Are you a parent looking to delve deeper into your child’s holistic development beyond co-curricular activities (CCAs)? If a tight budget is what is stopping you from pushing your child beyond just the core subjects, here are some options for you to consider.
Do take advantage of the many free or subsidised activities for Singaporeans and PRs on offer from a wide variety of establishments. If that does not tickle your fancy, many online resources are merely a click away, allowing you to expand your horizons from the comfort of your own home.
After all, learning is more than just confined to the classroom, and if you are looking for ways to foster a love for learning, continue your exploration below for some budget-friendly options that stretch the mind and not the wallet!
Community Clubs:
Commonly found in your figurative backyard, most neighbourhoods have a relatively central community club or centre that offers a wide range of activities and courses. These activities are offered by local community clubs, often providing affordable options like sports, arts, or language classes. They can range from one-off excursions and day trips to programs that renew on a termly basis.
These courses are offered over a wide variety of age groups, so while your child is enjoying an extracurricular of their own, perhaps you could pick up a thing or two as well.
Engaging in opportunities to learn with your child can promote a mindset of lifelong learning, and foster a positive attitude towards learning new things.
These sessions range in class size and price, with dance classes and the like arranged in small group classes. Classes like piano lessons are arranged as private lessons, where you are expected to pay for a duration of 8 to 10 classes upfront.
Prices vary but are kept relatively affordable, with the most expensive private piano lessons at just under $50/hr.
For most parents looking to sign up their children for enrichment classes, you would be pleased to find that there is a wide range of courses available, from the staple arts classes in ballet and piano to martial arts and cultural arts.
For the more technologically inclined, coding and robotics workshops are also available.
onePA Courses: https://www.onepa.gov.sg/courses
Public Libraries:
If you are an avid bookworm, or simply like the quiet tranquillity of the public library, it might be worth a check to see if nearby libraries host low-cost workshops, book clubs, or educational sessions for students.
More than just a haven for the book-lover, national libraries in Singapore play host to a wide range of activities, inclusive to all age ranges.
If you’re looking for something to entertain your toddlers, some libraries across Singapore host storytelling sessions across a variety of languages. This would be a great place to get your little one hooked on the magical world of storytelling, or an opportunity to have impactful stories read to them in their mother tongue.
Should you be an English speaker at home, but you’re looking for a way to cultivate a love for your children’s mother tongue, there are mother tongue enrichment programs that go beyond storytelling. You can also engage Chinese home tutors to help your child.
For children and teens, the library offers a range of activities, from workshops to recitals, all of which are free of charge. These programs are great for your child if they want to get a taster of a certain activity before they commit to it, encouraging a wider range of exploration and exposure to hobbies.
Another interesting NLB resource to check out is the LearnX Portal. It is described by NLB as a ‘Platform where you can choose what, when and how you learn.’
This online resource not only puts people of the same interests into organised communities, where they can network and share views and insights but streamlines the way you look for resources in regards to the things that you are interested in.
We hope that this information helps you use your local library’s resources for more than just studying and borrowing books!
National Library Resources: https://www.nlb.gov.sg/main/whats-on
Nature Walks:
Organise or join nature walks or outdoor activities, which can be both educational and budget-friendly.
A great activity to try out would be getting a group of like-minded parents together for some exposure to the sun and nature. If your friends are already parents, organise an outdoor gathering, from a simple walk or jog in your local park, to a sightseeing trip in Singapore’s many gardens.
Not only is this a good way to get your children exposed to nature, but it also helps to cultivate a love for the flora and fauna in Singapore. This is a great way to get your children to identify varying plant species, with a rare opportunity to have the samples up close and personal.
The outdoors is also a great space to get in touch with your sporty side. Simply pick up some sporting equipment, brand new or second-hand works all the same.
Playing sports with friends not only increases health but also teaches children important skills like teamwork and problem-solving.
Additionally, here is where you can find guided tours in Singapore’s parks, with most of the tours being less than $20.
Affordable Tuition:
Instead of an extracurricular activity, after-school time might be the best time for your child to catch up on schoolwork. Thankfully, you have come to the right place if you are looking for affordable tuition!
Should your child still be studying with the school syllabus, and if assessment books and remedial lessons are simply not cutting it anymore, it might be time to consider investing in tuition for your child.
At SmileTutor, private tuition classes are catered to your child’s needs, with prices starting as low as $25/hr for your child.
Providing an entertaining and enriching day for your child should not have to cost an arm and a leg, and we hope that these options have managed to give you some inspiration to get creative with finding the right extracurricular activity for your child!
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