As the school holidays approach for Perth school kids again, as parents we all start scratching our heads for activities to keep the kids entertained, off the couch and out of our hair. So, to help you come up with some fun, exciting activities that your kids will love we have made a great checklist of school holiday activities in Perth that you can schedule into your holiday calendar.

Outdoor Activities

We all want our kids to stay active and healthy during the holidays so finding some great outdoor activities is the ideal way to stop them from becoming couch potatoes for a few weeks.

Australian Sports Camps

Australian Sports Camps are one of Australia’s leading holiday sport camp organisations. Every school holidays they run a range of great sporting camps that cover all types of sport including:

• Basketball Camps
• Cricket Camps
• Football Camps
• Hockey Camps
• Karate Programs
• Netball Camps
• Rugby League Camps
• Rugby Union Camps
• Soccer Camps
• Tennis Camps

Each camp is run by experienced, fully accredited coaches who are highly respected within their chosen sport. Furthermore, camp participants will also have regular visit from professional athletes which the kids just love. Most camps run for 3 days making it a great option for busy parents who are looking for suitable supervision during the school holidays. In addition, they also have the option of sleep over camps. The camps are available for kids between 6-16 years of age and welcome all skill levels from beginners just learning the basics, to advanced young sports boys and girls looking for some specialist skills development coaching. For more information and dates for upcoming camps visit www.australiansportscamps.com.au

Kids Nature Club

Kids Nature Club provides great outdoor nature based school holiday programs in local bushland and natural environments surrounding Perth. Furthermore, the program offers a drop and leave style school holiday program, which provides a great option when you need qualified supervision for your kids. Kids will enjoy

• Walks through nature
• Wildlife spotting and
• Tree climbing
• Kite flying,
• Building nature forts
• Creating rock pets, gumnut friends, nature wands and nature art masterpieces.

In addition, they also have programs that include slacklining, juggling, ropes course and many more fun activities. Kids Nature Club is for kids aged 4-12 and for more information on dates and booking please visit: www.kidsnatureclub.com.au

Nature Play Out Day

Nature Play Day Out is committed to getting kids outdoors and being active.  Therefore, programs are designed so the kids can lead the way. Whilst the activities are lots of fun they also incorporate elements of creativity, problem solving, adventuring to educate and help to expose kids to new and exciting things they have never done before such as:

• Building a fort, the size of your house
• Wading through the shallows of the river to see what interesting things they can find
• Making and flying their very own kite
• Creating mud pies with our good friends from Educated by Nature

Held in the stunning setting of Matilda Bay the Nature Play Day Out is a must for all Perth families these school holidays. For more information or to book, visit www.natureplaywa.org.au/nature-play-out-day

Perth Zoo

Every kid loves a day out at the zoo and the Perth Zoo is Australia’s best small zoo that is full of wondrous and endangered animals such as:

• Lions
• Elephants
• Giraffes
• Rhinoceros
• Zebra
• Tigers
• Orangutan
• Snakes
• Monkeys
• And many more native and exotic species

The Perth Zoo is open every single day from 9am to 5pm.  So, get the family together and come along for an experience the kids will remember forever. Also, for more information, or to buy tickets visit www.perthzoo.wa.gov.au

School Holiday Workshops

Here are some great workshops held throughout the school holidays that kids just love.

Art Space Collective

The Art Space Collective is in Scarborough and has fast become a cultural hub for creativity and art. They offer many great workshops throughout the year including on school holidays, making it a great day out for the family. Here is a list of some of the workshops provided during the school holidays:

Screen-printing Skateboards

Kids Workshop (Age 10+) Mon 3 July @ 10:00 am – 2:00 pm  

Kids Terrarium Workshop

(Ages 6-10) Tue 4 July @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm  

Portrait Fun

(Ages 5-8) Wed 5 July @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm  

“If I were a Robot”

(Ages 4-8) Wed 5 July @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm  

A Very Arty Day @ The Art Space Collective

TRY – A Very Arty Day with ‘Art of Resilience’ (Age 6-12) Thu 6 July @ 10:00 am – 3:00 pm  

A Very Arty Day @ The Art Space Collective

TRY – A Very Arty Day with ‘Art of Resilience’ (Age 6-12) Fri 7 July @ 10:00 am – 3:00 pm  

Thought Challengers Program

Be a Mistake Maker! (Age 6-12) Mon 10 July @ 9:00 am – 4:30 pm   Secret Garden Initial (Ages 9+) Wed 12 July @ 10:00 am – 3:00 pm  

Creative Photography

with ‘Camera Story’ Thu 13 July @ 10:00 am – 2:00 pm For more information and bookings visit www.theartspacecollective.com

Tech Camps

Perfect for kids that love technology and gadgets, Fire Tech Camp’s holiday camps are run throughout all school holidays. Most notably, these camps gives kids the opportunity to learn, design and build amazing things with their own hands and covers fields such as programming, engineering, design, making and the digital arts.

Upcoming School Holiday Tech Camps

Upcoming tech camps include:

Minecraft Design Programs:

• Modding Minecraft with Java – 1 Day Course Become a part of the incredible modding community by using one of the most popular and exciting games on the planet — Minecraft!
• Mini Minecraft Maker – 2 Day Course Become a maker using one of the most popular and exciting games on the planet – Minecraft!
• Minecraft Maker – 4 Day Course Become a maker using one of the most popular and exciting games on the planet – Minecraft! Create your own world, blocks, structures and even a physical controller.

Digital Arts Programs:

• Digital Music – 2 Day Course Unleash your inner producer with the Digital Music Production course!
• Video Game Design – 2 Day Course Love video games? Learn to build them with our exciting game design course!
• Let’s Make, Let’s Plays (YouTube) – 1 Day Course Learn how to use YouTube, recording software, understanding the basics techniques and how to grow your audience!

Programming/Engineering Programs:

• Robotics with Ozobot – 1 Day Course Explore engineering and aerodynamics while building and piloting drones using virtual reality goggles!
• Building and Racing Drones – 2 Day Course Explore engineering and aerodynamics while building and piloting drones using virtual reality goggles!
• Constructing Electronics – 2 Day Course This is where electronics and computer programming meet, to create exciting sensors and devices that interact with the world around you!!
• Games with Unity 3D – 4 Day Course Learn to build games using Unity 3D.  Which is an industry standard game engine, while learning to code in C#.
• Mobile App Design – 2 Day Course Learn to design and implement applications for all mobile devices!

There you have it! Loads of ideas and activities to keep the kids entertained these school holidays.  In conclusion, with all this and more to do during the school holidays, there should be no reason to hear that dreaded phrase “I’m bored” coming from your kid’s mouth. Featured Image Editorial credit:  / Shutterstock.com