The spring school holidays are here and we’ve found the best-of-the-best school holiday camps and events happening across the Central Coast and nearby region!
Meet Bluey and Bingo at the Australian Reptile Park, go orange picking, see Tinkerbell in the Royal Botanic Gardens and get set for some wet, muddy fun at Raw Challenge’s holiday obstacle days!
Looking for a holiday camp? Your kids will learn awesome skills, be active and have a blast at these soccer camps (offering 10%+ off), leadership camps, ninja camps, circus camps, Christian camps and sporting camps these spring holidays. In great news, too, the camps range from 1 hour to all day long!
Read on to ensure your holidays are the best they can be.
Plus, enter our competition below for the chance to WIN your Santa photos or a family Christmas Wonderland portrait session with Natural Lights Photography! It’s our early Christmas gift to you! Scroll down to enter.
See the Bluey Live Interactive Experience at Australian Reptile Park these holidays!
We have HUGE news! Bluey and Bingo are coming to the Australian Reptile Park these school holidays! For Real Life, right!
The Bluey Live Interactive Experience will be happening every day these spring school holidays and it’s FREE with your zoo entry ticket! In this fun interactive experience you’ll get to play Magic Asparagus, Magic Xylophone, Keepy Uppy and more with your favourite Heeler pups.
Plus, you can meet, greet and get a photo taken with both Bluey and Bingo! This is going to blow your little ones’ minds.
Adults, before you reach for the camera, please note you need to pre-book your meet and greet before you arrive at the Australian Reptile Park. There are limited spots available, so don’t dilly dally on this.
And, better still, along with meeting Australia’s most famous pups, you’ll meet the Australian Reptile Park’s myriad animals, including their new dingo pups.
The Australian Reptile Park is home to koalas, alligators, platypuses, echidnas, cassowaries, Galapagos tortoises, wombats, Komodo dragons, tawny frogmouths and eyelash vipers. You’ll see chameleons, Tasmanian devils, a pig-nosed turtle, tarantulas, death adders, Mexican fireleg tarantulas and so much more.
What makes the Australian Reptile Park really special and unique is its huge number of daily live animal shows and animal meet and greets. These holidays they’ve packed out the calendar to include Elvis the Crocodile Shows, Tasmanian Devil Talks, Komodo Dragon Walks, Koala Talks, Lorikeet Feeding, Reptile Shows and more. See the full schedule here.
As if that all wasn’t enough, these school holidays, they’ll also have free face painting and a free jumping castle open (10am to 3pm) every day for the kids.
Australian Reptile Park
Where: Australian Reptile Park, Pacific Highway, Somersby.
When: The Australian Reptile Park is open every day. The Bluey Live Interactive Experience will run every day from Saturday 28 September to Sunday 13 October 2024.
Times: The Bluey Live Interactive Experience will occur daily at 10:30am and 1:30pm in the Main Park area |Meet and greet Bluey and Bingo daily at 11:30am or 12:30pm (prebookings needed) | The Australian Reptile Park is open 9am-5pm.
Cost: The Bluey Live Interactive Experience is FREE with your zoo entry ticket. See Australian Reptile Park’s website for ticket options (tip: check out their annual passes, so you can attend multiple times for a fraction of the daily rate).
Contact: For more details, visit their website or phone +612 4340 1022.
Orange Picking at Cedar Farm, Dooralong
Looking for a fun, cheap – and tasty – activity this Spring? Head to Cedar Farm in Dooralong for a farm-friendly, orange-picking adventure these school holidays! Kids will have oodles of fun hunting for the biggest, ripest Valencia oranges throughout the 15 acres of orchards amid the beautiful foothills of Wyong State Forest.
Open for navel orange picking throughout the winter months and for Valencia picking in Spring, Cedar Farm Doralong’s offerings have recently expanded. As well as wandering their orchards picking delicious juicy oranges straight from the trees, you can now also take a pony ride and enjoy a hay trailer ride!
You’re welcome to make a day of it and BYO picnic lunch, but in awesome news, the orchard also now also hosts regular Rotary sausage sizzles.
This is such a wholesome way to spend a day with family or friends. Grab your gumboots and get set for a memorable day of farm and orange-picking fun!
Playing in Puddles visited; read our feature here.
When: The farm will be open every day throughout the Spring school holidays from 10am – 4pm. Pony rides are from 10am-2.30pm.
