The best school holiday activities in Sydney

Hidden deep (well, kind of deep) within the heart of Centennial Park is a playground like no other. Fit out with a wild tree house, bamboo forest, a fancy water-play area, banksia tunnels, turtle mounds and dry creek beds, this ‘wild play’ locale is full of wonderful nooks and crannies that keep kids fresh, entertained and connected to the big outdoors, all from within the controlled paradise of Centennial Park. 

Calling all amateur Egyptologists, mini history buffs and lovers of gold and glamour – a blockbuster exhibition packed out with priceless Ancient Egyptian artefacts only has a few months left in Sydney. Ramses & the Gold of the Pharaohs is an interactive museum experience more than 3,000 years in the making, featuring 181 priceless artefacts. It is the largest cultural exhibition to visit Australia in more than a decade, and in a huge coup, the Museum shipped over the actual coffin of Ramses the Great for it. You can purchase tickets now through Ticketmaster.

IMAX Sydney closed for a rebuild back in 2016, and after a longggg wait, it's finally relaunched in October 2023, better than ever, in the W Sydney building. When we say this is huge news, we mean it. IMAX Sydney’s new movie screen is the third largest in the world, spanning a staggering 693 square metres. If you're looking to get the title of coolest parent ever, a seat in one of IMAX's private pods or recliner chairs might just bring you one step closer. You can book tickets for IMAX Darling Harbour over here.

When it rains in Sydney, it pours. So it pays to have a few wet-weather saves up your sleeve for when the kids are home and bored with Youtube and colouring-in. Luckily, our city has a whole load of indoor playgrounds and kid-friendly museums – as well as craft workshops, leisure centres and active areas – to keep ’em busy. Click here to get inspo.

Game on, Sydney. Last summer, Australia’s very first interactive gaming rooms opened in Darling Harbour, offering full-scale, immersive versions of Squid Game, Angry Birds, Ghostbusters and a whole lot more. Little ones aged five and up can come for the adventure, too, with light-hearted games featuring beloved characters from Paw Patrol and Shaun the Sheep. You can find Immersive Gamebox next door to Sea Life, with sessions running daily from 10am until 6pm on weekdays and 8pm on Friday and Saturday nights. 

Sydney’s impressive list of beaches welcomed a new addition this summer. The sandy stretch is the same length as Bondi Beach, and it's your last chance to visit 'Pondi' these school holidays before it closes up at the end of April. As fun as the new beach is as a concept, the $1.7 million swimming spot has been built primarily for reasons of safety and equality – to provide an accessible place for residents of Western Sydney to cool off through what was an exceptionally hot summer (and autumn).

Would you believe kids as young as three can do indoor skydiving at iFLY in Penrith? It’s all about the "look mum, look dad" here, as the indoor skydiving takes place behind glass in the middle of the venue – so even being a spectator is fun. They also have a camera taking pictures throughout your ‘dive’ so you can purchase your most impressive pose – complete with g-force cheeks.

Enrol the little dancer of the house into one of Sydney's most established dance school's school holiday workshops. The classes dabble in everything from jazz, to contemporary, to hip-hop, to theatre. The classes target both beginners and kids who have been dancing since they could walk, so hit up the timetable to find something that suits. Learn from some of the best including performers from Grease The Arena Spectacular, the Moulin Rouge in Paris and Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby. The multi-day wokrshops will take place both at Bondi Pavillion and the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct 

The work of the late May Gibbs has given Australian children wondrous fantasies for years, with The Complete Adventures of Snugglepot & Cuddlepie enduring as an essential component in our collective childhood memory. Nutcote is where Gibbs wrote her books and long-running cartoon strip Bib and Bub. Reminisce about Gumnut babies and Banksia men in that childhood fantasy world when you visit the museum, learn about Gibbs and her characters, and then relax in the gardens.

Ninja Parc South Granville is a perfect stop for kids wanting to burn off some steam while simultaneously finessing their parkour skills. Featuring rope climbs, bouldering challengers, vertical and horizontal doors, a sea of poles and, the ever-classic ‘warped wall’, this gym-meets-play extravaganza is totally equipped to obliterate every last vestige of school holiday boredom. 

Spend hours cooing over a barnyard of baby animals: chicks, lambs, calfs, kids, ducklings and rabbits, you name it. The almost too adorable experiences at Golden Ridge Animal Farm are largely aimed at human kids wanting to learn about the 500 furry and feathered farm residents – but grown-ups can tag along too.

If you’ve ever wanted to get seriously close to tigers (without there being a terrible ethical or safety problem in the way), this is your chance. Tiger Trek is an entertaining but also hugely educational experience that helps you make better supermarket choices to help protect the endangered Sumatran tiger's habitat. The Tiger Trek is included in your ticket to Taronga, so it's free to zoo attendees.

A cold breeze is brewing and Elsa is calling. There's icy fun on in Sydney this winter, so you can practice your ice-skating twirls, double axels and graceful tumbles. Click through for our guide to permanent ice-skating rinks as well as temporary pop-ups in Sydney and nearby.

