See All Blocks LEGO® User Group (LUG)  LEGO creations at the ASR Brick Show. There will be:

• Fun interactive LEGO Remote controlled racers you can drive.
• Mindstorms Robotics
• Bricks 4 Kidz S.T.E.M. engineering workshop
• New City Trains and LEGO Technic
• Exciting new displays: Lord of the Rings, Ninjago, Friends, Star Wars, and Classic Space.
• Speed Champions in a Top Gear themed race track and studio with adjoining airport.
• Buckets of LEGO to play with so you can make your own LEGO creations.
• Discounted Toy world shop
• Secret gifts in the show
• Lego Pcs guessing game at  10:30am; 11:30am; 12:30pm;1:30pm; 2:30pm/ and 3:30pm

This event is privately organised by Aotea Sport and Recreation Association with LEGO displays by the All Blocks LEGO User Group. LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorise or endorse this event.

Mandela My Life: The Official Exhibition is on at the iconic Eden Park, where in 1981 flour bombs were dropped in protest at the Apartheid regime and the ongoing imprisonment of the future South African president.

The exhibition will provide visitors with a glimpse into the extraordinary personal life of Nelson Mandela. Produced by iEC Exhibitions, Museums Victoria, and TEG Live in full collaboration with The Nelson Mandela Foundation based in South Africa, this brand-new world class exhibition arrives direct from the prestigious Melbourne Museum, exhibiting in Auckland as part of a 5-year worldwide tour.

Expertly curated by a team of Museums Victoria staff headed by iEC Exhibitions’ Samantha Heywood, Mandela My Life: The Official Exhibition features over 200 original artefacts, documents, personal items and artworks from The Nelson Mandela Foundation and Nelson Mandela’s private collection. This is the most comprehensive collection ever to be shown outside of South Africa.

Book online, or purchase at box office on the day

The exhibit is open from 10am to 4pm each day until Sunday 4 August 2019*

*Hours may be subject to change due to private events, so please check with the organiser before you go to make sure it is open on the day you want to go..

Have fun exploring cutting-edge science in this inspiring new family exhibition at MOTAT

Hands-on interactives will help visitors get to grips with the science of photonics, advanced materials and nanotechnology.

How do you bend light? How small is nano? How are advanced materials being used in our everyday lives? This thought-provoking exhibition aims to inspire kids to engage with STEM subjects and have fun along the way.

Mighty Small Mighty Bright is the result of an exciting partnership between MOTAT, The Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies, The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, and Otago Museum.

Recommended for families with children aged 8 to 12 years.

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki presents Frances Hodgkins: European Journeys, a major exhibition of work by one of New Zealand’s most influential artists.

The exhibition which is FREE for children is open from 10am to 5pm daily until Sunday 1 September 2019.

Frances Hodgkins: European Journeys is the culmination of a significant international project that brings together artworks from New Zealand and around the globe to explore the artist’s place in 20th-century art. The exhibition traces Frances Hodgkins’ creative and peripatetic life through France, Morocco and Spain to her final days in England, examining the influence of location on her development as a modernist painter and the notion of travel and journeying as a source of artistic inspiration.

Born in Dunedin, Frances Hodgkins (1869–1947) left for Europe in 1901 and, by the late 1920s, had become an important figure within British Modernism, exhibiting with avant-garde artists such as Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore. With a professional life that spanned almost six decades, the two World Wars, and periods of massive social and cultural change, Hodgkins caught the spirit of a new age. Today, she is celebrated as one of New Zealand’s most successful expatriate artists of the 20th century, and has an ongoing legacy in both Europe and this country.

The exhibition includes more than 150 artworks produced between 1901 and 1946: from early watercolour travel sketches of the French Riviera, Morocco and Venice, through to her first contact with modernism in Paris, and oil paintings from her later life in Britain.

Dedicated to exposing discrimination in the art world, in politics and in the film and music industries, the Guerrilla Girls is an anonymous collective of feminist activist artists. Formed as a collective more than 30 years ago, the Guerrilla Girls’ gorilla-mask costumes, bold visual language and frank, humorous messages have rendered them iconic in the history of art and as part of wider social movements. Guerrilla Girls: Reinventing the ‘F’ Word – Feminism! follows the collective’s artistic practice from 1984 until 2016 and explores how they employ bold, fun and provocative poster art to criticise ongoing biases in art and society.

The exhibition is recommended for teenagers aged 13 years plus as there is some mature subject matter relating to oversexualisation of Hollywood and reproductive rights. 