Where: 48 Dittons Road, Dooralong.
Age Group: All ages will have fun at Cedar Farm!
Cost: Oranges are $1.75 a kilo. Juicing is $1.00 per litre. Pony rides $10. There is no entry fee.
Tip and Contact: Always check their facebook page – Pick your own oranges Dooralong – before heading to the farm.
10% off The Football Grounds full-day school holiday camps, Erina
Have a kid who’s soccer mad? Us too.
Soccer is HUGE at the moment. With the Mariners taking out the A-League championships for the 2nd year in a row, it feels like every local Coastie kid wants to be the next Ronaldo. AND, guess what? We’ve found a program that can help that happen: The Football Grounds.
Every school holiday, The Football Grounds runs full-day soccer camps for kids aged 5-15. The focus here is on ensuring kids have fun while also honing their skills. Throughout the day they’ll do team-bonding games, agility games/courses and drills that improve their soccer skills. It’s learning in an environment that’s encouraging and fun: there ain’t no drill sergeants.
This spring they’re running camps across six days. Here’s why we love the classes and we know you’ll love them too:
- They’re held indoors in Erina, so great in rain or scorching heat.
- They run 9am-3pm (great for working parents).
- These camps are SUPER flexible! You can do 1 day, 2 days, 3 days… heck, you can do all 6 days if you want to.
- They offer a multi-day discount, so the more days you do, the cheaper it is!
- You can choose the exact dates you want to do. This kind of flexibility is so awesomely helpful for parents trying to manage the school holiday juggle of activities!
- The children are separated into suitable age/ability groups (and they keep friends together).
Plus, right now The Footbal Grounds are offering Playing in Puddles’ readers 10% off their school holiday camps and term-time soccer classes! To read more about their term-time classes, which occur at Pluim Park Lisarow’s FIFA-approved synthetic pitches, click here.
The Football Grounds holiday camps
Where: Central Coast Adventist School Erina.
Age group: Kids aged 5-15.
When: Camps run 9am-3pm. Mon 30 Sept, Tues 1 Oct, Wed 2 Oct, Wed 9 Oct, Thur 10 Oct, Fri 11 Oct 2024.
Cost: One day $70 | Two days (save $15) $125 | Three days (save $35) $175 | Four days (save $55) $225 | Five days (save $75)) $275 | Six days (save $95) $325.
Discounts! Enter Code “PIP10” to receive 10% off their 1-day spring school holiday camps. If you’re booking for 2 or more days, use the TFG discount codes on the registration page, as that way you’ll get an even bigger discount.
Contact: For more details, visit their website or get in touch via phone 0481 002 524 or email [email protected]
CRU Coast Day Camp at Narara Valley Baptist Church
CRU Coast is back for a fabulous week of fun these school holidays! CRU comes to the Coast only once each year, so NOW is your opportunity to experience it!
At CRU’s four-day camps kids can participate in fun, outdoor activities and explore a Christian worldview, while still going home each evening. The week is jam-packed with activities that’ll keep your kids’ minds and bodies busy, happy and entertained:
- A one-day excursion to the CRU Lake Mac campsite for a day of archery, rock climbing, laser tag and the cave maze!
- Play Scooter Ball! If you haven’t ridden a scooter board, you’re missing out! At camp, kids will get the chance to do scooter board races and play scooter ball – a game where they roll about on scooter boards while passing light-weight balls to their teammates to score as many points as possible. It’s pretty addictive.
- Laser tag for years 3-6 and Nerf tag for the younger kids! Compete in challenges and have a giggle through games such as ‘Capture the flag’.
- Sing, play games and learn about God in CRU’s open and trusting Christian Discovery sessions. It’s a great way for kids to explore the Christian faith in a fun environment.
- Experience their Carnival complete with jumping castle, face painting, tackle the ring toss, have a go at the egg and spoon race and win a balloon animal!
- A splash tunnel inflatable slide, water games, Ezyrollers, Craft, LEGO, and much more.
Parents, there are lots of reasons why you’ll love your kids attending a CRU Camp:
- Unlike most camps, CRU Coast runs for the full work day – 8am-6pm – and not just school hours! Awesome right. It saves you having to arrange plays dates and pick ups and babysitters and all that other juggling jazz.
- Morning and afternoon tea is provided each day, and a pizza lunch is free on the final day.
