SINGAPORE - Make family time all the more special with these ideas and activities.
Create: Free National Day-themed doodling workshop
The Dim Sum Warriors language learning app is inviting kids to design new Singapore mascots at a free doodling online workshop.
"The Merlion itself is a very strange mash-up of a fish and a lion," says its chief executive Woo Yen Yen. "So we started thinking how fun it would be for kids to create their own mash-up mascots, ones which are truly meaningful and Singaporean to them."
Its chief of content and cartoonist Colin Goh came up with his versions, which include The Roti Protter and The Rice Chicken.
The two will lead the National Day-themed event on Aug 6 at 10am. They will be joined by Art-Zoo creator and designer Jackson Tan.
Goh tells The Straits Times that the collaboration with Tan came about when some kids asked him: "Do you think the Merlion's mother was the fish or the lion?"
He says: "We found this hilarious, but also an opportunity to stoke their creativity. And when it came to imagining unusual animals, we immediately thought of Art-Zoo and its inflatable animal playgrounds. So we asked Jackson to come in to judge."
Register for the live stream at this website. Till Aug 9, kids can also post their mascot creations on Instagram with the hashtag #newsgmascot and stand a chance to win sets of markers.
Watch: Kids' drama series Best Foot Forward
After years of home-schooling, 12-year-old Josh Dubin is thrilled to switch to a public school and experience everything it has to offer.
His protective mum, however, does not share his enthusiasm. She is worried about the challenges he has to face, including how to get his classmates to ignore his disability.
"I want to make friends because they like me, not because they feel bad for me," says Josh, who has a prosthetic leg.
Best Foot Forward is a heart-warming Apple Original drama series that will have your family rooting for the plucky boy, played by young actor Logan Marmino, who also has one leg.
It is based on the memoir Just Don't Fall (2010) by American Paralympic ski racer and comedian Josh Sundquist. An executive producer on the series, he lost his left leg to a rare form of bone cancer when he was nine.
All 10 episodes are available on Apple TV+.
Learn: Bilingual guided zoo tour
Learn about tigers and other animals in a guided tour at the Singapore Zoo on July 31.
Recommended for families with kids aged three to 12, the one-hour educational event will be conducted in English and Mandarin. Choose from two sessions - 11.30am and 1.30pm.
It is organised by Mandarin language learning platform LingoAce to mark World Tiger Day, which falls on July 29 every year. LingoAce's mascot Tigo is a tiger.
Tickets are at $90 for a child and an adult, and include one goodie bag - with Chinese pop-up storybooks, a jigsaw puzzle and a Tigo plush toy - said to be worth $150.
Sign up at this website.
