Transform your children’s summer school holidays into a journey of discovery as Sydney’s cultural institutions come alive with workshops, performances and exhibitions. Feel the buzz of creativity in art galleries, witness history breathe in museums and join in the collective joy of live performances. 

Widen their world with a workshop 

Many of Sydney’s major cultural institutions offer interactive and immersive workshops during the summer school holidays – often themed to blockbuster exhibitions. Step into a world of colour and creativity at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on the weekend of 18–19 January, when the Hive Festival celebrates art-making and storytelling via workshops and demonstrations. (There are more Hive Festival events at the Blacktown Arts centre in Blacktown.)  

The AGNSW hosts plenty of other drop-in workshops for kids throughout January. Marvel at how quickly your kids go from mucking up to mesmerised as they begin making a sticker collage at a Collaging with Claudia Nicholson workshop. These free workshops are inspired by the gallery’s Magritte exhibition and are held each Wednesday afternoon.  

Or watch on in pride as your little ones add their own stitched designs to Alice Springs artist Grace Kemarre Robinya’s desert landscape wall in a daily drop-in workshop as part of the  AGNSW exhibition Kwatja Kngarritja Tnyirlalhama (Big Rain Falling).  

Stand together in hushed amazement as you take in the sweeping canvases of Ethiopian-American visual artist Julie Mehretu, one of the world’s most acclaimed living painters, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in The Rocks. The whole family will be spellbound by Julie Mehretu: A Transcore of the Radical Imaginatory, which features 36 of the artist’s paintings as well as more than 50 works on paper. 

While they’re buzzing with inspiration, take them to the free Drawn Together drop-in workshop at the MCA’s all-ages activity space (open daily except Tuesdays) to follow in Julie Mehretu’s footsteps and experiment with canvas, crayons and collage. 

Unleash your child’s artistic spirit at the Sydney Opera House’s Centre for Creativity, where the immersive sculptural installation Colour In Worlds is filled with myriad surfaces waiting for kids aged four and older to bring to life in vivid colours (3–15 January, with sensory sessions 7 January and 14 January).  

Be transported back to your own childhood as you watch your kids discover the power of creativity during a session of stop-motion, claymation and digital animations at the Sydney Opera House’s London International Animation Festival, 17–19 January. (There are four sessions each day of the festival, with works for younger kids in the morning and films for older kids in the afternoon and evening.) Look on with amazement as they experiment with animation techniques at the free Flipbook Animation Creation Station running during the festival. Or give them the opportunity to learn visual storytelling from expert mentors at a Stop Motion Animation Workshop, for kids aged 6–14. 

Spark lifelong passions with the Australian Museum’s impressive school holidays program for kids aged 5–12. Alongside free entry to the museum’s permanent collection and Burra learning and play space, your kids can discover how to use colour to control robots in a STEM Together: Controlling Colour workshop. Or hold their hands and plunge into the immersive Machu Picchu and the Golden Empires of Peru experience to get up close to priceless artefacts from an ancient past. Then follow Paddington’s Peruvian Trail through the museum to go in the running to win Paddington in Peru prize packs.  

Witness the future as young minds grasp fundamental concepts during coding and robotics workshops at the Powerhouse Castle Hill. Peer into the Powerhouse’s large object storage area to spot relics of the industrial past, time your visit to catch the daily Mars Rover demonstration, and check out the exhibitions at the adjacent Museums Discovery Centre. 

Take them on a captivating tour 

Awaken your children’s sense of wonder at the majestic State Library of New South Wales. Ascend the grand stone steps, pass through the imposing entrance and watch them gaze up at the incredible glass ceiling of the Mitchell Library Reading Room. Listen closely as stories of the past echo through the halls of this historic institution during a daily Family Library tour, from 20–24 January.  

Recharge with some quiet time reading Australian and international children’s books in the Family Room, for under-fives, and The Children’s Library for under-16s, before taking in landscape and portrait paintings from the State Library’s unique collection of Australian art. 

