Big Day Out

Not officially the first day of school holidays but near enough, we had a great day in town today...accidently. You see we went out for brunch and then as we were heading home, our one year old was tired enough to fall asleep. Don't normally aim to get the kids so tired they sleep in the car, but today I was kinda hoping that he would.

I bargained with the girls that if they could refrain from singing their twinkle-twinkle-old-macdonald mega mix at the top of their lungs and he were able to fall asleep before we hit the freeway, then perhaps we would go somewhere fun.
It worked. My darling boy asleep & my darling girls quiete. Suddenly I panicked though...Master organiser and over crammer; I had a whole day to fill with no immediate ideas. As it was a little dreary outside but not freezing, my idea had to meet certain criteria: had to be focused on the kids, so the markets were out; had to be outdoorsy but be semi covered in the likely event of rain- so the parks were out (and kind of done to death), ummm... Then I remembered a great website called Little Melbourne that I have been scanning as the approach to school holidays got faster and faster. They had an idea... The National Gallery Of Victoria had a Kids Corner & Kids Space that was free and interactive.

It had been a while since we had been into the city - in fact I think it was during the Moomba festivities and we were on the other side of the bridge, so the kids loved that there was money in the fountain, but more so, that there was water running down a wall.

Shaan prehaps wasn't so sure...

The kids corner is literally a corner of the gallery dedicated to kids of all ages with varying themes from time to time. The current theme was Kaleidescope; colrs and shapes.



Some of the activities were things you could do at home, but because the entire space was theme dedicated my kids went shape & color crazy. They especially LOVED these colored lights that were sensored & followed you leaving a trail of light on the carpet below where ever you had moved. Had my girls running in circles for at least 30 minutes. Brilliant!

After a good two hours, we went out into the gardens for a walk around and spotted some lions...

After a great day out we were all getting cold & tired ...

Lots of ways to keep entertained for free these holi's. Hope you enjoy yours too.