Anybody residing in Singapore and have kids will know that exhibitions/ fairs/ carnivals /seminars related to babies/ children/ kids education is a frequent happening. It has been more than a year now since we became regulars in visiting these.
When I read about ‘Smart Kids Asia’ in Cheekiemonkies blog in July last year, I wanted to visit it to at least have a look at what was happening. My husband and I were, of course, apprehensive of visiting it since we knew we might be bombarded with advertisements from several enrichment/extra-curricular classes. But one visit was enough to convince us that there was more to it than just that.
Of course, we had to listen to information on several classes conducted by several institutes and some of them even boldly told the parents visiting that they were just not doing enough for their children by not sending them to these classes and how they were not tapping on the potential of their children and were letting them lag behind on learning some of the phonics/reading/art/developmental skills right for their age. Some said it is not too late and the child can still catch up on all the lost skills by signing up for their classes.
But, not everyone was like that. There were those who patiently explained what their classes were all about without taking a parent on a guilt trip.
More than all these, we realized that visiting a fair meant a whole lot of fun, activities and freebies galore for the kids. It didn’t matter if almost always we were left with a splitting headache at the end of it, all thanks to the crowd and the noise.
Most of these fairs give a ‘Passport’ upon registration which has a list of stalls that one must visit and get a stamp from on their passport. The filled passport has to be given back at the redemption counter where you can redeem gifts for a completed passport.
Almost all the stalls have some interesting activity lined up for the kids, upon the completion of which they give a stamp on the passport. They, sometimes, give away small gifts too for the kids along with the stamp on the passport. Gifts include bookmarks, badge, stickers, activity sheets, stationery among others. Even those stalls that are not listed on the passport too will have some activity lined up. The final redemption gift too will comprise some of those that I have already mentioned, apart from complimentary samples of their products by the sponsors, all put inside a bag called a goodie bag.
Bouncy castles, ball pool, obstacle courses and carnival activities like face painting, tattoo and balloon sculptures are a regular feature of these fairs and kids love all these and don’t mind waiting in long queues for their turn.
Several free workshops are conducted by a lot of these educational institutions and they are all useful and informative.
Overall, these educational fairs are indeed fun-filled and informative.