Pony riding at Blue Hills

Fun at Ferguson Farmstay

The playground at Kerriley Park

Tractor rides at Pump Hill

(Image from Prime Dental West Perth)

(Ninniku Jip)

(Whale and Ale Kids Corner)

(Cafe Elixir - tea party)

(Salt on the Beach)

So is your favourite place on this list? Have you found somewhere new? Please add your comment in below and I’ll add it in here!

(Image from Kindy Dance Time)

I was advised before I went to Naturescape in Kings Park to bring a change of clothes and a towel, because it was inevitable that my girl would end up in the stream and/or pond. Did I bring any? Nope! I thought 'it's a quick visit to check it out, I'll just make sure she stays out of the water'. Yahuh:



But boy did we have fun! There are tall towers to climb, water to splash in, streams to wade along, a tunnel to run through under a rock hill to clamber onto:



There's also a ropes course:



and metal structures to build cubbie houses with branches:



The children's water play areas are all linked together so they wade into the shallow pond near the entrance walkway and can follow it all the way downstream to the larger pond around the corner. There are also clearly signposted large deep water ponds which are frog breeding grounds and not to be swum in on the other side of the site.



With a philosophy of getting back to nature there are minimal man-made structures across the site and plenty of logs and large rocks to sit on as well as a decking area by one of the ponds, and several outdoor classrooms with log seating. Although it's not a playground (it's billed as a 'bushland experience') there are plenty of places to play, explore, climb, splash, and get mucky.



Naturescape is closed on Mondays, and will be closed for the month of February as well. There are toilets on site, as well as drinking water fountains, but no cafe. Friendly staff are on hand by the entrance and they walk throughout the grounds as well to answer any questions you might have.

Go, get wet and muddy, splash and keep cool on a hot day and have a ball!

I find sometimes in life with kids that days slip into weeks, and before you know it, entire months have swooshed by! We've been having a wonderful time out and about in Perth though, and will be back here a little more regularly than we have during the past, ahem, while.

One of our favourite discoveries since moving back to Perth is the Perth Cultural Centre, which is the area next to the Perth train station that includes the Art Gallery, Museum, State Library, PICA and the State Theatre. We usually park our car at the local train station, grab the awesome Piggyback Rider, hop on the train into the city and away we go!



Outside the Perth Museum is a wonderful new nature-inspired play space filled with sensory activities for imaginative play and musical fun with chimes and drums. And of course the Perth Museum itself, although in need of a bit of a revamp and update, always has something to entertain especially with the hands-on activities in the Discovery Centre.

On a sunny day the Wetlands are a fun place to explore and to jump from one stone to the next to cross the water. We are yet to see or hear any of the frogs which were recently released in there - perhaps they've all moved out again??



The Art Gallery has a small space set aside for children to draw their own still life and they provide paper and coloured pencils for your budding artist who can then hang their work of art on a wall in the gallery. There's also a family-friendly interactive space called 'Wonderland' where weary parents can rest their feet while the kids draw, do puzzles and learn about colours and painting. The cafe at the art gallery is also a must-do on our visits to the Perth Cultural Centre and it's always buzzing.

We also enjoy a visit to the State Library and The Place, their very family and child friendly lounge/hang out area on the mezzanine overlooking the entrance. Every Wednesday at 11am there is story time, as well as a range of other reading-related activities you can enjoy throughout the week.

At the end of a visit to the Perth Cultural Centre we usually see what's growing in the Urban Orchard (outside the gallery), sprawl on the lawn for a quick rest before hopping on the train home again.

The Piggyback Rider, in case you were wondering, is a carrier for older children which makes it possible to take your child out and about without a stroller. It's got a comfortable padded shoulder/chest harness for the adult to wear and a height adjustable bar that sits across your rear which your child stands on for a great view. The child also wears a harness which clips to the adult harness and holds onto handles, so even if they slip they aren't going anywhere. Because of where the bar sits it creates a low centre of gravity which makes it comfortable and stable, and after a few practice runs around the house you soon learn how to position the adult harness so the child has to lean forward a little to grab their hand straps. We absolutely love the Piggyback Rider, and the only downside I've found is that parents walking by will keep staring at your behind. It took me a while to work out that's because the name of the product is written prominently across the bar!

Have child, will visit playground...

The pirate playground on the revamped Swanbourne foreshore is an afternoon very well spent with your little sea monster or pirate.



It’s a stone’s throw away from food, cake, coffee and a decking area with lounges at the Naked Fig café/restaurant overlooking the playground. The decking is just that bit *too* far to be able to sit and watch your child without someone thinking you’ve abandoned them, but close enough to grab a takeaway or to have a snack after playing.



