Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum is the only museum in Singapore that is dedicated to showcasing Southeast Asian biodiversity. It was opened in April last year. I’m so glad to bring Edison for a visit because natural history is one of the things I want to educate him about.
Much to my surprise, he enjoyed himself so much with the amazing exhibits in the museum, ranging from snakes, butterflies, frogs and giant crabs to birds. And not forgetting the museum’s three star dinosaurs – Prince, Apollonia and Twinky.
Edison at the entrance of the museum. Love the wall painting!
Located beside the University Cultural Centre at Kent Ridge and opposite Raffles Hall, Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum showcases over 2,000 natural history specimens in two permanent galleries that spread over two floors. It also houses more than 500,000 Southeast Asian animal and plant specimens.
The size of the museum is not very big, but it’s very elaborated and well-organized. We spent almost two hours looking through so many exhibits with detailed scientific information on each of them.
Level 1 is the Biodiversity Gallery where visitors will see thousand species of mammals and over a million species of insects. The well-known Dinosaur Zone is located here. Level 1M is the Heritage Gallery that showcases plant and animal material from the original Raffles Museum, including many iconic specimens from Singapore.
Now, let me show you some of the various exhibits in this museum:
The skeletons of a dugong, short-finned pilot whale
Giant crab
Snakes
Turtles
Lizards
Frogs
Fishes
Butterflies
Crabs
Edison in front of the crocodiles
One thing that is worth mentioning, there is a Dinosaur Light Show at the Dinosaur Zone that happens every half-hourly. The dinosaurs don’t move, of course. Ha! You’ll see flashing lights and sound effects which is quite interesting. It’s really amazing how they pierced the dinosaurs together. The show timings can be seen just in front of the dinosaur display.
We also like the audio visual systems and microscopes available in the museum. Here’s Edison looking at one of the microscopes. There are various specimens of bacteria under the scope. It seems to interest him greatly as he’s learning about bacteria in his Science lesson now.
Edison looking at the bacteria specimens
Bacterias under the microscope
Admission Tickets
For Singaporeans and permanent residents, tickets cost $16 for an adult and $9 for a child, student, NSF and senior citizen. NUS staffs and students will enjoy free admission from Tuesdays to Sundays except Public Holidays, subject to availability.
Visitors are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance through SISTIC website or SISTIC hotline. Tickets are also sold at the ticketing counters at the museum, but only NETS or Credit Card are accepted. We purchased our tickets from the ticketing counters and were given 10% discount with NTUC member card.
Admission Timings
The opening hours is from 10am to 7pm, divided into three different sessions of three hours each. This is for crowd control purpose. But not to worry, visitors will not be made to leave once the time runs out.
My Verdict
Level 1M – Heritage Gallery
All in all, I must say that this museum truly impresses me. It certainly worth our time to bring Edison here to learn more about biodiversity (and this is a topic in P3 Science too!). We had an enjoyable family time here.
Car park is available next to the museum. We went on a Sunday and surprisingly, parking is free. Baby changing facility is also available inside the building.
Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum
Faculty of Science
National University of Singapore
2 Conservatory Drive, Singapore 117377
Opening Hours: 10am to 7pm (Closed on Mondays)
Official Websites: Homepage | Facebook Page
