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National Day Celebrations with the National Museum

20 Jul 2020 - 13 Aug 2020
National Museum of Singapore
Various Timings
Free Admission
Join us this August to make your celebration of Singapore’s 55th birthday a special one! There will be a variety of programmes for you to celebrate National Day either from the comforts of your home or at the museum.

Please check our social media pages (Facebook and Instagram) for updates, especially for those who plan to visit the museum on National Day. We look forward to an enjoyable and safe celebration with you!
Scavenger Hunt

ON-SITE EXPERIENCE
Uncover stories of Singapore

The Hunt@NMS 
7  – 10 August, 10.30am – 6pm | Various galleries

Complement your museum visit with an exploration of our galleries with The Hunt@NMS! Discover clues that will lead you to exciting artefacts in our museum, and be inspired to view history through a fresh perspective. Solve puzzles, accomplish tasks, share your reflections with us and complete your journey with a special souvenir from the museum.
All you need is a mobile device or tablet with a Facebook account and the Facebook Messenger app. Register online via the link below if you would like to go on The Hunt@NMS. Do note that you are only allowed to participate once per day. 

7 August 

8 August

9 August

10 August

Please remember to take note of safe-distancing guidelines while you are exploring our galleries!

Building, tour

National Museum Building Tour for Families
9 August, 10.30am & 11am (45 min per session) | Rotunda, Level 1 | Age 7 – 12

Is this your first time visiting the National Museum? Come along with our docents and discover some interesting gems about this 132-year-old building!

Pre-register at buildingtour200809.peatix.com from 31 July. Due to safe management measures, each tour can only accommodate a maximum of 5 participants (including both children and accompanying parents). Please register only if you are sure you and your family can attend. Thank you!

Facade Projection

United Through Culture – National Day 2020 Façade Projection at NMS
1 – 30 August
Daily 7.30pm –12 midnight 

Catch the façade projection at the National Museum of Singapore as it comes alight in celebration of Singapore’s 55th birthday with the theme Together, a Stronger Singapore.

time capsule

Share with us your hopes and dreams for Singapore!


Time Capsule Wall and Artworks by Students
7 August onwards, 10am – 7pm | Outside Stamford Gallery and Longer Concourse, Level 1


Look out for this special installation featuring 55,000 pledges contributed by youth from all over Singapore, expressing their well wishes, words of encouragement and visions for our nation. There will also be a display of artworks by our young students, encapsulating what they have learnt about Singapore from their interactions with seniors.

This is presented in collaboration with Art For Cause SG.


LED wall

Writings on the Wall
7 – 10 August, 10am – 7pm | LED Wall, Level 1

What are your hopes and wishes for Singapore, and how we can make a difference? Share them with us and watch as your wishes, along with a selection of the students’ pledges from the Time Capsule, appear on the museum’s LED wall!

FFT

Special National Day menu at the museum!
Enjoy a delicious selection of National Day dishes with your family and friends at our F&B outlet. Available for the entire month of August.


National Day Set Menu by Food for Thought | $22

Nasi Lemak Risotto - grilled barramundi, coconut risotto, sambal ikan bilis & nuts, sunny egg

Lemongrass Pandan Cooler - ginger syrup, soda water

Bandung Panna Cotta - pistachio crumble, coconut flakes


Padang

ONLINE EXPERIENCE

National Day Colouring Competition 2020: The Padang of Singapore
20 July – 1 August (11.59pm)
*Extended to 2 August (11.59pm)!

For the young ones: share your ideas for the Padang! Do you know what the Padang was like in the 1800s? Who went there, and what kind of activities took place in the area? How would you like the Padang to look like in the future?

Drawing inspiration from the museum’s artefact, The Padang in Singapore (1851) by John Turnbull Thomson, we invite our young audiences up to the age of 13 to share how they would turn the Padang into a place for people to enjoy!

Watch this video to find out more!

To participate:  Please refer to the Terms and Conditions 

Download the template here:

Please submit your completed artwork here! All submissions must be received by 11.59pm on 1 August 2020.

The programme and prizes are supported by STAEDTLER and ArtWorks.
You can help support initiatives like this by clicking here.

Bite sized heritage

Bite-sized Heritage
From 4
 August

Bite-sized Heritage brings Singapore's history to life through a video recipe series of edible treats, inspired by selected artefacts from the National Museum. Explore Singapore's history from your kitchen through bite-sized facts and trivia about fascinating artefacts, such as the Singapore Stone! These simple video tutorials are suitable for everyone to enjoy, and a great family bonding activity. Create your very own slice of history today!

