Category Archives: Fun in Wellington

Fun Kids Activity: Exploring rock pools

Posted on by Mika
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We had a fun Playcentre trip to Whiteria Park, which is about 20 mins drive towards Titahi Bay from our place.

The road gets pretty narrow as you are winding around the hills. I had to practice my backing skills when a car came the other way!

When we arrived, the kids all went to the rock pools in search of creatures and treasures.

I found a crab underneath a rock. We were able to have a close look at the crab before letting it go.

My youngest is a collector, so she stopped and picked up shells on the seashore. Others used the spades to dig up the heavy wet sand.

The water was warm, so the children ventured in. They jumped the waves and waddled around.

The time passed quickly, and it was time for morning tea. We sat on our picnic blankets eating our kai (food) and enjoyed the sun on our faces. The children enjoyed the nice cold lemonade ice block that were given out. We heard a lot of “please” and “thank yous”. Ka pai! (Well done!)

Some of the children got changed into their togs so they could wade deeper into the shallow water.

Some of the children stayed behind and listened to books about the beach.

The children had a great time playing together, and enjoyed the water, sand and searching for sea creatures!

You may also enjoy:

I want it to be summer all year, and live at the beach

and this AWESOME book:

The Life-size Guide to the New Zealand Beach

Andrew Crowe provides the best reference books I have come across. The pictures are clear and are “life size” as in, they are photographed in their actual size…which means children (and adults!!) can quickly identify things found in rock pools and the beach. (His book in this series about insects is even better! I have refered to the book many times to get the correct name for butterflies and spiders etc!!)

Fun Kids Activity: Ferry Trip

Posted on by Mika
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I woke up this morning, and hubby was buzzing about the amazing weather.

He has always said, that if you want to run an event that relies on good weather, you should run it on the “Seven’s” Weekend in Wellington. For some reason, we ALWAYS seem to have amazing weather on those days!

The Seven’s is an international rugby competition of 7 a side rugby, instead of 15 aside. The games are also shorter. 

The Wellington ”Seven’s” have become more about the party atmosphere than the game itself. The best way to describe it is, “New Zealand’s version of Halloween….but for adults”! Grown men and women, dress up in all sorts of weird and wonderful costumes! Today I saw Little Red Riding Hood and a wolf strolling down together, I saw a man dressed up  in green like the little plastic army figurines. I saw a bunch of grown men dressed as teddy bears. (Look at the guys below and their wigs!)

Hubby had the great idea of going on the East by West Dominion Ferry today. The kids were so excited!

We drove to Eastborne, boarded the ferry and made our way around different stops in the Hutt Valley and Wellington Region.

We had so much fun!

I noticed my girls snuggled up to each other on the top deck. On closer inspection, they were actually playing shadow puppets on the side of the ferry!

When we arrived back in Eastbourne, we all just went to the beach and swam….in our clothes! The seats in the car got very wet on the way home ;)

Discovery Date: Cruising Able Smith Street

Posted on by Mika
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I gave my youngest daugther a hug and kiss good bye, as I dropped her off for her second drop off at Playcentre. What a big girl! What’s a childless girl to do in 2 1/2 hours…..laundry? pay some bills? baking? Oh! Maybe fit in a “discovery date“!

Today, I went to my first photography exhibition at Toi Poneke Gallery in Able Smith Street.

It must be great for the photographers to get their work showcased like this!

The exhibition is called ‘Locale’, and it is a group show of images created by Lynda Garrod, Shaun Matthews and Kirsty Woods. It is showing until 12th February.

Photograph by Kirsty Woods

Then I noticed this shop across the road:

Outside the sign said “One of everything”. I was intriged, so I went inside.

As I navigated my way to the back room, I found this!

The prices are a bit more expensive than an opportunity shop…but you can’t deny that this place probably has EVERYTHING! And it’s vintage baby! ;)

Oh my! Look what I found on the record shelf….Wham! Bananarama, Madonna, and Boy George!

These mugs look exactly like the ones my grandparents had!

 This is what I took home with me: 

Is it bad that I bought it and I didn’t know what I was going to put in it? I was thinking those big yarn/rope balls would look cool in it.

