July 2015: School Holidays for bigger kids

Now that I have kids that are not pre-schoolers, I am finding many activities advertised as holiday options are not really suitable. The ten minute craft activity at a shopping centre doesn’t do anything other than make us all wish we had stayed at home. School kids can pick an 'Eductainment' option from three days away and are not impressed by anything that attempts to be teaching them something. 

So here are a list of things that you might like to do these school holidays if you have school aged kids which are just simply fun, for all of you. 

A BONFIRE 

This first one is actually a pre-holiday event, but I love a good fire. Plus, it’s winter, it’s cold and nothing beats a big massive fire. You should go,  celebrate that the long long cold nights are now officially starting to become shorter and warmer…even if it doesn’t feel that way.

Details: 

Collingwood Children’s Farm Winter Solistice

Saturday 20 June. 

During the holidays there is also another event at the Collingwood Children’s Farm and chances are, your kids don’t get enough time these days to run around and get grubby. Go, be ipad free for a day and all sleep well that night.

Mansfield Lantern Festival

If you want to go to an entire festival to celebrate the longest night of the year, the Mansfield Lantern Festival looks like a fabulous event to go and check out. It's the first year this festival has been run so you will be the first to experience it. You get to make your own lanterns, check out the local markets, the foods and the fun. It really looks like a fun weekend. Mansfield is an easy drive from Melbourne...and there will probably be snow, so snuggle up.

All the details: Mansfield Lantern Festival.

ROYAL PARK

Go to Royal Park. It’s such a great park and has the best climbing frames. It’s free.

Really you should just get in the car and go. Take towels. I wrote a bigger post about it a few weeks ago.

Chocolate Classes at Yarra Valley Chocolatier

I haven’t tried this one, but if you have a kid aged 6 -12, I think they would love this. Making chocolate at a real chocolate factory in the beautiful Yarra Valley. There are only four days that this class is available, so take a look early and book your kids in. It’s an adult free class, so I can only imagine that you will need to sit quietly somewhere with a great hot bevvie and a few chocolates to try until the kids finish what they are up to. So far it really sounds ok to me.

Details are here - let me know if you do go and can tell me what it’s like.

Sovereign Hill

A couple of years ago Sovereign Hill started the gorgeous Christmas in July festival for the winter holidays. Each year it has got bigger and better and this year looks like it will be really magical. There is no mistaking that Ballarat is cold. Believe me, I went to school there for 8 years and my chilblains have barely recovered twenty years later. So having a winter Christmas in July, even if it is fake snow, is just perfect, because you will be cold, there will be little having to pretend about how cold it is.  

You can easily do a Ballarat day trip from Melbourne, but I think it might be worth staying over for the night if you can manage to. It looks like the light show is going to be well worth it.

Details Here: http://christmasinjuly.sovereignhill.com.au/experience

Head to the Beach!

We have long been groupies of Big4 Bellarine and we love it just as much in the winter. The indoor heated pool is cosy and warm and the nearby beaches are empty. You can run along them if that’s your thing, or rug up and just play on the sand. Surprisingly, the kids love the beach whether it is hot or not. Once you have enough sand in your gumboots for one day, just head back to the cabin, go for a bike ride, jump on those pelvic floor weakness alerting jumping pillows and have a lovely time.

Winter is off peak time, so prices are good, check it out here 

Indoor Water Park  - WaterMarc

Next on our list of day visits is the swimming pool at Watermarc.

With a heated pool, slides, and playgrounds that you can use no matter how crap the weather is. It’s a public pool so you won’t go broke just to enter and you can stay for as long as your kids want to play in the water, which for me is likely to be all day long.  I will be packing my own bathers, swimming for a few hours and eating hot chips for lunch. It’s kind of my perfect day, which the kids will just have to cope with.

Details for Watermarc here. 

CHECK OUT DISNEY ON ICE!

Disney On Ice presents Dare to Dream, and that it will be on at Hisense Arena from 2-6 July. 

This show is on every year and we have been for the last three. Every year the kids love it and last year Mr H came along too and really enjoyed it. He appreciated the fabulous skating skills of the actors and we all really enjoyed the show.


For 2015, Disney on Ice presents Dare to Dream! I am a bit of a dreamer type so I think this theme sounds like the best one so far.

It's a show filled with cute stuff, big life size mice who can skate on a thin piece of metal...I can't even stand up in ice skates, so I do think this is quite a thing.

 Plus...a horse, on ice skates! 

Tickets are available all over Australia and are on sale here for all the shows.

OR, just leave a comment on this blog post because I also have a family pass (that’s four tickets) for you to win right here. Entering could not be easier, just tell me one thing that you will be doing with the kids during July. 

TICKETS are for the show on FRIDAY 3 JULY, at 2.30pm, in MELBOURNE (HISENSE ARENA) you must be available to attend the show on this date. 

Comments Open Monday 1 July 2015 and close Sunday 14 June at 11.59pm

PLEASE LEAVE AN EMAIL THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU ON (please)

If this is still not enough suggestions, I had a few more last year too, you can read them in the post: Sorted: 10 Great Ideas for the Victorian July School Holidays.