Joburg for Kids Craighall Park, Rosebank Region, Johannesburg

For ongoing and current activities for children see the excellent website JoziKids. In addition to this there are some standard attractions for children.

Playgrounds near Liz at Lancaster

Delta Park – free There is a great children’s playground at Delta Park. Take Craighall Road in Victory Park which leads straight into Delta Park and to the Environmental Centre and you will see the playground on your right. VERY crowded over weekends
Zoo Lake – free Also VERY crowded over weekends is the playground at Zoo Lake.
Hugh Wyndham Park (4 blocks from Liz at Lancaster)is small but has playground too.

Child friendly cafes and restaurants

Delta Café, Craighall Park On the Craighall Park side of Delta Park (5 blocks from Liz at Lancaster) is Delta Café which has a great kids menu (including boiled eggs and soldier toast!) plus a secure play area with slide, climbing equipment, swings, etc. And there are great child minders who supervise the playground. Delta Café is located at Delta Centre where there’s a great vege garden to explore and stables with horse rides.
AJ’s in the Park, Craigall Park 33 Abercorn Ave, Craighall Park has a pleasant low-key outdoor eating area, small playground area and large lawned space for kids to run around and play.
Rustic Timber Garden Centre Witkoppen Rd There are 2 play areas: 0-3 play area with childminders and then for the older +3s there’s more advanced equipment, castles, sandpit, bike. Plus lots of shade for adults to relax and have a meal or a cup of coffee. And there are cookery classes and an amazing crafting section called the Glitter Factory where kids can use glitter, paint, mosaic, clay and make their own creations.
Bambanani, Melville, 85 4th Ave This is the most amazing venue with an extraordinary range of equipment and activities including a 3 story enclosed area with soft climbing equipment. The restaurant has excellent food. They cater for children from 6 months to 12 years old and have a busy activity schedule including things like pottery, paper mosaic classes and face painting.
River Café Field and Study Centre, Parkmore Lovely outdoor area to eat and huge sandpit, jungle gyms, swings and slides for the younger ones.
Bird Garden, Monte Casino, Fourways The Bird Garden at Monte Casino has shows twice a day at 11 am and 3 pm 011 511 1864.

Farmyards

Glen Party Farmyard, Lonehill 90 MacGillivray Rd off Main Road. There’s a great selection of farm animals: pigs, horses, cows, a donkey, turkeys, ducks, chickens, rabbits and they are in excellent condition. There’s a lovely open lawn area with table and umbrellas to picnic; a jumping castle and a bike track and pony rides. It costs R30 per child which includes juice and biscuits. The sad thing is that it is only open on Wednesdays and Fridays from 1-5pm.
CrazyKids Farmyard for the Moms and Children to relax and enjoy their party or just a day outing.

Markets

Rosebank Sunday Market, Rosebank Mall is a great family market as it has wide aisles and lots of space so there isn’t that cramped claustrophobic feeling that so many markets have.
Bryanston Organic Market has several stall holders who offer various activities for kids from painting on ceramics and Tshirts to the Toy Lady’s stall with its train set and doll’s house.

Theatre and Music

National Children’s Theatre is the foremost theatre organization in Gauteng, shining the bright light of educational, engaging and award-winning theatre for children and youth throughout South African cities and rural areas. Tel – 011 484 1584
People’s Theatre at the Joburg Theatre Braamfontein They have productions during school holidays around April, June and December

Movies

There are 2 cinema complexes close to Liz at Lancaster. During April, June/July and December/January there is always a wide choice of children’s movies. Check what’s on at

Zoos and wild life further afield

Johannesburg Zoo cr Jan Smuts and Upper Park Drive; As zoos go the Johannesburg Zoo is very good. There are night tours to see the nocturnal animals and there is the standard farmyard for small children See blog post here 5 and 10km walks through the Zoo every 2nd Sunday of the month; open daily. 011 646 2000
Lory Park Zoo in Midrand is small with close viewing of animals so good for younger children. I don’t like any wild animals in zoos but this privately owned zoo is well-run and the animals seem in good physical condition.
Lion and Safari Park on the way to Hartebeespoort Dam has something for all ages. Older children will enjoy the ‘safari rides’ into the game areas while younger kids are more than happy with the fabulous playground plus bunnies, meerkats and 2 giraffes who take copious amounts of food with mesmerizing prehensile tongues.
At the Rhino and Lion Park out in the Cradle there is an animal crèche and a reptile park. 011 957 0109
Hartebeespoort Dam Elephant Sanctuary where visitors can touch, feed and interact with elephants.
The Bushbaby and Monkey Sanctuary where rehabilitated animals live in large netted natural surroundings.
Harties Cable Car – Lovely birds’ eye view of the dam and the village from the mountain ridge above

Physical Activities for older children

Canopy swinging, Melrose Acrobranch runs supervised canopy swinging with zip-lines, obstacle courses and other adventures in the James and Ethel Gray Park. The Yellow course for kids from 3 and the Green course for kids from 7 Tel: +27 (0)86 999 0369
Bounce, Fourways Mall indoor trampoline park with more than 100 interconnected trampolines and giant air bags with slam-dunk arenas, wall-running and dodgeball courts rolled in.
Cycle Lab Bike Park , Nicol Highway 20 hectares with 13km of trails. Natural wetland with bike routes
Ice skating, Northgate at the Northgate Ice Arena 011 794 – 8706
Adventure Golf at Brightwater Commons in Randburg or Fourways Mall – open daily. Tel +27 11 788 3282.
Gold Reef City in addition to being a theme park experience of early Johannesburg, has a fun fair. However some of the rides are quite scary so the children cannot be too young. Also children under 6 cannot go on the mine tour.

Art and craft activities

Color Cafe in Hyde Sqare You can choose a piece of raw ceramic to paint, or even do a mosaic. Color Cafe supplies the paint, stencils, mosaic tiles and there’s a qualified staff member on hand to help. They cater for all ages so this is a super-cool thing to do with youngsters. Phone on 011 341 0734.
Glitter café at FreeRange Lifestyle Centre, Near Fourways Rustic Timber Garden Centre Witkoppen Rd Kids can use glitter, paint, mosaic, clay and make their own creations. The Glitter Factory is open 7 days a week…Monday to Friday 8:30 to 16:30 and Saturday and Sunday 9:00 to 17:00.

Planes, rockets, cars and mechanical things

Lanseria Airport there’s a restaurant with floor to ceiling windows. So it’s ideal to watch the runway activity. The best time is mornings as that is when most flights arrive or depart.
Museum of Military History, Saxonwold 22 Erlswold Way. Closed Mondays. While military machines are not necessarily the best attractions for young children, they do see real live aeroplanes, tanks etc at close quarters and there is an historical context.
SciBono Discovery Centre Closed Mondays. This is an excellent museum and great value for money. 011 639 8400