Friday 2 October is Children’s Day, a school holiday for MOE kindergartens and primary schools but not a public holiday. Here are 17 picks for Friday to Sunday, 2 to 4 October, grouped by what you’re after.
Free
Singapore Indie Bookshop Day. Twenty independent bookshops run talks, readings and workshops across the weekend, with Saturday as the main day. Pick up a free Bookshop Passport and collect stamps at each shop for a lucky draw.
- When: Sat 3 Oct, with programmes from Fri 2 to Sun 4 Oct; times vary by bookshop
- Where: 20 participating independent bookshops islandwide
- Price: Most events free
Children’s Museum Singapore. Admission is free for all visitors until 12 November, but only Level 1 is open and every visit needs an advance online booking. The museum closes from 5 to 7 October.
- When: Fri 2 to Sun 4 Oct, entry slots at 9am, 11am, 2pm and 4pm
- Where: 23-B Coleman Street
- Price: Free, with advance online booking
McDonald’s Children’s Day cone. Children who write how they want to celebrate on a Promise Bookmark and sign it get a free vanilla cone.
- When: Until 7 Oct, during restaurant opening hours
- Where: McDonald’s restaurants islandwide, except NTU, Temasek Polytechnic, Caltex Dunearn and Shell Tampines, Hougang and Havelock
- Price: Free vanilla cone
Families
Octoburst! A Children’s Festival. Esplanade’s children’s festival is back at the arts centre on Children’s Day with a full free programme. The Color-Your-Mood Flower Studio opens at the Concourse at 10am, where children pick a mood and craft a paper flower. Come and Play: Sports Day! runs on the Esplanade Lawn outside the Singtel Waterfront Theatre at 10am, 11.45am, 3pm and 5.15pm. On the Concourse, the Joyful Voices Children’s Choir sings Disney and musical favourites at 10.30am, Sing, Strum and Giggle follows at 1.15pm, and From Page to Stage sets children’s stories to live music at 4pm. The Feelings Farm: Live in Concert! plays the DBS Foundation Outdoor Theatre at 6pm and 8pm, and Groovers 645 closes the day with a family dance party on the Concourse at 6.45pm. A Universe In Sounds, a soundscape performance at PIP’s PLAYbox, carries on into Saturday and Sunday.
- When: Fri 2 Oct, from 10am
- Where: Esplanade Concourse, Esplanade Lawn and DBS Foundation Outdoor Theatre, 1 Esplanade Drive
- Price: Free
SSO Babies’ Proms. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s concert for the very young is recommended for ages 6 and below, and pre-concert activities start an hour before each show. Children aged 2 and above need a ticket.
- When: Fri 2 Oct, 4pm; Sat 3 Oct, 11am and 2pm
- Where: Victoria Concert Hall
- Price: S$45 and S$35, before SISTIC fees
National Gallery Singapore family workshops. Two ticketed Slow Saturday sessions suit young children. Relak Buddy’s Squishy, Stretchy Feelings is a parent-child storytelling and art playdate for ages 4 to 7, and GalleryToddlers! is for ages 2 to 3.
- When: Relak Buddy: Sat 3 and Sun 4 Oct, 10.30am to 12pm. GalleryToddlers!: Sat 3 Oct, 10.30am and 11.30am
- Where: Relak Buddy: Keppel Centre for Art Education. GalleryToddlers!: Singapore Courtyard, City Hall Wing Level 2. Both at National Gallery Singapore, 1 St Andrew’s Road
- Price: Relak Buddy: S$40 per parent-child pair, S$20 per extra person. GalleryToddlers!: S$15 per adult-child pair
Food and markets
Ngee Ann Teochew Cultural & Food Festival. Teochew food stalls and opera fill the Civic Plaza for three days. Online coupon reservations are full, so 600 free S$20 food coupons a day go out at the Festival Entrance Counter, 100 per slot: 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 5pm, 6pm and 7pm on Friday, and 10am, 11am, 12pm, 5pm, 6pm and 7pm on Saturday and Sunday. It is one coupon per person with NRIC or other ID, valid only that day. Five Teochew opera and music troupes play 11am to 1pm and 6pm to 8pm. Orchard and Somerset are the nearest MRT stations.
- When: Fri 2 to Sun 4 Oct, 10am to 2pm and 5pm to 9pm; Friday opens to the public at 12pm after an invitation-only ceremony
- Where: Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza, 391 Orchard Road
- Price: Free entry; food coupons free while they last
Mummys Market. The big baby and maternity fair fills Hall 5 across the long school-holiday weekend, with freebies while stocks last and discounts of up to 90 per cent.
