School holidays are fast approaching

November 17, 2011 By 2 Comments

Kids Welcome home page

At this time of year, parents all over Australia start to panic. In a few short weeks, their precious children will be in their full time care and the pressure of keeping them happy for up to two months can be daunting.

It’s not just about keeping them busy: Choosing holiday experiences that won’t break the bank can be a real challenge. Luckily, the Kids Welcome web directory has been launched just in time to come to the rescue.

This free resource includes over 2000 reviews of family-friendly activities, attractions, tours, places to eat, places to stay, events, beaches and even playgrounds. The reviews are written by parents, for parents and each is rated as suitable for three different age-groups: preschool, primary and teen.

Web directory creator Sarah Pye says this invaluable resource will take the hard work out of entertaining the kids.

“If you are planning to explore new parts of Australia together it helps you pick appropriate places to go, many of which are free and you wouldn’t find them in tourism brochures,” she says.

“Even if you don’t leave home,  the Kids Welcome directory is just as useful for banishing ‘I’m bored’ because there are guaranteed to be ideas for your local area too.

“Grandparents, aunts and uncles need not fear if the kids are coming to visit over Christmas!”

What makes this online resource different from Kids Welcome printed guidebooks is the ability for users to engage directly. By joining the site, which is free, they can make comments on the reviews and even upload images of their own family enjoying the activities.

Not only is it fun to see yourself on the website,” Sarah says.

“It’s also good to know your comments will help other families create memorable holidays!”

The Kids Welcome web directory was launched on November 11 at UnderWater World on the Sunshine Coast.  It was critically acclaimed by

Kids Welcome launch

Sunshine Coast Destination Limited and currently covers Queensland, NSW and the ACT.  Sarah and her chief expert, Amber (11) intend to hitch their camper trailer and explore Victoria over the summer to add even more content.

To celebrate the launch, you could win a week in your very own camper trailer from Camp Ezy on the Gold Coast. Simply go to competitions on www.kidswelcome.com.au.

Filed Under: ACT, New South Wales, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Queensland, Reviews, School Holidays, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Victoria, Western Australia

Little Melbourne – the inside scoop on what’s fun in Melbourne for kids

August 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Little Melbourne

Little Melbourne is the guide to all the latest happenings in and around Melbourne for babies, toddlers and kids. They provide the inside scoop on what’s fun in Melbourne (and surrounds) to do, see, visit, eat, play and create.

Some of their regular content includes fun filled activities, weekend events, free stuff, arts and nature activities, rainy day activities, kid-friendly eating out – parties & kids high teas, day trips out of the city, special guest contributors, reviews and big giveaways.

They are dedicated to maintaining Little Melbourne as a site that supports local families and businesses and provides the best content available for the Mumma’s, Papa’s, Grandparents, Carers and the Hip Kids.

They love getting out and about discovering what Melbourne has to offer for all things ‘Kids’ – Putting the FUN back into activities and events for Victorian Families.

Check them out today – Little Melbourne – Putting the Fun back into activities + events for Victorian Families

www.littlemelbourne.com.au

Filed Under: Victoria, What's New?

Knox Shopping Centre School Holiday and Easter Fun!

April 2, 2011 By 4 Comments

Great Easter Activities at Knox Shopping Centre

Victorian families will be able to take advantage of Knox Shopping Centre’s free activities over the Easter and school holiday period.

Children can join in the fun with the much loved Yogi Bear and partake in Easter workshops including Easter basket making and decorating Easter Bunny face masks!

Kids are also invited to take part in Knox Shopping Centre’s exciting Easter egg hunt around the centre on Thursday 21 April.

Little ones can pick up a sheet of clues from the School Holiday Activity Centre to join the hunt for Easter eggs, which will be located in retailer windows in the centre. Once the little hunters have found the Easter bunny eggs, they can return their clue sheet to receive a special prize!

Plus, kids should keep an eye out for the Easter Bunny who will be hopping around the centre from Monday 18 April, handing out free Easter eggs, yum!

