Race to Sustainability! 2026

Race to Sustainability! marks its milestone 10th edition by expanding beyond its traditional student race to engage the wider public with some unconventional activities – laksa sampling, anyone? It’s all sustainability related of course, and through fun, hands-on activities, the public can learn about efforts to build a more sustainable Singapore.

Race to Sustainability 2026

Kicking things off is the free Explorers in Conversation: Journeys Off the Beaten Track forum on October 22 – a first in Race to Sustainability!’s history, where the public hear inspiring stories from National Geographic Explorers Woo Qiyun, Louise Mabulo, Max Han and Melati Wijsen on their journeys as young changemakers for the planet.

Singapore’s Qiyun makes climate science accessible through compelling visuals on her Instagram platform, The Weird and Wild. The Philippines’ Louise, a chef and farmer, founded The Cacao Project to help farmers build livelihoods that can withstand the changing climate. Malaysia’s Max co-founded Youths United for Earth, whose youth-led climate advocacy and campaigns have reached more than 50,000 people, while Indonesia’s Melati has led the youth-driven Bye Bye Plastic Bags movement since 2013.

Then on October 24 and 25, the first Weekend Sustainability Fair hosts interactive booths by businesses, government agencies and community partners where the public can participate in a repair workshop, get to know useful insects around the Gardens, and learn how food systems are so interconnected that environmental degradation can have effects on your humble bowl of laksa.

📅 From Thursday, 22 October to Sunday, 29 November 2026. Refer below for the full line-up of activities.

Admission is free. Fees apply to selected workshops.
Visit here for details.

Programme

Art Exhibition by Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA)

Featuring five original zines, interpretive posters and a short film, this exhibition invites visitors to reflect on humanity’s relationship with the more-than-human world, from global ecological crises to the everyday acts of care and coexistence that shape a more sustainable future.

📅 Thursday, 22 October to Sunday, 29 November
🕙 9.00am to 9.00pm
📍 Foyer, beside The Canopy Ticketing Counter
🏷 Free admission

Explorers in Conversation: Journeys Off the Beaten Track

At this symposium, National Geographic Explorers Woo Qiyun, Louise Mabulo, Max Han and Melati Wijsen share their personal journeys on being a young changemaker, to inspire others to protect our planet too.

📅 Thursday, 22 October
🕙 2.00pm to 3.30pm
📍 Flower Field Hall (Enter via Flower Dome’s Group Entrance)
🏷 Free admission. Pre-registration required.

Weekend Sustainability Fair – Workshops

Therapeutic Horticulture Workshop: Scents of the Garden

Explore restorative qualities of aromatic plants and make personalised incense cones.

📅 Saturday, 24 October
🕙 1.30pm to 3.00pm
📍 Ficus Room at Active Garden
🏷 Pre-registration is required. $10/pax, and workshop fees go to Gardens by the Bay’s Gift of Gardens community outreach programme.

Our Warming Planet

Learn about climate change and how everyday actions can make a difference through interactive storytelling and hands-on activities. Plant microgreens and decorate your pot with miniature air-dry clay accessories to take home.

📅 Saturday, 24 October
🕙 4.00pm to 5.00pm
📍 Ficus Room at Active Garden
🏷 Pre-registration is required. $28/pax.

Repair Discovery

Come experience a repair activity inspired by Repair Kopitiam. Through supervised hands-on tasks such as replacing a plug and dismantling and reassembling a table fan, the activity promotes Repair as the 4th R in addition to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, and aims to share how one can extend product lifecycles.

📅 Saturday, 24 October
🕙 1.00pm to 5.00pm
📍 Waterfront Plaza at Active Garden
🏷 This activity is purely experiential, and participants will not take home any final product. No pre-registration required.

A Labour of ‘Laksa’ Love: The Ocean-to-Plate Story of Laksa

Weekend Sustainability Fair laksa workshop

Every iconic dish is an ecosystem. Join National Geographic Explorer, Max Han, as he traces Singapore’s Siglap Laksa from ocean to bowl, unravelling the ecological networks and fishing communities behind its keystone ingredient, ikan kembung (Indian mackerel). Participants will map these interconnected food systems, stress-test them against climate realities, and examine how environmental degradation directly threatens cultural heritage.

Participants will be treated to a bowl of laksa at the end of the workshop.

📅 Sunday, 25 October
🕙 10.00am to 11.30am
📍 Ficus Room at Active Garden
🏷 Pre-registration is required. $10/pax, and workshop fees go to Gardens by the Bay’s Gift of Gardens community outreach programme.

ConservaClay

Sculpt wildlife found around the Gardens using air-dry clay, and learn about nature and wildlife conservation through interactive nature-journalling activities in this family-friendly workshop by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

📅 Sunday, 25 October
🕙 12.00pm to 1.00pm
📍 Ficus Room at Active Garden
🏷 Pre-registration is required. $15/pax, and workshop fees go to WWF-Singapore’s Conservation Fund.

Therapeutic Horticulture Workshop: Colours of the Garden

Create a personalised botanical handkerchief by pounding fresh leaves and flowers onto fabric to transfer their natural colours and fragrances.

📅 Sunday, 25 October
🕙 1.30pm to 3.00pm
📍 Ficus Room, Active Garden
🏷 Pre-registration is required. $10/pax, and workshop fees go to Gardens by the Bay’s Gift of Gardens community outreach programme.

Tiny Garden Heroes: An Insect Expedition

What are all the different heroes that help make our food? Go on an expedition around Gardens by the Bay’s community garden to spot all the different insects and learn about the important things they do in an urban garden. Then, get close to some insect specimens and learn about their biology and how scientists study insects, and reflect on how we can live better with them for their benefit and ours.

📅 Sunday, 25 October
🕙 4.00pm to 5.30pm
📍 Ficus Room, Active Garden
🏷 $35/pax. Pre-registration is required.

Visit here for more details and pre-registration.

Halloween 2026

Halloween is on 31 October and is creeping up fast. We have compiled a list of Halloween parties in Singapore just for you!

It is the year-end November & December holidays. We have compiled a list of November-December School Holidays 2026 Activities for Kids. Click on the image below to find out more.