Here is a list of free stuff to do in Singapore next week. Explore and experience events and activities that are budget-friendly. I will focus on physical activities as there are already many things to do online.
Please check the respective websites to check for the latest details and availability.
I am looking for sources of free events and activities, including volunteering, in Singapore. Do drop me an email at consumelesslife@gmail.com if you know of any of these free events and activities. Thanks!
For free stuff to do this week, check out last week’s post here.
Here is a list of free stuff to do in Singapore next week from 30 January 2023 to 5 February 2023.
Monday – 30 January 2023
Resonates
Description: Immerse in the resonating sounds of the guzheng as yì Zheng Ensemble present familiar festive tunes such as Spring Festival Overture, Jubilance, Harvest Drums and more!
Category: Music
Location: Esplanade Concourse
Time: 1900 – 1930 | 2000 – 2030
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website
Tuesday – 31 January 2023
Choral Pop of Yesterday & Today
Description: Ever heard Chinese pop music presented in a chorus? Well, now’s your chance: Come listen to the Chordinate Singers belt out their choral renditions of familiar Chinese pop hits such as the Taiwanese campus folk song Cicada in Autumn, Jay Chou’s Rice Field and more. The group will also present their catchy original Chinese New Year song Dawn of Blessings to usher in this spring season!
Category: Music
Location: Esplanade Concourse
Time: 1800 – 1830 | 1900 – 1930
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website
Wednesday – 1 February 2023
Spring Eternal
Description: This performance titled Spring Eternal derives from the English idiom “hope springs eternal”. Mark the new year with the music of spring as PipaCAN! presents a selection of pipa chamber works with spring as its central theme, including The Spring Snow, Spring of Tianshan, Spring Rain and more!
Category: Music
Location: Esplanade Concourse
Time: 1900 – 1930 | 2000 – 2030
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website
Highlights of Kampong Gelam
Description: Friends of the Museums together with the Malay Heritage Foundation walking tour of Kampong Gelam historic precinct.
Category: Guided Tour
Location: Sultan Gate
Time: 1630 – 1800
Booking Requirement: Yes
Further Details: Website
Thursday – 2 February 2023
Classic Art Songs
Description: Singapore soprano Felicia Teo showcases her rich and colourful voice in this charming performance, accompanied by Benjamin Lim on the piano, where she demonstrates a classical take on a mix of modern and classic tunes including Song of the Yue Boatman, Jasmine Flower and more!
Category: Music
Location: Esplanade Concourse
Time: 1900 – 1930 | 2000 – 2030
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website
Friday – 3 February 2023
Best Competition Hits
Description: Winner of Chinese singing reality competition SPOP WAVE!, Mediacorp YES 933 DJ Gao Mei Gui takes center stage to bring you songs frequently heard and sung in singing competitions! From competitions like The Voice China, Call Me by Fire, to SPOP WAVE!, these songs will surely get you singing along!
Category: Music
Location: Esplanade Concourse
Time: 1915 – 1945 | 2015 – 2045
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website
Dancing in Spring
Description: This Chinese New Year, Singapore Chinese Dance Theatre present a series of captivating Chinese dance performances! Audiences will be treated to a variety of traditional and folk dances that will allow you to immerse yourselves in Chinese culture during this festive season.
Category: Dance
Location: Esplanade Outdoor Theatre
Time: 1930 – 2015 | 2100 – 2145
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website
Saturday – 4 February 2023
Let’s Sing Nursery Rhymes
Description: Most nursery rhymes have been passed down through generations. Come join 3 o’Hearts to continue this tradition and relive these lovely tunes with your little ones with songs such as Two Tigers, The Good Little Rabbits, Pull The Radish and more!
Category: Music
Location: Esplanade Concourse
Time: 1430 – 1500 | 1530 – 1600
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website
Folk Reimagined
Description: Kailin Yong, also known as the “fiddler for peace”, will bring his unique style of fiddle music to Huayi – Chinese Festival of Arts. Together with Sebastian Ho on guitar and Felix Phang on bass, this string trio will present a repertoire of familiar Chinese folk songs and popular classics, giving these timeless tunes a harmonic and rhythmic makeover.
Category: Music
Location: Esplanade Concourse
Time: 1915 – 1945 | 2015 – 2045
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website
A Nanyang Jazz Fest
Description: Sit back and enjoy a fun and vivid ride of Nanyang jazz with The Shang Sisters, accompanied by the renowned Malaysian jazz quartet WVC Jazz. Presenting a kaleidoscope of multilingual Southeast Asian tunes in a mix of musical styles, coupled with choreography and theatrics, this is a show for all ages and all walks of life. The performance repertoire will include household numbers like Rose Rose I Love You, Love And Passion, Nona Nona Zaman Sekarang, and their original Yolala.
