From 2pm – 6pm, Hyde Park is given over to families for Kids First. There will be loads of entertainment and activities designed especially for kids spread across two stages, as well as roaming performers to catch you by surprise.

FROM 2PM - ON & AROUND HYDE PARK PALM STAGE

HYDE PARK & SURROUNDS
The Big Tassie Devil workshop & decoration: help build a giant sculpture of our favourite marsupial.
Until 4pm: Taronga Zoomobile petting zoo.
Until 4.30pm: ABC Interactive Trailer - glimpse into the magic of television and radio.
Until 5pm: Hyde Park Barracks: discover life as a convict. Half price entry.

3 – 5pm: Roving Fun: Erth’s puppeteered creatures and The Cycologists’ musical bicycles
3 – 5pm: Learn The Sydney every half hour with our special dance instructors!

HYDE PARK FOUNTAIN STAGE
5pm: Kids get the first go at dancing The Sydney!
5 – 6pm: Music is Magic concert with MC and ABC 702 breakfast presenter Adam Spencer. Songs by Australia’s young songwriters with the Sydney Youth Orchestra, Australian Youth Choir and guest soloists including Felicity Urquhart.

HYDE PARK PALM STAGE
2pm: Dan Zanes and Friends - kids rock n’ roll star direct from New York City
3.15pm: Acrobatics with The Leaping Loonies and capoeira
4–5pm: Breaking Battles plus Seapuuog popping crew

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DAN ZANES & FRIENDS



Get ready to rock in the kiddie mosh-pit when modern day Pied Piper Dan Zanes comes to Sydney Festival. Dan Zanes & Friends create new versions of traditional songs, playing rock ‘n’ roll, gospel, blues and folk inspired tunes with diverse instrumentation and original arrangement.

Dan Zanes & Friends are also performing as part of the Festival Kids at Parramatta series. For more events in the series, click here.

Dan Zanes & Friends also play at The Famous Spiegeltent in the Samsung Mobile Festival Garden. For details of this show, click here.

HIP HOP & URBAN DANCE

Got kids with ants in their pants and energy to burn?  Bring them to see the interactive Hip Hop & Urban Dance, coordinated by Sydney’s Nick Power (AKA B*Boy Rely) and featuring MC Kween G. These guys will have the kids busting moves all over the park!

Leaping Loonies



The Leaping Loonies perform a combination of contemporary and traditional, knock-about acrobatic routines. Drawing on traditional circus and vaudeville this highly energetic trio will be putting the best of their rough-and-tumble tricks on show. Even better, they’ll teach you some of their basic moves to practice!

Breaking Battles
We start off with a breaking workshop taught by our three breakdancing judges, Scott do Rock (All Consciousness Crew), B*Girl Demolition (Demi) and B*Boy Red. Then we have a breaking battle with four of Sydney’s best crews – R.A.W., Hybrid Forms, SKB and Juse Crew with music by DJ Mathematics! The top two will battle it out in the final to be held in Martin Place later in the evening.

PLUS a special performance by Sydney popping crew Seapuuog.

Capoeira performance and workshop
An energetic mix of body and soul, fighting and dancing, of music instruments and voice.

Nick Power



Nick Power, AKA B*Boy Rely, has been representing Australian hip hop for the past 15 years as a B*Boy, MC, Graff Writer and Activist.  He has been a member of B*boy Allstars, Rapid Fire, Cyber Force and was the founding member of Gravity Warriors as well as the Breaker for Resin Dogs doing two Big Day Out tours and numerous festival shows.

FROM 5PM - HYDE PARK FOUNTAIN STAGE

CATCH THE KIDS DOING THE SYDNEY!

You thought the Time Warp was big, or even Nutbush City Limits – wait until you see The Sydney! Sydney Festival brings you this specially choreographed dance by Garry Stewart from Australian Dance Theatre.  Just after sunset our special guest dance instructors will take to the stages and teach everyone how to do The Sydney - we want all of Sydney to help transform the CBD into a mass dance floor! 