It nearly ended up as a fruit bowl, but then I got selfish and wanted to keep it in my room. So now it holds all my notebooks that are too pretty to stay hidden away in a drawer ;)  Half of the notebooks are from my friend Shelly. I get to remember her whenever I see them now.

At the shop, I was quite tempted to buy the old glass milk bottles. Remember how we used to get them delivered to our letterbox? Gosh that was so long ago! Remember the little tokens that you would buy from the dairy?!

Thanks for the memories David N White Gallery! 

Oh! Look what arrive in my letterbox today:

Kellie from “Mere Motherhood“ sent it to me all the way from America because I won a quiz she did on her blog. Look at her cuuuute personalised card! And check out the customs declaration form…she declared “yummy chocolate”! I like her! I like her a lot! hahaha! Thank you Kellie!

Family Tradition: Yummy Yum char

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If you have turned your back on restaurants because you now have young children that wouldn’t last past “getting the menu”, you may want to give Yum Char a go!

We have a family tradition of going to Yum Char on New Years Day with my extended family. It is a tradition that definitely does not fit under the New Years Resolution: Eat in moderation!

“Yum Char” is offered at specialised Chinese restaurants, usually during lunchtime. You sit at a table, and then a waiters brings a selection of food to you.  You get to choose whether you will take a plate or two, or wave them on. It is a continual flow of food. It is great if you like to try a little bit of everything, as each small plate contains 3 or 4 of each item.

The great things about yum char are:

  • no wait time! you don’t need to keep the children occupied while you wait for your order to be taken, wait for the food to arrive and wait for others to finish eating (can you tell we learned about yum char after doing it the hard way!).
  • a variety of food! crispy chicken drumsticks, spring rolls, stuffed eggplant, bbq pork buns…yum yum yum!
  • it is child friendly! it has a bustling atmosphere that you feel right at ease with your children.
  • and you get dessert come around while you are eating the main! you gotta love that! hehehe

At a Yum Char restaurants it is common to see families with young children, couples, bunches of teenagers all coming from different ethnic backgrounds.

So next time why not give yum char a go, and then come back and tell me all about it! Our favourite one at the moment is Grand Century in Wellington….always busy!

Beware of over spinning the lazy susan!

Family Traditions: Fish ‘n’ Chips by the Beach

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When Summer rolls around and it looks like the sun will stay radiant and warm during the evening, we try to head down to the beach to have a picnic dinner.

So today, we packed up the kids, picked up our fish ‘n’ chips and headed to Plimmerton Beach.

I watched over my youngest as she spent her time finding rocks.

(she has taken one to bed with her!)

She loved chasing the “mama duckies” (aka seagulls).

Hubby took the older kids into the water and had a great time.

Thanks Summer for gifting us with a beautiful evening ;)

Fun Kids Activity: Going to the Bush

Posted on by Mika
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Yesterday “Windy Wellington” lived up to its name, and served up a blustery summers day. The wind can be a bit annoying when you have children (and adults) with ants in their pants and cabin fever. Thankfully Wellington boasts numerous sheltered walkways and tracks that even a suburban mama like myself can tackle.

The walkway I chose is one of my favourites. When we first stumbled across it I just felt like I was in the Lord of the Rings….it felt magical. (Yes, I had hobbits on my brain, it was around the time of the world premire in Wellington after all!)

We only attempted a short portion of it last time, this time the kids and I got so high we could look over Johnsonville. (If you look really closely to the picture below, you can see the red roof of “The Warehouse”.)

I was so proud of the kids! They all did so well! (How is it that they have more energy than me?)

Reasons I love the bush:

  1. It is contained. The kids can’t run out onto the road! I just have to get the older kids to slow down every now and then.
  2. It is sheltered. We could hardly feel the wind, and the canopies sheltered us from the harsh sun.
  3. The kids are in their element. They just love it so much.
  4. It gives my kids super powers. I am not kidding you, my kids don’t seem to notice how far we have walked or how steep the incline is when we are in the bush.
  5. It feels good. Being in the outdoors, being close to nature, breathing the fresh air, feeling your muscles working seems to give you a natural high.
  6. It is flexible. There is no real destination, no real deadline. You can stop and rest, you can even turn around whenever you want.
  7. It doesn’t cost any money! Gotta love that.

