Fun With Kids: Shadow puppet play, Our Singapore River comic book, manga library

SINGAPORE – Make family time all the more special with these ideas and activities.

Learn: Shadow puppet play

The Malay Heritage Centre in Kampong Glam is closed for a revamp that is expected to last till 2025. But you can still learn about Malay culture on its website.

One interesting interactive resource in English is My First Wayang Kulit Show, guided by the character Laila. The traditional art form of shadow puppet play is practised across ethnic groups in the Malay world, she explains, and most of the stories performed are based on famous Hindu epics.

As your kids tap on the screen or click the mouse, they can hear the sound of each instrument played by the gamelan ensemble and find out what goes on behind the cloth screen in a wayang kulit show.

Finally, they get to be a little dalang (puppeteer) and put on their first performance as well.

Join the fun at

go.gov.sg/myfirstwayangkulitshow

Visit: Manga library at City Square Mall

If your kids love reading Japanese graphic books and comics, take them to the National Library Board’s first manga library at City Square Mall.

It has more than 5,000 titles, including popular series such as Beyblade Burst by Hiro Morita, Dragon Ball Z by Akira Toriyama and Spy X Family by Tatsuya Endo.

Nearly a fifth of the manga titles were donated by Japanese publisher Shogakukan Asia, with more to be contributed in the future.

Located on the fourth floor of the mall in Farrer Park, this six-month pop-up space showcases Singapore’s rich comic culture as well.

Your family can borrow local books such as Mr Kiasu, Roti Kaya And Guyu and The LKY Story.

It also has a display of rare titles that are not for browsing or borrowing. Donated by local collectors, these include Singapore’s first full-colour comic, The Amazing Adventures Of Captain V by Siva Choy, published in 1987.

Fun fact: Captain V was originally a mascot for the Singapore Police Force’s National Crime Prevention Programme, and was eventually immortalised in comic form fighting against Dr Evil.

Read: Our Singapore River comic book

Follow Aloysius and his grandfather as they travel back in time and spend a day at the Singapore River.

The boy realises the important role it played as a port settlement for more than 150 years – and how busy, noisy and dirty it was too.

Written by Tina Sim and illustrated by Alan Bay, Our Singapore River is the first comic book in the Time Travel, Singapore! series.

Today, the locale has taken on a different role as an entertainment and lifestyle hub, says Sim, 56, a freelance writer.

But kids should be aware of its early days as those are an integral part of Singapore’s growth. They should also learn about the industrious forefathers who worked as labourers and boatmen, for instance.

Before boats were motorised, boatmen moved their vessels using only oars and punt poles.

“How hard that work must have been, especially when the boats were fully laden with cargo. And they did this by navigating what was also a narrow river crowded with other boats. They were very skilled and strong,” she adds.

This is her second book with Bay, following Once Upon A Singapore… Traders (2018), which looks at jobs in the past such as letter writers and dairymen.

Our Singapore River is available as a paperback ($14.90) and hardcover ($25.90) at its publisher World Scientific Education’s website (

str.sg/wv9M

).