(Daddy blogs)
It all began with the iconic Dragon Playground at Toa Payoh.
The boys chanced upon the majestic-looking Dragon as we drove past it one fine day. Since then, the boys and I had made it our mission to suss out the remaining Singapore Playgrounds of the old and the likes of the Dove, Elephant and Watermelon Playgrounds duly followed.
Call it nolstagia or increasing awareness but for some reason, there is a sense that interest has been picking up with regards to these playgrounds that I had grew up with. I was interviewed by a group of first-year students from NTU earlier this year - you can view the video HERE - who had decided to shoot a short video documentary on the old playgrounds in Singapore in a bid to try to raise awareness about these nostalgic places and their rapid disappearance. Then came interest from other countries too - a reporter from Hong Kong's Eat & Travel Weekly magazine approached me for assistance as he was in Singapore to write an article on the many outdoor playgrounds we have here.
And now in the spirit of reminiscence, Channel U has produced an eight-part series titled '100% Singapore (百分百新加坡)' which will take viewers to the heart and soul of what the Singaporean identity is all about and explore what really constitutes the sense of "Singaporean-ness". No prizes for guessing what topic the first episode will cover then.
Yes, it will be that of our old playgrounds and the first episode will be airing tonight on Channel U at 8pm! Alongside with our buddies from SengkangBabies, our 2 families were invited by the production team of '100% Singapore' for an on-location filming session for the first episode back in July this year.
With the chance to re-visit the playgrounds yet again, the monkies could hardly say no.
The kids rampaged through the Dove Playground first... but not forgetting that there was some serious work to be done first, with Ayd being the ever-so professional and dependable host.
I do hope his portion will not be edited out in the final product. But back to our filming - and it was a blast for all the children. We moved on to the Elephant Playground in Pasir Ris next, which is my fave among all of the old playgrounds by the way.
And if I thought that the children will be too tired and restless to ham it up when the video camera rolled, I was dead wrong.
Even Ale was very accommodating... erm, which somewhat surprised me.
Admittedly, as long as one is in the company of friends, anything and everything can be fun. Don't believe, ask the Cheekiemonkies and SengkangBabies.
And hopefully, it might just inspire more parents to bring their children to explore those exact playgrounds too and pass on a slice of Singapore's history.
100% Singapore (百分百新加坡) airs every Monday, beginning from 16 Dec 2013 to 3 Feb 2014, on Channel U at 8pm to 9pm.
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