Sun…Glorious Sun!

Posted on by Mika
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I realise that Christmas symbolises different things to different parts of the world. For example, I have been interested in the posts from American, England and Canada about “snow blizzards”, “school closures” and “scooping snow from the front of the house”. For us in New Zealand and Australia, Christmas is a time where we get to enjoy the sun, beach, and nature (I know weird huh!)

Yesterday was such a day….it was a beach day! We went to Scorching Bay for a swim and a picnic. Then we headed over to the playground by the beach in Petone. Scorching Bay has beautiful sand, perfect for building sand castles and lounging around on. Whereas the beach at Petone has great shells, stones and sticks. The kids enjoyed finding treasures there (swirly patterned rocks, clam shells, and sticks that became walking sticks, writing sticks and sticks to conduct music, or welcome a crowd at a circus “Ladies & Gentlemeeeeeen!”)

Here are some things I learned:

  • It takes a long time to find 5 togs (swimsuits), 5 towels, 5 sandles, 5 drink bottles, make lunch for 5 people, and put sunscreen on 5 bodies.
  • I am now comfortable taking 4 kids to the beach by myself. Not quite ready to brave the swimming pool solo.
  • The beaches weren’t as crowded as I thought they would be.
  • I love watching my kids play. I get warm fuzzies when they look out for each other.
  • It is difficult to take pictures and look after 4 kids. I gave up soon after we arrived, and decided to wait until we came to the beach with hubby.
  • The kids loved the idea of “sand blankets” to keep them warm after they finished swimming. (I had the kids lay down and I covered them with a layer of warm sand)
  • We stopped by the supermarket to pick up some ice cream. Ice cream was a great way to end our day!

My favourite part of the day was when I was on the swing with my youngest on my lap. I loved how she lay back on me as we swayed back and forth in the sunlight…..*bliss*

Discovery date: Photography session at Botanic Gardens

Posted on by Mika
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As I was planning my week on Monday, I decided that I would set aside time to have a “discovery date”. A discovery date is basically a couple of hours that you set aside to “discover” what things you like. It can also be a time to do something you love or which is just plain fun! I decided to call it a discovery date, because I am still on a journey to discover what things make me tick.

Once a week I have 2 1/2 hours where both my youngest children are at Playcentre. I thought this would be a perfect time to do my discovery date.

I haven’t had a chance to take photos lately, so I decided that I would go to the Botanic Gardens in Wellington to snap some shots. It was a lot of fun. I couldn’t wait to get home to see how they turned out.

Botanic Gardens, Wellington

Photo by Juggling Motherhood

16th Annual Wattie’s Cans Film Festival (NZ)

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Cans 

On Wednesday 28 October participating cinemas around New Zealand are allowing family and friends to attend selected movies for FREE in exchange for a can of food. (I got told that they accept cans from any brand, but they won’t accept rusted, dented or unlabeled cans)

Wattie’s are collecting for The Salvation Army Christmas Foodbank appeal. For every can the public donates Wattie’s matches can for can.

Simply swap a can of food for a movie ticket at participating cinemas from Monday 19th October – be in quick to secure your seat!

We’re going to the Night at the Museum 2 at Porirua, so we might see you there! For those who live in Wellington, here are movie and session times for the Cans Film Festival:

Skycity Cinemas Queensgate, Lower Hutt

Movie Info Line: (04) 586 8750
Level 2,
Westfield Queensgate,
45 Knights Rd,
Lower Hutt
Fax: (04) 586 8758
Email:  queensgate@skycitycinemas.co.nz

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Shorts
Hannah Montana: The Movie
Ice Age 3
Night At The Museum 2
Last Chance Harvey
Paul Blart: Mall Cop		 6pm
6.30pm
5.45pm
6.15pm
5.30pm
5.15pm
6.45pm

Reading Cinemas, Porirua

Movie Info Line: (04) 237 1070
North City Mall,
Porirua
Fax : (04) 237 1079

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Hannah Montana: The Movie
Ice Age 3
Night At The Museum 2
Paul Blart: Mall Cop		 5.30pm
6.15pm
6.00pm
5.45pm
6.30pm

The Embassy, Wellington

Movie Info Line: (04) 384 7657
10 Kent Terrace,
Wellington
Fax: (04) 385 9037
Email:  embassy@skycitycinemas.co.nz

Band SlamNOTE: this is shown on Saturday, 1 November 10am

Not in Wellington?