- They have a high ratio of staff: 1 leader for every five campers. This is far higher than vacation care centres.
- On Friday, parents and family members are invited to the “Camp Finale” where your kids can show off some of the things they’ve done on camp and you can see a photo slideshow of the week.
Remember, CRU visits the Coast just once each year, so don’t miss out on booking these holidays.
CRU Coast Camp
When: Four full days: Tuesday 8 October to Friday 11 October 2024. The program will start each day at 9am and run until 5pm (drop off from 8am-9am and pick up from 5pm-6pm).
Where: Narara Valley Baptist Church, 149 Narara Valley Dr, Narara.
Age Group: Kids in years kindy to year 6.
Inclusions: The excursion day, morning and afternoon tea each day, Friday pizza lunch.
Cost: $249 (online price) for the four days.
Contact: For more details, visit the CRU Coast website.
Raw Challenge’s spring school holiday camps, Doyalson
Raw Challenge! We missed it over winter and we’re so excited to share that it’s back these spring school holidays!
We love a school holiday activity that gives families flexibility and options – and Raw Challenge delivers it in bucketloads.
At Raw Challenge’s school holiday program, you have three options:
+ Drop your kids and run.
+ Stay ‘n’ play and join in on the fun.
+ Walk, watch and cheer from the sideline.
How awesome is that!
Across 3.5 fun-filled hours, your kids will conquer 25-30 EPIC obstacles on the Raw Challenge course. They’ll climb net rope bridges, balance across beams, crawl through tunnels, slip down slides and wade through mud pools. They will get muddy. They will get messy. They will have an ABSOLUTE BLAST! And, the best part is, you can choose to jump in there and do it with them too.
These Spring holidays, Raw Challenge is hosting TWO awesome days – one for teens/tweens and one for kids of all school grades (plus their adults)! Parents, this is winning as it’ll save you petrol, sanity and that feeling of simply being a taxi running here there everywhere.
+ Thursday 3 October 2024. 9.30am-1pm (drop off 9.15-9.25am). This Raw Challenge camp has 25+ obstacles and is recommended for kids aged 5-10 years old. But any child aged between 5 and 17 can join this program; the cut off is not 10 years of age (they just recommend the 10-17 year old program for older kids as it includes some additional more challenging obstacles that older kids will likely enjoy).
+ Friday 4 October 2024. 9.30am-1pm (drop off 9.15-9.25am). This Raw Challenge camp has 30+ obstacles included and is for kids aged 10-17 years old (and their adults).
Raw Challenge holiday camps
Where: Raw Challenge, 110 Pacific Hwy, Doyalson.
Age Group: Kids aged 5 -17 + their adults (see specifics above).
Inclusions: Lunch (sausage sandwich and a soft drink).
Cost: $49.50/person (plus small booking fee).
Contact: For more details, visit the Raw Challenge website.
Ninja Kids Erina’s full-day and half-day school holiday camps
Have you heard the news? In February, a fabulous new ninja obstacle training facility opened in Erina! And, as well as regular term-time kids classes and birthday parties, they’re running full-day and half-day school holiday camps!
AND, great news for private school families, for the first time these holidays, Ninja Kids Erina is offering a full-day camp during the extra week of holidays that private schools have this spring. We know there aren’t many (if any) camps that run during this extra week, so that’s excellent news for working families – be sure to tell your friends.
Ninja Kid Erina is fitted out with myriad obstacle and parkour equipment – from warped walls and cargo nets to giant trampolines and spider walls. There are monkey bars to swing across, slack lines to balance on, salmon ladders to leap up and rock walls to clamber along. It’s a space guaranteed to show your child a whole lot of fun.
Plus, better yet for busy parents, the camps are running nearly every single week day of the holidays! Yep, you read that right: they’re running Monday to Friday from the 27th Sept to 11th October (8.30am-3pm), and you can sign your kids up for as many days as you like. This is so awesomely game-changing! We’ve never heard of anywhere offering this kind of flexibility and we’re totally all for it.
At Ninja Kids Erina’s school holiday camps, kids will build strength and agility, develop new skills and increase self-confidence – all while having a heap of fun! The day will be broken up between tackling obstacles and learning parkour and gymnastics-style tumbling with other activities such as arts and crafts to give the kids’ hardworking hands and muscles a little rest. They’ll also join in team-based games and races, such as timed ninja courses and Beat The Wall competitions.
