Keep Your Little Ones Busy, Engaged, and Learning Over the School Holidays with K.D. and Friends

PUBLISHED May 27th, 2022 10:44 am | UPDATED June 8th, 2022 10:19 am

School holidays are all fun and games – till you run out of things to do with your kids. This June holiday, keep your little ones busy, engaged and learning with K.D. and Friends’ School Holiday Series (SHS), an initiative by the People’s Association.

The community effort fills up your child’s schedule with engaging and interactive courses. Think fun learning that nurtures creative development, while promoting family bonding (plus you won’t find yourself stressing out over what to do next).

With a line-up of over 90 courses and 285 classes, the holiday series catering for ages 4 to 12 will take place across six months. From 28 May to 26 June 2022, accessible and affordable courses under the theme ‘Follow your dreams” will be held virtually and on-site at your neighbourhood Community Clubs and Centre or Resident Networks (RNs). To excite kids and parents alike, offerings cross streams of science technology, engineering and mathematics to artistic pursuits like performing, culinary, and crafts.

Here are a few courses we reckon are worth checking out:

The Creative Souls

What better way to encourage raw creativity than courses that help your kids embrace their self-expression? In Naïve Art for School Holiday, channel their simplistic perspective of the world to learn and enjoy different art mediums. Creating masterpieces aside, under the guidance and inspiration of approved professional trainers, kids can also let their imagination and cognitive skills run wild in Creative Drama – Mythical World and Creative Storytelling courses.

Future S.T.E.M Graduates

Have a couple of math geniuses, technology wizards, and scientific experts in your troop? Empower their holiday learning with courses like the AI Appreciation for Children covering the world of artificial intelligence and how technology has changed the way we live. The walkthrough will enable them to try some simple AI web-based applications and be amazed by the wide variety of digital technologies powering Singapore’s Smart Nation Journey via its PlayScape located in Singapore Science Science Centre. Whilst the Race the Storm course is a project-based workshop focusing on robotics and programming. Think building of robotic models, machines and structures along with programming to develop computational thinking in a problem-based, experiential learning setting.

Perfect for your gamer kids, the Minecraft Coding course makes use of the engaging game to promote creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving through hands-on experiences. In this course, learn about block coding, algorithms, sequencing, loops and conditionals. In Kids Virtual Tour & 3D Virtual Reality Coding, on the other hand,  kids will learn to create and code 3D virtual reality animations and games in the CoSpaces Edu platform. This will boost their observation skills, critical thinking and digital literacy.

The Mini Gourmet Chefs

Tiny master chefs can enrol in courses making Chocolate Mint Tart or Cookie Cups. Enabling them to tinker around the kitchen under your watchful eyes, these workshops will impart fundamental knowledge and skills on the basic preparation and cooking of food. The best part? The young participants get to bring home the treats to share with the whole family. Or get their hands dirty with Mushroom Growing; on top of knowledge such as the science and nutritional benefits of mushroom, students will also earn a grow kit, to bring home and grow their own mushrooms.

An Introduction to Adulting

For budding teenagers, the series also brings back popular courses like the POSB The Art of Dollars and Sense, a crash course in financial literacy that introduces the value of money, savings, and banking. It’s never too early to take care of your skin, so hang out with a trained beautician with Skincare for Children. Pamper yourself and your kid, while gaining skincare tips to instil good habits and introduce skincare suitable for the growing ages (ideal for your teens!).

For the Sport & Active Ones

Got a little one that can’t sit still? Channel all that ecstatic energy into some sporty activities. If your children are blessed with good aim, hone those skills some Archery courses that goes through the basics of using the bow and arrow, as well as safety procedures, coordination techniques and teamwork. If you’re looking for a course that allows them to work up a sweat, Boogie Bounce Xtreme will give them a complete cardio workout whilst jumping on mini trampolines.

Fun for the Parents

Why should kids have all the fun? Join your petite family members and spend quality time over parent-child art projects like the Acrylic Pour Painting and Cartoon Character 3D Pop-Up Craft. Or how about unleashing your inner dancer with Around the World – Family Dance Party, which incorporates exercise into family time effortlessly (while reducing unnecessary screen time).

That’s not all; the holistic series also offers parents with parenting resources through courses such as Conscious Parenting by Dr Shefali Tsabary to assist parents to build healthy relationships with their kids.

K.D. and Friends School Holiday Series runs from 28 May to 26 June 2022. For full listing of SHS courses, please click here. To sign up for the courses, please visit www.onepa.gov.sg and keyword search “SHS”. 

Top Image: Paper Quilling – Xmas Tree Decoration (Parent-Child), photo courtesy of People’s Association.