Please go to: http://www.watties.co.nz/pdf/Watties_Cans_Film_Schedule_%202009.pdf to see the list of participating cinemas and the films on offer.

Spending detox: Day 6

Posted on by Mika
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Today was the day that I had secretly been dreading. We usually go on a family outing on Saturday – were we going to be tempted to spend? Would all the week’s work go down the drain because of one day?

I looked up the word detox and in Wikipedia and it said that detox diets involves a change in consumption habits in an attempt to remove toxins from the body. This last week has been made me change some of my habits, and helped remove some of the toxic thoughts that were in my head like “just buy it”, “you need it”, “it will be fine” and finally “go for the activities that cost money, because they are the fun ones”.

How we spent day 6:

  • Had a lovely blissful sleep in courtesy of my hubby

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  • Went for a walk to a bush reserve near our house

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  • Went to see a horse in a nearby paddock
  • Had lunch at home
  • Went to our local school to ride bikes
  • Watched DD2′s DVD
  • DD2 and I had a nap together (I have no idea why I needed a nap after this morning’s sleep in?! DD2 doesn’t usually nap either? Can we blame it on the movie? Or maybe all the walking we did today?)
  • Hubby and DS4 made afternoon tea for us (DS4 was really getting into it, it was so cute!)
  • We all did a 15 minute tidy up of a stash basket we had accumulated things in during the week
  • Played red light, green light
  • Hubby made dinner HUBBY’S TEMPTATION: He wanted to go out and buy a sweet treat
  • We did drawings and crafts

MONEY SPENT TODAY: $0.00

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED TODAY:

  • I love it when we find win-win situations. Hubby and I decided that he  would look after the kids for part of the morning, then I looked after the kids while he went to volley ball.
  • You can make your own adventures. While hubby was at volley ball, the kids and I went for a walk. We have a bush reserve near our house, and one day my DS4 was leading the way and found/made a new path that lead to a horse paddock. The path he found/made was overgown with knee high plants, so each time we go through this path that “no one knows about” we all feel like it is a bit of an adventure as we step over the plants and climb up over a small hill to get to the paddock. The kids have named the horse Hony – pronounced ho-knee (it is the cross between pony and horse – aren’t kids creative!)
  • Sometimes it is good to be led by the kids’ interest. As I started to think about what we could do after lunch, my girls mentioned how they wanted to ride their bikes at their school. Perfect! That was our family outing for the day. Cost: Free!
  • To a child love is spelled T*I*M*E. This week has challenged some of my toxic thinking like “go for the activities that cost money, because they are the fun ones”. I now feel that as long as you are enjoying yourself as a family, any activity is a fun activity. Like today, hubby took the time to involve DS4 (Darling son aged 4) in the preparation of afternoon tea. DS4 helped distribute the fruit that hubby cut. He took orders from everyone on what spread they wanted on their toast. He helped choose what was for afternoon tea. Well, you should have seen the look on his face when he called us for afternoon tea…absolute pride! What made this magically moment even more touching, was when his sibling really showed appreciation to him for making their food *warm fuzzies!!*

You may also be interested in:

Is it possible to not spend any money during the school holidays?

Spending detox: Day 1

Spending detox: Day 2

Spending detox: Day 3

Spending detox: Day 4

Spending detox: Day 5

Lessons Learned & Spending detox: Day 7

Spending detox: Day 4

Posted on by Mika
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I’m not sure when everyone else in the blogging world writes their posts!?! I seem to be doing mine late at night.  I guess when you read what I have been up to today, you will understand why!

How we spent day 4:

  • Woke up to a tidy house. Thank you kids and hubby!
The Wind Chimes they made at the craft workshop & one of the balloon animals they got at the circus show

The Wind Chimes they made at the craft workshop & one of the balloon animals they got at the circus show

  • The girls made wind chimes at the hardware store kid’s clinic. TEMPTATION: A pack of two nightlights were calling my name “buy me, you know you want me, I would look so cool in your kid’s room!”)