Category: Music
Location: Esplanade Outdoor Theatre
Time: 1930 – 2015 | 2100 – 2145
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website
Edible Kampong Gelam
Description: Friends of the Museums together with the Malay Heritage Foundation walking tour of Kampong Gelam historic precinct.
Category: Guided Tour
Location: Sultan Gate
Time: 1630 – 1800
Booking Requirement: Yes
Further Details: Website
Lunar New Year Celebrations
Description: “Hop” into the Lunar New Year at the National Museum of Singapore with your family and friends, with an exciting array of activities prepared to usher in the Year of the Rabbit. From the lively lion dance performance to hands-on activities where you can create your Lunar New Year mementoes based on the museum’s collection, there is something for everyone to experience at the museum!
Category: Celebrations
Location: National Museum of Singapore
Time: 1000 – 1900
Booking Requirement: Yes
Further Details: Website
Eat Right Feel Right
Description: Join us in an interactive nutrition workshop where fun-filled activities await you and your child.Tackle common eating challenges through interactive activities with your child and find out how you can prepare healthy meals at home together. Let’s make our family mealtimes healthier and fun!
Category: Workshop
Location: Queenstown Public Library
Time: 1430 – 1530
Booking Requirement: Yes
Further Details: Website
Healing Garden Tour
Description: The Healing Garden showcases over 400 varieties of plants used medicinally. It is laid out thematically relating to component parts of the body such as head, respiratory and reproductive systems. Spread over 2.5 hectares, this garden is designed as a tranquil retreat with medical plants traditionally used in Southeast Asia as the main focus.
Category: Guided Tour
Location: Singapore Botanic Gardens
Time: 0900 – 1000 | 1000 – 1100
Booking Requirement: Registration is required 15 minutes prior on a first-come-first-served basis at Visitor Services @ Nassim Gate
Further Details: Website
Tour of Gallop Extension
Description: Join us for a guided walk through the Gallop Extension of the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Visit the OCBC Arboretum and a section of the Mingxin Foundation Rambler’s Ridge.
Recommended for ages 6 and above. Please note that dogs are not allowed on this tour.
Category: Guided Tour
Location: Singapore Botanic Gardens
Time: 0900 – 1000
Booking Requirement: Registration is required 15 minutes prior on a first-come-first-served basis at Visitor Services @ Gallop
Further Details: Website
Wader Watch
Description: Come celebrate the return of the migratory shorebirds! After enduring a long and harsh journey of almost ten thousand kilometres over mountains and seas, the migratory shorebirds have arrived in Singapore from far-flung locations like the Siberian and Tibetan plateaus.
Children aged 10 and above are welcome to join in the fun with their family. Binoculars will be provided for participants, but do bring along your own if you have them.
Category: Guided Tour
Location: Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
Time: 0900 – 1100
Booking Requirement: Yes
Further Details: Website
World Wetland Day – Wetland Family Adventure!
Description: Learn about wetlands in this Parent-Child bonding activity which brings you for a guided tour of the wetlands of Sungei Buloh, ending with hands-on activity at our new “Junior Wetland”, designed for young children!
Limited to 15 parent-child pairs (30 participants). This activity is suitable for children between 5 to 12 years old.
Category: Guided Tour
Location: Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
Time: 0900 – 1200
Booking Requirement: Yes
Further Details: Website
World Wetland Day – Craft and Booth activities
Description: Come and join us for a range of activities to learn about wetlands through crafts!
Category: Guided Tour
Location: Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
Time: 0900 – 1300
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website
Nature Photography Workshop
Description: Curious how to capture images of nature in our city-state? Join our guest speaker, Daryl Yeo and the Nature Photographic Society, Singapore (NPSS) as they explain the techniques of nature photography in Singapore. This session includes a talk and also a field workshop at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.
Category: Workshop
Location: Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
Time: 1000 – 1200
Booking Requirement: Yes
Further Details: Website
What’s in my water?
Description: Join us for an interesting morning walk getting to know the creatures and plants that lives in and around the water edges of Sungei Buloh.
Category: Guided Tour
Location: Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
Time: 0930 – 1100
Booking Requirement: Yes
Further Details: Website
My Dawson Heritage Tour
Description: My Dawson Heritage Tour explores the history and heritage of Queenstown, Singapore’s first satellite town. Join us as we explore how Queenstown links to different periods throughout Singapore’s history, from it being founded as a port city in 1819, to achieving self-governance in 1959, and to its nation building from the 1960s to the present day.
