Digging At The ACM | 2011

The Asian Civilisations Museum at Raffles Place, plays host to numerous Asian exhibits all year round. There are regular exhibits that reside there, but the real draw is always the feature exhibit which only stays for a couple of months. The feature this time around, was the Terracotta Soldiers from China.


These guys have been a famous attraction for a long time. In fact, we would have loved to see them from the dig site, all lined up and arranged as to how they were when they were built to protect the emperor (in the afterlife).

We always bring Jakjak to the museums. Because contrary to popular belief, museums are not actually boring. Not here anyway. There always seems to be something interesting for kids to do (the mummy making from the mummy exhibit comes to mind). And because kids become interested, I'm almost sure that at the back of their minds, they absorb some of the exhibit's information and knowledge. Given of course, that parents talk their kids through the displays and not merely stare in awe all by themselves (and leaving the kids in the activity areas). We always make sure that we give Jakjak accurate information when we look through museums. This keeps him interested and informed. And when we don't have the answer, we tell him that we would look it up on the Internet when we got home. In this way, we don't fabricate stories and he gets information that is valid. Of course, there are times that some information are not suitable for children, in these cases, Jakjak gets a toned down version of the facts. This has never stopped him from watching Nat Geo TV and Discovery Channel with us though (in HD, of course).

Jakjak enjoyed this exhibit. The ACM terracotta app for the iPhone/iPod helped (this made even adults smile and hunt for the symbols scattered across the museum). The other activities made the exhibit more interactive and more fun for Jakjak as well. We hunted for stamps, we took photos of virtual soldiers and we put together a giant 3D puzzle. Plus, we even took home our own terra cotta soldier to excavate (from a block of rock).

The good thing about Jakjak is that he retains information in chunks. Somehow, he has a storage area in his brain for information. He remembers things that we (his dear parents) have already forgotten, yet he would remind us with every minute detail that he can think of. So, while he enjoys his dig site and his toys, we feel confident that at the back of his mind, the knowledge that he gained is still there and hopefully would be useful to him in his future endeavors (perhaps he might decide on making his own army of Terra Cotta soldiers).