Ms Keenbie Kok and her two sons, Vernon and Victor Chua, playing at the toy library located on the first floor of the five-storey Punggol regional library.
The toys, such as a xylophone, an erasable board and stackable rings, are meant for creative play and to develop fine and gross motor skills. It is Singapore’s first public library with an extensive suite of services created with and designed for persons with disabilities – from wider aisles and lower shelves for wheelchair users, to multi-coloured keyboards with large keys for those with visual impairments.
Community partnerships, including volunteers, have contributed to the library over the last year, said Ms Lee. To encourage play among children aged seven to 12, the library has a Spark!Lab™ tinkering space set up in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution in the United States, with hands-on activities to create solutions to different problems. The space has seen over 80,000 visitors in 2023 and long queues every weekend, Ms Lee said.
Over six months Mr Peter Chin has learnt multiple fabrication technologies for free at the MakeIT space at Punggol regional library. He is making a coffee cupholder here. ST PHOTO: THIAN WEN LI