Advice on keeping 9 & 7 year old boys entertained

[FinchMum]

Hi
We will be moving to Singapore from London in April. We have 2 boys, due to start at Dulwich in August. Any advice on how to entertain them in the 4 months before school starts?
Thank you

[the lynx]

You can consider taking them around Singapore for kids-friendly places like Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, River Safari and Jurong Bird Park. If you buy all the tickets at one go, they have great promotions for that! And you can sign up as Friends of Zoo for good deals if your family is going to be a regular in those zoos. Trust me, these places are good enough to keep them entertained for one month already.

So you can look out for play dates within your neighbourhoods and let the boys get to know their peers before school starts.

That's all I can think of. Have fun.

[nutnut]

Science Centre - get a membership, when we first got here, my kids could spend a month in there and the membership for a family was about $200SGD including the Omni Theatre for 2 years. (don't know what it is now)

Are they pretty boisterous? If so, during the holidays, my son (8) could probably enjoy a playdate or two, but, he is pretty boisterous and big for his age, he finds it difficult to find local friends he can cut lose with.

Another thing is potentially take them to one of many rugby clubs to play (weekends).

[TryingTBBMom]

Welcome and best of luck to start!
I would get on to the school's PT association. Most have a "welcome" committee that will pair you up with a established family thats similar. If the school does not ,than be bold and ask if they would pass your email on to any parents they think is a good match. There are a ton of great families in Singapore willing to show you the ropes. There are the country specific "CLUBS" that you can join as well as soccer and rugby youth clubs. The East Coast has biking for hire , and a skate board park to wear the boys out and it's relatively less expensive than say Sentosa. If your adventurous than ferry across to Indonesia to one of the Activity based resorts. A lot of the International Schools actually send students there for overnight camps. Come June the American Club has apx 11 weeks of scheduled camps. ranging from 1/2 day to full day and different age groups. Theres the British Club you should call and join, they will certainly hook you up with introductions
There is tons to do here and you can do it on a budget or break the bank… it's up to you.

[Hannieroo]

The Friends of Dulwich do hold coffees already and based on what I know they are pretty proactive, friendly, sociable people.

You'll have the weather here, if you're in a Serviced Apartment it will have a pool and the novelty of that will take up a few hours every day. If you're getting air freight then make sure plenty of toys and bikes go in. I'd also be packing just a little bit of homeschooling in, an hour a day. Carole Vorderman does some nice workbooks and there is loads online. 4 months is a long time with no school.