Bite sized Heritage Cookies and Cream Puff inspired by the Singapore Stone!
Click here for the recipe!

 

Bite-sized Heritage – Layered “Cup” Cake inspired by Gold Earrings and Armlet
Click here for the recipe!

  

Bite-sized Heritage – Layered “Cup” Cake inspired by Gold Earrings and Armlet
Click here for the recipe

 

Kueh Rose

Catch these programmes that will be launched 7 to 9 August!

Lighter Side of History: Tasting the Trade Winds with Christopher Tan
7 August

Which of your favourite dishes feature ingredients and flavours that have been adapted from different cultures? How were spices, particularly the ones featured in our William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings, incorporated into our local cuisines?

Join award-winning chef and cookbook author Christopher Tan to learn more about the spices and ingredients upon which trading empires were built. These have also become irreplaceable ingredients in many of the fusion foods we enjoy today.

The kueh rose is one such fusion dish eaten during different festivals. Watch this video to learn how to make the lesser-known savoury-spicy kueh rose!

Keen to try some of Christopher’s handmade kueh rose? All you have to do is to submit the correct answers to the quiz at the end of the video. The first 20 viewers with the correct answers will get to taste this dish from the comforts of their homes!*

*Item contains no pork or lard and will be made fresh on delivery day. Limited to one kueh set per mailing address. Details of delivery will be provided closer to the date. Terms and conditions apply.

Musical Performances

National Day Music Performances
8 and 9 August, 2pm

In this special edition, we bring the performances to you – streamed live from the museum! Sit back and sing along to familiar tunes from the comfort of your homes.

Flame of the Forest

Flame of the Forest
8 August

Enjoy familiar National Day tunes played with a unique fusion of Western and Asian instruments such as sitar, tabla, violin and keyboard, brought to you by the band Flame of the Forest.

Purple Symphony

Live-stream: Performance by The Purple Symphony
9 August

The Purple Symphony, Singapore’s largest inclusive orchestra, will present a rousing set comprising “We Will Get There”, “Bunga Sayang”, “Singai Naadu” and “Voices from the People's Hearts”. 

All I have to do is dream

All I Have To Do Is Dream – An In-gallery Theatre Performance 
8 August

What does the Singapore Dream look like to you and me?

What did the Singapore Dream look like to our seniors who migrated, grew up and witnessed a pre- and post-independent Singapore?

What did the Singapore Dream look like to our seniors who toiled through the days of rapid industrialisation? 

What does the 2020 Singapore Dream look like to our retiring and active seniors now?
 
Two mysterious figures wake up in the National Museum of Singapore on National Day 2020. Both exist to collect dreams – one has the ability to draw out deeper knowledge behind objects, and another uses sign language, sculpting meaning in the air with his fingers. With the help of a young museum worker with Down Syndrome, they embark on a journey through the galleries, collecting dreams of the past and present.

*Sign language interpretation, captions and audio description (English) services are provided. 

  • Download the Pre-show Notes (in PDF format) here.

 

 

 

Title: All I Have to Do Is Dream – An In-gallery Theatre Performance (with Audio Description)

Timmy Tammy1
Timmy and Tammy at the National Day Parade Storytelling and Games Session *live-streamed*
8 August, 11am (45 min) | Ages 4 and up


Join us for this live session where children can listen to the story of Timmy & Tammy at the National Day Parade, and have a fun-filled time with activities such as a game of charades and a finish-the-lyrics challenge!

Watch this video to make your very own Parachute Soldier as a pre-session activity. See you soon!



The live-stream will take place on the National Museum of Singapore’s Facebook page. A recording of the session will be available after the event.
Encounters with History

Encounters with History
8 & 9 August

Join our docents and volunteers from Migrant x Me in this special presentation as they share insights and stories on a selection of artefacts.

Migrant Workers Special (Bengali)

Migrant Workers Special (Hindi)

Migrant Workers Special (Mandarin)

 

General Public Tour (English)

General Public Tour (Mandarin)

 

HistoriaSG

HistoriaSG: Songs of Singapore
8 August, 4.15pm | live-streamed on the National Museum’s Facebook page


Have you ever wondered about the origin of the National Day songs sung at the National Day Parade each year, or catchy community tunes like “Singapore Town” or “Chan Mali Chan”? Many of the national songs we know and love today were especially commissioned and compiled in the 1980s for Singaporeans to sing together at communal and national events.

