BIG Family Weekend | Dream Big Children’s Festival 2025 | Review
A fantastic collection of free activities that inspire kids to create, think and perform with their families, all located at Adelaide Festival Plaza on May 10 and 11, 2025.
Review by Claire Davill
Dream Big Children’s Festival turns 50 this year, and the activities on offer for the BIG family weekend are a fantastic opportunity to sample some of what makes up the festival.
Most activities are located in the Adelaide Festival Plaza, with some inside the Festival Theatre and Dunstan Playhouse. Most activities are free, and its easy to move between different activities as you choose. Drop-in activities are very flexible, enabling you to pick a time that suits you, or when the activity looks less busy. Activities with set sessions run frequently throughout the day.
There are plenty of food trucks, tables and areas in shade if you need to take a break.
Activities that we tried included:
Dream Big Printing Co – this is one of the few paid activities. Screen print a t-shirt or tote bag. Prices are $25 for a t-shirt ($10 if you bring your own) or $15 for a tote bag. Kids get to choose the colour scheme and print their own t-shirt under the guidance of Dream Big staff, and the results are fantastic!
Playbook – keep an eye out for these roving performers, as they wander through the plaza performing amazing acrobatic feats.
Curious Creatures – create your own mask using your imagination and an amazing array of paper, fabric, stickers, feathers and pipe cleaners. There is an option to take part in a performance workshop with your mask if you wish.
The Museum of the Everyday – share a loved item or memory with the museum curators to create a time capsule of what matters. Kids are invited to draw or write something important to them, to be pinned on the museum board.
The Plants – create music using plants! Touching, bending and stroking the potted plants creates different sounds due to sensors on the plants.
String Symphony – the huge puppet in the centre of the plaza is hard to miss. At regular performance times, some kids will be lucky enough to be invited to help control the puppet with ropes as the story of Leor is told. Even if not helping control the puppet, kids have the opportunity to watch the performance.
Lucky Dip Tent – regular performances throughout the day, and you have no idea what performance you will see. When we attended, we saw a fantastic musician who improvised playing multiple instruments and used a loop sound board. There was plenty of audience participation and contribution to the performance. Each show runs for 20 minutes.
Massive Maker Space – a huge area of junk and loose parts for kids to build and explore, limited only by their imagination.
What we like about the BIG Family Weekend
- Most activities are free
- Most activities are fully accessible
- Almost all activities are contained within the Festival Plaza and surrounds
Things to consider
- Parking nearby the Festival Plaza can be expensive. Consider taking public transport if you can
- Many activities are in full sun, and with the weather forecast this weekend being mostly sunny, hats and sunscreen are a must
Coffee and food options nearby
- There are many food trucks and drinks available for purchase in the plaza. There are also plenty of spaces to sit and eat food you have brought from home, if you prefer.
The BIG Family weekend runs from 11am – 5pm on Saturday, 10 and Sunday, 11 May 2025.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE BIG FAMILY WEEKEND HERE
Location:
Festival Plaza, Adelaide
For more information and all enquiries please visit the Dream Big Children’s Festival website.
At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.
As per all our Play & Go reviews, this is not a sponsored post and our review is done completely independently. All photos are by Play & Go (unless specified).
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