We Finally Meet Sg Author Emily Lim!

Enchanting Gardens, Magical Stories was a free public event that was held last Sunday. The weather was pleasant and we had a good walk around the Gardens in search of inspiration!

Emily started with a clear powerpoint introduction.

She outlined on where to find ideas – personal experiences, books and movies and one’s surroundings. She shared on The Magic Faraway Tree which is my favourite childhood story by Enid Blyton and more.

Then she gave a few visuals and played the trailer ‘Epic’ to stimulate the kids’ imagination before leading us into our Gardens by The Bay!

Prior to this, I had little knowledge of the garden. They all looked lovely and that was it. This workshop deepened my appreciation of our local gardens as Emily gave great starting points for discussion and imagination to work with.

Do you know what is ‘petrified wood’? Emily gives the fun facts in her worksheet and asked stimulating questions to stir up imagination as we observed our surroundings.

She also went around surveying the lil writer’s short description of their villains. It was a pleasant surprise that A’s description caught her attention and she read out his expression. She then guides A to tweak his lines by changing Dementor’s name and create his own villain’s name for sharper authenticity.

At the second location at The Understorey, we went to this Dome shaped shelter that has adorable mosaic mushroom stools for us to grow wild in fantasizing our lil creatures. With courtesy from Mr Patrick Yee’s illustrations, the kids get to interact with this place by drawing their own tiny whimsical creatures! (My apologies for not having a better shot of our illustrator!)

Here’s a sample of my kids’ works. Unfortunately, J was not in the mood to draw after he felt discouraged from his previous attempt. Nontheless, I will try to see how I can encourage him to try at home.

Last stop was The Web of Life where we were trying to figure out if this was a penguin or toucan… and the answer is found in the 5 secrets website below if you want to know. It was neither.

Seriously, with such a gi-normous Orang Utan Topiary (orang utan shaped bush), we were utterly mini. Let’s pretend what kind of magical creatures would have created them? (Emily’s thinking question) click on my Instagram to check out the short video of how they churned up the creatures’ sounds!

For more fun facts on the Gardens by the Bay’s lush greenery, read 5 secret spots that make you wonder WTH they’re doing here.

The kids enjoyed the slow walks round the garden. Thanks to Emily’s interesting garden prompts, I could see the children’s imagination taking flight as we wander and wonder over the unique landscape!

A wanted to take a photo of us and caught this expression. : ) I have been following Emily’s Blog for a few years since I chanced upon her books. Her books have been nothing short of inspiring and her life testimony encouraging as she battles against cancer.

I got her 4 Toy Titles years ago and read often to my kids teaching them about how to appreciate and accept people’s differences as well as be secure in who they are, special in God’s eyes.

I wish to reiterate that this is not a sponsored post. My purpose in sharing this experience is to promote awareness of such free public workshops and raise the profile of our local authors who deserve as much recognition as our western counterparts. Too often, we support big names and sideline our local literature. Recently, instead of choosing popular western literature, I selected our local children’s literature and bought them for my friend’s kids. These are some practical ways we can offer our support! : )

How about giving our local artists and authors a platform to stand proud by supporting their works? : )

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