Creativity 521 #73 - Learning about Singapore landmarks

I've been wanting to do something more educational for Creativity 521 and finally managed to do it with the kids this week. The theme for Angel's school term is currently SG50 and since she is learning about historical figures, the Singapore story and places of interest, I thought it would be a perfect time to teach them more about some of our famous landmarks.

So, in this week's Creativity 521, we did something simple but fun - we did flashcards of 12 Singapore landmarks, played matching games, learnt facts and figures and lastly, to turn it into an art session, we did pencil sketches of our favourite icons.

Firstly, I printed out photographs and names of 12 of our popular landmarks. In wanting my kids to be effectively bilingual, I made sure I printed out both the English and Chinese names.

1) Merlion Park 鱼尾狮公园
2) Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay 滨海艺术中心
3) Parliament House 国会大厦
4) Singapore River 新加坡河
5) Gardens by the Bay 滨海湾花园
6) Changi Airport 樟宜机场
7) Istana, Singapore 新加坡总统府
8) Statue of Sir Stamford Raffles 史丹福莱佛士雕像
9) Marina Bay Sands 滨海湾金沙
10) Singapore Botanic Gardens 新加坡植物园
11) Singapore Flyer 新加坡摩天观景轮
12) Night Safari 夜间野生动物园

Next, I jotted down some notes behind each of the photographs so that it would be easier for us to learn facts and figures about these unique landmarks.

After that, I laminated the cards and cut them out neatly. There, flashcards all done!

I held up each card to teach Angel about the name of the place before we proceeded to play some matching games where she was supposed to match the correct name to each landmark. She was tasked to read the names, in both English and Chinese, first! Not easy, not easy at all, but that's what makes learning so fun, right?

We repeated it a few times and slowly but surely, she was starting to remember more of the names. Then, we moved on to read the notes and my little avid reader even tried to read my scribbles on her own. We learnt a little about the history, functions, architectural design, opening date, achievements of each of these landmarks.

The second part was the more FUN part! All of us chose our favourite landmark and did a pencil sketch based on the photograph. Angel chose to draw the Changi Airport, Ariel wanted the Singapore Flyer (she likes to draw circles) and my pick was the Merlion Park.

For Ariel, I had to guide her in most parts, especially in drawing the big circle and using the ruler to draw straight lines. She was really excited that she got to draw many small circles which represented the capsules!

As for Angel, she surprised me by doing every bit of her sketch on her own! From the control tower and the skytrain to the trees, roads and even cars, she drew everything all by herself. I was also glad to see that she was starting to show more patience in her work and did not rush to complete it but instead, took time and effort for every stroke.

Lastly, we added some colours to our work using coloured pencils! My girls really love colouring, do your kids like it too? I'm teaching Ariel to hold a pencil correctly and it's a case of practice makes perfect, isn't it?

Just to make our drawings stand out, we used a black coloured pencil to outline everything. This one took at least 20 minutes for Angel because of the vast numbers of trees, flowers and details in her drawing, but I was glad she persevered and made it.

Now, presenting our final art pieces!

Well, I must say it wasn't too bad an achievement for a day's work, right?

We really enjoyed drawing and learning more about our Singapore landmarks, and I'm hoping that the kids will be able to point them out and say their names the next time we come across any of them! Are you looking forward to our nation's 50th birthday as much as we are?

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