A Little Magic At The Singapore Philatelic Museum

Anybody has a stamp collecting hobby? I did it when I was a little kid, so when I read about A Little Magic Exhibition at the Singapore Philatelic Museum, I was interested to go there with my little kids. My eldest daughter likes to go to museum. She had visited National Gallery and National Museum during this Children Season and she liked them so much. A visit to Singapore Philatelic Museum will complete her experience.

Unlike National Gallery and National Museum, Singapore Philatelic Museum (SPM) is an old fashioned museum. The building looks like an old house. Not big but quite compact. We visited SPM when there was a special event, A Little Magic Sunday.

The first activity in this event was Little Red Riding Hood Activity Trail. My little girl must hunt for clues in the galleries and fill up the answers. It was fun! She had to find how many mermaid stamps she spotted in the gallery, matched the fairy tales to the correct stamp, etc. Among all stamps, I like cartoon stamps the most. We saw Beauty and the Beast stamps, Sleeping Beauty stamps, Snow White stamps, Alice in Wonderland stamps, etc. They were so cute and all were genuine stamps.

We visited many rooms to find the clues:

1. A Little Magic room
She explored her five senses while trying to find the answer to fill her activity map.

2. Precious Eggs; of Art, Beauty and Culture room
Enjoyed the beautifully decorated chicken, duck, goose, duck and ostrich eggs and also eggs crafted from materials such metal, glass, porcelain, wax and crystal that told stories about love, history, culture, art, faith and traditions. This collection mostly came from Liechtenstein National Museum.

3. Room of Rarities
The precious Singapore stamps were displayed in the Room of Rarities. We could learn Singapore's postal history here.

4. Heritage Room
It told the story of different migrant races who came to Singapore in the 19th century. The kids learnt about early tradition trades (mostly spices), traditional customs, musical instruments and different cultural festivals. Interesting!

My daughter had completed her activity map. But the exhibition had not yet been finished. We continued our journey to Chicken and Egg - A Fowl Tale exhibition. There were many educative activities for kids in this exhibition. In the middle of the room, there was the chicken house where they could see the artificial chicken and collect their egg. They also could press the button and listen to the sound of the rooster, hen and chick. There were many information related with chicken and egg provided through interactive play, such as information about the difference between rooster and hen, what chicken eats, what their predators are, the life cycle of a chicken and what food we can make from an egg.

In one of the corners there was a mini kitchen set where our kids could pretend to cook the egg or other food. There was also fun games where kids could match picture of eggs dishes to the way the eggs were cooked. The museum curator was really creative in providing the comprehensive information about chicken and egg in many attractive games and decoration. Kudos for them!

One more interesting stamp exhibition is Harry Potter exhibition ~ From Stamps to Wand. Harry Potter's fans must visit this exhibition. On our way to this room on level 2, we saw moving portraits wave to us as we walk edpast them. It reminded me of the moving portraits in Hogwart school. Magical.

Inside the room, beside Harry Potters stamp and post card, we also found many items and collectible related with Harry Potters such as the Hogwarts uniforms, scarf, gloves, the snitch ball, the figurine, etc. We also saw the door of Harry Potter's home at The Privet Drive where he received his letter from Hogwarts.

The most interesting part of the exhibition was the interactive wand section where we could wave a wand in front of the screen to conjure some spells and see the effect in the screen. It made me think it would be great if they also had an interactive play where the screen could mention which tower we belonged to when we put the the Sorting Hat on our head, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin?

And beside enjoying many Harry Potter's stamp collection from all over the world, we also could take some selfie at the replica of the infamous Platform 9 3/4 and flying over Hogwarts on a broomstick. Museums rock!