Singapore: a great place to learn 🧡
- hummblylife
- Aug 17
- 8 min read
We loved exploring Singapore. It's such a vibrant place to explore with the family, right from when we arrived to Changi International Airport, we had so many options of what to do and where to eat at Jewel Changi, from a Pokemon Center for the little ones to spending some time surrounded by nature... such a fun place for all ages!
We only spent a few days but truly enjoyed our stay in Singapore. Below we will list some recommendations of our favorite activities with kids in Singapore. But first, here's a little intro we shared with the kids to all learn together about this amazing nation!
🇸🇬 Singapore
Singapore is a tiny island country in Southeast Asia, but don’t let its size fool you, it’s full of big surprises! It’s clean, super safe, and full of fun things to learn, eat, and explore.
People here speak English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil.
Known as a “Garden City”, Singapore is truly obsessed with trees and it's great that they care so much about environment and sustainability! The island nation, population 6 million people, is home to around seven million trees. They also have an initiative to plant 1 million more trees by 2030!
What Makes Singapore Special?
It’s super modern, but also keeps many traditions.
You’ll see churches, temples, and mosques all near each other.
You can try food from Chinese, Indian, Malay, and even Peranakan cultures
Singapore is small in size, you can drive across the whole country in less than an hour!
Even though it's small, it’s one of the richest and busiest countries in the world!
Singapore’s schools have great academic standards: the students here often score top in math and science worldwide!
Where to stay? We stayed in Kampong Glam area, our hostel was near Bugis MRT station (Green Line) and it turned out to be a great location, we got to enjoy the vibe of Haji Ln, and we had many great restaurants around us. Also, staying near the green MRT line it's quite convenient because it connects you with the airport and many of the popular attractions. If your budget allows, we recommend considering staying somewhere near to: City Hall or Raffles Place MRT stations, especially if you are only in Singapore for a few days.
Public Transportation Because we were strategically located, we did walk a lot! (despite having to hear some complains by our fellow little travelers 😅), but we also made use of the excellent transportation system that Singapore has. So right from the airport's MRT station we got ourselves three EZ-Link Cards. (We only got three because you can also use your Visa-Mastercard card)
There was an option to get 1-3 days unlimited cards, but we did not think it would be necessary for us, so we got the regular ones.
Jewel Changi ✈️
Plan to spend some time exploring the Jewel Changi that's connected by really cool skytrains to all the terminals of the airport. Once you arrive at Jewel Changi, you will be greeted by the world’s tallest indoor waterfall at 40 meters tall – the Jewel Rain Vortex – and you can enjoy lush indoor greenery of the Forest Valley with floral biodiversity of more than 120 species. There's also a Canopy Park on upper floors, it looked fun but we thought it was a bit pricey so did not try it out.
Jewel is open 24hrs. Most shops operate between 10am to 10pm.
Fun fact: Recirculating rain water is pumped to the roof to fall through a round hole at up to 37,850 liters per minute to a basement-level pool!
Garden by the bay - Supertree Grove Light & Music Show
Not to miss in Singapore!
We arrived just in time for the 7.45pm Light & Music Show. It was crowded but we managed to find a good spot to sit and enjoy the great ambiance. The show lasts for 15mins. You can pay extra to go to the top of the Supertrees.
📍 Location
Also recommend to check out the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome.
Marina Bay Sands Bayfront MRT
An icon of Singapore designed by famous architect named Moshe Safdie. This resort has a huge hotel with 2,561 rooms.
If you are with kids and want to enjoy great views of this iconic building, we recommend checking out this📍 Playground
Alternatively, if you would like to experience Singapore from above by visiting the Skypark at the Marina Bay Sands, check out the options from their official website. You can choose to get tickets for their Skypark Observation Deck, or pair with an afternoon tea buffet, etc.
To get a drink at the Marina Bay Sands SkyPark, you can make a booking of its rooftop bars like CÉ LA VI SkyBar or Spago Bar & Lounge on the 57th floor. Instead of paying for a SkyPark Observation Deck ticket, you can pay for a drink or a meal at a restaurant to access the rooftop views. Head to Hotel Tower 3 to find the reception for CÉ LA VI.
Haji Lane and Arab Street Bugis MRT
📍Haji Ln is colorful street in Singapore's Kampong Glam district, known for its eclectic mix of independent boutiques, quirky cafes, and unique street art. It's a popular spot for both locals and tourists, especially those interested in fashion, creative arts, and photography.
We explored 📍Arab Street both by day and by night, and we would recommend going in the evening to grab dinner there! There are so many choices, a lot of Turkish restaurants too!