When: Activities running between Monday 11 April – Saturday 23 April
Time: 11.00 AM- 2.00 PM Daily
Location: Knox Shopping Centre, 425 Burwood Highway, Wantirna South, VIC 3152
Who: Knox residents and their families

Decorate your very own Easter basket
About - Join in the fun with Yogi Bear at this great Easter workshop where kids can decorate their very own Easter basket
Dates – Monday 11 – Friday 15 April
Time – 11am-2pm daily
Where – Level 1, near Myer

Easter Mask Decorating Workshop
About - Kids are invited to join in the fun at this Easter mask decorating workshop where they can decorate their very own Easter bunny mask
Dates – Monday 18-Thursday 21 April
Time - 11am-2pm daily
Where - Level 1, near Myer

Easter Egg Hunt
About - Take part in this exciting Easter Egg Hunt around Knox Shopping Centre. Find the Easter Bunny Eggs located in the windows of selected retailers to receive your prize!
Date - Thursday 21 April
Time - 11am-2pm
Where - School Holiday Activity Centre on Level 1, near Myer

The Cadbury® Bunny
About - The Cadbury® Bunny will be roaming Knox Shopping Centre
Date – Monday 18-Thursday 21 & Saturday 23 April
Where – Throughout the centre

About Knox Shopping Centre
Knox Shopping Centre is a leading regional shopping centre, located approximately 25 kilometers from the Melbourne CBD. It provides customer with a unique shopping, dining, leisure and entertainment experience. The centre is compromised of two distinct precincts being Knox City and Knox O-Zone.

Knox City is a two level, fully enclosed, traditional shopping centre which first opened in 1977. Myer, Target, Kmart, Harris Scarfe, two Coles supermarkets, 16 mini major stores and approximately 280 specialty stores anchor the centre. Knox O-Zone is the outdoor leisure, dining and entertainment component of the centre, anchored by Village Cinemas, which boasts one of the largest cinema screens in Australia. The precinct also includes a number of retail stores, including large format furniture, white goods and commercial offices.

Filed Under: School Holidays, Victoria Tagged With:

Kid friendly activities in the Melbourne ArtPlay program

March 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Melbourne has some fantastic kid friendly activities featuring in the autumn ArtPlay program. ArtPlay is an innovative cultural program run by the City of Melbourne with the aim of celebrating the imagination and creative spirit of all children. ArtPlay presents children from 2 to 13 years and their families with the unique opportunity to participate in an imaginative world of interactive arts and hands-on creative workshops.

E-artkids
Shine in the glory of your fifteen minutes of fame and become the next big thing in the arts and culture blog-o-sphere with E-artkids.In this exciting series of workshops, a young ArtPlayer with her very own blog will share her knowledge and experience, along with reviewers from Express Media.

Age: 8 to 13 years and their parent or guardian
Date: 20 March and 9 April
Time: 1pm to 3pm
Cost: FREE, bookings essential
Venue: ArtPlay
Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Saltbush
An exquisite journey through the Australian landscape will magically come to life at ArtPlay. Told through song, dance, storytelling and music, Saltbush is performed on a touch-sensitive carpet that is triggered by traveller’s steps to help unfold the magical journey.

Age: 5 years and above
Date: 2 April
Time: 10.30am and 1pm (one hour duration)
Cost: $12 per person, booking essential
Venue: ArtPlay
Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Visual Treasure Hunt: Autumn
Come-a-hunting and discover some overlooked treasures in our everyday lives. Maybe it’s a crack in a wall that looks like a vein or a flower that moves like a dancer – children will be inspired to look beyond the unusual. Then armed with a sketch-book, they can use their new powers of perception to create their own treasure hunt around the ArtPlay site.

Age: 5 to 10 years
Date: 3 April and 10 April
Time: 12.30om to 3.30pm
Cost: $15 per child
Venue: A rtPlay
Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Animal Self Portraits
If you were an animal, what would it be? Release your inner animal with artists and animators, Dell Stewart and Kate Matthews. Using cut paper, drawing, traditional animation techniques and voice recordings you will bring your inner animal to life. All creations will be put together as a group animation that will be screened during the Melbourne International Animation Festival in June.

Age: 6 to 12 years
Date: 13 to 16 April
Time: 10am to 3pm
Cost: $11 per child, bookings essential
Venue: ArtPlay
Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

 

Lamp it Up

Lamp it Up
Let there be light! Recycling takes on a whole new life in this workshop to create lamps using unlikely combinations of coloured materials – all from second hand shops – and compact fluorescent light bulbs.

Age: 8 to 13 years
Date: 17 to 21 April
Time: 12.30pm to 3.30pm
Cost: $25 per adult and child pair, bookings essential
Venue: ArtPlay
Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

It’s a Wrap
Join the performers from Pocketfool and see what the world looks like all wrapped up. Have fun and make lots of mess as you swaddle, cover, roll up and wrap up absolutely anything – even yourself!

