Below are just a few ideas for fun activities for the family in the school holidays. For address and phone details for any of the below you will find these on our Dunedin School Holiday Activities page. Plus follow our Dunedin Facebook page for regular event updates.
With 18 lanes of fun for all ages, bowling is always a sure way to have family fun in the school holidays!
Dunedin Botanic Garden holds the status of a six star Garden of International Significance. Celebrating its 160the anniversary in 2023 it is also New Zealand’s oldest botanic garden. With great views, almost 7,000 plant species, The Winter Garden glasshouse, Alpine House, Croque-O-Dile Café and of course the Crest train tours this is a great family outing at any time of year.
Great fun activities for the kids to keep the kids active and learn great skills, the Dunedin Gymnastic Academy offers term and school holiday sessions for ages 5-13 years.
Great indoor ice sports stadium offering public sessions as well as housing a curling rink (also offering lessons) and an international ice hockey rink. The kids will love an active session out or check out to see when they have ice hockey games you can head along to. This is a pretty COOL place to head.
A self-guided street art trail this is a great outing for families. Check out the amazing artworks by both local and international artists and pop into one of the local cafes in the area too.
For those horse lovers a trip to Hare Hills is a must during the school holidays. With treks offering stunning views and riding lessons available it’s worth checking out!
The place to have fun in the school holidays! With the biggest inflatable playground in New Zealand there’s great fun for the whole family!
Considered New Zealand's Castle, Larnach Castle offers beautiful gardens and a historic house to explore showing an insight into Victorian Culture. Built from 1871 by William Larnach, on a visit you can learn about Larnach and his intriguing life and enjoy the gardens which have been selected as Garden of International Significance. You can also stay there!
Got bouncy kids!?! With huge trampolines totally enclosed for safety the kids will love some bouncing fun. They even offer separate opportunities for the little ones who may get overwhelmed with all the bouncing! Also incorporating Clip ‘n Climb with a range of climbing walls, basketball hoops, stunt bags and a dodgeball court it’s worth putting a visit on your list of things to do.
Laser tag, minigolf, virtual reality, axe throwing and of course a great arcade your school holiday fun wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Megazone! Also a great birthday party venue.
When it’s time to chill out and sit back you’ll find great movies always available at Metro Cinemas in Central Dunedin. Check out their latest sessions and enjoy some family time.
With a claim this is the “largest swimming pool in the southern half of New Zealand's South Island” there’s plenty of room for the kids to enjoy great water fun. Including a diving pool and of course a hydro slide the kids will love an outing here.
For those nature lovers a wildlife cruise is a great outing. With the opportunity to see royal albatross, fur seals, penguins and more, Monarch Wildlife Cruises offer options from one hour cruises to full day tours.
With great interactive learning opportunities you can enjoy discovering a little piece of history amongst beautiful and exotic artefacts, furniture and statues.
This is a private conservation reserve dedicated to helping our very special and endangered Yellow Eyed Penguins (hoiho). The nesting sites are protected. There are opportunities for close-up viewing from the “hides” and the tour is 90 minutes. All funds go back into the conservation project. This is definitely well worth a visit.
With a number of venues across Dunedin Playball offer both after school and school holiday programmes using a game-based approach to teaching the kids sporting and ball skills in the following sports - rugby, cricket, basketball, soccer, netball and hockey.
If you’re looking for great movies for time out there’s always an amazing selection of the latest blockbusters on at Reading Cinemas.
And another great option for school holiday movie time out you’ll also find all the latest movies on at Rialto Cinemas.
With albatross living in the Dunedin region all year round there is a better time to see them which is during their breeding season from November to February also early morning or late afternoon are generally better times. The Royal Albatross Centre is located at the only mainland breeding colony of royal albatross in the world and is therefore well worth checking out.
Containing a fascinating collection of skulls, bones and unusual artefacts this is a great outing for the kids for school holidays to be fascinated but also to learn.
The Settlers Museum is dedicated to telling the story of the people of Dunedin and the surrounding area. With fascinating exhibitions and always lots of events it’s definitely worth checking out their website to see what’s on for some great family “educational” activities!!
Enjoy an epic train journey through the Taieri Gorge which takes you over towering viaducts, over white water rapids and through historic tunnels. This is like taking a step back in time and is a great outing for all ages! With a range of different journeys on offer from Dunedin Railways from inland to seaside, from Twilight and Stargazer to The Victorian these are great trips out.
Lan Yuan, the Chinese Garden is an authentic example of a late Ming/early Ching Dynasty Scholar's Garden which celebrates Otago's Chinese heritage. There is also a turtle and tortoise museum worth a visit.
Offering lots of fun school holiday entertainment, Timezone Dunedin has some epic arcade games, bumper cars and more.
With over 45 hands on interactive things to do this is a great school holiday outing! With also a range of fascinating galleries including Animal Attic which is a fascinating cabinet of curiosities the Otago Museum is worth putting on your list of places to visit. Plus they run school holiday programmes.
If you've got somewhere you think we should add to this list let us know in the comments below and be in to WIN a $25 voucher to anywhere in Dunedin you'd love to go!!
Aotearoa is the Maori name for New Zealand, though it seems at first to have been used for the North Island only. Many meanings have been given for the name but with Maori names the true meaning can often be found only in a mythological story or in historical fiction illustrating either how the name was given or something of the ideas which prompted it. Aotearoa is made up of either two or three words, Aotea and roa or Ao tea and roa. Aotea could be the name of one of the canoes of the great migration, the great magellan cloud near the bright star Canopus in summer, a bird or even food; ao is a cloud, dawn, daytime, or world; tea white or clear, perhaps bright, while roa means long or tall.
The most popular and authoritative meaning usually given is “long white cloud”, and there are two stories current to illustrate this. It seems the voyagers to New Zealand were guided during the day by a long white cloud and at night by a long bright cloud. The more usual one tells how, when Kupe was nearing land after his long voyage, the first sign of land was the peculiar cloud hanging over it. Kupe drew attention to it and said “Surely is a point of land”. His wife, Hine-te-aparangi, called out “He ao! He ao!” (a cloud! a cloud!) Later Kupe decided to call the land after his wife's greeting to it, and the cloud which welcomed them. The name Aotea was given both to the Great Barrier and to the North Island, but the latter became Aotearoa, presumably because of its length.
According to certain authorities, the other meanings are: big glaring light (Hochstetter); continuously clear light, or land of abiding day (Stowell); long white world (Wilson); long bright world, long daylight, long lingering day, or long bright land (Cowan); and long bright day (Tregear). A good case could probably be made out for the land of abiding day, or similar names. Maui, who is closely connected with New Zealand in mythology, once snared the sun and beat him to make him travel more slowly across the sky. Perhaps Maui achieved the same end when he sailed south to fish up New Zealand where there is longer day with long twilight, particularly in the south.
'AOTEAROA', from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966.
Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand
URL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/1966/aotearoa (accessed 06 Jan 2021)