Australian kids get four lots of school holidays a year, and if you are a working parent, that is four separate rounds of the same question: what on earth do we do with them this time. Chinese and Anglo families alike seem to hit the same wall right before every break starts, comparing notes on group chats about which program is worth the money.
I have been booking my older son into some combination of vacation care, sports camps and specialty interest camps for a few years now, purely through trial and error. Here is what I have actually learned about each one, plus where my younger one fits into the picture now that he is old enough to tag along.
Vacation Care – The Reliable All-Rounder for Long Days
Standard vacation care is the workhorse option. Most run from around 8 or 9am through to 5 or 6pm, which covers a full work day without a scramble at pick-up. Programs are usually based at a local school or community centre, so the first thing to check is simply what is close to home, since you will likely be doing the drop-off and pick-up run yourself.
Groups are generally split by age, which makes it an easy option if you have two kids at different stages, since siblings can often attend the same site even if they are not in the same activity group. The trade-off is that the day-to-day activities can feel a bit repetitive over a two-week block. My workaround has been to check the program calendar in advance and specifically book the days that include an excursion, such as a museum or zoo visit, since those tend to be the most memorable days for the kids and break up the routine.
If you are trying to compare vacation care options near you, our things to do with kids directory lists local programs by category, which is a faster way to shortlist than searching site by site.
Sports Camps: Great for Burning Energy, Not Ideal for the Very Young
Sports holiday camps are something of an Australian specialty. Football, basketball, tennis, and pretty much every other sport you can think of has a holiday version, usually running shorter days from around 9am to 3pm rather than a full workday.
My older son has done football, basketball and tennis camps over the years, and they are genuinely good for wearing kids out in a healthy way. The Australian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines recommend at least an hour a day of moderate to vigorous activity for school-age kids, and a full day of sports camp comfortably covers that. The catch is that the shorter hours mean you often still need to arrange care for the rest of the day, and the pace can be a lot for a younger or less energetic child. I would not put a child under about six into a full day of one of these unless they already love the sport.
You can browse local sport and fitness holiday programs under the Sports & Fitness category on our directory if this is the direction you are leaning.
Specialty Interest Camps: The Splurge Worth Making Occasionally
School holidays are also the best window to let kids try something outside their normal routine, and this is where specialty interest camps come in – science and STEM camps, art intensives, coding and robotics, that sort of thing.
This last break, I booked my older son into a full-day STEM camp, from 9am to 5pm, after he had previously enjoyed one of their online science kit subscriptions. The day was genuinely packed – science experiments in the morning, coding and robotics after lunch, then a chemistry-themed session to close out the day, with a different structure each day of the week rather than the same routine on repeat. They also offered a lunch ordering option, which took one thing off my plate in the morning rush. I ended up booking my younger son into a lower age-group stream on the same site, so both boys were dropped off and picked up in one trip, and I could run errands nearby while they were in.
These camps tend to be the most expensive option per day, so I treat them as an occasional highlight rather than a way to fill an entire two-week block. Interest-based programs like this are usually listed under Classes and Workshops in our directory if you want to see what runs near you.
How I Actually Decide Between Them
After a few years of trial and error, this is roughly the logic I use each holiday period:
- Working full days both weeks? Vacation care covers the full day and is the easiest to rely on consistently.
- Got a kid with energy to burn and a sport they already love? A sports camp is worth the shorter hours, as long as you can cover the rest of the day.
- Want to give them a one-off experience they will remember? A specialty interest camp is worth the higher price tag for a day or two, even if it is not something you would book for a whole fortnight.
- Have two kids at different ages? Check whether the provider runs age-split groups on the same site before you book two separate places on opposite sides of town.
It is also worth checking your Child Care Subsidy eligibility before you commit to a full block of any of these, since the subsidy applies to approved outside school hours care and vacation care services and can meaningfully change the cost depending on your family income and the activity test.
There Is No Single Right Answer, Just What Fits Your Week
None of these options is objectively better than the others. It really comes down to your work hours, how many kids you are juggling, and how much routine versus novelty your particular child wants that week. I mix all three across a single school holiday period now, and it has taken a fair bit of trial, error and the occasional overbooked week to land on a combination that actually works for us.
If you have found a program that has worked well for your family, I would genuinely love to hear about it – these decisions get easier every time another parent shares what actually held up in practice.