Who said that history is a bunch of dry, boring facts? With National Day around the corner, now’s the perfect time to get your children up to speed with snippets of our past. Don’t just read about history; use these five tips to experience it!

1. Travel back in time with your time travel device

Transform your smart phones and computers into your own personal time travel device and explore Singapore’s colourful history and heritage virtually with YouTube movies and documentaries. Or learn about the rich narrative of Tanjong Pagar, Pasir Ris and Kallang; celebrate our island’s food heritage; or go on guided tours from the comfort of your home with Singapore Heritage Festival!

For a more interactive experience, you can download mobile games like Building the Lion, Rickshaw Rush and Satay Club, to learn about our island’s past and the quirks that are “uniquely Singaporean”.

2. Take an excursion

Make a trip to one of Singapore’s many museums for a memorable immersion into Singapore’s past. Explore interactive exhibits and hands-on play at the National Museum of Singapore; or get a glimpse of different times and places at the Asian Civilisations Museum, Malay Heritage Centre, Indian Heritage Centre; or walk in the footsteps of Dr Sun at the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall.

3. Dive into a Book

For the bookworm in your home – whether young or young at heart, make history come to life by immersing in the action with books like Secrets of Singapore, or What’s in the Red Box.

4. Hands-on fun

History is way more fun with hands-on learning. How about an afternoon of fun craft and games? Try making a mini display or diorama of historical Singapore. Experiment with related art projects; or play traditional Singapore games like feathered shuttlecock, chapteh, paper ball, kuti kuti, five stones, or zero-point!

5. Slurp it up

Is your child fascinated by food? Try ordering or cooking some traditional cuisine – Malay, Chinese, Indian, Eurasian or Peranakan – and serve up tasty morsels of Singapore history as you cook, eat and bond together.

Finally, a teatime snack may just leave more than a sweet taste in the mouth. Offer some traditional kueh, iced gem biscuits, haw flakes, rabbit sweets, or kacang puteh cones filled with nuts, beans and crisps, all of which can be a good starting point to share some bite-sized pieces of Singapore history.