This year’s festival offers an array of family friendly events including theatre, circus and free outdoor activities.
Bran Nue Dae, stage production starring Ernie Dingo –
Riverside Theatre from 16 January until 1 February
Laser Beak Man, a high energy comedy featuring the puppet superhero –
Sydney Opera House from 8 – 12 January
Time Flies, featuring young acrobats performing astounding aerial feats –
Seymour Centre from 14 – 19 January
Air Play, clowning and physical theatre with billowing parachutes, umbrellas and balloons –
Roslyn Packer Theatre, Walsh Bay from 21 – 25 January
Two Crews, French and Australian breakdancers celebrate hip hop culture –
Carriageworks from 8 – 12 January
Six, hit musical is an updated version of Henry VIII’s six wives re-imagined as a revenge-taking girl band –
Sydney Opera House from 4 January – 5 March
Dodecalis Luminarium, is an enormous inflated structure filled with incandescent neon light. Explore for free or skip the queue for $20 –
Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour from 8 – 26 January
Procession and The Vigil, join a smoking ceremony to cleanse the city streets, then gather around a campfire overnight in Barrangaroo to hear poetry and stories from indigenous Elders –
Sydney Town Hall and Barangaroo Reserve – 25 January
Regurgitator’s Pogogogo Show, with their chart-topping hits come to the Spiegeltent –
Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent, Hyde Park from 10 – 12 January
She Conjured the Clouds, artist Justene Williams creates an art meets theatre interactive exhibition –
Campbelltown Arts Centre from 16 – 18 January
Contemporary Kids x FAMBO: A queer festival for all kinds of families, art activities and workshops –
Museum of Contemporary Art from 21 – 25 January
Encounter, a free outdoor picnic event featuring young dancers and musicians –
Prince Alfred Square, Parramatta Park from 10 – 12 January
Sydney Symphony Under the Stars, a free classical music performance –
The Crescent Parramatta Park on 18 January
Ferrython, watch this traditional event from the harbour foreshore –
Barangaroo Wharf on 26 January
Other School Holiday events and activities around Sydney
The Big Bounce – St Ives Showground from 24 January – 9 February
The pop-up theme park includes the largest ever bounce house, which has giant slides, climbing towers, obstacle runs, basketball hoops and ball pits sprawled across 1,500 square metres of bouncy real estate
Splash n Fun – Aquatic Centre, Sydney Olympic Park – until 24 January
This pop-up water park is an inflatable playground of slides and obstacles. This year’s star attraction is the Atomic Drop slide – a towering chute that’s not for the faint-hearted – alongside a bonanza of other bouncy attractions for swimmers of all abilities, aged four and up.
NIDA
Open School Holiday courses, over 100 courses for children, ages K to 12 – until 24 January
So Frenchy So Chic – Bicentennial Park, Glebe on 18 January
A family friendly festival with music, wine and food where kids under 12 attend free. Activities include face painting, flower crown making, pétanque and croquet.
Junior Adventure Tour – Sydney Opera House until 26 January
A behind the scenes tour of SOH for kids, secret markings, interesting info and dress ups.
Wind in the Willows – Sydney Botanical Gardens until 26 January
Picnic in the gardens while watching an outdoor production of the much loved classic
The Snail and the Whale – Sydney Opera House until 21 January
A musical adaption of this children’s book about a fearless young girl and her father on an adventure to the ends of the world.
The Midnight Gang – Sydney Opera House until 21 January
A stage production of the children’s book, Tom and his friends are stuck in hospital but when midnight strikes their imaginations run free.
Penn & Teller – Sydney Opera House 11 – 19 January
The first ever tour to Australia by the master magicians combines sight gags with sleight-of-hand and grand illusion
Apollo 11 – Powerhouse Museum, Ultimo until 31 June
Fifty years since the moon landing an exhibition dedicated to this historic event. Interactive displays allow kids to explore the cosmos