Science Centre Jurong East MRT
We asked Chatgpt and searched on Google "If we only have time for one good museum in Singapore, which one should we go?" The recommendations were: National Museum of Singapore, Children's Museum Singapore, among others. But we decided to do some more research, and ended up choosing the 📍Science Centre. If we do get to go back to Singapore, we would love to explore the other museums, but we are truly grateful that we chose the Science Centre, as it was one of the best science museums we have been!!!
All the different areas were so well planned, the staff were super friendly, the information was easy to understand and also so much to learn (Quantity and quality)! Truly wonderful place to spend the whole day. Make note of these activities as you will not want to miss them:
12 PM | The Energy Titans Show at the Atrium
2.30 PM | Fire Tornado Show at the Courtyard
Professor Crackitt’s light and mirror laboratory
Know your poo
Dialogue with Time - Embrace Aging
All exhibitions were so educational and fun! The ones mentioned above are the most memorable ones.
Merlion Park
About the Merlion Statue: the legend of the Merlion stems from Prince Sang Nila Utama, who, upon arriving at Temasek (an ancient name for Singapore), saw a lion, inspiring him to name the island Singapura ("Lion City").
In 1964, Alec Fraser-Brunner, a British ichthyologist, designed the Merlion symbol:
The lion's head represents the "Lion City" name.
The fish's body symbolizes Singapore's beginnings as a fishing village and the name Temasek ("sea town").
The design was intended to create a unique icon to represent Singapore's heritage and its transformation into a modern city.
We really enjoyed a stroll around Merlion Park just before sunset. There are many bars and restaurants in the area too.
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Keppel Centre for Art Education - The National Gallery
For our last day in Singapore, we took our luggage with us to the National Gallery for a final educational stop.
We first went to B1 floor to put our suitcases in the storage, the staff at the gallery were sooo so nice! After that we made our way to 1F to the coffee shop "The Great Mischief" to grab some breakfast, everything was delicious and the gallery's store was right next to it and it had many great options for souvenirs.
We then headed to the entrance of the Keppel Centre for Art Education, it's free! it's wonderfully designed so both kids and adults can have fun while learning about different artists, art styles, techniques, etc. Highly recommend this place!
Grab ride + 5 min train ride to Johor Bahru
We booked a grab ride to pick us up from The National Gallery, and drop us off at 📍 Woodlands CIQ Train Checkpoint. The grab ride cost was 24 SGD / 19 USD for four people. The Shuttle train ride was around 16 USD. We highly recommend this way of traveling to Malaysia, also try to avoid holidays/weekends.
If you are taking the Johor Bahru Shuttle (Train), be sure to be there 30mins before departure. And not earlier than 40mins as they do not open the gates earlier and there's not much to do while waiting.
After gates open, we went through immigration and luggage checks, which was all very straightforward and quick. We boarded the 3PM 🚃 Singapore - Johor Bahru Shuttle Tebrau, and arrived in what it seemed less than 5 minutes to Johor Bahru!
Goodbye Singapore! We truly hope to visit again~ So much we didn't get to see, such as: Singapore Botanic Gardens, Sentosa, Singapore Zoo, and so many more!
Other random but useful info:
Before traveling to Singapore, make sure to fill out the Digital Arrival Card online a few days in advance. This is a mandatory requirement for all visitors and helps speed up the immigration process when you arrive. Completing it early saves time and ensures a smoother entry into the country.
To use Google Maps and other online tools during your trip, we recommend getting an eSIM if you have a mobile phone enabled for eSIM. For Singapore-Malaysia-Thailand, we recommend this eSIM from NOMAD. Use our referral code to get a $5 discount: ANGEURTPBL
Singapore is hot 🔥! Whenever we saw one of these Orange juice machines, we would run to them! It's a cheap healthy drink and they are soooo good. Try one if you see it!
Planning to check out the Arcades with kids? We wanted to check out Timezone! But little did we know there's time restrictions on when under 16s can go 😲! Children 16 years old and below (even if supervised by parents/adults) are not permitted entry to Timezone and similar entertainment centers on school days, except between 6:30 PM and 11:59 PM, in accordance with regulations from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
In Singapore, the sale, importation, and manufacturing of most chewing gums are prohibited due to littering issues. While it's not illegal to chew gum, you cannot bring it into the country or purchase it, with limited exceptions which require a prescription or purchase from a registered pharmacist or dentist. Other rules include bans on electronic cigarettes and regulations against littering and jaywalking.
If you visit during Summer or holidays, you will most likely encounter large group of students of all ages in the museums and attractions, so keep this in mind if you do not enjoy crowds, we did not spend weekend days in Singapore but maybe the attractions are less busy during the weekends as there's no school/cram school day trips!
While Singapore's food options are not that expensive, the entrance tickets to experiences and attractions were in our opinion much pricier than where our current base is (Taiwan), this is why we researched for activities that were either free, or lower in price. There are definitely options for all type of travelers!
We hope this information was useful to you in planning your trip to Singapore!
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