Educational and full of fun, the Changi Sustainability Quest by Changi Experience Studio is a unique and must-try family-bonding experience this March school holiday!
If you tell me there is an excursion or programme that is good fun yet educational for kids, you have my attention! So far, we've been to a few of such experiences like the EcoTrail and 'A Night at the Airport' camp at Changi Airport and I'm happy to say we really enjoyed them as a family. Well, here's another such experience you ought to know about: the Changi Sustainability Quest.
Changi Experience Studio (CES) has just launched Changi Sustainability Quest for this March school holiday, a half-day programme that takes you on a fun and educational trail across Jewel and Changi Airport Terminal 3. In order to complete the quest, you have to traverse the two locations and hunt for fascinating green facts, and environmentally friendly features and practices at the airport.
We went on the Changi Sustainability Quest right at the start of the March school holiday and had a ball of a time! Here are five highlights we love about the Changi Sustainability Quest and why you should embark on this quest with your kid this March holiday (also read till the end to find out how you can win this experience in a giveaway!):
1) Learning about sustainability and cool green facts
Before we headed out on the quest, our family of four gathered at Changi Experience Studio where friendly and knowledgeable staff briefed us on the programme and what we need to do to complete the challenge, which is to answer a series of questions provided to us.
In order to do that, you have to visit certain places in Jewel and Changi Airport Terminal 3 by following the clues provided in the sheets. You need to complete this within two hours (which is sufficient time for us!) before returning to CES for a Hapa Zome tote bag design session (see below)
So, we took off to the places as per the clues. You have to locate stations which list interesting green facts about Changi Airport. It's at these stations that you learn cool facts like how Changi Airport reduces its carbon footprints with green practices and technologies.
It's not just about reading facts, you also have to complete tasks like finding and looking out for certain things and objects, count them and even see what they are made of - think The Amazing Race but on a smaller scale that is suitable for kids!
I don't want to give too much away on the tasks we did, if not, I'll spoil the fun for you! But we definitely learned lots of fun facts along the way - like how the sensor-driven smart roofs at Terminal 3 work and the unique designs of upcycled tree benches at Canopy Park - many things which we didn't know or had simply taken for granted!
2) Great family bonding experience
The programme is suitable for children 5-12 years old, but they must be accompanied by an adult as it involves going out and about the public areas of the airport. My girls are 9 and 11 years old and I'd say the quest is really suitable for them. Most of the time, they were able to answer the questions and complete the tasks without their parents' help such that my husband and I could just concentrate on taking photos and videos (haha)!
That said, they still needed help on certain questions and tasks and on where to go, which is good as this means the quest is a good challenge and not overly easy for them! It was also an opportunity for them to learn logical thinking, too, like when hubs and I showed them how we deduced we ought to go a certain place or we reckoned we should attempt a certain task first.
For the younger kids, they may need more help from their parents but overall it makes for a good family-bonding experience as the whole family can work together to complete the tasks!
3) Sight-seeing and exercising
Another aspect I really liked about the quest was being able to galivant around the public areas of the airport. Since the start of the pandemic, we haven't been travelling, so it's been a while since we've been to the airport. The airport, or Terminal 3 in particular, is really a lot quieter compared to the pre-pandemic days. But with the increasing number of vaccinated travel lanes in Singapore and countries opening up, this might really be the last chance you get to go around the airport without a crowd!
Along the way, we also got to see the Changi's Sweetest Treats' Chupa Chups Lollipop installations at Terminal 3, which is happening till 3 May 2022!
This super big Chupa Chup was quite a sight!
Last but least, this Chupa Chup playground!
So yes, it was nice being able to sight-see along the way while doing some brisk walking! And yes, you have to walk a bit, but we don't find it overly daunting for the kids!
Given that you'll be doing quite a bit of walking, do wear comfy shoes and clothing when you're on the quest. We were actually perspiring from all the walking! But the good thing was that it was all in air-conditioned comfort. Heh.
4) Design your own tote bag with the Hapa Zome (Japanese floral printmaking) technique
At the end of the quest, we returned to CES to have our answers checked by CES staff and begin our Hapa Zome tote bag designing - it's one tote bag per child ticket!
Hapa Zome is a Japanese technique of smashing leaves and flowers into fabric in order to dye and design the fabric. So kids get to unleash their creativity by designing their tote bag with this interesting technique.
BTW, the plants come from Changi Airport's nursery and they are plants that were to be pruned. So no wastage there! Another lesson on sustainability!
My girls love this as they really enjoy arts and crafts and I could tell all that pounding must have been therapeutic too! Also, you do this while facing the view of the Jewel rain vortex - best way to get inspired!
And here are the girls' creation!
5) You can continue the fun at Canopy Park and Changi Experience Studio!
The programme comes with tickets to Canopy Park and Changi Experience Studio. You'll need your Canopy Park tickets during the quest (so please bring your tickets along when on the quest!) and thereafter, you can still reenter Canopy Park on that day itself for some post-programme fun!
The Changi Experience Studio ticket that comes with the programme is for one-time use only and is valid till 31 May.
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Tickets for the programme are at S$48 per child and $28 per adult. The programme has started on 12 March but is still available on 17 and 18 March from 2-5pm. There is a maximum capacity of 35 participants for each session. You can find more details and book the programme at Changi Airport's website here.
We've teamed up with Changi Experience Studio for a giveaway to this March holiday programme! If you'd like to win tickets for the Changi Sustainability Quest, do head over to my Instagram page @vivianteowriter to participate!
Disclaimer: We were invited by Changi Experience Studio to review the programme, but as always, my opinions and reviews here are strictly my and my family’s own.
©Vivian Teo. All content and photos are copyrighted to Vivian Teo unless otherwise specified.