Looking for a fun, free and educational festival for your kids? The Central Coast’s annual Words on the Waves Writers Festival is back, and we’re thrilled to share that they’re hosting a free Family Fun Day on Sunday 1 June!
Hosted by author, illustrator, TV producer, screenwriter and “professional mischief maker” Mick Elliott, the Family Fun Day is a fab jam-packed day of talks and live illustration demonstrations, free craft activities, storytime, face-painting, book launches, bubble blowers and more!
If you have a mini bookworm or budding cartoonist, they’ll get a thrill in rubbing shoulders with published authors, illustrators and creatives at this fabulous event. Have a tot just learning their ABCs? This festival will further ignite their love of storytime. Appreciate a good novel yourself? With book signings and published authors sharing tales, the Family Fun Day really is an event for literary lovers of all ages.
There are a heap of fun author/illustrator events happening throughout the day:
- Get set for celebrity spotting! Were you a fan of Network 10’s children’s science show Scope? Meet the show’s host turned author Lee Constable. Hear from award-winning picture book author and self-proclaimed “professional mischief maker” Mick Elliott. And discover how best-selling author Louise Park spends her time “prank-busting, battling beasts and dinosaurs… and travelling back in time to write her historical mysteries”.
- Watch demonstrations from illustrators and see a “draw off” between illustrators Mick Elliott and Serena Geddes .
- Listen to authors Serena Geddes, Apsara Baldovino, Melissa-Jane Fogarty, Maxine Beneba- Clarke talk about their books and how they come up with their story ideas.
- Join Tenille Dowe and Outback Jess for the launch of their new childrens books.
Plus, there will be a heap of non-wordy, non-booky, non-literary happenings happening, too, as well as hands-on activities for tots who find it tricky to sit still:
- Create your own bookmark or mini book.
- Fashion a cardboard house, neighbourhood, dog or fairy.
- Have your face painted.
- Get a photo with a friendly blue seahorse, the official mascot of Festival Partner the University of Newcastle.
- Marvel at the roving bubble blower who’ll be blowing bubbles that’ll “blow’ your mind!
There’s no need to register for this free day, but be sure to bookmark it in your calendar now. We recommend you invite your friends, bring a picnic rug and enjoy this fabulous day out.
Words on the Waves, the Central Coast’s first and only writers festival, is returning from 28 May to 1 June 2025. This year the festival is celebrating its 5th anniversary and, with over 80 authors and more than 70 sessions, it’s going to be bigger and better than ever.
Words on the Waves Writers Festival’s Family Fun Day
When: Sunday 1 June, 9am – 2pm.
Where: Peninsula Recreation Precinct, Umina Beach.
More Information: wordsonthewaves.com.au.
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.