Want them to attend multiple days? Well, the great news is that the coaches will be putting the kids through different obstacles, skills and games, so no two days will be the same! They sold out last holidays, so don’t delay bagsing your spot.
Ninja Kids Erina’s holiday camps
Where: Ninja Kids Erina, 3/5 Bonnal Rd, Erina.
Full-day camps: Weekdays – Friday 27 September to Friday 11th October (except for Wed 2 Oct and Mon 7 Oct of the long weekend). Full-day camps run 8:30am till 3.30pm. $70 for full day plus insurance if your child hasn’t attended Ninja Kids and completed insurance for 2024 ($25 valid until 31st December 2024, or $5 per day).
Half-day camps: Friday 4th and 11th October. Afternoon camps run 12pm-3.30pm and morning camps run 8.30am-12pm. $40 for half day, plus insurance if your child hasn’t attended Ninja Kids and completed insurance for 2024 ($25 valid until 31st December 2024, or $5 per day).
Age Group: Ages 5 to 15.
Contact: For more details, visit the Ninja Kids Erina website.
Creative Kids vouchers and Active Kids vouchers accepted.
Little Leaders full-day holiday camps, Central Coast
Little Leaders is a camp like no other!
The full-day camps keep your kids active and entertained while exposing them to strategies that help build resilience, gratitude and mindfulness.
Some of the awesome activities they’ll be doing these spring holidays include:
+ A huge waterslide!
+ Colour run.
+ Mystery challenges.
+ Arts and crafts.
+ Music and dance.
Sounds like fun, right? And it is. But what the kids don’t realise is that behind these purpose-selected activities, there’s a heap of learning too. They do challenges where one child has to lead a blindfolded child along an obstacle course – teaching them about teamwork, trust and cooperation. They do craft activities that help kids express themselves and find calm in their creativity. They do journaling to help encourage kids to foster emotional growth, reflect on their day and create a positive mindset.
As well as the life-long benefits, Little Leaders also get a heap of things right that mean you’ll love and appreciate them as an easy-breezy camp option, too:
- Their camps are flexible and run all day, so they’re great for busy parents. You can enrol in one day, two days, three or four. If you enrol in multiple days, you get a little discount, too.
- They have two Central Coast locations – Kincumber and Erina!
- They provide lunch! Happy dance! Time off from packing lunch boxes.
Little Leaders’ holiday camps
ERINA CAMP VENUE: CENTRAL COAST ADVENTIST SCHOOL
- Thursday 3 October & Friday 4 October 2024. Camps run all day – 8:30am till 3:30pm.
- One day is $79.99 and two days is $149.99.
KINCUMBER CAMP VENUE: KINCUMBER HIGH SCHOOL
- Thursday 10 October & Friday 11 October 2024. Camps run all day – 8:30am till 3:30pm.
- One day is $79.99 and two days is $149.99.
Inclusions: Lunch is provided on all days and first-time Little Leaders will be presented with their very own wellness journal.
Age Group: Kindy to Year 6.
Contact: For more details, visit the Little Leaders Australia website.
Creative Kids vouchers and Active Kids vouchers accepted.
Motiv8sports 2-day Big Battle school holiday camps + 5-on-5 Footy Fanatics tournament
The team at Motiv8Sports are hosting three camps and one tournament these Spring school holidays, and as always, they’re bound to sell out!
Motiv8 says their new BIG BATTLE camp will wrap up with the coolest challenge they’ve ever created! This optional activity, called Battle Grounds, is a 90-minute finale that includes slime slides, coloured powder, water bombs and never-before-seen challenges. It sounds epic.
They’ll be hosting three 2-day BIG BATTLE camps! These run for 2 days and include 16 incredible sports challenges, such as Super Soccer, Vortex Gridiron, Sector-8, Flagball, Big Dog Cricket, Ultimate League, Ruckus, Street Hockey, Ballers, The Grid, Raiders & Courage Under Fire.
They’ll also be hosting a 5-on-5 Footy Fanatics one-day tournament. Grab your mates and form a team of five and get set for an epic day of fun. Kids will compete in touch footy, super-tag and Motiv8Sports own hybrid sport Ultimate League. There will also be a live DJ and fun individual challenges such as the $100 dash 4 cash.
