Dark clouds were gathering over the Health Promotion Board at Outram (on hindsight, the dark clouds must’ve been gathering all over Singapore that Saturday afternoon) when I arrived at the second-level foyer. I intended to check out the Explore! Singapore programme at the Healthzone on Saturday, but as you might guess from the puddled hopscotch picture) bad weather washed out the outdoor activities. =(

Hop-scotch or Hop-splotch? Read more to find out!

No matter – it was my first time at the Healthzone, so in the spirit of Explore!, explore the zone I did…

Like the name implies, Healthzone is a learning gallery about health and well-being. It’s also mighty interactive, and people with itchy fingers (eg, me) can have quite a time walking through the 7 individual themes galleries to learn about keeping fit and staying healthy.

The fitness gallery, filled with exercise machines and displays on building up athletic fitness. Mmm… I can feel myself getting healthier already

A replica of the dentist’s chair, where many a childhood emotional trauma was born… Also a life-sized food pyramid

One of the niftiest displays in the gallery is this disarmingly candy-shop looking display that is really a display on drugs and the effects of drug use. Besides learning about the commonly seen substance-abuse drugs out there and its effects, the lines of candy jars are actually interactive optical illusions: each jar contains a two sided picture, say a hand on one side and a knife on the other. Spinning the jar rapidly will produce a complete picture – the hand wielding the knife.

A Candy Empire this is not (although it’s probably more welcoming to wheelchairs)

Outside, where the booths and exhibits for Explore! Singapore was set up, the activities and events planned for the day were cut short by the torrents that must have wet, oh just about everybody in Singapore. I was hoping for the rain to abate (it never did) and it was a shame when the exhibition folk started to pack everything and keep dry indoors. Otherwise, I would’ve tried a shot at the carnival-style games to try and win some prizes. Oh well, maybe too much water *is* bad for the body anyway.

Tags: explore singapore, healthzone, museum roundtable, national heritage board, national library board, media development authority, singapore, singapore museums