Let Kids Play and Learn with Nature at Playeum’s New Exhibition: Hideaway, Creating with Nature

Kids learn by playing, creating things, and expressing their imagination with hands-on crafts. Playeum – A Children’s Center for Creativity, an award-winning non-profit organisation that champions children through play and creativity offers the perfect venue for them to explore, observe, construct, reflect, innovate and PLAY at their exhibitions.

Until the end of October, kids who visit the centre which is now located at Gillman Barracks, are able to engage with nature and natural materials through interactive artists’ installations at their 2nd hands-on exhibition –

Hideaways – Creating with Nature.

It is an interactive exhibition for Children aged 1 to 12 years old with a total of 6 engaging installations which gave our toddler a whole new experience of the world’s ecosystem. So other than visiting those indoor playgrounds with ball pits and slides, kids here take the ownership to play creatively in this immersive hands-on exhibition.

What is it like to be as small as an insert?

How do creatures build their houses?

What materials do they use?

Can plays make sounds?

Why do seeds come in so many shapes and sizes?

All these questions might sound familiar to you, especially if you have a curious child with hundred of questions about our environment. With the hope, that kids can be reminded that this world is also surrounded by a multitude of other animals and plants, we bring you more on what to expect in this interesting exhibition:

Creature Cave

By Bartholomew Ting & Playeum

Upon entering into Playeum, the first exhibit you will see is a huge multi- sensory Creature cave that is made of cardboard with a large opening where kids can enter the padded floor chamber to find animal sound pads and a range of textures and lights. This is where infants and toddlers can explore the Cave using their whole bodies, eyes and ears.

Dark Space

By Richard Kearns & Playeum

Enter into a dark room of glowing materials surrounding the wall and floor. Insects sounds can be triggered when kids move across the room, and they could even have fun building the gigantic webs using strips of cloth with velcros alongside the cut-out butterflies and dragonflies splashed in glowing paint.

Welcome to My World

By The People’s Atelier, Dr Adeline Seah & Andy Yang

Children can imagine the world where they are as small as an insect in an immersive installation that presents the insect environment on a giant scale.

Presented in the middle of the whole exhibition, this installation comes with an interesting weaving of nets, moss, bamboo sticks, wood and many other natural materials hanging from the above and around as it aims to let the children imagine the perspective of how a tiny bug feel and how it build it’s own shelter and habitat.

Using the materials available, your kids can add to the installation by constructing shelters, or explore sounds by striking the hollow bamboo sticks which imitate insects sounds.

And there is also a handy craft station with all the nature materials for kids to make either a Moth’s Cocoon or Bee’s Nest with leaves, egg cartons and flower petals.

Even though you are allowed to bring their creations home for your keepsake but it’s recommended to leave it for displays or recycling.

Sounds of the Earth: Nature’s Ensemble

By Shogun Creatives

‘Sounds of Earth’ is an interactive sound installation where children can create and build musical instruments with natural materials liked coconut husks, leaves, bamboo, sticks, twigs, beans and flower petals.

These will be attached to a skeletal structure that will grow over the exhibition’s duration, culminating in an immersive musical extravaganza! Check out the displays of those fancy little creations all done by children!

Knock, Knock! Who Lives There?

By Isabelle Desjeux & Team

On special surveillance screens, children can view insects and other creatures in their natural habitats and record what they see in a unique opportunity to get up close and personal with creepy crawlies in their natural environment.

Younger kids are checking out the Sensory bug hotel where they get to identify the various textures of the materials are made of and mix and match the different frames within the hotel.

And here the red mailbox allows the kids to send letters to their favourite creepy crawlies.

Someone here is using his magnifying glass to take a closer look at the bees in their natural habitat located outside the windows.

Other than that, they can also get to look at some specimens from the more common insects such as bees, flies, and dragonflies in a much closer look using either a microscope lens or placing the container under a mini camera for a further larger than life image experience (which will be projected on the wall).

Kids are encouraged by the exhibit facilitator to pick a favourite bug specimens and record it on a paper of what they see. It felt liked going back to Chemistry class all over again, but this time, you are watching your kids doing the “work”.

To take a detailed look at the Habitat living outside the windows or from the containers, be super impressed by the “super” enormous magnifying screen that could even enlarge our toddler’s face into a giant size! so funny! (Don’t he looked liked a mini giant?)

Make-believe Hideaway

By Madhvi Subrahmanian

The make-believe hideaway uses mainly just soil mold and your hands. So if your kids love playdoh or clays, this experience will thrill their little creative juice to flow and encourages them to build imaginary habitats inspired by nature.

These multiple miniature environments will be placed within a larger habitat, resulting in a collective make-belief hideaway.

Good To Know

Baby Strollers are not allowed within the center, you either have to leave them outside or bring along a baby carrier in case your little one is taking a nap when you arrived.
No toilets or nursing room available, the nearest toilet is located directly outside the center along with a baby-changing facility.
Do keep your visit to 2 hours during busy periods, you may check their peak dates here before heading down.
Food and Beveages are encouraged to be taken outside the premises as there are no cafe or restauratnts at the center. The nearest cafe you can get to is Red Baron café for drinks, snacks and light meals.
To explore more inviting and open-ended experiences for children, there are more programmes such as their Tinkering Sundays, artist-led workshops and holiday camps, to site-specific participative installations and Art Jams open to all.
Lockers are available by the entrance for bags, umbrella, or fold up prams.

Address: Blk 47, Malan Road, Gillman Barracks, #01-23, Singapore 109444
Admission: $20 per child (1-12) | Accompanying adult: Free | Additional accompanying adult: $10
Getting there:
Nearest MRT Station (5 to 10 minutes walk): Labrador Park Station (Circle Line)
Nearest Bus Stop (3 minutes walk): Along Alexandra Road, Opposite Alexandra Point (Bus Stop Number 15059) – Available Buses: 51, 57, 61, 83, 97, 97e, 100, 166, 175, 408, 963 or 963E
*Free Parking on Saturdays (11am-7pm), Sundays and Public Holiday.