It's fully enclosed with a pool-fence style gate to keep your littlies from escaping and although it’s on the smaller side as playgrounds go I think up to 5 or 6 year olds would enjoy clambering up the rope ladder to the top of the ship's tower, and down the slide on the other side, funnelling and pouring sand into spinning wheels, jumping off the walls into the soft sand or sitting in the boat and enjoying the view.



And as views from playgrounds go, this one is pretty good! Don't forget to bring your buckets and spades, as a wide expanse of white sandy beach is only 30 seconds walk away...

Araluen Botanic Park is without a doubt a very pretty place to spend a sunny spring afternoon sprawled over a picnic blanket with something cold to sip on. The tulips (and dozens of other flowers) are in bloom…



There are waterfalls and streams bubbling their way down through the valley over rocks and under enormous tree ferns accompanied by a loud frog chorus…



There’s a cute ‘train’ ride which, for a gold coin donation, takes you up and down the steep hills around the park (unless you are superwoman I wouldn’t suggest trying to push a stroller or lug a toddler up the hills. Or down again).



It’s all just so darned lovely to look at but the grassed areas and overpriced café aside ($5 coffee anyone?) there isn’t really much for little ones to do and because of the number of waterfalls, streams and pools around the extensive grounds it isn’t really somewhere you can let small children go wandering around safely. Not to mention the broken glass in one of the shallow streams where kids were paddling and playing.

But then Araluen isn’t meant to be a day out for the kids – it’s advertised as ‘a passive recreation park’ on their website (‘passive’, ‘park’ and ‘kids’ - hmmm) - no ball games are allowed on the lawn, there’s no play equipment, there’s nothing specifically child-oriented. It’s undeniably a place of great natural beauty, a place for BBQs and picnics with family and friends surrounded by beautiful bushland and floral displays. It was worth the entry fee for one visit ($4 adults, $2 children 5-16 yrs) but now that we’ve seen it there isn’t much else to lure us back again.

Do you ever have weeks that go something like this?



I spent a lot of last week chasing my tail and feeling like we'd lost our mojo. Minor fevers, sore tummies, a grumpy child, night waking, a tired Mummy, it's just the way it is sometimes.

We had planned to visit the Herdsman Wildlife Centre, duly checked the opening times, eventually made it out of the house and arrived 40 minutes before they closed, enough time for a quick scoot around or so we thought. They had actually closed early for a meeting in a downstairs room, turned the lights off, but forgotten to lock the doors. What to do…..



We went in anyway (and paid our gold coin donation)! It’s a small centre, but there was a carpet python, assorted frogs in glass tanks, a very large skink, redback spiders (I’m not spider phobic but seeing a redback with a 2cm red striped back made me feel a little ill), gilgies, marron, a long neck tortoise and several other native creatures. There were large trays with compartments filled with all kinds of plant and animal components for kids to pick up, feel, look at and explore, as well as eight or so boxes to stick your hand into to guess the contents. It was a little too dark for photos downstairs, but we quietly tiptoed upstairs to the bird watching platform to see what we could see. Apparently Herdsman Lake is a stopover for migrating birds, but beyond the odd-looking musk duck we saw the usual black swans and ducks paddling by.

It’s probably not a place to take a very small child unless they are strapped tightly into their buggy given the fact that it is right next to a lot of unfenced water. Oh and there’s tiger snakes known to live in the area :eek:. But we didn’t see or hear any...



If you keep to the path that runs away from the centre to the right (as you face it) there is a 500m circular walk which takes you out over the water and into the bulrushes, and around *the* most beautiful paperbark woodland which reflects into the water beneath it. It’s perfect for little explorers to run along, peer over, spot wildlife and have adventures.



And for the parents it's a very tranquil place, heavy with birdsong and beautiful reflections (there are more pics around the walkway on my other blog).

The Wildlife Centre has a Frogfest coming up – bring a torch, meet some of the local wildlife, watch a light and sound show by frog experts before a spotlit night stalk adventure. With a sausage sizzle :) It’s on 16th or 30th September from 6-8pm. Tickets are $10 (0-3 years free) and must be booked in advance by emailing jenny(@)wagouldleague.com.au.

Face-painting, free vintage fire engine rides (with siren and flashing lights), pony rides, farm animals to pat and feed, live music, hand crafts, food and drink, an array of hand-made goodies for the house/pets/kids, free parking… sounding any good so far?



