The Best Bits of the Singapore Night Festival for Kids

All the best sights, sounds and performances to enchant and delight kids and families from 23-31 August at the Singapore Night Festival

If ever there was a time to let your kiddos stay up a little bit late, the Singapore Night Festival is it! Over two weekends in late August, the Bras Basah and Bugis districts transform into a wonderland of artistic expression, illumination and storytelling. In addition to 16 different light projections on heritage buildings around the neighbourhood, this year’s festival will feature more than 40 different performances, including music, dancing and storytelling from both local and internationally-renowned acts. We are amazed by the diverse array of cultures kiddos will be able to learn about, with everything from Chinese opera and puppets, to traditional Indian dance interpretations of The Ramayana, to Gamelan music, a New Orleans Brass Band and Brazilian drummers!

Families will also love the two different festival villages (located at Dhoby Ghaut and Armenian Street). We love that almost all of it is FREE!

See below for more deets, and swipe through our gallery for our fave fam-friendly highlights! 

All the details!
What: Singapore Night Festival
When: 23 – 31 August, 2019
Timings: 7:30pm to 12 midnight
Where: Various locations; click here for the full map

www.nightfestival.sg

Lead image: “Waves of Time” at CHIJMES

Kiddos (and parents, too!) are sure to be enchanted by the 16 different light installations set up around the Heritage District. We are totally wowed by Keep Dreaming by Spectaculaire (pictured), in which three mysterious characters awaken from a deep slumber to embark on an adventure, as well as a musical and light rendition of the Sanskrit epic The Ramayana, which is inspired by the Asian Civilisations Museum’s collection of Nakashi Venkataramaiah paintings.
Where: Both will be projected onto different sides of the National Museum of Singapore.

We also think kids will enjoy the cartoon-like Waves of Time by Chips and Toon & The Electric Canvas. We love that the bold, colourful images are inspired by Singapore’s very own legend of a Prince who journeyed across the seas to visit Singapore, encountering an underwater world and a variety of ethnic cultures along the way.
Where: CHIJMES chapel

Image via Spectaculaire

This FREE showcase will highlight Singapore’s rich, vast multi-culturalism with performances from nine different local arts groups comprising Mandarin crosstalk, traditional Indian dance, traditional glove puppetry and more. Families can also explore the newly redeveloped Stamford Arts Centre, and will love the finale concert that blends music from all different cultures.

Where: Stamford Arts Centre, 155 Waterloo Street, Singapore 187962
When: 30-31 August
Timings: 7pm – 11pm

Image via Paper Monkey Theatre

This internationally renowned Argentinian troupe has performed for more than 6 million spectators in sold-out shows across 34 countries, and now they’re finally in Singapore! More than just music, dance, or theatre, Fuerza Bruta creates a 360-degree sensory theatre party spectacle with action-packed aerial acrobatics and mind-blowing lighting visual effects. Note that this is a ticketed performance.

NB: The performance is standing-only, and therefore babies in arms and children under 1.2m are not permitted. We’ve actually seen this group before, and due to loud noises, flashing lights and crowds, little kids might get a bit freaked out. We’d recommend the show for kids ages 8 and up.

Where: Cathay Green (Zone 5)
When: 29-31 August
Timings: 8:30pm, 9:45pm and 11pm (show lasts for 30 minutes)
How much: $15/pax (excl. SISTIC fee); click here to buy tickets!

In addition to a light installation and musical gamelan interpretation of the epic Ramayana, this cross-cultural dance performance by Apsaras Arts will encompass performers from India, Indonesia and Singapore, with an arresting juxtaposition of varying Asian depictions of the Ramayana – all set to a stirring, original score.

Where: Dhoby Ghaut Green Festival Village (Zone 5)
When: 29-31 August
Timings: 8:30-9:30pm

Does your little one like to boogie? This Brazilian drumming group will bring a series of heart-thumping beats to the streets of the Bras Basah district. The band has 150 members who are all passionate about producing original samba funk grooves.

Where: Armenian Street Park Festival Village (Zone 2)
When: 29-31 August
Timings: 8:30-8:45pm, 10:35-10:55pm

Who’s ready for a street party?! New Stream Brass Band, a Singapore-based, New Orleans-style brass band, will be roving the streets with the amazing tap dancers of Rhythm Nation to create a funky, toe-tapping outdoor dance party unlike anything you’ve ever seen in Singapore before.

Where: Armenian Street (roving)
When: 30-31 August
Timings: 8-8:30pm

Image via New Stream Brass Band

The Ramayana is traditionally narrated through song rather than just recited, and here the performance adds an additional level of lyricism with gamelan music and tembang (Javanese poetry).

Where: National Museum of Singapore, Banyan Tree (Zone 1)
When: 29-31 August
Timing: 8-8:15pm, 9-9:15pm, and 10-10:15pm

We like that this lively, colourful and FREE dance performance will take place on the earlier side (7pm), once again bringing The Ramayana to life, this time through enchanting magical animals like an eagle, a bear, a sea monster, a golden deer, and Hanuman – one of the epic’s most important characters – and his band of monkeys.

Where: Dhoby Ghaut Green Festival Village (Zone 5)
When: 29-31 August
Timings: 7-7:30pm

Image courtesy of Apsaras Arts

Time for a treasure hunt! With 20 cute characters hidden around Waterloo Centre, 30 prizes will be up for grabs each day! All you have to do is find five characters, take a selfie with each of them, and show it to the folks at the shop to collect a small prize. Plus anyone who posts 1 of the 5 selfies on social media will stand a chance to nab a $50 Wheniwasfour voucher! Click here for full details.

Where: Waterloo Centre, 261 Waterloo Street, Singapore 180263

When: 23, 24, 30, 31 August
Timings: 6-10 pm (prizes while stocks last, so the earlier, the better!)

See www.nightfestival.sg for more info and full event listings!

Image via Wheniwasfour