Age: 2 to 3 years and 4 to 5 years
Date: 26 April and 6 May
Time: 10.30am to 11.45 am (2 to 3 years) and 11.45am to 12.30pm (4 to 5 years)

It's a Wrap

Cost: $15 per child, booking essential
Venue: ArtPlay
Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Go, go Bruno
Meet Bruno Munari. He created furniture, toys, posters, books, and machines that do ordinary things in ridiculous ways. Guided by designer Samuel Barnes, children can learn more about Bruno and create their very own machine using c ollage, drawing – and a touch of humour.
Age: 8 to 12 years
Date: 30 April and 1 May
Time: 1pm to 3pm
Cost: $12 per child, booking essential
Venue: ArtPlay
Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Charmed Nature Figurines
Come and make a special friend – one that fits in your hand. Children will see nature and creativity take on a life of its own as they bind sticks, seeds and yarn together to make a natural sculptural figurine to call their own.

Age: 6 years and above
Date: 7 and 8 May
Time: 1pm to 3pm
Cost: $15 per child, booking essential
Venue: ArtPlay
Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

ArtPlay Open Studio
ArtPlay is creating the next generation of artists. Children can draw and paint their very own masterpiece in the ArtPlay studio. Try new materials, make a mess then fix it up – it’s all part of the c reative process!

Age: 5 to 8 years
Date: 14 May
Time: 1pm to 3pm
Cost: $15 per child, booking essential
Venue: ArtPlay
Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Everyone can dance…Tap!
Feel the rhythm and tap along to the beat in an energetic session by tap pioneer, Grant Swift. Explore the fun of making noise with your feet as you learn the basics of steps and rhythms to help you tap in time.

Age: All ages
Date: 15 May
Time: 10.30am to 12noon
Cost: $20 per adult and child pair, booking essential
Venue: ArtPlay
Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Dance: from your toes to your nose
How can everyday things get a wiggle out of you? Children and adults will use ordinary objects to connect in playful ways, wiggling, hopping and dancing together in a creative dance experience to music from all around the world.

Ag e: 2 to 3 years and 4 to 5 years
Date: 13 and 20 May
Time: 10.30am to 11.15am (2 to 3 years) and 11.45am to 12.30pm (4 to 5 years)
Cost: $10 per child, booking essential
Venue: ArtPlay
Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Hairbrush Rock Choir
Do you sing into your hairbrush? Or stage dive off your bed? Musician Grant J War will help children create their own performances with their favourite songs. Email the song (title and artist) you’d like to sing to artplay@melbourne.vic.gov.au by Sunday 1 May.

Age: 9 to 12 years
Date: 21 May
Time: 1pm to 3 pm
Cost: $10 per child, booking essential
Venue: ArtPlay
Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Everyone can dance….Swing!
Get into the swing of things in a lively dance session the whole family will enjoy. Jitterbug and jive your way across the dance floor to the swinging 50s beats, then swing, jump and twirl as a dancing team.

Age: All ages
Date: 22 May
Time: 10.30am to 12 noon and 1pm to 2.30pm
Cost: $20 per adult and child pair, bookings essential
Venue: ArtPlay
Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

 
 

Cardboard Play

Cardboard Play Spaces

Putting a new spin on children’s playgrounds, the interactive Play with Cardboard is returning to ArtPlay. First year architecture students from Monash University have taken an ordinary material and designed extraordinary interactive play spaces made entirely from cardboard, one of which can travel outdoors!

Age: 4 years and above
Date: 28 May to July
Time: 10am to 2pm – Wednesday to Friday and noon to 4pm on weekends
Cost: FREE, no bookings required
Venue: ArtPlay
Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Play with Cardboard
Monash University architect students have created play spaces with cardboard boxes. On 29 May, Monash University’s Ross Berwin will give you added insight into the architecture industry with this special workshop. Come and find out all about architecture and design and then explore the play spaces created by Monash University architecture students. This is a one off workshop with Ross but the cardboard interactive play spaces can be viewed throughout the autumn ArtPlay program.

Age: 8 to 12 years
Date: 29 May
Time: 1pm to 3pm
Cost: $10 per child, bookings essential
Venue: ArtPlay
Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Filed Under: Reviews, School Holidays, Victoria, Victoria Tagged With:

Kids are Bigger at Mt Buller – a great family holiday

March 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Barry Possum and friends

There are so many reasons why kids love winter at Mt Buller – and why their parents do too! If you’re thinking of going skiing with the kids this winter, then read on and see the great benefits Mt Buller has to offer kids and their parents! A great family holiday.

Great Value

Mt Buller is the only resort in Australia that extends kids’ pricing all the way through to Year 12 students, keeping kids on the snow, in lessons and rental gear at kid’s prices (that’s half the regular adult cost) for that bit longer.  That’s why they say that “Kids are Bigger at Buller”. 

Children under 5 years of age enjoy free lift passes and sightseer lift tickets too.

