Kids on Deck at the Australian National Maritime Museum - Review

Every school holidays, the kids look forward to a visit at the Australian National Maritime Museum. These January holidays was no different and with the special Wonderwater program, we were very excited to visit!

This post covers Kids on Deck, which is one of the many activities for kids and their family and carers to take part in. Kids on Deck runs every Sunday 11:15am to 4pm during NSW School terms and daily during NSW School Holidays.

For more info or to book tickets to the Australian National Maritime Museum, head here.

Kids on Deck at the Australian National Maritime Museum - Review Outside Area

Photo credit: @busycitykids

We were very pleased to see that the Kids on Deck area had moved to a bigger and better spot next to the Reception area of the building near the large 5m high Diver sculpture by artist Tim Kyle. The outdoor area offers a bigger water play area which is a delight especially in the warmer months. If your little ones enjoy some water play, pack some swimmers and a towel with you.

Photo credit: @busycitykids

The indoor area is also much bigger with a soft play area for babies and toddlers, blue sponge building blocks and lots of arts & craft tables.

Kids on Deck at the Australian National Maritime Museum - Review Inside Area

Photo credit: @busycitykids

The kids love the Kids on Deck arts & crafts area, it is always a great place for them to be creative and we tend to spend almost one hour there every time we attend the museum. The staff are very friendly and the types of activities always vary depending on the current exhibitions at the time. The theme for these holidays was Octopus to coincide with the Octopus Garden fun kids installation so the kids were invited to make a range of different arts & crafts, make a cool badge, paint an octopus, the list goes on ..!

Photo credit: @busycitykids

Kids on Deck at the Australian National Maritime Museum - Review Inside Area

Photo credit: @busycitykids

Kids on Deck at the Australian National Maritime Museum - Review Inside Area

Photo credit: @busycitykids

They were also invited to dress up in nautical themes and take their photo in the photo booth which was lots of fun!

Photo credit: @busycitykids

They also inspected creatures fresh from the sea under the microscope.

Kids on Deck at the Australian National Maritime Museum - Review Inside Area

Photo credit: @busycitykids

Kids on Deck is always lots of fun and we highly recommend it! We also visited and reviewed Octopus Garden, Great Southern LEGO®️ Reef, Valerie Taylor: An Underwater Life and Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023 exhibition during our visit.

Kids on Deck at the Australian National Maritime Museum - Review Inside Area

Photo credit: @busycitykids

Busy City Kids were hosted by the Australian National Maritime Museum for the purposes of a review. Travel & parking was self funded. All opinions & feedback are genuine & truthful.

For more info or to book tickets to the Australian National Maritime Museum, head here.

Note: This post contains an affiliate link above. It doesn’t cost you extra however we get a small fee from your booking which goes towards supporting our website’s costs to bring you our FREE What’s On Sydney listing full of events!

Tips:

  • Entry to Kids on Deck is included in your See it All ticket.

  • Pack a water bottle and snacks for your visit.

  • Pack a towel and swimmers for the kids if they like water play.

  • The museum has a café which is located downstairs from reception. Ripples Café has a great selection of drinks, snacks, food or ice cream and lots of seating area to catch a break.

  • Toilets are located next to Kids on Deck near Reception or in Ripples Café.

  • Grab the ferry from Circular Quay or park nearby for ease, more details how to get there here.

Find out about NEW events, activities and programs across Sydney via our What’s On Sydney page.

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