Take the kids to Canberra………they deserve it and will love it.

There’s plenty on offer in Canberra to keep families entertained this spring, with new family-friendly experiences including the Australian War Memorial’s new Discovery Zone, Questacon’s new Top Secret exhibition and Imagination Factory and kid’s activities at the new Canberra Glassworks and Floriade.

The Australian War Memorial opened its brand new Discovery Zone on 7 July and using five creative sets to tell the Australian experience of war, the Discovery Zone is a place where families can go and learn together as it encourages children to immerse themselves in military history.

To discover more about the First World War, kids can crawl through a trench complete with lifelike mud, rats and a soldier and they can visit a backyard in northern Australia, which sets the scene of the home front during the Second World War.

They can also climb into a helicopter set in a field in Vietnam to learn about Australia’s longest war and they can explore the inside of a submarine control room for the Cold War experience.

Also with bridges needing to be built they can experience a field cleared of mines and supplies organised for a community wracked by war as part of the Peacekeeping team experience.  For more information visit: www.awm.gov.au  

Kids can also become secret agents on a journey through the history of spy technology at the new Top secret: Licence to spy exhibition at Questacon which is open until early next year.  Kids and adults alike will be entertained by this behind the scenes glimpse of an undercover world that has been recreated with life-like sets and activities.

At another new exhibition, The Imagination Factory, kids can explore the science behind how air and oil can lift a car. They can also use basic mechanical tools to create their own inventions.

Questacon’s great value family passes make visiting the National Science and Technology Centre easy.  For more information visit: www.questacon.edu.au  

As reported by The Mole earlier this week, Canberra Glassworks is the latest cultural attraction in Canberra where kids and adults can learn all about glass from glass artists, take building tours, watch artists at work, visit the exhibition galleries and retail space, and enjoy refreshments from the Glassworks Café.

With bright colours, fun shapes and the excitement of creation, glass art is an ideal activity for children, with over the September and October school holidays, classes that are entirely dedicated to children available.

As part of the young artist classes, three day school holiday workshops are offered on glass blowing, glass casting and kiln forming bead making. Age restrictions apply, bookings are essential.  For more information visit: www.canberraglassworks.com

Also, this spring more than ever, Floriade has plenty to keep your kids laughing and smiling for hours and it’s all completely free!  

You can entertain the kids every day of the week in the Children’s Village, open 10am to 4pm each day, with the village featuring activities, craft, games, music, magic and fun and the special Kids’ Festival on 2 October will feature Kinderjazz, a 12 piece big band featuring jazz, Latin, funk, swing, broadway, boogie and even country music written especially for children.

Floriade will also feature a Patting Paddock for the first time, with this mobile farmyard allowing kids to see and interact with farm animals, including lambs, chickens and cows.  Patting Paddock will be on at Floriade on weekends and during school holidays. For more information visit: www.floriadeaustralia.com  

The Junior ZooVenture Tour at the National Zoo and Aquarium is also a great animal experience tour for children aged four to 10 years, with kids getting up close to monkeys, dingoes, otters, penguins, giraffes and more at Australia’s only combined zoo and aquarium.

For kids over 10, the regular ZooVenture tour includes hand feeding lions and tigers, and letting a bear lick honey from your hand.  For more information visit: www.nationalzoo.com.au  

Finally potentially the most important question is where to stay and while most Canberra hotels have great winter and spring family deals.

Check out the Crowne Plaza Canberra which has nearly finished its $6m refurbishment with the new rooms really smart and one of the best things being the in room movies with Maginet, which even in the middle of a movie, you can pause and bookmark to view the rest later and also rewind and fast forward at any time – very clever indeed.

Crowne Plaza Canberra is the largest hotel in the region, with 295 very well appointed and mainly newly refrubished rooms – [remember to ask for a new one!], located right alongside both Glebe Park and for Mum and shopping, just a few steps from the CBD, Canberra’s main shopping fair and for the kids all the fast food names you can think of!

The hotels has the Redsalt Restaurant, which serves a kid and adult friendly buffet breakfast with seafood buffets or a la carte on different nights.

Of course there is also the Serani Health Spa, but unfortunately it appears not to be open on Sundays, and for Dad to get a tad fitter, the Glebe Park Health Club with sauna and outdoor pool.

They also offer a 24 hour Business Centre, broadband in all guest rooms and wireless connectivity in public areas, and finally, secure undercover car parking.

The Crowne Plaza Canberra has some great deals which you can check out at www.crowneplaza.com.au, by emailing [email protected] or even calling the hotel on 02 6247 8999

Special Canberra Report by The Mole