Get your kids off their devices and outside these school holidays
Luna Park 90th birthday celebrations
Luna Park
4 October
$35 for unlimited rides
Book prior to entry at lunaparksydney.com
On 4 October, Luna Park will officially celebrate its 90th birthday, and everyone is invited!
Have fun with unlimited rides; enjoy 1930s entertainment including jugglers, clowns and dancers; and watch a screening of Dream Ride, a short film created by Bradfield College students to mark the milestone. Each guest will also receive a complimentary souvenir postcard featuring an Ashley Taylor artwork to take home.
Warringah Aquatic Centre/Andrew ‘Boy’ Charlton
Intensive swim classes
See council website
With the weather getting warmer, it’s a great time to head to your local council pool for some splashing fun.
Intensive learn to swim programs will be running at both the Warringah and Andrew ‘Boy’ Charlton aquatic centres these holidays. Each lesson runs for 30 minutes per day, Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays).
For the more adventurous, Warringah Aquatic Centre will be holding one-hour diving lessons from both the 1m and 3m springboards, from 29 September to 3 October, 4pm to 5pm.
Craft and LEGO library fun
Free I See council website for dates, times and bookings
Council libraries are the places to be these holidays, with various branches including Forestville, Warringah Mall and Manly offering STEM LEGO workshops. Suitable for primary school aged children from six to 12 years old, the free workshops invite children to bring their LEGO building skills and have fun completing a STEM challenge. Bookings are essential.
And for those with a creative streak, Crafternoons will be held at Dee Why, Manly, Glen Street and Warringah Mall libraries. Suitable for ages eight to 12 years with an accompanying parent or carer, the drop in sessions will provide fun, themed and creative activities.
Get on your bike
See the council website for bike trails
Looking for new places to discover on your bike? Council makes it easy with their community bike connections map, available in the ‘Things to do’ section of their website. With maps of areas including Belrose and Balgowlah, the site shows whether the tracks are sealed or unsealed roads and highlights features on the way including shops/ cafes. There’s a great route from Dee Why to Freshwater which starts at Dee Why Beach and takes in local parks, heads past a rockpool and has cyclists taking a journey on streets where they can find cafes and shops.
For those looking for off-road riding, try the Manly Dam Mountain Bike Trail for some adventure.
For those not so keen on riding, Manly Dam is still a beautiful place to visit with children. Surrounded by native bushland, it has various picnic spots around the dam, accessible by car. Soak in the sun and enjoy the beautiful surrounds!
Maritime Museum magic
Australian National Maritime Museum
Darling Harbour
28 September to 12 October I $35+
Take a trip into the city and enjoy all the Australian National Maritime Museum has to offer, including exhibitions, vessels, hands-on workshops, themed activities and live science performances. Visitors can also see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition.
The Splashing Science Circus will see performers and science communicators unlock the wonders of water in a lively, interactive show for all ages. There’s also the underwater drones workshops to enjoy, where children from age eight can explore below the surface of the harbour and test their gaming skills.
Students can even remix, reverb and record their own aquatically-inspired songs and make animated videos in Whale Song DJ, a workshop on digital music making.
Bookings are essential for some workshops, see the website for dates and times.