Finding local activities (in New Zealand)

We have created a list of fun exercise activities in your community to keep your kids busy, off devices and entertained. Our mission is to help parents keep kids busy through an optimized search and booking experience for indoor & outdoor activities. Whether your children like tree; water or indoors centric activities; we have solutions for all.

Community content

There are many blogs & websites run by Kiwis with great family friendly ideas. We have given some links to them under the following fun activity ideas:

Local schools

Primary, intermediate and Secondary schools can offer a great range of sporting opportunities (as well as local play grounds). To get the best out of local school extracurricular activities you can:

• Use the schools public noticeboards. Most of these activities are available to the general public also (for example: After school Karate, School holiday activities etc.)
  

  
• School websites, also provide similar activity lists of engaging activities.
• Schools usually allow people from outside the school to join their sports team too (common for home schooled students or small charter schools) where its too hard to make full teams.

Although it is easy to find some of the local schools; there are always some that are not so well known (but have good resources too). You can find nearby

Pre-school

Toy libraries are great for younger children who can borrow toys. You can find your city toy library here

Book libraries often run special school holiday programmes that can be worthwhile too.

Primary school students

Younger children, may want to consider the following activities:
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• There are many school holiday programmes, and you should search for ones in your area; here are some examples:
  
  
• • North Island - https://schoolsout.co.nz/holiday-programme/
  • Auckland - https://www.aucklandforkids.co.nz/general-school-holiday-programmes/
  • Auckland - https://nuttyscientists.com/auckland/our-programs-events/camps/
  • Auckland - Little scientists: https://www.littlescientists.co.nz/
  • Auckland & Hamilton - https://www.ymcanorth.org.nz/programmes/holiday-programmes/
  • Hawkes Bay - https://www.ymcahb.org.nz/holiday-programmes/
  • Lower North Island - https://ycentral.nz/schoolholidayprogrammes/
  • Invercargill - https://www.ymcasouth.org.nz/childcare/holiday-programmes/
  • Nelson - https://www.ymcanelson.org.nz/y-oscar/oscarholidays/
  • Christchurch - https://ymcasc.org.nz/service-list/play-active-recreations-sport/
• Local Technology, history and art museums (Zoom into your local city, and click 'search this area')
• Libraries often run special school holiday programmes
• Whenua Iti outdoors - https://www.whenuaiti.org.nz/programmes-overview/primary-school-programmes/

Intermediate school students

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• Scratch pad courses (learning to make software such as games and animations on the computer).
• Sports camps (try your local sports clubs and coaches for options)

Secondary school students

High school students may want to organize activities with friends. They can look at this website for some ideas for activities (beyond the outdoor suggestions mentioned earlier): https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/. We recommend this list of outdoor activities: https://www.whenuaiti.org.nz/programmes-overview/secondary-school-programmes/

Local council

You could look to gather a group of friends and book a sports fields from your local council and organize activities yourself. Select your local council below to see how to book

NOTE: Most city councils support online booking or forms; but not all.

Government

This website offers a directory of various sports & activity groups you can join: https://sportnz.org.nz/find-a-sport-or-recreation-activity/

There are also skill building courses provided by government aligned institutions such as: https://www.whenuaiti.org.nz/.