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Activity Guides

Hobbies and Other Interests: What We Found

What we found for a child aged 9 to 12 in Singapore who enjoys cooking, books, stamps or gardening: a few school clubs and some private classes.

Prepared by The Editorial Team

Updated 30 September 2026

Details checked September 2026. Programmes change, so confirm with the school or provider.

In the table, CCA means co-curricular activity: a group run by a school. Some means at least one school’s own page confirms it; a note in brackets says where the page doesn’t say which age group. A dash means “not covered here”, not that the option doesn’t exist.

Activity MOE school CCA Int’l school Private lessons
Cooking and baking Some Some (age not stated) Yes
Library club Some — —
Stamp collecting Some — —
Gardening — Some (age not stated) —

School-based (CCA): MOE schools

Clubs for these interests were rare in the CCA lists of the 39 primary schools we checked. Three have a library club, one has a cooking club, and one has a stamp-collecting club. None has a gardening club of its own.

Library clubs. At two of the schools, members help in the school library and promote reading, for example by planning reading campaigns and activities for other pupils. A third school has a library-named club that plays word and board games to build vocabulary.

Cooking. At least one school has a chef club, where members learn food preparation and nutrition, kitchen safety and dining etiquette.

Stamp collecting. At least one school has a philately club, where members study stamps and learn about history and cultures through them.

Gardening. None of those 39 schools’ own pages lists a gardening CCA of its own. The only confirmed gardening activity found is at a single international school, which doesn’t give an age. Some schools’ environmental science clubs include gardening; those clubs are in the STEM guide.

Availability varies by school.

School-based: international schools

International schools set their own programmes. At least one large international school lists cooking and urban gardening among its activities, but doesn’t say which age groups take part. Check directly with your child’s school what is running this term.

Private lessons

At least one cooking school runs small-group, hands-on cooking and baking camps for ages 9 to 12 during the school holidays.

Not covered here

This page doesn’t cover coin collecting or other collecting clubs: none of the 39 schools checked has one. Library, book or stamp clubs at international schools aren’t covered, and neither are private or community classes in gardening or stamp collecting. National programmes for these interests aren’t covered either. Reading ambassador and other student leader roles are in the Leadership guide.

This page doesn’t say whether any activity is offered as a Direct School Admission talent area. Each secondary school sets its own talent areas for each year’s exercise, so check the school’s own DSA page and MOE’s DSA-Sec information.

Sources