Motiv8sports runs incredible school holiday sports camps, and what makes them so awesome is that they’re not just for “sporty kids”: far from it. These camps offer high-energy experiences that encourage all kids to be included in the fun and action – regardless of their skill sets or abilities.
Kids will love the non-stop fun. Parents, you’ll love that your troops are entertained for two whole days, so you can work, relax or catch up on the neverending life admin.
BIG BATTLE CAMPS
These holidays they’re running three BIG BATTLE camps: 1-2 October (8.30am-3.30pm) at CCGS, Erina Heights | 3-4 October (8.30am-3.30pm) at CCGS, Erina Heights | 10-11 October (8.30am-3.30pm) at Lakes Grammar, Warnervale.
Cost: From $75. See website for details.
5-on-5 Footy Fanatics one-day tournament
Thursday 3 October (8.30am-4pm) at Bateau Bay.
Cost: $80 per player (includes a customised Motiv8sports footy team jersey).
Age group: Children in Kindy-Year 6.
Contact: Click here to book or call 0424 951 175
Active and Creative Kids vouchers accepted.
Roundabout Circus school holiday program – 1 hour to full-day workshops!
Ever thought about fire twirling? How about juggling, unicycling or trapeze? If you want your child to pick up some awe-inspiring skills, sign them up to a Roundabout Circus workshop these holidays!
This Spring they have an epic line-up of activities on offer, such as acro balance, tumbling and contortion, silks and even family circus where your whole tribe is invited to join in the fun.
Have a professional in the family? They’ll be running teens and experienced youth ‘level up camps’ in which students will be exposed to fire-spinning, specialty apparatus and more challenging skills.
Fancy running away to the circus yourself? Check out their adult classes these holidays! You’ll learn aerial, acro and mixed circus skills, and all levels of experience are welcome.
Roundabout offers 1-hour, 2-hour, half-day and full-day workshops! AND if you book multiple days or workshops they offer a discount. They also accept Creative Kids and Active Kids vouchers for school holiday programs (see website for details).
Plus, did you hear the news? Roundabout Circus moved to a new – and bigger – location in Gosford earlier this year. The new venue has even more space for circus performers to play and learn plus 6m-high rigging for aerialists.
When: Multiple workshops operate across multiple days throughout the holidays. See their website for the timetable.
Where: Roundabout Circus, 96 Showground Rd, Gosford.
Cost: Different costs – see website for details.
Age Group: Family Circus is for children who are walking/18 months+ through to adults | acro workshops are for 8yrs+ | Camps are for ages 5 yrs -13 yrs+ | Level up camp is for ages 8 yrs -17 yrs+.
Contact: 0243 117 133, roundaboutcircus.com.au
Creative and Active Kids vouchers accepted.
WIN your Santa photos or a family Christmas portrait session with Natural Lights Photography!
Want to get some Christmas snaps that double as family photos? Photos that are so stunning they’re worthy of framing for Grandma and displaying in your home? Well, we recommend you take a look at Natural Lights Photography.
Natural Lights Photography is run by Danielle, a professional photographer of 21 years and a local Christmas photographer for 13.
This year she has THREE stunning settings available to you – two with Santa as well as a festive-themed location. You can see more of Danielle’s stunning photos and learn more about her offerings in our feature here.
Plus, we’ve teamed up with Danielle to run a wonderful Christmas giveaway!
Enter our competition below for the chance to WIN your Santa photos or a family Christmas Wonderland portrait session with Natural Lights Photography!
If you’re picked as the winner, you get to choose which stunning setting you’d like your photos taken at: a 30-minute Christmas Wonderland Portraits session at Catherine Hill Bay OR Santa Photos at Tocal Homestead OR Santa Photos at Morpeth Commons! Amazing, right!
To be in with a chance to win, simply subscribe to our free newsletter by entering your details below*. Already a subscriber? Just add your details below so we know you want to enter this fabulous comp.
*COMPETITION TERMS & CONDITIONS
PRIZE: We are giving away a 2024 festive photo session with Natural Lights Photography.
COMPETITION OPENS: 10am 1 October 2024.
COMPETITION CLOSES: Midnight 18 November 2024.
ENTRY TERMS: By entering, we’ll email future issues of Playing in Puddles’ weekly newsletter free to your inbox (you may unsubscribe at any time). Entry email addresses will be shared with Natural Lights Photography and you may get future correspondence from them. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, or administered by, or associated with, Instagram or Facebook. Click here for extended terms.
