Text by Natalie White | Photos by Children's Museum Singapore

The Children's Museum Singapore (CMSG) is set to open in December 2022, repositioned from The Singapore Philatelic Museum (SPM) under the National Heritage Board (NHB).

The museum's new logo and tagline 'Start with Wonder' aims to convey the moment of joy and discovery when children visit the museum. Children have a natural sense of wonder about the world around them. As Singapore's first dedicated children's museum, CMSG endeavours to sustain and nurture this sense of curiosity to explore, experiment, and encourage learning through play.

The result of engagements with different groups of stakeholders in preparation for its opening, 1,000 parents with children aged 12 years and below expressed a preference for environment that provides exposure to new experiences. Parents also expressed their wishes for the museum to be educational, hands-on, affordable, experiential and creative.

While developing the pedagogical and curatorial strategies, the museum also drew on the experiences and knowledge of leading children's museums overseas, such as the Tropenmuseum Junior in the Netherlands, Frida & Fred in Austria, and Zoom Children's Museum Vienna. This inspired CMSG towards a child-centred, immersive and multi-sensory activity-based approach with themes that connect children to the community.

The findings from the stakeholder engagements and the learning points from children's museums overseas are aligned with CMSG's plan to serve as a 'starter museum' for children to cultivate a love for museums and lifelong learning. The new museum would also tap on SPM's twenty-five years of experience as a family-friendly museum in engaging children through immersive environments, interactive programming, exciting themes and unique objects. The museum will also synergise with other children-centric learning spaces to create a vibrant suite of offerings for children in Singapore.