You’ll want to keep this Saturday, 19 May free as that’s when participating museums will be offering free admission in celebration of International Museum Day.

Here’s a suggested itinerary of activities for families for that day.

Saturday 19 May 2012
1) Visit Art Garden at Singapore Art Museum in the morning
2) Lunch at Food for Thought or Standing Sushi Bar
3) Visit Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research in the afternoon.

1) Start off your day at Singapore Art Museum’s Art Garden, the only exhibition in Singapore dedicated to showcasing art suitable for children and where engaging artworks await!

Art Garden 2012
Singapore Art Museum
Free Admission on Saturday, 19 May 2012 

Here are some of the highlights you can look forward to in this year’s edition.

-  Loh Sau Kuen’s Everyday Wonders turns simple, everyday objects into meaningful expressions of art through hands-on pattern-making.

-  Justin Lee’s The Art of Imagination invites children to explore popular local images, drawings and texts and add their interpretations to his interactive cardboard box installation.

- Walter, the curious colossal bunny by Dawn Ng is back this year.

For more Art Garden highlights, visit this link.

Art Garden has always been well-received as these following blogs by visitors to the previous edition will show:

• http://lifeisinthesmallthings.blogspot.com/2011/06/art-garden-at-singapore-art-museum.html
• http://2monkeygems.wordpress.com/2011/07/24/singapore-art-museum/
• http://www.ingspirational.com/2011/06/art-garden-sam.html
• http://www.etincellecreativestudio.com/2011/07/art-garden-singapore-art-museum.html

2. After Art Garden, we’d suggest capping off your morning at SAM by lunching at Food for Thought or Standing Sushi Bar, located within the museum’s premises.

Food for Thought

Standing Sushi Bar

3. For the second half of the day, we’d strongly recommend visiting the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research.

Their open house days have always drawn in the crowd and you won’t want to miss this.

Ever participate in an excavation? Experience the rare chance of uncovering fossils in your visit to Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research.

Kids can look forward to interacting with the museum scientists, face painting, making their own museum buttons and masks, as well as enjoy behind-the-scenes guided tours.

Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research saw record numbers to their open house in 2009, which paved the way to the development of our own Natural History Museum.

Here are some articles about the museum that will do well to stir up your interest prior to your visit.

• http://myitchyfingers.wordpress.com/2009/04/26/the-raffles-museum-of-biodiversity-and-research/
• http://teo-ology.blogspot.com/2010/04/visit-to-raffles-museum-of-biodiversity.html
• http://cbsingapore.blogspot.com/2011/09/raffles-museum-of-biodiversity-research.html
• http://kentridgecommon.com/?p=5537
  http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2011/04/sneak-peek-at-singapores-new-natural.html

If you’d like to vary the day’s activity, here’s a list of museums that will be having their Open House on Saturday 19 May 2012 as well.

• Asian Civilisations Museum
• Infocomm Experience Centre (iExperience)
• Memories at Old Ford Factory
• Reflections at Bukit Chandu
• National Library Singapore
• National Museum of Singapore
• Peranakan Museum
• Singapore Philatelic Museum
• Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall
• The Changi Museum

Stay tuned to our blog over the coming weeks as we’ll be giving you a heads up on family-friendly activities that will be happening as part of Children’s Season 2012.

Since 2008, Children’s Season has been celebrated each year at National Heritage Board museums as part of our International Museum Day (IMD) celebrations. This year, Children’s Season will involve 21 museums, both NHB museums and Museum Roundtable members, throughout Singapore. Enjoy free admission to participating museums on the Children’s Season 2012 Open House Weekends.

Jointly organised by National Heritage Board and the Museum Roundtable, Children’s Season 2012 offers a plethora of children-centric programmes and engaging family activities that will inspire, engage and educate the little one. This year, Children’s Season will be held from 18 May to 24 June 2012.

Celebrate International Museum Day (IMD) 2012 on 19 May 2012 with free admission to participating museums and galleries. For more information about Children’s Season 2012, visit http://museums.com.sg/cs12

Gather your friends and family and bring them on an exciting and fun journey through historic communities of Little India and Chinatown.

