KidsSTOP: Play till you drop

SINGAPORE — It’s a place where your child can be a palaeontologist, a surgeon and a flight engineer — all on the same day. Opening in June, the S$10 million KidsSTOP will fill the grounds of the Omni-Theatre building in the Science Centre with 3000 sq m of light, colour and hands-on science aimed at children eight and below.

Fourteen themed zones will lead them through a discovery of both the natural and man-made worlds. Children can dig up dinosaur bones in the palaeontology pit, get up close with live animals, or build their own flying machines. They can even play pretend roles in the grown-up world, from cashier to construction worker to chef.

“Children are born curious, children are born wanting to explore and experiment, children are born with this instinct of wanting to make things work for themselves,” said Science Centre CEO Lim Tit Meng. “With kids, let them learn through play, so we designed purposeful play settings.”

The seed of the project was planted in 2010 during an informal lunch session with Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, where he suggested that Singapore should have a museum or science centre specifically for young children. KidsSTOP was born in the years after that conversation.

Its development involved conversations with early childhood educators, parents, as well as financial support and content from the project’s four main sponsors: The Building and Construction Authority (BCA), the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, LEGO Education and the Tote Board.

Some sponsors, like LEGO, have had a long history of working with early education. For others, such as the BCA, this is a first. The BCA’s contribution led to the creation of the Built Environment Zone, where kids can see how bridges are built, or how buildings can be energy-saving as well as friendly and efficient to all.

That sounds like information adults would find useful as well. Indeed, KidsSTOP also caters to the grown-ups, Assoc Prof Lim said. “KidsSTOP is designed in a way to help young parents not be afraid of science, to empower them to communicate to their kids that they can learn many things through the KidsSTOP experience,” he said.

“KidsSTOP is positioned as a place that is for kids — but adults sometimes are allowed.” In fact, the Science Centre thinks the appeal to adults might be so strong, it is thinking of closing the centre on some nights for adults only. But the focus is still on the children. They own that space and are the boss, in a way.

“KidsSTOP membership is given to the children. And the parents, you are invited to join me!” said Assoc Prof Lim.

Sometimes, some of their ideas were a bit too lofty for reality. “We have a little train in there, but it’s not for people to sit in. We were thinking that if we had the chance, we could have a train that would go in and out of the building ... (for) an outdoor experience.”

“But that is not stopping us from using the idea of the outdoors. After all, KidsSTOP, by the lakeside ... is a very nice area. We are coming up with programmes to take place outside of KidsSTOP,” added Assoc Prof Lim.

Further plans for expansion could involve satellite instances of KidsSTOP in other parts of Singapore and even abroad. “”We are very excited, we want KidsSTOP to be the pride of Singapore.” June Yang