Keep the kids entertained these school holidays

The hills of city-fringe suburb Newtown hide a secret. Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo has more than 500 native and endangered exotic animals on site. The 13-hectare zoo has a strong commitment to conservation and animal welfare. Get your tamariki out and about these holidays and join the zoo's holiday programme. Designed for children aged 5 to 12, it’s packed with engaging activities and opportunities to learn. Kids participate in hands-on tasks, like making animal diets, or preparing and delivering enrichment activities. Children will be entertained and develop their understanding of the zoo’s commitment to conservation, connection, and care. 

Every Disney character starts with a drawing. Discover how they are brought to the screen at ‘Disney: The Magic of Animation | Ngā Tāoreore Tūmatarau’. See the internationally acclaimed exhibition at Tākina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The exhibition features artworks from classic stories and films spanning 100 years of Walt Disney Animation Studios. See more than 600 art pieces up close, from original sketches of timeless characters to modern, computer-generated wonders. Go behind the scenes to witness the artistry that goes into creating beloved on-screen characters.

It’s Wellington’s answer to Willy Wonka. The award-winning Wellington Chocolate Factory helps you learn all about the art of chocolate-making. From bean to bar, everything is handcrafted. The factory doors are open for junior tours during school holidays only. Chocoholic kids can decorate their own chocolate bar, create a custom wrapper, and hand-wrap their creation. There’ll also be time to enjoy a hot chocolate along the way.  

At Staglands Wildlife Reserve, 10 hectares of bush, farmland, and wetlands have been cultivated into an idyllic home for animals big and small. It’s a great way to engage children with native flora and fauna. Hand feeding, bush walks, eel spotting, and native bird encounters are all on offer in the Hutt Valley’s beautiful Akatarawa Valley. While there, you’re likely to see whio, kea, pāteke, scaup, and grey teal. There are also animal breeds such as kunekune, Auckland Island pigs, and Arapawa Island goats. For the school holidays, staff are handing out free marshmallows to young conservationists in the making.

Visit the home of movie-making magic and see behind the scenes of how your favourite movies are brought to life. Wētā Workshop combines cutting-edge technology with hand-crafted artistry. If you’re a movie fan, a creative whizz, or looking to learn a new skill, Wētā's creative workshops are a fun activity. Roll up your sleeves and learn the magic of sculpting with household materials and modelling clay. The Junior Introduction to Sculpting workshop suits children aged 6 to 11 years, and is on exclusively for the holidays. Other courses suit teens, including leatherwork and special effects makeup.

Just minutes from the central city is the world’s first fully fenced ecosanctuary, Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne. With 225 hectares of regenerating forest, more than 40 rare native wildlife species and 32km of tracks to explore, it’s a fun-filled active day out. Join a guided tour, or pick up a visitor map and venture around the reserve and spot the wildlife yourself. Keep a lookout for prehistoric reptile the tuatara, giant wētā, or kererū, and the chunky native pigeon. Exploring the sanctuary by torchlight on a night tour is a great way to spot creatures like cave wētā, ruru, and glowworms. If you’re lucky, you may get to see one of the estimated 140 rare little spotted kiwi living within the sanctuary.

One of the capital’s most iconic experiences is a five-minute trip that has become a must-do for tourists. Every 10 minutes the bright red Wellington Cable Car traverses the hills of Kelburn. It’s a 612m journey from its city centre location to the top. Along the way, you’ll travel through tunnels full of LED lights and over three bridges. The views of the city, harbour and hills are spectacular. There’s a free museum at the top that tells the story of the cable car through original artefacts, photographs, and interactive exhibitions. From the top, there’s also easy access to Wellington Botanic Garden, Space Place and Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne (via free shuttle).

Sitting on one of the high ridges in Wellington’s Botanic Gardens, Space Place at Carter Observatory is home to a digital full-dome planetarium. Sit back and recline in comfort while you go on a virtual space journey through the solar system and beyond. In the adjacent interactive exhibits and galleries, take in the sheer scale of the universe and its origins in the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago. Feel the rumble of a rocket launch, find out about when humans landed on the moon, touch a moon rock, or check out the junior astronaut zone. Discover the Māori story of creation and the significance of Matariki. Visit at night to view the southern skies through the 150-year-old Thomas Cooke telescope.

One of the many jewels on Wellington’s waterfront, the Wellington Museum tells a thousand stories about the city and its people. From maritime history to early Māori settlement, and the city’s evolution since becoming the capital in 1865. The exhibitions are designed to make information accessible and fun so kids will be engaged. There’s a giant high-definition carpet map of the entire city. You can search for your house or hotel. A re-creation of a 19th-century Wellington wharf with scurrying ‘rats’ makes for a fun and enthralling exhibit. There are holographs, a time capsule experience, short films, and plenty more.