The exhibition is open daily from 10am to 5pm until Friday 11 October 2019.

Image credits: Guerrilla Girls © George Lange 1990

Carried Away: Bags Unpacked showcases over 150 individual bags from Auckland Museum’s collection, many on display for the first time.

Every bag has a history, a story to tell – from haute couture fashion to cultural traditions. Bags can convey social standing, practical needs or be a statement of art.

From curious creations such as an albatross foot purse and bear gut bag with fur trim, to taonga imbued with Māori and Pacific cultural values such as kete and bilum, the exhibition explores the stories associated with their creation and the people who used them.

Carried Away: Bags Unpacked exhibition is on until 1 December 2019 in the Special Exhibition Hall.

Every Sunday there are FREE drop in children’s activities in the Learning Space at the Maritime Museum from 10:30am to 2pm. No need to book, just come by for a relaxed day by the water.

May: Rope Making
Make a rope from colourful yarn and learn nautical knots that you would use on a boat.

June: Signal Flag Bunting
Learn the nautical alphabet and create your name out of signal flags to hang on your wall at home.

July: Sea Creature Puppets
What creature might you meet under the sea? Create your own sea creature puppets to take home.

August: Windsock Workshop
Learning the way the wind blows is important for all captains to know, create your own wind sock to use as a guide for wind direction and speed.

September: Crafty Captain hats 
Make and take home your own captain hat.

Drop in anytime between 11am and 3pm to have fun building and creating with the Highland Park Library Lego collection on the last Sunday of every month.

A Tāmaki Makaurau institution, the AUCKLAND NIGHT MARKETS come to Aotea Square this July for Elemental Hub.

Immerse yourself in a delicious selection of cuisines from all over the world, with plenty of opportunity to sample all your favourite foods and discover new ones!

Open every day from midday until late UNTIL 28 July , the Markets offer the perfect opportunity for a midweek lunch with colleagues, a night out with friends, or feeding the family after a skate around the Aotea Square Ice Rink.

The great master of French animation, Michel Ocelot (Kirikou and the Sorceress, Kirikou and the Wild Beasts), returns with this enchanting new tale of brave young heroes, set in Paris during the Belle Epoque.

French film with English Subtitles.

Rating PG.

See this Japanese movie at the New Zealand International Film Festival with your kids.

Good things come in small packages in this impressive three film anthology from Studio Ponoc, highlighting the creative power of short-form animation – and showcasing Japan’s finest animators at work.

The movie is in Japanese with English subtitles.

PG: Some scenes may scare very young children.

Join two young adventurers for a breathtaking, up-close look at each of our Solar System’s planets with guidance from a wise astronomy book. Take a visit to the Sun, the eight planets and Pluto, soar past Jupiter’s Great Red Spot and discover something new about each of these planetary bodies along the way.

Following the show is a short presenter-led kids planetarium experience. Gaze up at the 360-degree theatre screen and learn about the stars and planets in the night sky.

Please arrive at least 15 minutes early for shows. Late entry into the planetarium is not possible once the show has started. 

Recommended for children aged 4 to 8 years old.

Tūrama, Auckland’s new light festival, is set to enchant Aucklanders with impressive art installations that will transform inner-city Albert Park into an illuminated wonderland for three nights.

Albert Park will become a playground for the curious, with stunning stories told through projection, interactive sculptures, and performances that turn light and movement into art. The festival will include some of Aotearoa’s best visual artists and performers, alongside a variety of delicious, healthy kai options. A host of Auckland’s local musicians will add their tunes to the free entertainment, and the licensed bar will serve a range of beverages.

The festival will excite, inspire, and delight locals and visitors, giving everyone a compelling reason to get out and about this winter. The inaugural Tūrama Festival will turn Albert Park into an interactive playground, and is designed to get Aucklanders to leave their fireside, don their winter woolies, and seek out the creativity on display.

Tūrama Festival is part of Elemental AKL, Auckland’s newest winter festival.

Newmarket’s Lumsden Green is set to be transformed by a stunning art installation as part of the Auckland Winter Festival, Elemental AKL.

A static light sculpture, HYBYCOZO, will be lit every evening with LED lights, displaying intricate patterns that cast colourful shadows.

HYBYCOZO is part of a worldwide series of installations and artworks that investigate geometric exploration through light, shadow and perception.

Bring your family and friends to see the light spectacle before dining at one of Davis Crescent’s restaurants and bars.