Join us for this special edition of HistoriaSG with our speaker Professor Bernard Tan and moderator Eugene Dairianathan. Professor Bernard Tan, who sat in the early Sing Singapore committee, will share more about the challenges of creating and promoting original national music in the years after Singapore’s independence, as well as the development of National Day songs over the years.

Image: Sing Singapore song book, 1988. Collection of the National Museum of Singapore, National Heritage Board 

Workshop Kelly Reedy

Live-stream Workshop: My Colourful Self
9 August, 10am (45 mins) | Ages 4 – 12

In this artmaking workshop, learn more about the characteristics of Singapore’s national flower, the Vanda Miss Joaquim, and how it represents Singapore’s identity. Art therapist Kelly Reedy will share how art can help us express who we are and how we can enjoy the process of drawing and painting using mixed media materials!
Don’t forget to download and print out your own orchid template here, and prepare your art materials before the session!

Recommended materials: Participants should prepare 3 pieces of A4 (or larger) size paper, either a set of oil pastels or wax crayons along with watercolour paints OR a set of watercolour pencils. Please also have available a brush, a container with water and paper towelling.

This programme is presented in collaboration with STAEDTLER and ArtWorks for Wellbeing (www.artworks.sg).

The live-stream will take place on the National Museum of Singapore’s Facebook page. A recording will remain available after the event.

ND Storying Programme

Nat’s National Day Wish Storytelling Programme
9 August | Ages 5 and up

“I wish I can be a soldier with Papa and Yeye (Mandarin for grandfather) in an aircon room!”

This National Day, the museum presents Nat’s National Day Wish, a storytelling programme for families. Join 5-year-old Nat, Papa and Yeye on their visit to our Singapore History Gallery, where they will share their stories and learn about the history of National Service in Singapore!

Video will be available on 9 Aug.

Digital Photobooth
Create a memento of National Day 2020 with our digital photobooth! Simply click here and take a picture with your friends/family while at the museum or even in the comfort of your home and receive your digital snapshot via email. Tag us of FB (@National.Museum.of.Singapore) or Instagram (@natmuseum_sg) to share your memento with us!
15Shortfilms
Be inspired by Singaporean heroes in these heart-warming films

A Showcase of the 15 Shorts Film Initiative
Catch a moving selection of short films from the 15 Shorts film initiative, and be inspired by ordinary Singaporeans who performed extraordinary acts of giving between the 1970s and 1990s. This segment is supported by the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) towards a City of Good.
 


The Buddy — directed by Jason Lee

The Buddy tells the story of 8-year-old Hidayat, who is tasked by his teacher to be a buddy to his isolated and erratic classmate, Tam. The two develop a close bond, eventually making a decision that will change Tam’s life forever. This film is based on the true story of Nurhidayat Hamid, who attended Ping Yi primary school in the 1990s. He embraced and guided a classmate who has autism, at a time when there was little understanding of the condition.

One at a Time — directed by Daniel Yam

Teresa Hsu was the founder and matron for Home for the Aged Sick, one of the first homes for the sick elderly in Singapore, until she was made to retire at 85. Renowned as Singapore’s own “Mother Teresa”, this short film charts her life’s turning points following retirement and what shaped her relentless story of giving.

Ali Baba — directed by Randy Ang

News reporter Augustine discovers that an injured migrant worker has been left for dead by his employer in a forest. At a time when stories on migrant workers were untold, Augustine challenges convention in the newsroom. This film is based on the true story of Augustine Pang and other Singaporean journalists who covered the plight of migrant worker Mohd Bashar.


All films are rated PG

15 Shorts is a charity film initiative by NVPC and Blue3Asia, in support of SG Cares. For the full selection of films, please visit https://cityofgood.sg/15shorts/.

Family Time

Visit our permanent galleries with your little ones and play spot-the-artefact! Our colourful Early Learning Resources introduce pre-schoolers to our artefacts according to the themes of Numbers, Colours, and ABCs. Available at $8 per set from the Museum Label shop. For more children's activity booklets, click here.

Museum guide

Download our museum guide (English, Chinese, Bahasa Melayu, Tamil) to find out about the many treasures in our various galleries. In this guide, you will also find the floor plan for easier navigation. Enjoy your visit!

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