Day 4 Sept Oct School Holidays 015

Day 4 Sept Oct School Holidays 026

  • Went to a beach that we haven’t been to before
  • Went home to get changed and have lunch. TEMPTATION: I was starting to feel a bit hungry on the drive back to our place. Had to talk myself out of stopping off at my favourite bakery and getting a sugar donut.

Day 4 Sept Oct School Holidays 030

  • Went and watched a juggling/circus act at the mall. TEMPTATION: Curse those mall ice creams! There’s just something about sitting together and having a relaxing snack to finish off an outing.

Day 4 Sept Oct School Holidays 037

  • The girls got taught how to do the diabolo in a workshop after the show. The younger kids and I enjoyed going up and down the escalators over and over again! TEMPTATION: There was a coin operated massage chair, that looked very inviting!
  • We got some balloon animals made after the show
  • DD6 won a $10 mall voucher at the show!

Day 4 Sept Oct School Holidays 044

DS4 looking a worms up close!

DS4 looking at worms up close!

  • On the way home we stopped by our local mall to go see the Science Roadshow. DD2 was in heaven unlocking and locking a larger than normal lock with a larger than normal key at an exhibit that showed how the inside of a key lock works. By the way! I didn’t even think about the mall ice creams! yay!!
  • We rented DD4′s free DVD
  • DD4 watched his DVD while the others pottered around
  • Had dinner at home
  • Hubby and I spent some lovely quality time together and had a nice dessert treat

MONEY SPENT TODAY: $0.00

MONEY GAINED TODAY: $10 DD6′s mall voucher, $45 supermakert voucher I got in the mail from my grocery loyalty points, $10 voucher for free online grocery delivery. TOTAL: $65 (We spend nothing, and gain $65! That’s crazy!)

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED TODAY:

  • Although we did a lot of things today, I felt like at any time, if things got to be too much, we could just go home and unwind. Once again this meant that there was no pressure or an expectation that we needed to do this or that. Since we had no real concrete plans, I would tell the children what we were doing next as we came to it (eg I wouldn’t tell them we were doing A, then B then C). That way there was room to really guage what activity would suit the mood of the children at that time.
  • Having an idea of what things are available to do in the area that you are in is helpful. Thanks to the research I did at the beinning of the week about what events were on and what activities to do, I always had a couple of options available on what to do next.
  • Being prepared and organised paid off, but there is always room for improvement. Packing food and water not only extends your outing (like I said in “day two“), but it means you are less likely to have to stop off and buy food – very helpful when you are on a spending detox! Going to the beach was another spur of the moment thing, so I had not packed any towels or swimsuits etc. The kids got a bit wet (some more than others), and because we weren’t too far from home, we just popped back home to get dressed. I’m thinking that having a couple of towels that lived in the car wouldn’t be a bad thing. I remember a couple of summers ago, the sand toys lived in the boot, because we were always going to the beach.
  • Sometimes you can make things work and sometimes you might have to revisit it another time. Once again the younger ones weren’t too interested in the craft workshop. Unfortunately the placement of the craft table was a little bit further from the play area and outside area. So trying to be with 2 sets of kids was proving to be a bit difficult, especially since the craft activity this time was a bit more tricky and needed more adult help. Thankfully a lovely grandma, assisted one of my daughters who was stuck. I thanked her thoroughly and she seemed happy to help. *bless!* I think this craft workshop is one that I will have to revisit when the kids get a bit older or I will have to get creative in how to manage the children (eg in the past my friend and I arranged to take turns taking the older children to an activity while the other stayed back with the younger children). Keeping the younger kids busy and happy by going up and down the escalator can definitely be counted as getting “creative”!
  • You feel a stronger family bond when you all pitch in and help out. There were times when the older girls would push the pram for me while I was holding DS4, or would help with food prep or everyone helped to clear the car of food and wet clothes etc. It just makes you feel a sense of togetherness.
  • The sun just makes me want to go outdoors! The weather was really bizarre this week. It seemed to know whenever we wanted to go out, and stayed nice for that duration of time! On Monday it poured down. On Tuesday it was nice for half the day (the part where we went out). On Wednesday it rained and was cold. Today it was sunny and warm for most of the day.
  • Even though kids are kids (and I had the sort of day that you would expect when you go out with children who are aged 8 through to 2), in the end, I feel like I had a great day with the kids! And that is a good feeling!

