The Best Family-Friendly Events Happening During Horizon
This blog was produced in partnership with Kids on the Coast.
Do you need some inspiration for your next family day-out? We have some great events programmed into our festival for your little ones, guaranteed to entertain all ages. If you and your family love art, music and nature, our Horizon Kids program is sure to delight. Here's what's on:
Cubby Town: Come and build a giant nest, a beautiful shelter or a cubby worthy of Andy Goldsworthy’s approval! Wildlings Forest School will provide guidance, inspiration, a myriad of ropes, sheets, bamboo and raw materials such as palm fronds and branches to create natural and beautiful structures fit for any wild adventurer.
Saturday 24th August, 9am-12pm
Little Wildlings Nature Playgroup: Meeting in wild spaces around the Sunshine Coast, Little Wildlings Nature Playgroup follows a loose rhythm that revolves around free play and encourages adventure and exploration in nature to help promote imagination and self-discovery. Your Little Wildling/s will be invited to participate in invitational activities including story time, seasonal song-time and a collaborative nature art project that will go on display at Festival Central for the last weekend of the festival.
Tuesday 27th August, 9:30am-11:30am
Urban Wildlings: Head down to Festival Central and make your own nature wand, dream-catcher or fishing rod! Join Wildlings Forest School for a free nature craft workshop where children will learn about the plants and weeds they can find in their backyard, while creating nature crowns and dream catchers from Cat's Claw, fishing rods from Chinese Celtis, and magic wands from Camphor Laurel. By getting to know the plants in their local nature spaces, children become more likely to want to look after and protect these places for the future.
Saturday 31st August, 10am-12pm
Bond & Build: Wildlings Forest School welcomes you to come and build a life-sized raft to float down the idyllic Petrie Creek with your dad, grandad or loved one, followed by a family Father’s Day picnic at our beautiful forest space.
Sunday 1st September, 9:30am-12:30pm
Revolve: Contact, transform, loop, reimagine – revolve. Revolve brings together 12 of Queensland’s youngest circus stars, experienced artists and a live DJ to create a show that’s bursting at the seams with energy and fun. It is a celebration of what can happen when the rule book is thrown out. Circles, loops, wheels, group bikes, roller skates, unicycles, and even a tractor tyre are jammed onto the stage to create a whirling cacophony of wheeling wonder.
Saturday 31st August & Sunday 1st September, 11am & 3pm
Loose Ends: Makers, creators, and story lovers; dive into a theatrical adventure that feels like the magic box of a bygone trickster! Journey to an eccentric place where gadgets are poetic, puppets naughty, machines untamed and circus tricks pop up when you’re least expecting it! This is a world where music appears from lemons, carrots and bunny’s bums, monsters go crazy and birthday parties are ferociously celebrated. Loose Ends is the story of a man who thinks he can organise all his life in boxes, and has a knack for getting into mischief. Can this tinkerer learn enough about real friendship to keep him out of trouble? This breathtaking show is highly visual, emotional and unpredictable. It makes inventions and machines fun and adds a few quirky edges to puppetry.
Saturday 24th August, 10:30am
Horizon Kids: Each Saturday, Festival Central will be taken over by little people and their families with workshops and activities for making, playing, dancing and singing. With activities varying from clay making, musical instruments, Kabi Kabi colouring and family dance parties, Horizon Kids’ line-up of free activities is the perfect way to spend the weekend as a family.
Saturday 25th August & Saturday 30th August, 10am-3pm
TOY: TOY is an interactive installation for families that examines diversity in toys through the lens of gender expression. This gender neutral workshop allows children to build the alternative toys of their dreams, providing them with the creative space to explore fluidity and multiplicity, against the backdrop and pressures of traditional gendered roles and responsibilities. TOY challenges these dominant structures and encourages a making space where children can explore their own identity without being limited by pressures.
Saturday 25th August, 12-4pm
Snake Sessions: Sydney company Branch Nebula brings their breath-taking anarchic street style performance to the Alex Head’s skate park. Branch Nebula’s team infiltrates the park for a whole week, jamming moves and tricks with the locals and building up for a spectacular improvised performance at the end. With a live drummer driving the action, bodies and wheels collide, race each other, and blur into one, creating an experience of urban culture as a powerfully dramatic and artistic experience.
Residency // Tuesday 27th August - Friday 30th August, Performance Saturday 31st August