- When: Fri 2 to Sun 4 Oct, 11am to 9pm
- Where: Singapore EXPO Hall 5
- Price: Free admission
Arts and nightlife
The Weeknd: After Hours til Dawn Tour. Both nights are sold out. Bags can be no bigger than 35cm x 20cm x 30cm, and outside food and drink, bottled water, glass and chairs or stools stay out; empty plastic bottles can be refilled inside. Lockers on the overhead bridge from Kallang MRT, near Gate 15, cost S$6 (standard) or S$10 (large) for six hours. Stadium MRT on the Circle Line has direct access to the venue, Tanjong Rhu on the Thomson-East Coast Line is a 9-minute walk, and Kallang on the East-West Line is a 13-minute sheltered walk.
- When: Fri 2 and Sat 3 Oct; doors 6pm, show 8pm
- Where: National Stadium, Singapore Sports Hub
- Price: Sold out
Halloween Horror Nights 14. Universal Studios Singapore’s scare event runs on select nights, and Thursday to Saturday this week are non-peak nights. Sunday 4 October is not an event night. The event is not recommended for guests under 13.
- When: Fri 2 and Sat 3 Oct, 7.30pm to 12.30am
- Where: Universal Studios Singapore, Resorts World Sentosa
- Price: From S$68 on non-peak nights, or S$63 with Mastercard
Gran Turismo World Series Round 3. The Gran Turismo World Series makes its Southeast Asia debut. The Singapore Regional Gran Turismo Cup exhibition race starts at 4pm, the Manufacturers Cup at 5pm and the Nations Cup at 8pm, with the show wrapping up at about 9.30pm. Signature tickets include a driver meet-and-greet.
- When: Sat 3 Oct; doors 3pm
- Where: Sands Theatre, Marina Bay Sands
- Price: Classic S$38, Premium S$48, Signature S$68, before booking fees; S$10 off for under-18s, students and those in National Service
Japanese Film Festival. The festival runs from 1 to 11 October. Friday’s 6.30pm public screening of The Keeper of the Camphor Tree at Shaw Lido comes with a Q&A. Saturday brings Chimney Town, Ghost in the Shell 2 in 4K and Hula Girls in 4K to Shaw Lido, plus Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust at Filmhouse at 7.30pm. Sunday’s line-up includes HEAVENS with a Q&A at 1.45pm, Tatsumi and Spirit World.
- When: Fri 2 to Sun 4 Oct; screening times vary by film
- Where: Shaw Lido, 350 Orchard Road, and Filmhouse
- Price: S$16 at Shaw Lido, or S$14.50 for Friends of Japan Creative Centre, Singapore Film Society, Asian Film Archive and Filmhouse members and NUS students; booking fee for online purchases. Tickets via Shaw Theatres
Outdoors
Joo Chiat Street Social. Joo Chiat Road goes car-free for an afternoon-to-night street party, with yoga at 4pm, a live band at 6.30pm and a DJ at 8.30pm. The first 1,000 Community Passes from participating merchants come with a welcome drink, S$5 voucher games give away up to S$5,000 in vouchers, and a pets zone sits near Dunman Road.
- When: Sat 3 Oct, 3.30pm to 9.30pm
- Where: Joo Chiat Road, from East Coast Road to Dunman Road
- Price: Free
Music Matters Live. Music Matters marks its 21st year with more than 44 emerging artists from 15 countries playing free shows across four nights at Clarke Quay. The fourth night, Girls’ Night Out, follows on Wed 7 Oct, 7pm to midnight.
- When: Fri 2 Oct, 7pm to midnight; Sat 3 and Sun 4 Oct, 4pm to midnight
- Where: Mainstage, CQ @ Clarke Quay
- Price: Free
Ray-Ban presents: Beyond the Track. The Scuderia Ferrari collection pop-up shares Fountain Square with race simulators, a Pit Stop Challenge and a Reflex Test.
- When: Until 14 Oct, 11am to 10pm
- Where: CQ Fountain Square, CQ @ Clarke Quay
- Price: Free to visit
Exhibitions still on
Formula 1 Exhibition. The immersive exhibition takes you through the world of Formula 1 in a purpose-built marquee. There are no toilets inside; the nearest are at Satay by the Bay, a 600m walk away. Singapore residents get 20 per cent off, and children under 5 go free.
- When: Until 18 Oct; 11am to 5pm daily through Sun 4 Oct
- Where: Eastern Greenway, Gardens by the Bay (Gardens by the Bay MRT, Exit 1)
- Price: From S$49 (18 and over), S$40 (13 to 17) and S$29 (5 to 12)
Bloomyard by Graphic Rewilding. Graphic Rewilding and IMBA turn the gallery into an oversized flower garden with swings, flower-shaped table tennis tables and a garden mini-golf course. Allow about 60 minutes, and children under 12 must be with an adult.
- When: Until 25 Oct; Fri to Sun, 10am to 8pm (last entry 7pm)
- Where: IMBA, Gardens by the Bay
- Price: Singapore residents from S$18 (adult) and S$13 (child, 3 to 12); under-3s free
