SINGAPORE – Kids can make Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay their playground on Oct 2 to celebrate Children’s Day.
Octoburst! – A Children’s Festival returns to the national performing arts centre, inviting young ones of all ages to play, create, listen, sing, dance and share stories together.
The festival could not run at the venue in 2025 due to the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix, but the celebration was held through classroom visits across the island.
Families can look forward to nine free programmes on Oct 2, with several offering multiple time slots throughout the day.
All activities are designed with kids in mind, says Rachel Lim, senior producer at Esplanade.
“It starts with thinking about Children’s Day from a child’s point of view,” she says.
“We ask ourselves what might spark their curiosity and imagination, and how we can create opportunities for them to experience the arts in different ways, whether by watching, making, playing or exploring,” she says.
The line-up includes two new commissions created alongside Zip Zap Zoom Collective: Dear Story Keeper and The Story Keeper’s Room. Both projects feature original tales written by pre-school and primary school pupils.
Pop into the Esplanade White Room any time between 10am and 6pm to read them. Or hang around for the 20-minute live storytelling sessions, where the Story Keeper and his helper bring the tales to life, with four sessions from noon to 5pm.
Over at the Esplanade Lawn, children can burn off energy at Come and Play – Sports Day! by theatremaker and facilitator Cheryl Ho.
This 45-minute non-competitive group activity has four sessions from 10am to 5.15pm, letting kids zigzag around cones and play a lively game of bingo to make new friends.
Children can craft flowers to match their moods, such as happy yellow or peaceful blue.
PHOTO: WAHSOSIMPLE
At the Esplanade Concourse, craft outfit WahSoSimple hosts a drop-in station from 10am to 6pm, where paper “florists” will help children craft bright blooms that match their mood, whether it is happy yellow or peaceful blue.
At 4pm, children from The Voice Company will present a 30-minute session of popular musical theatre songs.
Children from The Voice Company will perform musical theatre songs.
PHOTO: THE VOICE COMPANY
In the evening, head to the DBS Foundation Outdoor Theatre for The Feelings Farm: Live In Concert. Five years after its debut, the musical by Amanda Chong and Julian Wong returns in concert form.
Actors Ethel Yap, Marcus Cheong, Nadya Zaheer and Shafiqhah Efandi will perform across two 30-minute sets, at 6pm and 8pm.
The Esplanade’s children’s mascot Pip at the 2024 edition of Octoburst!
PHOTO: ALVIEALIVE
Now in its 22nd edition since it started in 2005, the festival continues to invite families to slow down and celebrate childhood together.
As Lim says, the day is really about helping families connect through simple creative moments.
“For me, Octoburst! is about giving children and their families different ways to encounter the arts and to make the festival their own on this day that celebrates them,” she says.
“We hope they will leave having discovered something new, expressed themselves, and perhaps seen the arts in a way they hadn’t before.”
Octoburst! – A Children’s Festival
Where: Various spots across Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, 1 Esplanade Drive
When: Oct 2, various times
Admission: Free
Info: For details, go to esplanade.com/octoburst