The Old Perth Road markets in Bassendean were an unexpectedly child-friendly and relaxing morning out. The stalls take over the spacious main street in Bassendean, which is closed to traffic, on the last Sunday morning of every month. There’s plenty of room for strollers, although baby slings seemed to be the more popular option around the market (the youngest baby we met was 3 weeks old)!




Meandering up and down the street some of the many items we saw for sale included play sand, cloth nappies, hair clips, oilve oil, curry sauces, soy candles, organic fruit, cards, gourmet doggie treats, - the variety across the stalls made it possible for my little girl and I to both find plenty to look at (and take home!). Almost everything seemed to have been made by the person on the stall and much of it was reasonably priced for small pockets (and sized for little hands, like the lavender scented wheat-filled mice in the photo above which can be heated in the microwave for a cosy snuggle at bedtime - 2 of them came home with us thanks to Nan).



One of the highlights was the free baby farm animal enclosure where 50 cents buys you a cup of feed and the immediate attention of insistent goats, lambs, a pig, rabbit, chickens, and other small furries who enjoy a brush down and a cuddle – grab a brush by the gate when you go in (and when the staff suggest that a grown-up hold the feed cup it’s probably worth listening – those little goats do like to headbutt!).



The free fire engine ride was also great fun, whizzing through the streets of Bassendean with a crew of children and mummies grinning widely with the wind in their hair and the sirens wailing up and down. And what’s not to like about a man in uniform?? Ambling through the markets on our sleepy Sunday morning was just lovely, and we’re looking forward to going back next month.

If there’s a performer in you waiting to get out, there’s a call up for people to fill the community stage on market day! And if you’re into photography, there’s a photography competition running which closes on the 1st October.

Where's your favourite playground in Perth? There seem to be so many wonderful places to exhaust, ahem, play with your little one here that my girl and I weren't quite sure where to begin. We'd love to hear your recommendations :).

In the end we headed to the Ivey Watson playground next to Sticky Beaks café in Kings Park (also known as the Lotterywest Family Area). Set under enormous shade sails and trees it ranges over a large area with various equipment for children aged 1-5 (ish), lush lawns to picnic on, a great (slightly pricey) café within the playground and parking on site. On a sunny Friday afternoon it was packed with children of all ages snoozing, crawling, toddling and running throughout the grounds. Although the entire area is fenced in it lacks a gate at the main entrance and the sheer size of it makes it impossible to sit in one place and keep an eye on your child – we saw three frantic mums trying to find their littlies in the time we were there. But if you don’t mind wandering around the grounds with your child there are some imaginative and well-built pieces to play on. For all your little pirates there is a ship sailing on a sandy ocean:



And for the princes and princesses there's a castle, bridge and throne:



There are of course slides and swings:



...as well as a child-sized maze, assorted climbing frames for different age ranges, a fire truck and aeroplane to sit in and drive/fly, a musical board with door-handles that turn and plink out different notes, and a really wide variety of things to sit on, clamber along, turn, press, jump from, balance on, and interact with.



Would we go back? Absolutely. Probably not at a weekend as it was busy enough on a Friday afternoon but it met my criteria for a fun, well-equipped, clean playground with caffeine, shade, parking and clean toilets onsite or nearby.

Coming up at the Ivey Watson playground is the Wild Fairyland Festival October 2nd from 10-3. For a gold coin donation you can explore a fairy forest, meet the Fairy Queen and other fairies who live there, watch a magic show and listen to stories. I know a little fairy who can’t wait to get out her fairy dress-ups…

New schools in new cities take some time getting used to even if they are only half days, and so I promised my little girl an adventure at the end of her busy week. The weather held, and so on another sunny (winter? Ha!) afternoon we put some Aloe Blacc on the stereo (need a dollar anyone?) and headed north to Landsdale Farm School for some cute furry animals and gnome hunting.



Set over 4 hectares the farm has an array of mostly un-penned friendly animals which amble, gambol, galavant, sprawl, snooze and poo throughout the grounds. Yes, poo. Lots of it! (If you’re hygiene phobic then put your kids in shoes that can be hosed down later). The animals were very tolerant of my four year old’s affections and mostly let her pat and coo at them but watch out for Naughty Norma the goat, she likes to be the centre of attention!

Spring was definitely in the air with lambs and kids wandering (or snoozing) on the lawns throughout the farm, with some still in utero - I'm guessing twins or triplets (fluid retention??)! That poor Mama-goat-to-be couldn’t manage more than ten paces without needing a lie down (ah the joys of pregnancy).