The 12 best winter indoor activities for kids in Cape Town

Let them get lost in starry skies safely from the warmth of the Planetarium. The Cape Town Planetarium provides an armchair-perspective of the mysteries of space, the stars and the planets. Their 360⁰ short films are guaranteed to spark the wonders of the cosmos in your children.

The Cape Town Science Centre in Observatory has over 200 exhibits and puzzles, enough to keep the entire family enthralled for hours. The Puzzling Things exhibition is a winner, with a collection of brain teasers and optical illusions that will boggle the mind. Another favourite for the kids is building their own house on the Concor Construction Site playground. The kids can also get a feeling for what it’s like in space by having a turn (literally) in the human gyroscope. During the holidays, there are daily science shows, demonstrating colourful chemical experiments.

Let them jump for joy at a trampoline park. There are several around Cape Town, including Rush Trampoline Park in Claremont, be.UP Park in Pinelands and Jump Street Trampoline Park in Rivergate. These ‘parks’ have extensive trampoline surfaces, for kids and parents to bounce upon, and usually offer other activities, such as dodgeball, foam pits and climbing walls, or, if you are not feeling energetic, coffee!

GrandWest Casino’s Ice Station is an excellent way to get kids active and learn new coordination skills as they try keep their balance in shoes with blades! It’s a mite cold, so make sure everyone is warmly dressed and then channel the spirit of the movie 'Frozen'. You can even sing whilst you skate – “Let it go, let it go. Let it GOOOO” (when thoughts about the pile of wet laundry at home start intruding).

Alternatively, you could put your kids in shoes with wheels! The roller-skating arcade (Rollercade) at Table Bay Mall offers the chance for your children to learn to move with eight wheels under their feet. Once they are bored with falling over, they can play pool or arcade games at the Rollercade.

What kid would not be thrilled to watch teeth-bristling sharks tearing up their fishy dinners from close quarters, or who would not gasp in awe at a huge ray passing overhead? The Two Oceans Aquarium at the V&A Waterfront offers an array of fishy experiences, from watching waddling penguins to finding ‘Nemo’. There is a walkway that goes ‘through’ one of the exhibits, which makes you feel like you are in the ocean itself. Kids will spend long, happy hours investigating the tiny details in the microscope display to watching the fish gliding through the only aboveground kelp forest in the southern hemisphere.

[Check out our complete list of the Best Things to do in Cape Town]

The speed demons and Grand Prix fans will love the adrenaline rush of Century Karts ‘racing cars’ at the indoor racecourse in the Canal Walk Shopping Centre. Kids can start with a few practice laps or use the simulator. You can even have your very own tournament, but you must do a block booking. The tournament consists of two qualifying races per person, and then the fastest six qualifiers race in the thrilling 15-lap finale to decide who takes the trophy! Note that there is a minimum height requirement of 1.6m and participants have to wear closed shoes.

Who doesn’t love a treasure hunt? Take your children to the Scratch Patch to spend some time scratching happily amongst the beautiful semi-precious, polished stones to find their favourites. The Scratch Patch is like a box of Quality Street chocolates – you can spend hours searching for your “favourite favourite”. You might find a Tiger’s Eye, Rose Quartz, Amethyst, Jasper or a Blue Lace Agate. Even the names sound delicious - just don't put any in your mouth, please!

There is a Scratch Patch at Simon’s Town and one at the V&A Waterfront. Both venues also have an indoor 18-hole cave mini-golf course to keep the kids occupied after they are done scratch-patching.

There is something so satisfying in unravelling clues and solving a mystery. The good news is that you don’t have to become a detective to do this. Cape Town offers Escape Room experiences at the V&A Waterfront and at the Tygerberg Valley Shopping Centre. HintHunt Africa at the V&A Waterfront offers six themed escape rooms, each designed to challenge your problem-solving skills. The room themes, such as the ‘Cursed Treasure’ or ‘Shipwrecked’, appeal to kids of all ages. The bonus for parents? Watching siblings work together instead of the ongoing bickering!

Get your child’s creativity flowing at artjamming at the V&A Waterfront. Paints and brushes are provided, and all your kids need to do is paint their hearts out. There is no pressure to make it perfect; the idea is just to have fun. The kids can even make colourful slime (far nicer for the parent that they do this here than at home).

Another outlet for creativity is painting ceramics at the Clay Café (located in Hout Bay and in the city bowl). Kids choose a plate, jug or mug and paint a design on it. Afterwards, the staff fire and glaze the piece and send you a message when it’s done to collect it (so be prepared to return in a few days’ time).

The Iziko South African Museum in Gardens, Cape Town, is a 200-year-old institution with huge collections of fossils, tools and nature specimens. It is a treasure trove of knowledge and history, and the exhibitions are designed to spark the interest of any young dinosaur fan. The ‘stuffed animals’ (not soft, plush toys but wildlife taxidermy) are a highlight for the smaller kids.

They say that chocolate is good for alleviating the mood, and if you have teenagers, that is always welcome! Honest Chocolate provides chocolate workshops at their Chocolate Factory in Woodstock. Guests get a chocolate-tasting, learn about the making of the chocolate from bean to bar and get to make four bonbons, with the help of the chocolatier.

[Check out our list of the Best Chocolate Shops in Cape Town]

Julie Donald, a Silwood-qualified chef, teaches baking and icing techniques at her Cake studio in Claremont. She devotes Saturday morning classes to the sweet stuff, so if your tween or teen (not suitable for the small ‘uns) has a sweet tooth, book a Saturday class. At the very least, it’s not your kitchen that will be left covered in flour and sticky handprints!