The Sydney is short, easy to learn, and lots of fun and we’ll be teaching kids and their families the dance in Hyde Park throughout the afternoon. Practice your moves, then at 5pm join in a special kids’ rehearsal at the Hyde Park Fountain Stage.

MUSIC IS MAGIC



To celebrate the nurturing of our budding songwriters, Sydney Festival again brings together some of our finest young singers and musicians.

Led by the much-loved Maestro George Ellis, and with MC Adam Spencer, the Sydney Youth Orchestra, Australian Youth Choir, Music is Magic presents some of the highlight entries in the 2008 Australian Children’s Music Foundation National Songwriting Competition.

Don’t miss the opportunity to be in the audience for this inspiring concert from our next generation of musicians, singers and songwriters, featuring special guest singers Elana Stone, Felicity Urquhart, Brian Campeau and Laura Jean.

Music is Magic is also part of the Festival Kids at Parramatta series. For more events in the series, click here.

KIDS FIRST ROVING FUN

THE BIG TASSIE DEVIL



Ever been to the Big Banana? The Big Prawn? Seen the Big Merino? Head along to Kids First on the lawn help us build the Big Tassie Devil. To help save this valuable little marsupial from extinction and raise awareness of its plight, Taronga Zoo launched the Tassie Devil Appeal earlier this year and Festival First Night is helping spread the word.  The brainchild of artist Amanda King, the Big Tassie Devil will be created using a bamboo and wire frame that will then be decorated with reclaimed plastics and crushed recycled aluminium cans remodelled into Australian wild flowers.  By using recycled and reclaimed materials, King is also raising awareness about the issues of recycling and sustainable community programs. 

The Aluminium Can Group will be contributing crushed recycled aluminium cans to be used as the flower centre to remind people of the importance of recycling cans, as well as plastic and paper.

TURN YOUR PLASTIC INTO PETALS - MAKE YOUR RECYCLED FLOWERS AT HOME

The kids will love pinning their Australian native flowers onto The Big Tassie Devil and watching him grow throughout the day.  They can make the whole flowers at Kids First, or you can do some recycling by making your petals at home first and bringing them along.

Those Christmas parties and BBQs are sure to provide some potential flower petals - don’t bin them, bring them! You can use plastic yoghurt containers or cups, just make sure you rinse them first.

Click here for a petal template. Make as many flowers as you can carry!

THE CYCOLOGISTS



Is it a cyclist?  Is it a musician?  No – it’s The Cycologists!  Three cyclists appear from nowhere and magically transform their bicycles into instruments: bicycle seat stems become clarinets to go with the bicycle pump panpipes, tuned bicycle bells and a handlebar flute.  All the music is made with the bicycles.  But be quick, after a tune or two they transform the instruments back into bicycles and ride off into the sunset

MEET THE ANIMALS

In partnership with Taronga Zoo, the Zoomobile will be onsite in Hyde Park with their collection of Australian native fauna where kids can meet and interact with the animals and learn about conservation issues.

And for the not so real animals!?!  Erth manages to bring the past to life with the most enchanting completely life-like baby dinosaurs, and other impossibly cute creatures that the kids can meet and play with, a guaranteed hit with the entire family.

ABC INTERACTIVE TRAILER

For a chance to star in your own music video or see what its like to work in a radio studio visit the ABC Exhibition Trailer parked at the top of Hyde Park, on St James Road. Come along for a glimpse into the magic of television and radio broadcasting, a chance to play some fun, interactive games and activities in a trailer that has entertained kids all around the country.

Click here for all the info.

HYDE PARK BARRACKS MUSEUM

Our friends at Historic Houses will be reducing the entrance fee to the Hyde Park Barracks Museum to half price from 2-5pm as part of Kids First. Make the most of this opportunity to discover some of the secrets of Sydney’s past and explore the pictures, documents, artefacts, objects and soundscapes on show, as well as the fabric and rooms of the building itself.

TO VIEW THE FESTIVAL FIRST NIGHT ECARD, Click here.