[Photo: Kids can try out if they like this gym before signing up for it.]

By Yusuf Abdol Hamid

Although she is just five, Nathania Tay has already attended a variety of classes such as golf, gym, art, ballet and Chinese language enrichment.

This weekend, her mother might sign her up for a few more, at an event for children aged up to 12 called The Kidz Academy at Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Hall 602.

Her mother, Madam Cindy Wong, 32, a housewife, says of her daughter: 'She loves to play, especially if it's nothing to do with her homework.'

The inaugural The Kidz Academy is organised by Sphere Exhibits, a subsidiary of Singapore Press Holdings, at the cost of around $200,000. The organisers expect 80,000 to 100,000 people to turn up.

The three-day event, happening next Friday to Sunday, features equipment and courses that help in a child's development.

For parents, there are workshops such as Ace The PSLE, and their children can join competitions that test their knowledge on subjects ranging from science to history.

There will also be many activities for children like Nathania to take part in and parents can also shop around for children's enrichment classes to fill the June holidays.

Sphere intends to make the event an annual affair.

'We're launching this event in the early weeks of June partly for parents to buy holiday classes for their children,' says Ms Elaine Chia, head of marketing for Sphere.

'It's also a good platform for family fun with the competitions, workshops and trial classes.'

Fifty exhibitors are participating and they include big names such as Adam Khoo Learning Centre, Norman Tien Mathematics Centre and Shawn & Gladys DanceWorld.

Unique to this event are the trial lessons on offer for various classes such as taekwondo, dance, pottery and gym.

Ms Chia says: 'Typically, parents have to go to different classes in various places for their kids to take a trial lesson.'

However, at The Kidz Academy, children can take a variety of 30- to 45- minute trials of the classes on offer, at $10 for each class.

'It saves parents the hassle and if their children have the aptitude for the class, they can sign up on the spot,' she adds.

One of the participating schools is Hyun Taekwondo Academy, a two-year-old Korean martial arts school with branches in Prinsep Street and Yio Chu Kang Road.

The principal of the academy, Mr Lim Hyun, is happy to offer trials and welcomes any number of participants to sign up at the event.

He and his team of instructors will be showing how they can break wooden boards with their bare hands.

'We normally do it to excite the children and it always gets them going 'ooh' and 'aah'.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.