PRIZE TERMS: This prize is valid for a festive photo session with Natural Lights Photography in 2024. The winner will be notified by email. The Winner has 5 days to reply to redeem their prize. If the winner does not reply in that time, Playing in Puddles reserves the right to choose another winner. Prize is not redeemable for cash and not transferable. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram or Facebook. Click here for extended terms.
See Tinkerbell in the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney these holidays!
This Spring school holidays, join in an enchanting world of song and dance as the adventurous Tinkerbell flits into the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney for Tinkerbell and The Dream Fairies. Along the way, she’ll meet up with some fairies from A Midsummer Night’s Dream – the cheeky Mustardseed, fluttery Moth, daring Cobweb and sweet Peaseblossom! These fairies will help Tinkerbell on a magical quest to find her lost wings.
Watching theatre unfold outside in the stunning surrounds of the Royal Botanic Gardens is such a delight and a really beautiful way to instil a love for theatre and the arts in your cherubs.
The audience is invited to join in the fun and come along in their favourite fancy dress outfits, too! We can’t wait to see lots of fairies, elves, Jedis, pirates and superheroes in the audience. We recommend packing a picnic and making a day of it in the Gardens.
More Activities to Enjoy these School Holidays
Have you visited the Central Coast’s 68 Attractions?
Be a tourist in your own town! We have animal and adventure parks, farms to visit, go-karting, laser tag, family entertainment centres and more. Start planning your visit! Check everything out here.
Indoor Adventures on the Central Coast
Escape the cold! Find fun play centres, trampoline parks, and indoor adventures here.
Discover a NEW Playground Today
We have more than 100 playground reviews on Playing in Puddles. Click here to discover a new playground near you.
Art and Digital School Holiday Camps on the Central Coast
Central Coast Creative Hub
What: One-day art camps (full days and half days available). From Water bead Puffy Slime and Picasso Mixed Media wall hangings to Clay pot Fairy Houses.
Where: Point Clare.
Ages: 4.5 years old – 15 years old.
Luna and Co art classes
What: One-day art camps. From air-dry sculpture to acrylic painting.
Where: Niagara Park.
Ages: Different ages across different classes.
Coding camps
There are multiple businesses that run online and in-person digital camps – from coding and website building to DJ and youtube workshops. These businesses sometimes run camps in person on the Central Coast. Check their websites for details.
CIY Club
Code Camp
Sport School Holiday Camps on the Central Coast
All Sports Days at Kincumber Indoor Sports
What: One-day sports camp. They’ll get to play a whole heap of ball games including dodgeball, soccer, bull rush, volleyball, and more. They’ll even get to do rock climbing!
Where: Kincumber Indoor Sports.
Ages: 5-14 years old.
To learn more: Check out our feature here to learn more (please note that the dates listed are not current). For current dates and to sign up, email [email protected] or call 4368 3197.
Motiv8Sports Central Coast
What: Two- and three-day sport camps plus 4-on-4 football tournaments.
Where: Multiple locations across the Coast. These can vary so check website for details, but generally Erina and Warnervale.
Ages: 5-15 years old.
MVP Football school holiday soccer clinics
What: One- to three-day soccer camps.
Where: Umina.
Ages: Under 6s+.
Brazilian Soccer Schools, Central Coast
What: Three-day soccer camps (half day and full day available).
Where: Tuggerah.
Ages: 5-16 years old.
Dean Heffernan and Central Coast United soccer camps
What: one- and two-day soccer camps (half day).
Where: Tuggerah.
Ages: Under 8s – Under 16s.
Rose Football Academy
What: Half-day soccer camps.
Where: Killarney Vale.
Ages: Kids aged 5-12.
Mighty Mariners Holiday Clinics, Central Coast
What: Three- and two-day soccer + activity camps (half day only).
Where: Tuggerah.
Ages: 6-14 years old.
Newcastle Jets community soccer clinics and Mini Olympic clinics
What: One- and two-day camps (half day only).
Where: Speers Point, New Lambton, Lochinvar, Maitland, Adamstown, Belmont.
Ages: 6-12 years old.
Skateboard, Scooter, BMX and Rollerskating school holiday camps at Slam Factory
What: One- and three-day camps in specific disciplines: skateboarding, rollerskating, BMX or scootering.