Category: Guided Tour
Location: Queenstown MRT Station
Time: 0830 – 1130
Booking Requirement: Yes
Further Details: Website
Sunday – 5 February 2023
The Origins of Mahjong
Description: The click-clack of mahjong tiles being shuffled is a familiar sound during the festive period of Chinese New Year. But have you ever wondered who invented the game, and what its origins are? Which famous historical figures loved the game as well?
Category: Talk
Location: library@esplanade
Time: 1300 – 1430
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website
Chinese Tales from historical maps
Description: Learn more about the history and development of the Chinese communities in Singapore through significant historical maps from 1819 to the 1930s in this talk by Map Research Consultant Mok Ly Yng. Mok will also share interesting tidbits about places where Chinese communities lived and worked, such as village names in rural Singapore like Yew Tee and Hong Kah, as well as places such as The Chinese High School and Lian Shan Shuang Lin Monastery.
Category: Talk
Location: library@esplanade
Time: 1600 – 1730
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website
Chinese Period Dramas OST
Description: Are you a huge fan of Chinese period dramas? Let flutist Sin Jin How and harpist Sarah Wong present instrumental renditions of familiar theme songs from Chinese period dramas such as Eternal Love, The Untamed, Story of Yanxi Palace and more!
Category: Music
Location: Esplanade Concourse
Time: 1715 – 1745 | 1815 – 1945 | 1915 – 1945
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website
Jubilance
Description: Immerse yourselves in the jubilant sounds of NUS Chinese Orchestra as they perform an array of orchestral classics such as A Well-Matched Fight, Capriccio Taiwan and other familiar tunes to accompany you this Chinese New Year!
Category: Music
Location: Esplanade Concourse
Time: 1900 – 1945 | 2030 – 2115
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website
My Tiong Bahru Heritage Tour
Description: Take a walk around Singapore’s only conserved housing estate with our volunteer guides to explore the pre-war and post-war architecture and learn about the culture and arts, food and romance, as well as intriguing people and stories associated with this charming and picturesque neighbourhood.
Category: Guided Tour
Location: Tiong Bahru CC
Time: 1000 – 1230 | 1600 – 1830
Booking Requirement: Yes
Further Details: 1000 – 1230 | 1600 – 1830
Non-Specific Date Activities
Lunar Toons
Description: High on every major awards festival’s list of contenders, these films showcase the highest artistic standards of the animation artform and storytelling, whilst exploring how families lean into each other in times of need. Heartfelt, heartwarming and meaningful for all ages, Lunar Toons invites you to cosy up in ArtScience Cinema with your loved ones and let the films take you on a profound cinematic journey.
Films
DC League of Super-Pets
Ron’s Gone Wrong
Turning Red
Category: Film
Location: ArtScience Cinema
Date: 26 January 2023 – 3 March 2023
Booking Requirement: Yes
Further Details: Website
Circular Futures: Next Gen
Description: The work shown in this exhibition pushes the boundaries of sustainable design and addresses how we can better approach environmental concerns. It provides potential solutions for the damage caused by human impact on this Earth and projects new possibilities for living in the future.
The exhibition explores how sustainable design can be beautiful and proves that embracing environmental constraints does not prevent designers and architects from generating novel ideas.
Category: Exhibition
Location: National Design Centre
Date: 6 January 2023 – 31 March 2023
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website
Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition
Description: The term ‘cultural heritage’ has changed content considerably in recent decades, partially owing to the instruments developed by UNESCO. Cultural heritage does not end at monuments and collections of objects. It also includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.
Category: Exhibition
Location: Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre
Date: 17 March 2023 – 20 March 2023
Booking Requirement: Yes
Further Details: Website
What Makes a Chinese New Year, Singaporean?
Description: This exhibition is presented through different stalls for visitors to learn about the various “ingredients” that go into the making of a Singaporean Chinese New Year. Some distinctive events and practices featured in the exhibition include festivities like River Hongbao and Chingay, goodies like pineapple tarts and love letters, and customs such as the giving of red packets and praying to the Jade Emperor.
Category: Exhibition
Location: Library@Chinatown
Date: 28 January 2023 – 27 February 2023
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website
Uncommon Market Vegetables
Description: Come visit this exhibition and learn about some uncommon vegetables that you may or may not have heard about. Many of these can be found in Singapore’s wet markets and supermarkets, and are also planted on the grounds of the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
Category: Exhibition
Location: Singapore Botanic Gardens, Centre for Ethnobotany
Date: 17 December 2022 – 18 June 2023
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website
Guided Tour of the Police Heritage Centre
Description: The Police Heritage Centre (PHC) welcomes visitors with a showcase of multifarious exhibits and multimedia displays that highlights the rich history of the Singapore Police Force (SPF) from the colonial times till the present day. Immerse yourself in the challenges of early policing, the post-WWII period of secret societies resurgence and communist subversion, as well as learn how community policing has brought the police and community closer together to fight crime, making Singapore one of the safest countries in the world. The PHC also pays tribute to the heroism and sacrifice of police officers who have died in the line of duty to keep Singapore safe and secure.
