School’s out for Spring and kids all over the country are celebrating their freedom… while their parents wonder how to keep them entertained for two weeks. Here on the Gold Coast we’ve got it covered with a huge range of attractions, entertainment and holiday activities.
There are cool arts and culture experiences, wildlife encounters, theme park fun and lots, lots more! Show the kids this blog and let them choose their own Gold Coast adventure these school holidays.
Kids Take Over at HOTA: Sept 17 - 26
Let little imaginations run wild at HOTA’s children’s festival, Kids Take Over. There’s free movies, a fabulous theatre adaptation of James and the Giant Peach, creative workshops, Lego battles, art classes, cooking classes and Mini Marketeers, where budding entrepreneurs can showcase their creativity and business skills.
The extensive program of free and ticketed events caters for kids aged 3 - 12, Kids Take Over is the ultimate holiday activity for creative kids (ie all of them!).
Location: HOTA (Home of the Arts) 135 Bundall Rd, Surfers Paradise
Swell Sculpture Festival: Sept 6 – 15
Currumbin Beach is a beautiful spot to visit any time of year but for one week in September, this beautiful stretch of sand is transformed into an outdoor art gallery showcasing over 60 large scale sculptures. Yep, SWELL is back in town for the September school hols and the kids’ program is packed with fun activities like different kinds of craft workshops, games, live music and a scavenger hunt.
Pack the togs, towels, surf boards and snacks and spend a morning or an afternoon exploring sculptures, building sandcastles and have the best beach day with a side of art and culture.
Location: Pacific Parade, Currumbin
Gold Coast Free Holiday Activities
In good news to parents all over the city, City of Gold Coast provides awesome free holiday programs to keep kids entertained. Over the Sept/ October school holidays they include classes on woodwork and bike skills, a huge range of NaturallyGC workshops about different kinds of creatures, reptiles and marine life, Indigenous art and culture experiences, a boat tour in the Broadwater aboard the HOPO ferry and Lego sessions… just to name a few!
Most of these activities are completely free but you do need to register online. And while there are different activities for different ages, most of them are suitable for kids between 5 - 12. Check out the extensive program here.
Imaginator Gold Coast
This cool multisensory experience is a kaleidoscopic fusion of imagination, technology and audiovisual effects. Imaginator has been designed for grown ups and kids to experience together - a place that invites curiosity, presence, connection and play.
Experience a series of walk-through immersive installations that combine art, digital design, illumination and sensory experiments with light, colour, screen and sound. It’s soothing, mesmerising and a magical activity to share with the kids these school hols. The whole thing takes about an hour and is a great option on rainy days.
Location: 3241 Surfers Paradise Blvd, Surfers Paradise
Dreamworld Country Fair: Sept 21 - Oct 6
Round up the family for a day at the Dreamworld Country Fair. Dreamworld’s annual celebration of all things country is back for the September school hols.
Along with the regular rides, slides, wildlife and entertainment there’s a whole lot of extra fun on offer in the form of a petting zoo with adorable farmyard animals, sideshow alley with show bags and carnival games, and country-themed entertainment, including an exclusive concert by country music star, Casey Barnes on October 5th. Yeeehaa!
Location: Dreamworld Parkway, Coomera
Holiday Fun at Pacific Fair: Sept 6 - 29
Combine some shopping with school holiday fun at Pacific Fair! On Saturdays, Sundays and Thursdays in September the world famous acrobats from ARC Circus will be performing an incredible 20-minute show featuring acrobatics, juggling, unicyling and more. These performances will take place in The Resort, around a incredible backdrop of Evanescent Bubbles, in partnership with SWELL Sculpture Festival.
From Sept 6 - 29 kids will be wowed by a larger than life installation of large-scale bubble like sculptures. They’ll love this immersive experience where the shiny bubbles come to life through light, colour and sound. Find out more about performance times here.
Location: 32 Hooker Blvd, Broadbeach Waters
September School Holidays at Paradise Centre: Sept 13 - 29
The vibes will be high these school holidays at Paradise Centre with heaps of free activities to keep the kids happy. Open from 9am until late daily, you’ll holiday entertainment like axe throwing, escape rooms, Time Zone and bowling. Keep the crew well fed at family-friendly dining options like Hero Sushi, Wahlburgers, El Camino Cantina, TGI Fridays and Gelato Messina.
On Fridays and Saturdays between 5 - 8pm Paradise Centre there’s fire twirlers putting on jaw dropping performances, a live DJ spinning tunes in the beachfront dining precinct and neon body painters that can transform kids into a glow-in-the-dark work of art. With the beautiful Surfers Paradise beach right across the road, the family will be all set for a great day out.
Location: 2 Cavill Ave, Surfers Paradise
Mountview Alpaca Farm
Located in the grounds of O’Reilly’s Canungra Valley Vineyard, Mountview Alpaca Farm is the ideal destination for holiday fun, especially if your kids are mad about animals. Here, they’ll be allocated a furry friend for a fully interactive hands-on experience where they’ll get to wander the scenic property with an alpaca on a lead and a bag of food. Kids are in heaven as they get to walk and feed their alpaca and give them lots of love and pats.
You can stroll along the pretty creek that runs through the property or wander through the grapevines. Take advantage of package deals that include pizzas or a picnic lunch and make a day of it in the Hinterland.
Location: 852 Lamington National Park Rd, Canungra
Whale Watching
The September school holidays are during whale watching season, so all aboard for an activity that will make a lasting impression. There are numerous operators providing whale watching tours and an up close encounter with these magnificent aquatic mammals is awe-inspiring, humbling and exhilarating.
One major advantage of Gold Coast whale watching is that there’s very little travel time involved - once you leave the dock you’ll be out in the ocean within 15 minutes. This is great news for parents with little people impatient to see all the action. It also means you can go for an early morning whale watching tour and be back on land before lunch with the rest of your day to spend at your leisure, relaxing, shopping or exploring Gold Coast’s other attractions.
Need more ideas for the school holidays? Check out our Family Friendly Guide to the Gold Coast Hinterland.
THE LATEST
News
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY
Experience Gold Coast acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we are situated, the Kombumerri families of the Yugambeh Language Region.
We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging, and recognise their continuing connections to the lands, waters and their extended communities throughout Southeast Queensland.