Kids’ Cape Town

It’s not always easy trav­el­ling with the kids  — they need almost con­stant enter­tain­ing, and woe betide the par­ent who takes their child on one too many ‘bor­ing’ museum tours. Luckily, Cape Town has some really excit­ing things to do and places to see for intrepid little ones. Read on for kid-friendly hol­i­day activ­it­ies in the Cape ...

The Two Oceans Aquarium at the V&A Waterfront is a fun and inter­act­ive – not to men­tion edu­ca­tional – way to spend an after­noon. Kids can wander around the fas­cin­at­ing Two Oceans gal­ler­ies, tremble at the I&J pred­ator exhibit and have hands-on fun draw­ing and paint­ing or watch­ing a pup­pet show at the AfriSam Children’s Centre. Then head to the Shoreline Cafe for a nibble on the extens­ive kid­dies’ menu ...

If your little ones prefer an even more hands-on exper­i­ence, take them to the Scratch Patch (there’s one at the V&A Waterfront, quite close to the Aquarium if you want to make a day of it, but the ori­ginal is in Simon’s Town). Select a bag or con­tainer on your way in (prices range, depend­ing on size, from about R15 to R80) then get scratch­ing! The floor is covered with lit­er­ally thou­sands of semi-precious, tumble-polished gem­stones. Kids can while away hours select­ing their favour­ites from the tiger’s eye, rose quartz, amethyst, jasper, agates and crys­tals (and many more!), which are then theirs to take home.

If this little geo­lo­gical adven­ture is right up your child’s street, then a visit to the MTN ScienCentre at Canal Walk Shopping Centre is a must. With 300 fully inter­act­ive exhib­its, it’s the per­fect way for enquir­ingly minded little ones to spend an after­noon. They’ll be improv­ing their sci­ence, tech­no­logy and maths skills as they learn and play. Apart from the per­man­ent exhib­its, there are edu­ca­tional talks, expos and the Rossum Robotics Academy, which intro­duces school-age kids to the basics of mech­an­ics, engin­eer­ing and com­puter pro­gram­ming. Also watch this space for the upcom­ing ScienCentre Sleepovers.

And since you’re at Canal Walk already, pop into Place of Play, an indoor and out­door play park with everything from a teddy bear stuff­ing sta­tion to a laser beam room to a huge (and they mean huge!) jungle gym. Parents are well catered for too with a res­taur­ant, WiFi zone, nail bar and shi­atsu parlour.

In a sim­il­arly sci­entific bent, the Planetarium at the South African National Museum in the Company’s Garden is another win­ner for kids. The night sky is recre­ated on the domed ceil­ing of this celes­tial theatre, provid­ing the ulti­mate in arm­chair travel. Check out the web­site to see what spe­cial kids pro­grammes are run­ning. After a trip around the galaxy, explore the museum and then take a wander through the lush Garden – a pic­nic on its sprawl­ing lawns is a great way to end an after­noon of fun and learning.

Getting out of the city, a stop at the Imhoff Farm in Kommetjie is always worth­while. This is a pop­u­lar spot for vis­it­ors and loc­als, not least because it’s on the way to Cape Point Nature Reserve and has a host of activ­it­ies for the whole fam­ily. Parents can enjoy an alfresco lunch and some of the Cape’s finest wine at the Blue Water Café, or browse the Free Range Farm Shop, the cheese and chocol­ate shops or the nurs­ery (not to men­tion a num­ber of art, craft and decor stores). Meanwhile, kids will be torn between the Higgeldy Piggeldy pet­ting zoo, horse and camel rides (yes, camel rides), a snake park, paint­ball and face paint­ing (please note, par­ental super­vi­sion is obvi­ously neces­sary for most of these activ­it­ies, but par­ents will no doubt get as much enjoy­ment from them as the kids!).

For more fresh air and friends from the animal king­dom, no trip to Cape Town is com­plete without vis­it­ing Boulder’s Beach, close to Simon’s Town. Not only will kids love a day of sand and sun, and a swim in the warm(ish) sheltered waters of this cove, but the 3 000-strong colony of African jack­ass pen­guins is sure to please. You can spend the day shar­ing the beach and swim­ming with these tuxedoed birds at Boulder’s, or head to neigh­bour­ing Foxy Beach, where a newly con­struc­ted board­walk allows you to view the colony in its entirety. Just remem­ber, though they look cute, these are wild birds, and try­ing to cuddle them will res­ult in bit­ten fin­gers. (see our pre­vi­ous art­icle on the pen­guins at Boulders Beach).

Speaking of feathered friends, The World of Birds Wildlife Sanctuary and Monkey Park in Hout Bay has over 3 000 birds for chil­dren to learn about while wan­der­ing through more 100 avi­ar­ies in this trop­ical land­scaped para­dise. And it’s not just birds you’ll see – let the kids make friends with the curi­ous little squir­rel mon­keys in the mon­key jungle, and then try to spot the other mam­mals the park provides a home for, includ­ing meerkats, pot-bellied pigs and por­cu­pines. There’s also a rep­tile park for those who prefer scales and skin to fur and feathers.

For winged creatures of a dif­fer­ent vari­ety, there are few places more magical for little ones than Butterfly World in Stellenbosch. This 1 000 square metre green­house plays home to many hun­dreds of exotic but­ter­flies, and walk­ing through the enclos­ure sur­roun­ded by thou­sands of these del­ic­ate creatures is a truly beau­ti­ful exper­i­ence. Challenge the kids to stay still (and quiet!) long enough for one of the pretty ladies to land on their head, then explore the many other activ­it­ies on offer. The beau­ti­ful out­door garden has an avi­ary and meerkat enclos­ure, as well as ducks and chick­ens that chil­dren can feed with bags of seed from the gift shop. An iguana cage teaches us more about these fas­cin­at­ing rep­tiles, or you could end with a visit to the Spider Room to make the acquaint­ance of some eight-legged friends and scor­pi­ons. (see our pre­vi­ous art­icle about Butterfly World).

There really is so much for chil­dren to do in Cape Town over the hol­i­days, whether it’s any of the above activ­it­ies, or play­ing putt-putt in Muizenberg, going ice skat­ing at Grandwest, learn­ing to surf on our beaches, pic­nick­ing at Kirstenbosch doing a hik­ing trail up one of our mag­ni­fi­cent moun­tains or enjoy­ing some children’s theatre at the Baxter or Artscape. Most large hotels in Cape Town also provide a babysit­ting ser­vice and a sum­mer pro­gramme of things to keep the kids enter­tained, which means that par­ents can enjoy the Cape Town night­life à deux.

Desirable Digits:
Two Oceans Aquarium: +27 (0)21 418‑3823
The Scratch Patch: +27 (0)21 419‑9429
MTN ScienCentre: +27 (0)21 529‑8100
Place of Play: +27 (0)21 555‑0303
Iziko Planetarium: +27 (0)21 481‑3900
Imhoff Farm: +27 (0)21 783‑4545
World of Birds: +27 (0)21 790‑2730
Butterfly World: +27 (0)21 875‑5628

Useful Links:
Cape Town Family-friendly accom­mod­a­tion
Things to Do in Cape Town
Cape Town Accommodation