Kids have great fun while they learn

Buller Kids’ Centre in the Ski & Snowboard School is the place for fun at Mt Buller. Kids love learning to ski while

Blake the Buller Flake teaches the kids how its done.

making new friends in this specially tailored environment that keeps them safe, learning at their own pace, making friends and in good hands so Mum and Dad can relax and enjoy their holiday too.

• Bunyips – 3-5 years
Little Buller Bunyips can join a full or half day program which includes lessons from a qualified international team of instructors, lift pass, snacks, hot lunch and supervised activities. Kids build their confidence in the safety of the Magic Forest away from the bustle of the main slopes.

• Buller Kids – 6-14years
Also offered in full or half day formats, Buller Kids love learning together with their own instructor. Activities, lift pass, lunch and snacks are included in the sessions and weekly races complete with medal presentations are a highlight.

• Crèche

The Mt Buller Kids' Centre is full of fun.

The tiniest snow bunnies from 3 months to 3 years old are in safe hands with the qualified childcare team in the Buller Kids’ Crèche. Overlooking the fun in the Magic Forest the littlies play, colour, listen to stories and even have the odd surprise visit from Buller’s popular mascot Barry the Pygmy Possum.

The hills are alive… with the sound of music in our FREE kids’ shows twice weekly. Children of all ages (and parents too) love singing along with the lively show and learning all about the native animals that call Mt Buller home.  Barry the Pygmy Possum and his friend Blake the Buller Flake lead the fun with Woz on the guitar.

A whole week for Kids

Kids’ Week (11-15 July) is an action-packed affair at Mt Buller with dedicated activities every single day to keep little people entertained. Fireworks, free shows, family friendly movies in the cinema and more make this a perfect week for families to hit the slopes. 

Kids Ski & Stay Free

Spring is a fantastic time to visit Mt Buller, when you can make the most of awesome snow, gorgeous weather and sensational events, all at a great price!

Book your spring ski holiday at participating properties and receive FREE accommodation and lift tickets for up to two children. It doesn’t get much better than that! http://www.mtbuller.com.au/Winter/Accommodation/Kids-Ski-Stay-Free-in-spring

Head first

All kids participating in Ski & Snowboard School programs at Mt Buller (and their instructors) are required to wear a helmet. Helmets are a smart idea and we are taking the lead at Mt Buller to encourage their use this winter. All rental packages for kids at Buller Sports include a helmet.

 
 

Rock climbing in the Mt Buller Sports Hall

Climb the walls!

Mt Buller boasts a well-equipped sports hall with loads of fun activities for kids to try if they are looking for something different off the snow. Scaling the climbing wall, bouncing on the trampolines, taking aim with indoor archery, or challenging friends to a game of basketball or badminton are great ways for the kids to burn up any left over energy! Group bookings available. Call 03 5777 6000 for information.

Big screen action

Mt Buller is home to Australia’s highest cinema and regularly screens recent release movies all season long. Extra matinee screenings are popular on days when the weather closes in and there is always a good selection of kids’ movies on offer. And popcorn from the candy bar of course.

Roam for gnomes

Mt Buller has a population of little gnomes that can be found hiding all around the Village. Grab a Gnome Roam map and see how many of Mt Buller’s favourite residents you can find. Kids of all ages love searching out these cheery little fellows. It’s fun and it’s free.

Tobogganing

It just wouldn’t be a trip to the snow without a slide on a toboggan. Mt Buller has two dedicated toboggan parks for

A young boy enjoying a tobogan run at the designated Village tobogan area.

snowplayers to slip and slide on their very own slopes. No charge applies for access to the parks and the Village toboggan park even has its own snowmaking to top up the natural snowfall and make a little extra snow for those snowball fights.

Snowtubing

There are lots of fun ways to slip and slide down a slope and snowtubing is one of them! No experience needed, simply jump on a snowtube in the special slope at Spurs and enjoy. Access to the snowtubing park is included FREE with a sightseer ticket at Mt Buller.

Beginner slopes and Discover lessons

20 percent of the terrain at Mt Buller is ideal for beginner skiers and snowboarders to make their first turns.  Gentle green runs at Bourke Street and Burnt Hut is where it all starts and with Mt Buller’s unique FREE two hour Discover lesson helps beginners build confidence in no time at all.

Mt Buller’s Discover tickets cost no more than a regular lift pass ($57 for kids, $104 for adults) and include a free two hour beginner lesson to help first timers start to master the basics.

Kids’ Discover classes meet daily at 11am at Ski & Snowboard School. 

For more information visit – http://www.mtbuller.com.au

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, School Holidays, Victoria, Victoria