Where: Slam Factory, Tuggerah.
Ages: Kids aged 5+.
Horseriding and Animal School Holiday Camps on the Central Coast
The Outlook Riding Academy horseriding holiday camps, Terrigal
What: One-, two- and three-day horseriding and activity camps (full day only).
Where: Terrigal.
Ages: 5-16 years old.
Glenworth Valley Horseriding camps
What: Half-day junior beginner horseriding camp and full-day level 1 beginner horseriding camp. (This is a 1-day camp)
Where: Glenworth Valley.
Ages: 5-16 years – different ages for different camps.
The Australian Reptile Park’s Little Kids to Keeper, Big Kids to Keeper and Inclusive Kids to Keeper experiences
What: One-day experience. A fully escorted workshop offering exclusive behind-the-scenes access and hands-on animal experiences.
Where: The Australian Reptile Park, Somersby.
Ages: Little Kids 2 Keeper: ages 7-12 years. Big Kids 2 Keeper: ages 13-18 years. Inclusive Kids 2 Keeper: ages 7-18 years.
Adventure and Active School Holiday Camps on the Central Coast
Glenworth Valley Adventure Max School Holiday Camp
What: One-day adventure camp. Activities vary depending on the season, but may include horseriding, quad biking, laser tag, kayaking, abseiling and team games (full day only).
Where: Glenworth Valley.
Ages: 7-16 years old.
Roundabout Circus school holiday camps
What: One-day, half-day and 1.5-2 hour camps are available in everything from aerial silks, trapeze and lyra to tumbling, juggling and hula hooping.
Where: Wyoming.
Ages: All ages. Different ages across different classes.
School Holiday Workshops (camps that run for just a couple of hours)
The following venues run school holiday workshops that kids can attend for a couple of hours. It’s a great way to give kids the opportunity to learn a new skill or gauge their curiosity in a different activity.
Ice skating at Erina Ice Arena: 1.5-hour ice skating workshops for children aged 7-15 years old | Erina.
Ninja classes at Australian Warrior Fitness: 1.5-hours of “Australian Ninja Warrior”-style obstacle training for children aged 6-12 (split into age groups) | North Gosford.
Ninja classes at Obstacle Course Racing School: 30-45 minute classes of “Australian Ninja Warrior”-style obstacle training for people aged 3-14+ (split into age groups) | Tuggerah.
Art classes at Gosford Regional Gallery: 2-hour art classes in everything from jewellery making to expressive drawing. Different classes for different age groups from ages 6-adult | East Gosford.
Roundabout Circus: 2-hour classes in anything from silks and trapeze to tumbling and juggling. All ages (classes are split into different age groups) | Wyoming
Other Central Coast school holiday camps to look out for!
From time to time the following venues run school holiday camps and workshops. Check their website for dates.
Marine Discovery Centre
Charmy Indoor Sports
NSW School Holiday Dates for 2024 and 2025.
We know it’s tricky to plan vacations in advance and to get school holiday camps sorted so parents can continue to work. To make it that little bit easier, here are the school holiday dates for NSW public schools in 2024 and 2025.
2024 NSW school holiday dates and terms
- Spring 2024 school holidays – Monday 30 September 2024 to Friday 11 October 2024.
- Summer 2024 school holidays (Eastern division; Central Coast) – Monday 23 December 2024 to Thursday 30 January 2025.
- Summer 2024 school holidays (Western division) – Monday 23 December 2024 to Thursday 6 February 2025.
2025 NSW school holiday dates and terms
- Autumn 2025 school holidays – Monday 14 April 2025 to Thursday 24 April 2025.
- Winter 2025 school holidays – Monday 7 July 2025 to Friday 18 July 2025.
- Spring 2025 school holidays – Monday 29 September 2025 to Friday 10 October 2025.
- Summer 2025 school holidays (Eastern division, Central Coast) – Monday 22 December 2025 to Monday 26 January 2026.
- Summer 2025 school holidays (Western division) – Monday 22 December to Monday 2 February 2026.
To advertise your events or holiday camps on Playing in Puddles, click here.
Written By: KATIE STOKES
Founder & Editor
After working in print and online media for more than a decade, Katie launched Playing in Puddles in 2017. A mum of three young boys and local of the Central Coast, Katie loves discovering and sharing all that’s happening in our region.
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