For the month of June, we present a new tour of Kampong Gelam, once the historic seat of Malay royalty that’s not just for the history buffs. If you prefer to wander down Telok Ayer  Street, once the shoreline, sign up for ‘Mixed Blessings’ and discover the importance of these early community centres to early Singaporeans. Attracted by the colourful murals and decorations of Little India instead? Then sign up for ‘Rediscovering Old Serangoon’ and follow our guide as she gives you an intimate account of what it was like to grow up in the area.

Specially for the school holidays, all tours conducted in June are FREE* so what are you waiting for? Act now to book the tour of your choice! To register, simply email nhb_nationalmonuments@nhb.gov.sg with your name, NRIC, age, contact number and choice of tour.

For reviews on these tours and more, visit the PMB website

*Limited to a maximum of 4 registrations under one name.

Read the full post here.

“Once it was Singapore’s grande dame of cinemas, a destination for three generations of movie-lovers eager to see the latest Hollywood flicks.”

Read James Seah’s post on Capitol Theatre.

There are 150 treasured works of art by 41 artists from Singapore’s National Collection and we must admit that zooming in on the selected artworks on display is quite fun indeed. In some cases, you get to pore over the artworks at a closer proximity than you would if you were at the museum.

Visit National Heritage Board’s collections on Google Art Project.

To celebrate International Museum Day, our friends from the International Council of Museums (ICOM) recently organised a contest titled ‘Me in my Museum’. Do head on over to ICOM’s Facebook page and see if you can pick out fans of our local museums who took part in that contest.

In conjunction with our local celebration of International Museum Day, we’re organising our version of the contest, where you’ll get to win really great prizes by simply posting photos of you in your favourite Singapore museum on our I Love Museums Facebook page.

Your photo will have to bear the ICOM logo which can be downloaded here, and you’ll have to word your post on our I Love Museums Facebook page as follows: Me in My Museum – Name of Museum (url of museum) is my favourite museum because ……………….

Here are some examples to guide you along.

Me in My Museum – Asian Civilisations Museum (http://www.acm.org.sg/) is where I can see gorgeous Indian textiles next to 9th century shipwreck treasures

Me in My Museum – Peranakan Museum Singapore (www.peranakanmuseum.sg) A place where I can acquaint myself with the eclectic and vibrant heritage of the Babas and Nyonyas.

Me in My Museum – National Museum of Singapore (www.nationalmuseum.sg) is where I can take a break from the world and turn back time!

Me in My Museum – Singapore Philatelic Museum (www.spm.org.sg/) is where my family always has an educational and entertaining time!

Our friends at ICOM gave away mystery gift bags comprising of items from museum shops all over the world. We’re upping the ante, and offering a plethora of prizes for the ten best entries.

Impressive? Most impressive.

The contest starts today and runs till 3 June 2012, so do start sharing your photos with us soon.

Terms and Conditions
1. Participants are required to submit photos of themselves in a Museum Roundtable member museum with the ICOM logo displayed prominently, together with a short write up to our I Love Museums Facebook page from Saturday, 5 May 2012 till 5pm, 3 June 2012.

2. The ten best entries will win the following prizes – Made for SAM Piggy Bank, Walter Plush Toy, Walter Stationery Set, Shoulder Gusset Bag, Medium Gusset Bag, Liu Kang Abstract Fish Tie Gift Box, Vincent Leow Postcards Set of 6, Patterns of Trade Dual Print Tee, SYSNMH Plushie, ACM Plushie and SAM Plushie.

3. The winners will be announced on I Love Museums Facebook page on 8 June 2012.

4. Prize winners are required to collect their prizes from 61 Stamford Court #03-08 Singapore 178892 from Monday to Friday from 9am – 12pm and 2pm till 5pm.

5. We reserve the right to amend the terms and conditions without prior notice.

For enquiry or registration, kindly contact us at +65 62567377 or NHB_WQY@nhb.gov.sg.

Although their scales make them look reptilian, they are actually closer to anteaters. Unfortunately, pangolins are endangered species – and their meat is prized particularly as Chinese delicacies. Read about the pangolin sighting (and what to do when you see one at Bukit Brown) here.

See all the pictures in his post here. If you haven’t caught it already, In the Mood for Cheongsam: Modernity & Singapore Women is exhibiting at the National Museum of Singapore until 27 June 2012.