When visiting, you may wish to set aside 1.5 hours for the guided tour and for some time to explore the Heritage Centre.
Category: Guided Tour
Location: New Phoenix Park, Police Headquarters
Date: Guided tours are offered from Tuesdays to Saturdays (Till February)
Booking Requirement: Yes
Further Details: Website
兔gether
Description: SCCC’s Roof Garden comes alive with a spectacular rabbit-themed art installation exhibition to welcome the Year of the Rabbit. Entitled 兔gether, the art installations created by local art and design studio Whisky and Foxtrot LLP, the mixed-media artwork presents a cast of characters from Chinese New Year mythology. These characters will showcase local Chinese New Year practices enjoyed together with family and friends.
Light Shows
Visitors can also look forward to special light shows with narration of the story of Tu Zai’s journey home to celebrate Chinese New Year with his family and friends.
Light shows will be held on 7 Jan, 14 Jan, 28 Jan, 25 Feb and 25 Mar from 7.30pm to 8.30pm.
Category: Exhibition
Location: Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre
Date: 18 December 2022 – 31 March 2023
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website
Singapore Biennale 2022
Description: Singapore Biennale 2022 is here from 16 October 2022 to 19 March 2023 and will showcase art from a myriad of local and international artists at multiple locations around Singapore. The main location for the arts festival is ticketed and will be at 39 Tanjong Pagar Distripark with over 40 artists showing their art. Tickets are free for children aged 6 and below, persons with disabilities (PWD) and their caretakers, and local/locally-based students and teachers.
However, there are still plenty of free art installations to view at other locations. The amount of art at these free locations can be quite minimal so you should look for things to do and eat in the area besides just going there to view the art.
Category: Festival
Location: Various locations around Singapore
Date: 16 October 2022 – 19 March 2023
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website | My Article
Children’s Museum Singapore
Description: Let’s “Start With Wonder” at Children’s Museum Singapore. We are the first museum in Singapore dedicated to children 12 years old and below! We believe in sparking wonder and the power of play in a safe environment.
Adults are unable to visit without a child accompanying them.
Admission is free until 31 March 2023
Category: Museum
Location: Children’s Museum Singapore
Date: Till 31 March 2023 (Closed on Mondays)
Booking Requirement: Yes
Further Details: Website
Special Tours at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre
Description: How did Chinese Singaporeans develop the habit of having kaya toast for breakfast, and what is kopi siudai? Why do Chinese Singaporeans lohei during Chinese New Year and observe Zhongyuan in the seventh lunar month? How did these habits and practices develop, and what are some other Chinese Singaporean customs? Join a tour specially curated for new citizens and non-Singaporeans to better appreciate the distinctiveness of Chinese Singaporean culture. Each session includes a guided tour and short discussion segment.
Tour is free. Suitable for those aged 15 and above. Each participant will also receive a complimentary bottle of Cooling Water from Three Legs brand.
Category: Guided Tour
Location: Singapore Chinese Culture Centre
Date: 1st Saturday of every month of 2023
Booking Requirement: Yes
Further Details: Website
Singapore Sports Hub – Experience Sports Session
Description: Get ready for new exercise experiences with the refreshed Experience Sports Sessions! The daily free fitness programmes focus on five core aspects – Cardio, Endurance, Flexibility, Strength and Zen.
Join Experience Sports Sessions to work out and keep fit now! Participants are welcome to walk-in and join the free fitness programmes, slots are limited.
Highlights
- Yoga
- Tabata
- HIIT
- Zumba
- Dancing
Visit the website for the latest schedule.
Category: Exercise
Location: Singapore Sports Hub
Date: Everyday
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website
SCDF Fire Station Open House
Description: Visitors to our Fire Station can look forward to the following during the guided tour:
- Introduction to the Open House;
- Introduction to Emergency Vehicles and their capabilities;
- Demo on donning the full protective gear;
- Demo on using various equipment/appliances; and
- Photo taking
Category: Exhibition
Location: Various Fire Stations
Date: Saturdays
Time: 0900 – 0950 | 1000 – 1050
Booking Requirement: No
Further Details: Website
If you have any free events or activities that you would like included or if there are any new sources of free activities, do drop me an email at consumelesslife@gmail.com.
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