This little pocket of Alexandria is the perfect place to hide out on a rainy day. You’ve got 9 Degrees for indoor climbing, Hijinx Hotel for group challenges (more info below), Holey Moley mini golf, boozing for the grown-ups at Rocks Brewing Co – plus an arcade of retro games, bowling and laser tag at Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq. Inside, there are bowling lanes, an interactive 3D theatre ride (our pick of the whole venue), a laser tag zone for kids, the tightest dodgem track you’ll ever come across, and a whole lot of arcade games.

The Fullerton is a hotel partly housed in what used to be the Sydney General Post Office (GPO), a heritage building that was built back in 1887. It was Sydney's first major development, and regarded as a building that would come to symbolise Sydney in the way the Houses of Parliament in Westminster represent London, and the Eiffel Tower, Paris. You can discover the rich history of the building and the Post Office on the 90-minute GPO Heritage Tour. Their resident guide will take you on a journey through time, sharing the tales and legends of the city’s iconic Grand Dame. Book here.

Sea Life Sydney Aquarium is the world's largest indoor system of Australian marine life, with 60 tanks and three oceanaria filled with more than 13,000 animals from 700 different species. Perfect for kids of all ages, and a good time for parents too, they are open seven days a week during the school holidays. 

Swim in a giant cereal bowl ball pit, tip-toe around a floor of lava, or enter a neon polka dot universe or an old-timey carnival in this incredible challenge rooms 'hotel' where no two rooms are the same. You’ll have just four minutes in each room to earn as many points as you can – it's a fun, high-energy vibe for the whole family.

If the Art Gallery of NSW wasn't already on your radar for the school holidays (how could it not be), this interactive art event might just put it on your radar. From April 13 through to April 19, kids can interact with Dutch art group Collective Paper Aesthetics. 'Be at the hive' will get them folding cardboard honeycomb structures that will form a massive hive installation. Once they're done getting their hands dirty, they can go see how the pros do it by touring the gallery with the many kids friendly maps and resources. 

In December 2023, Luna Park launched ‘Dream Circus’, an enchanting $15 million immersive experience – what they’re referring to as a high-tech ‘Magic Box’ inside Luna Park’s existing 3,000 square metre Big Top building. The Magic Box is being constructed as a high-tech, theatre-like set. So custom-designed 360-degree projections, motion-activated LEDs and hologram technology work in with 3D, textured walls and stages. Tickets for the Dream Circus experience are on-sale over here. The hour-long experience is priced at $35 for children and $45 for adults. 

Want your kid to get benefit out of their screen time? Children aged 5-13 can develop valuable computer skills at a two- to three-day Code Camp. There are 121 Code Camp locations around Australia, though they can also join in online. Choose a camp based on their interests – there are themes such as Roblox Legends Camp (where they'll learn to code their own Roblox game), Drone Camp (program and code a drone), YouTube Creators camp (for budding content creators), and even a DJ Camp.

There are Holey Moley centres all over Sydney now, but one of the newest ones is right next door to the aforementioned Hijinx Hotel challenge room hotel, and the ever-popular Archie Bros Cirque Electriq. Holey Moley features 27 pun-tastic novelty putt-putt holes spread across three madcap courses. Good for kids and adults alike. 

Squeeze the last out of Sydney's warm weather, with these family-friendly pools. There are delightful nooks in our most popular beaches and aquatic centres, with slides and dumping buckets to keep things exciting. Here's our pick of Sydney's best.

Every school holidays, Leichhardt's creative haven Art Est hosts a whole bunch of creative workshops. Budding artists can get their hands busy learning the ropes of skills including illustration, painting, cartooning, mixed-media art and more with several one-to-two-hour workshops. Check out the program and make a booking here. This activity is eligible for Creative Kids Vouchers.

Sydney is home to some pretty fascinating museums – some that you may not have even heard about. Places where you can learn about nature, science, design, ships, time, military history, society, the police force and more. Rain or shine, head out on a journey of discovery at these all-weather-friendly houses of knowledge.

Bowling is a lark for all ages, and Strike Bowling has multiple venues throughout Sydney, inclduing the harbourside location at King Street Wharf, complete with a cocktail bar, three escape rooms and gourmet nibbles; the Entertainment Quarter location in Moore Park, as well as the Chatswood, North Ryde and Castle Towers bowling alleys.

Taronga TV isn't a bad way to while away a gnarly weather day, when you don't feel like leaving home. Taronga TV features some live streams from animal enclosures, as well as behind-the-scenes 'sneak peeks’ and after-hours footage revealing what the keepers and animals get up to when the park is closed to the public.

Sydney's playgrounds are the perfect place to use up any pent-up energy. Let wriggly little ones run free at these parks and playgrounds that know how to entertain the real bosses of the household. Click through to see our top picks and find one you haven't been to before.

Sydney Olympic Park has you covered with an action-packed program of autumn holiday activities. Their school holiday fortnight of fun from April 8-23 is designed for kids of all ages and abilities. Choose from $20 archery sessions, beginner diving lessons and ball game clinics led by sports stars, or opt for the full experience with all-day recreational and aquatic camps. Plan ahead and book your spots before they sell out.