You may also be interested in:

Is it possible to not spend any money during the school holidays?

Spending detox: Day 1

Spending detox: Day 2

Spending detox: Day 3

Spending detox: Day 5

Spending detox: Day 6

Lessons Learned & Spending detox: Day 7

On the way home we stopped by our local mall to go see the Science Roadshow. DD2 was in heaven unlocking

Free activities to do with your children

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  1. Check out if there are any free activities at your local library. Sometimes they have story time, or special events during the school holidays.
  2. Check out if there are any events happening at your local mall.
  3. Bake some easy recipes with the kids like pikelets, rainbow cupcakes, pita bread/toast pizza etc.
  4. Make traffic light jelly.
  5. Arrange a playdate at a friend’s place or arrange to meet at a park.
  6. Go park hopping to your favourite parks or go on an adventure to a park that you have never been to before. You can usually find lists of playgrounds on your local council websites or take a look in your map.
  7. Have the kids help you make a picnic and go to the local airport and watch the planes take off.
  8. Time to get messy! Make your own playdough, gloop or fingerpaint and have fun!
  9. Go to your local kid friendly museum that doesn’t charge for parking!
  10. Get the children to help you make a family newsletter to email out to family and friends. Have them summarise what they have been doing lately (if they are old enough they can type it themselves, or you could ask prompting questions to your younger children.)
  11. Pack some water, a warm top and a snack and go on a nature walk. You could even bring some paper and crayons to do some bark rubbings and collect materials for a nature collage.
  12. Go bike riding/scootering/roller blading at the local school.
  13. Fill a sink up with soapy water and let them go for it.
  14. Get a paintbrush and bucket and let the kids “paint” the fence with water.
  15. Potions making. Provide a bowl, spoon and a selection of items from your pantry (flour, herbs, cocoa, essences) and items collected from the outdoors (flowers, grass, bark). Pretend to be magicians and make up silly spells.

Last updated: Monday, 28 Sept 2009

I will keep adding to this as I think of things.

Please share what fun things you like to do with your child/ren!

Free school holiday fun in Wellington (NZ)

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Did you know that it is possible to have fun and keep to a budget?! You can provide your children with exciting, new and fun experiences without having to fork out any money…here is how:

  • Rent a free DVD: Go to your local Video Ezy store and ask if they have a “Holiday Card”. This card allows one household a free kids weekly movie every day of the holidays (26 Sept – 11 Oct).
  • Attend a free show: Go dance and sing along with the NC Duck this week at 11am and 2pm from Mon 28 Sept – Fri 2 Oct. There will also be a night show on Thur 1 Oct at 6pm. http://www.northcityshopping.co.nz/duck-web
  • Watch some circus acts: Go and see the amazing circus acts at Westfield, Queensgate, Lower Hutt at 1.30pm, Mon 28 Sept – Fri 2 Oct. Monday 28 – Diabolo, Tuesday 29 – Juggling, Wednesday 30 – Devil Sticks, Thursday 1  – Spinning Plates, Friday 2 – Juggling. http://westfield.co.nz/queensgate/news/ItsCircusTime.html
  • Watch a funny magic show: Zappo the magician and his assistant Zappolina will be visiting the Johnsonville Mall to perform two shows daily at 11 am and 1pm  from Monday 5 Oct – Friday 9 Oct. They are also launching their album “Wibbly Wobbly”.
  • Go to a craft workshop: That will cost money, I hear you say, not at Bunnings! They have Kids DIY Clinics where they do lots of creative activities. This school holidays their theme is “Craft in the Garden”. Workshops are free for children over the age of 5 and must be accompanied by an adult. Bookings are essential for all classes, you need to contact your local Bunnings store (Naenae or Porirua) to register.  http://www.bunnings.co.nz/learn-how-to-DIY_kids-diy-clinics.aspx

Let me know if you know of any other free events around Wellington!