Sonic Playground @ One-North

So i went to this sonic playground at One-North at Buona Vista. The playground is actually part of a more conventional playground situated in a park like environment within this mega research centre. As can be seen in the picture, there are kids from a child care centre playing at the playground but none of them are actually playing with the sonic playthings. So why is that the case?

There are a total of 3 sonic facilities over there, namely 1. telephone tubes, 2. communal drum and 3. parabolic dish.
The telephone tubes has a pretty simple concept. If you speak at one end of the blue tube, the other party at the other end of the blue tube would be able to hear you even though you are a distance away, and that is the similar case for the red tubes. This is because the sound waves are able to travel through the tubes. I have actually seen this telephone tubes at a playground in Hougang before.
This pic above shows the communal drums. As can be seen, the seat and the drum are made of highly reflective metal. The table and the seats are hollow so they produce sounds like a drum when it is hit. The aim of this drum is for kids to create their own rhythms together. It was a sunny afternoon when i was at the playground and naturally this whole set of metal drums was hot to the touch, which most probably explains why no one was playing with it.

The parabolic dishes are huge but the instructions on how to play with it is not very clear, at least to me. i didn't get the instructions although when i tried it, it was obvious that the dishes amplify the sounds that i've made when i was between them.

These interactive equipments can make and manipulate sounds which demonstrate acoustics, science, and physics and also promote cognitive development through manipulation, experimentation and imagination.

Some benefits of these equipments as follow:

-Besides being an interactive sonic equipment, it introduces the beauty of sculpture as the forms are unique;

-It encourages group activities which could promotes team building, cooperation and coordination among their peers; and

-Children can experiment the behavior of the sound by playing it in different ways;

i'm not so sure about what is the age range of the target users for the sonic playground but i feel that the playground is not very intuitive, so that was why nobody was playing with it when i was there and the instructions are definitely too difficult for the kindergarten kids to understand.

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