Free Entertainment:
From arts and crafts to water activities and adventure playgrounds, there's plenty to see and do these school holidays that cost absolutely nothing to enjoy.

Visit Sydney's newest precinct The Darling Quarter at Darling Harbour to try out the impressive playground of balance ropes, flying foxes, jumbo swings and water activities.

The Biennale of Sydney continues these school holidays. Pick up a free Biennale Kids Trail Booklet designed specifically for kids and families to explore the exhibition on Cockatoo Island. This tour highlights key works providing kid-friendly descriptions of artworks as well as audio activities.

Sydney Opera House offers a free Creative Play Area hosted by trained educators to encourage exploration, play and creativity. Kids will take part in arts and craft activities as well as regular storytelling sessions.

Get the binoculars out and visit Sydney Olympic Park to discover some 180 different bird species. Spot a Superb Fairy-wren, a Brown Honeyeater or the Black-shouldered Kite in their native habitats.

Learn:
Why not take the opportunity to learn a new skill? Discover creatures of the deep, learn how to direct a short film or create colourful pieces of art.
Discover over 1700 marine animals from 16 unique species as Sydney Aquarium unveils its $10 million renovation. There will be 14 newly-themed zones housing the largest variety of sharks and rays in the world.
Find out about weird and wonderful creatures at the Mysteries of the Deep Workshop at the Australian Museum. Take a behind the scenes tour of the Museum's newest exhibition to see what lurks below and find out what it's like to live on the bottom of the ocean.
Budding inventors and film directors will love the new school holiday program at the Powerhouse Museum. To coincide with the extension of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Exhibition until 7 October 2012, kids can create their very own video game, make props for film sets and see demonstrations of fight scene techniques by the Sydney Combat School.

Introduce young kids to the art world in new guided tours specifically designed for them at the Art Gallery of NSW. Once inspired they can also make their own prints and colourful sculptures in workshops. Bookings for the workshops are essential.

Interactive:
If your little star longs for the spotlight they'll love a taste of the theatre with the Sydney Children's Festival and more.
Sydney Children's Festival runs from 24 September - 5 October offering junior photography courses, storytelling, acting workshops and performances for all ages (even babies) such as This (Baby) Life at Parramatta's Riverside Theatre.
Touch and feed life sized dinosaurs during The Petting Zoo, a production from theatre company Erth at Carriageworks. Following the performance kids can also join in a puppet making workshop.
See international bubble artist, Mr Bubble Dragon, explore the different worlds of bubbles in this outdoor extravaganza at the North Shore's newest performing arts centre, The Concourse in Chatswood.
In October, keep a look out for a baby T-Rex dinosaur who will be taking in the sites around Sydney before making his way to Taronga Zoo from 1 November. The new exhibition, Dinosaurs in the Wild, will feature 16 life sized dinosaurs including a Brachiosaurus, Tyrannosaurus Rex and Australia's own dinosaur, the Muttaburrasaurus.

Regional NSW:
The action isn't just in Sydney this September/ October - Regional NSW is bursting with ways to keep the kids busy from Alice and Wonderland themed tea parties and hip hop classes to surf camps.
Jamberoo Recreation Park is reopening just in time for the school holidays. The little ones will love the beach, mini water slides and heated shallow pools while thrill seekers can hop on rubber rafts and tackle the rapid river with its cascading waterfalls and 1.5 metre high waves.
Kids can make their very own hat and join a Mad Hatters Tea party at the Gothic-revival timber house Meroogal in Nowra. Children over five years of age can delve into the world of Alice and Wonderland with storytelling and games not to mention the all-important tea party to showcase those hats!
Drop into Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre for free hip hop dancing and circus workshops. Run by Smashed Arts these are taking place on 24 - 26 September and will include aerial circus and DJ workshops.
Snow comes to Illawarra Fly for four days from 26 - 29 September. Kids can enjoy a two lane tubing hill and a snow ball target throwing area. A number of sessions will be available daily and bookings are essential.
Located just ten minutes from Merimbula, Bournda National Park is taking part in the National Parks & Wildlife Services School Holiday Discovery Program including canoeing, bushwalking, reptile display and arts and crafts.
Western Plains Cultural Centre is running their popular school holiday workshops again. Kids will tour the gallery to work up inspiration before making their own piece of art. Bookings are essential with only ten spaces available per session.
East Coast Surf in Coffs Harbour is running surf camps offering much more than just surfing. Body boarding, jetty jumping, fishing, snorkelling, sea kayaking and essential surf education will all be covered. The camp can be booked for just one day, or for up to five consecutive days.
Jindabyne Sports and Recreation Centre has the perfect way to tire little ones out with their kids camps. Get airborne on a supersized tramp, cruise in a canoe on Lake Jindabyne or hang around on the indoor climbing wall.

Events:
There are plenty of events this September and October from musicals to flower shows and everything in between. Here are just a few snippets of what's on offer:
21 September - onwards, Legally Blonde the Musical - Australian premiere season of award-winning romantic comedy
21 September - 21 October, Art & About Sydney - experience Sydney though art in unusual spaces
27 September - 1 October, This Is Not Art, Newcastle - annual experimental and emerging arts festival presenting over 200 events
29 September, Zoo Grooves, Dubbo - enjoy activities for the kids and live entertainment at Western Plains Zoo
29 September - 7 October, Leura Gardens Festival – eleven beautiful private gardens will be open to the public for one week
1 - 31 October, ARTober, Lightning Ridge - tour the local artwork in the town and opal fields of Lightning Ridge
6-7 October, Platform Hip Hop, Carriageworks, Sydney - the best breakers, MCs, DJs and graffiti artists perform