1 INTERACTIVE JIGSAWS
Three institutions under the National Heritage Board (NHB) have created interactive jigsaws of their artefacts, inspired by the Museum Of Fine Arts, St Petersburg, Florida, which posted a #GameTime challenge on its Facebook page.
The Malay Heritage Centre's puzzle (str.sg/Jgu9) is a poster of the classic P. Ramlee comedy Pendekar Bujang Lapok, while the Indian Heritage Centre's puzzle (str.sg/Jguj) is a pair of gold earrings.
The Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall's puzzle (str.sg/JguV) is made of an embroidery of flags designed by Dr Sun Yat Sen.
The first stage of the puzzle is fairly simple. Once you solve it, you can choose a more difficult level - which simply means the puzzle gets divided into more and more pieces.
Find the puzzles on the institutions' respective Facebook pages.
2 ACTIVITY GUIDES
The National Gallery of Singapore has a whole series of printable worksheets tied to its collections and buildings. Go to its website (str.sg/JgL4) to check it out.
Where Did The Colours Go offers a detailed sketch of the museum for a colouring exercise. For aspiring artists, What's With All The Fruit comes with two fruit still-life works, including one by Georgette Chen, and two dishes for kids to fill with their fruity doodles.
For upper primary-level kids, parents can download the Journey worksheet. It uses two paintings from the UOB South-east Asia Galleries - La Banca by Felix Resurrecion Hidalgo and Rangoon Harbour by U Ba Nyan - to encourage imaginary journeys to other places.
3 STORYTELLING SESSIONS AND INSTANT READS
The National Library Board (NLB) has started weekly storytelling sessions in Singapore's four official languages for children aged between four and 10.
These pre-recorded sessions, hosted by librarians, volunteers and authors, last about five minutes each and are accessible via the library's Facebook pages.
English language sessions (str.sg/JgR6) are available daily at 6.30pm, while Chinese stories (str.sg/JgRL) will be streamed on Mondays and Fridays at 7.30pm.
Malay language stories (str.sg/JgRR) will be available on Tuesdays (8pm) and Saturdays (11.30am), while Tamil language stories (str.sg/JgRD) are offered on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7pm.
Voracious readers will also be happy to learn they can instantly access more than 300 popular titles for kids and teenagers in the Libby app (str.sg/JgRb) under a new Always Available section.
Some publishers have allowed unlimited checkouts on their e-books for this period. Harry Potter fans, for example, can instantly read, or listen to, the first book in J. K. Rowling's classic series.
Parents who want to improve their kids' reading diet might want to redirect them to the classics page (str.sg/JgRE), where Jack London's The Call Of The Wild, Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden and L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz are listed.
4 HERITAGE EXPLORERS PROGRAMME
NHB has extended its Heritage Explorers Programme for the circuit breaker period.
So children aged between seven and 12 can try their hand at becoming an exhibition designer or museum curator.
The instructions are in a video uploaded on the NHB's Facebook page (str.sg/JgVo). Submit your projects to nhb_education programmes@nhb.gov.sg and earn badges for your efforts.
5 OFFSTAGE FOR FAMILIES
The Esplanade's Offstage website offers a plethora of free content.
Scroll the list of genres and you will hit the Families section, which is where the kid-friendly content is found (str.sg/JgLN).
Tweens will enjoy the I Kid You Not video series (above), of which there are six to date, featuring three tweens.
Each tween is featured in two videos, one in which they talk about the art forms they practise and love, and another in which they teach clueless adults their practice. The latter videos are a hoot.
For younger children, parents should check out the illustrated folk tales, which will make for perfect bedtime reading sessions.
40 Trees, 1 Arrow is inspired by the Ramayana and tells the story of how Rama and Laksamana defeated a giant serpent. Story Of Nian is about the monster that inspired Chinese New Year traditions. 40 Trees has quirky faux naif illustrations by Brandon Ong, while Ang Wei Tyng's dynamic Nian monster is more cute than scary.
Even cuter are the do-it-yourself family activities for PIP, the Esplanade's mascot for its kids' programme.
The How Do You Feel Today activity offers adorable dinosaurs in a downloadable template for kids to make into magnets.
