but I hadn't heard of it till recently when my two girls saw an advertisement for it and suggested visiting this, and post-trip, we found the exhibition very educational.
But a foreword before you go. Please don’t go expecting to see live animals at the exhibition. This is neither a zoo nor an aquarium. Go expecting an educational experience, with play elements added in to engage kids.
There is a bit of reading to do which I felt was how we really learned about our habitats - the rainforest, ocean and Arctic are featured at the exhibition - so we found it suitable for children of primary school ages (7-12) where they have more patience to read rather than just seeking the next interactive feature to play with.
With that, here are five highlights both kids and adults will enjoy at the exhibition.
1) Walking across shaky bridges in the rainforest habitat
The first habitat we encountered was the rainforest, and this was the one we spent the most time in given its many interactive features which will have you learning about the rainforest and the animals that live in it.
Kids, and even adults, will be attracted to this fun feature - walking on shaky bridges through a rainforest! Our girls had a field time going on them again and again (X10).
2) Take pictures of rainforest animals
This was another feature we spent a lot of time at in the rainforest habitat - using ‘cameras’ to take pictures of moving animals on the screen.
When you capture an animal (which is not easy btw as they move around and sometimes hide behind trees and grass), the camera displays facts about the animal. Along the way we learnt facts about rainforest animals, some we've never heard before like the capybara and the common potoo.
3) Go underwater at Into the Blue
At the ocean habitat, you’ll learn about the ocean habitat and its inhabitants including sea creatures and the coral reefs.
Here, you can also pretend that you’re in a submarine going on an underwater tour at Into the Blue.
Much like a mini omni-theatre, watching this underwater video on a dome-shaped projection screen makes you feel as if you’re really in a submarine ride. Very mesmerising indeed.
4) Feel the frost at the Arctic
At the Arctic habitat, you'll get to know what life's like on the Arctic.
We got to literally feel the frost here with a giant block of ice.
5) Play games and learn through interactive features
The exhibition has many interactive features and activities to engage children and encourage them to read about the exhibits.
At the rainforest, our kids tried their hands at the following game which requires them to manoeuvre a ring without touching the metal in-between.
We also had fun at this interactive game in the Arctic where you can step on CO2 emissions to get rid of them so as to open up a path for a polar bear.
I particularly like the following, where you can compare your hand size to the paw of a polar bear and hoof of a reindeer.
We also did a magnetic wall jigsaw puzzle at the ocean habitat.
Animal Planet fans will be glad to know that they can learn how the producers and hosts of Animal Planet do their jobs - there's a room dedicated to the behind-the-scenes of the documentaries you see on Animal Planet. Our girls loved choosing the pictures they liked most and snapping pictures of the combination in the 'be a director' spot in the room!
We ended the exhibition in a room where you can colour animals on screens, then send them to a larger screen in the room. The game features are very basic, where you can only choose the animal's type and colours, but still, our kids love identifying their creature on the big screen after sending them across.
Btw, there are quite a number of instagrammable spots at the exhibition, like this one...
...which we didn't quite expect. These were definitely a bonus!
Bonus tips for your trip:
- Tickets for the exhibition can be purchased at the Science Centre’s Visitor Centre at $23 per adults and $18 per child. A family package for 2 adults and 2 children is available at $66. We bought our tickets from Klook, however, which was almost at the same price as the family package. If you have three in a family or more than four, Klook would be a good option. But note that you’ll still need to bring your Klook voucher to the Visitor Centre to exchange for admission tickets. Exhibition tickets DO NOT include admission to the Science Centre.
- The exhibition takes place at The Annexe at the Science Centre until 22 March 2020.
We had visited the exhibition on a Saturday during the school holidays and it was not crowded at all. It was great to be able to spend enough time on the interactive features without jostling or waiting amongst a crowd. But that was before the exhibition’s official launch in early December, and the crowd might have increased since.
Find the Living Worlds: An Animal Planet Exhibition at Singapore Science Centre at 15 Science Centre Road, Singapore 609081 or contact them at +65 6425 2500.
Disclaimer: We paid for our tickets, and the opinions expressed here are strictly my family's and my own.
©Vivian Teo. All content and photos are copyrighted to Vivian Teo unless otherwise specified.