ACT
Spiders are taking over Questacon!
Spiders will help you to unlock the secretive world of these captivating creatures. Weave your way through the fascinating exhibits and interactive displays to discover how these web-weavers, hunters and burrowers outlived the dinosaurs to become one of the most successful creatures on earth.
Bravely step into the web of a net-casting spider to get your photo taken, peer into spider innards using 3D scanning technology or challenge a peacock spider to a dance-off!
Featuring up to 200 spider specimens, including live Australian tarantulas, funnel-webs, redbacks and giant water spiders, you will learn there is more than meets the eye to these beautiful creatures.
Visit questacon.edu.au
NMA Discovery Space: Continuing culture
Indigenous Australians have the world’s longest continuing culture and for thousands of years, they have expressed their cultural identity through art and material objects.
Drop in to the Discovery Space program during the school holidays and have fun creating your own take-home piece inspired by the exhibitions, or join in group activities from 5–24 January 2016.
Drop-in self-facilitated craft activities and string games are free.
Visit National Museum of Australia for details
Hunt for dinosaurs at the National Dinosaur Museum
The museum has grown from just a small collection to housing the largest permanent display of dinosaur and other prehistoric fossil material in Australia, with 23 complete skeletons, and over 300 displays of individual fossils.
Did you ever have a prehistoric question you needed an answer for? Did you want to know more about a particular ancient beastie? Why not ask one of the staff during your visit to the National Dinosaur Museum?
There are fun activities for the kids, no additional charges apply to admission prices and no bookings are required.
Have a ‘zoocation’ at the National Zoo!
Zoocation offers a unique experience for primary school children. During a fun-filled day, children will get up close and personal with many of the zoo’s animals, play games, make toys for the animals, and maybe even learn something along the way.
Staffed and developed by the experienced and qualified education guides of the National Zoo and Aquarium, this is a program like no other. There are separate sessions for kids in kindy and Year 1 and kids in Years 2-6.
Cockington Green Gardens
Cockington Green Gardens is a fabulous experience. Venture into this delightful and fascinating display of meticulously crafted miniature buildings, set within beautifully landscaped gardens.
The park is constantly growing so there is always something new to explore.
Enjoy a coffee in the Parsons Nose Garden Café, or bring a picnic lunch, while littlies can be entertained in the playground and everyone loves the miniature steam train ride, which encircles the International Display.
Fun at the Royal Australian Mint
See Titan the robot at work, make a collectible coin, view the valuable National Coin Collection, start your collection at the Mint Coin Shop.
There are regular guided tours suitable for all the family, build a mini-mint, and robot-play and coin colouring in activities during school holidays.
Get creative at Canberra Glassworks!
Explore the amazing world of glass … make your own masterpiece with a professional artist, watch Australia’s leading glass artists in action in the Engine Room or Hotshop, or browse the gallery and shop.
Make a paperweight or tumbler, learn the secrets of stencilling, or make a summer-inspired fused glass tile with a professional artist in just 20 minutes. The whole family can get involved!
A fun day out for the whole family, on the Kingston Foreshore!
Visit Canberra Glassworks
Tasmania
Get along to the Big Big House at Devonport!
The Big Big House is in the heart of Devonport and offers something for all ages, from jungle gyms, laser skirmish, and indoor rock climbing
The website is currently being revamped, so for information on opening times and activities, call (03) 6424 1333
Go ‘bush’ in Hobart!
Summer is a great time to head down to the water so that is where Bush Kids of all ages are going! The youngest Bush Kids will be at Cornelian Bay for Flora the Explorer’s Bay Adventure, while older Bush Kids will be at Nutgrove Beach for CSI: Nutgrove Beach and Whale of a Time.
The ever-popular Where Our Wild Things Are is visiting a new location – Knocklofty. The whole family can come along to discover the evening animals in this new night-time nook.
Bookings are essential for all Bush Adventures activities. For enquiries and bookings call the City of Hobart on (03) 6238 2886.
Fun and games at TMAG
TMAG will be hosting its popular School Holiday Program during January 2016, with two weeks of fascinating activities all focused on the wonderful world of patterns, to celebrate the great new exhibition Pattern Play.
The program of events will be out soon, with activities happening from 12 -24 January from 11am-2pm.
Visit Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery
Zoodoo is more than a zoo!
Zoodoo offers unique safari bus tours that take visitors to hand-feed large animals, including ostriches, camels, zebras and more.
Jump into a waterball … inside these gigantic, inflated, transparent balls you can crawl, walk, run, roll, bump, jump, tumble and splash and stay completely dry! This attraction is for children and adults alike.
Or sit and watch the kids wear themselves out in the indoor playground – there’s a merry-go-round, jumping castle and toddlers ball pit.
Visit zoodoo.com.au
Discover the secrets of seahorses
Seahorse World at Beauty Point near Launceston is a an amazing place that conserves seahorses and provides an excellent tourism and educational experience.
Explore the secret life of seahorses – there’s more seahorses on display than anywhere else in the world – and see the fully operational seahorse farm with fish feeding on every tour.
This is an educational, interactive experience for the whole family!
Visit seahorseworld.com.au
Northern Territory
Santa visits the Darwin Waterfront
Everyone in Darwin knows that the Waterfront is the place to be for family-friendly entertainment, eats, activities and events and these school holidays are no different!
There is a Christmas lights and snow display every night in December from 7pm to 10pm. The main entrance to the Darwin Waterfront is transformed into a Tropical Waterfront Wonderland, with a lights and a snow machine display.
Snow appears every half an hour for 5 minutes from 7pm to 10pm and Santa will also make a special guest appearance at precinct restaurants and cafes.
And another exciting school holiday program begins in January, with loads of family fun each Monday to Friday from 4 – 22 January 2016 from 10am until 12pm.
There will be balloon workshops on Mondays, paddle boats on Tuesdays, inflatable pony racing on Wednesdays, art and crafts on Thursdays and a water slide on Fridays.
Visit Darwin Waterfront
Fish feeding at Aquascene
This unique and increasingly popular attraction gives you an introduction to several of the marine species living off the Darwin coast.
At high tide hundreds of fish come into the shallows looking for a free feed – and they certainly get it at Aquascene!
You will see milkfish, bream, catfish and many other species join the mullet in a feeding frenzy!
Open daily at high tide, this is suitable for families with kids of all ages. Check the website for feeding times, as tides vary throughout the year.