Leave the digital devices behind and step back through the centuries at some of Sydney’s historic houses these school holidays. At the 18th-century Elizabeth Farm at Rosehill, near Parramatta, your kids can experience a completely different way of life in the Wednesday History Kids sessions. Watch them transform as they dress up in period costumes and take on roles as family servants in the oldest surviving European building in Australia. There are also History Kids sessions on Thursdays in January at Vaucluse House, a 19th-century mansion in the harbourside suburb of Vaucluse.  

Join cultural educators from Dharug Aboriginal social enterprise Muru Mittigar to learn traditional basket weaving techniques at the 19th-century Rouse Hill Estate near Blacktown. There are two sessions, on 19 January and 9 February, where you can make your own basket to take home as a souvenir. You can also meet the sheep, horses and chickens living on the estate on a Meet the Animals tour each Sunday during school holidays, and make your own Lego farm buildings. 

Ignite curiosity at a Sydney Festival event  

Open windows to new worlds when you take your kids to a Sydney Festival event – there are more than 130 events to enjoy across the city from 4–26 January.  

Join in the fun at free events such as the Sydney Trapeze School’s Swing! Circus at Darling Harbour (daily 4–25 January except Mondays), where your little ones can thrill to the daring acrobats and learn to juggle and spin plates in free drop-in circus workshops. Or help puppeteers bring The Whale, a large-scale whale puppet installation, to life at Bondi Beach’s Bondi Pavilion Courtyard, from 4–12 January.  

You can also make memories at paid Sydney Festival events such as the Colour Maze interactive playground, at Pier2/3 in Walsh Bay, and Animal, a surreal, acrobatic take on farm life by Canada’s Cirque Alfonse, at Parramatta’s Riverside Theatres. 

Celebrate Australia Day your way 

Marking the end of Sydney Festival and signposting the last carefree days of the summer school holidays, Australia Day in Sydney is packed with events the kids will never forget. Circular Quay is the focus of many activities on 26 January, from the maritime events of Harbourfest to the free night-time Australia Day Live 2025 concert. Check the Australia Day Live website in mid-January for your chance to obtain free tickets to the seated area at the Sydney Opera House forecourt, or gather at the quay to enjoy the fireworks displays and watch the musicians perform on stage via big screens. 

Celebrate the strength of Aboriginal arts, music and culture on 26 January at Blak Powerhouse, at Sydney University’s Manning Bar. A collaboration between Indigenous social enterprise We Are Warriors and the Powerhouse Museum, this all-ages community event features live music, dance, films, market stalls with First Nation creatives, and food trucks. (Entry is free, on a first-come, first-admitted basis.) 

Feel a sense of community at a sporting event 

Show your kids how sport is very much a cultural practice as they become one with the crowd at a major sporting event. Join the chorus of cheers as Australia’s all-conquering women’s team walks out onto the picturesque North Sydney Oval on 12 January to kick off their campaign to retain the Ashes in the CommBank Women’s Ashes 1st ODI Australia v England. And be there to lend your voice to the crowd at the Sydney Cricket Ground when the team returns for the CommBank Women’s Ashes 1st T20I Australia v England on 20 January.  

Soak up the magical atmosphere as rugby league’s most talented Indigenous and Māori players gather at Parramatta’s CommBank Stadium for the thrilling action of the NRL Harvey Norman All Stars on 15 February. Thrill as the crowd falls silent while the Indigenous team accepts the challenge of the Māori haka in this annual celebration of cultural pride. The action kicks off with a touch football game and a clash between the women’s teams before the men’s Indigenous All Stars take on the Aotearoa New Zealand Māori All Stars. 

Instil lifelong cultural values such as fair play, perseverance and collective achievement while enjoying an outdoors adventure at one of the state’s sport and recreation centres. The school holiday program includes day camps in Berry on the South Coast and an adventure camp on Milson Island in the Hawkesbury.  

These centres also offer great last-minute school holiday accommodation options. Relish the freedom to spread out across 63 hectares of lakeside bushland at Lake Burrendong Sport and Recreation Centre between Orange and Dubbo in the Central West; cool off in the Snowy Mountains high country at Jindabyne Sport and Recreation Centre; or splash around in a tea-coloured lake at the beachside Lake Ainsworth Sport and Recreation Centre, in Lennox Head on the North Coast.