Lift Off Whānau Day

Saturday 13 April is Whānau Day at Toitoi for Lift Off Festival!

Enter a completely transformed Toitoi where exploration, discovery, and creativity overflow!

Whānau day has everything that will ignite little imaginations, with theatre shows, interactive backstage tours, roaming characters, immersive experiences, playmaking spaces, storytelling, and even a Club Kids with a DJ! Find a surprise around every corner, have a go at something new, and get your free Creativity Passport stamped!

Most activities are free to just pop in and have a go, with only a handful of events you’ll need to book and pay for.

BOOKED EVENTS
Backstage Buccaneers, 10am - 2pm (every half hour), Opera House Stage, Free – bookings essential
The stage is set, the costumes are hung, the scripts are at the ready, the techies are standing by, the makeup is glowing with brushes glistening. But the actors are missing! Come and explore Toitoi's backstage shenanigans and become embroiled in the process!

Messy Magic Adventure, 4pm (60mins), $10 per person, Functions on Hastings
Spray and Wipe have been hired for their most exciting job ever - cleaning a magician’s house! But when they accidentally let the magic out of its box, everything is turned topsy-turvy...Now, the audience must help Spray and Wipe get the magic back in the box before the magician comes home, as her house gets messier and messier!

Flutter by Stringbean Puppets, 2pm (45mins), $10 per person, Opera House Stage
A short-tailed bat who is afraid of the dark is befriended by a sparkly star-loving glow worm. A show about overcoming your fears and some of Aotearoa's unique fauna and flora and the threats they face.

FREE EVENTS
The Astronauts, 10am - 4pm, Cushing Foyer
Can you help The Astronauts? They’ve lost their spaceship and the stars have been scattered all over Toitoi! Make contact, learn their language, join the search. These roving characters will be in and around the Toitoi buildings all day, come and join them!

Storyfort, 10am - 4pm, every half hour, 2nd floor Opera House foyer
Join us in the all-kids-designed story-fort. We will have an array of local storytellers, authors, and champion book readers on hand to delight everyone from 3 to 103! Be warned, you'll need to guess the password to enter!

Enid the Portrait Painter, 10-11.30am, Functions on Hastings
Enid is a globe-trotting street artist. She sets up her studio in street corners, marketplaces, fairs, and festivals around the world painting the faces of the people she meets. Each portrait takes 5mins and some people just watch, some have their portrait painted, some watch a few portraits and move on.

Music Alley, 10.00am - 3pm, Laneway
Come on down to Music Alley to jam with us! In the morning, led by Hawke's Bay's wonderful Raukatauri Music therapists, there will be open music group sessions, with a range of instruments and activities that will be inclusive of all ages and abilities. And then in the afternoon, we turn into Club Kids with a DJ playing all the hits so you can sing and dance like nobody’s watching!

Creative Play with Loose Enz, 10am – 4pm, Tama Tūranga Huata room
We let kids go loose with a playground of loose parts and junk play resources, letting their imaginations soar as they build and create a world of their own.

The Art Room, 10am - 3pm, Functions on Hastings
Join our artists in residence to design, create, and make cool stuff! It’s all about You! Contribute to the portrait wall, build a world, create a tiny room, make an alien mask, design a nameplate, and make a space helmet!

Nan's Place, 10am - 3pm, 1st floor Opera House foyer
Step back in time to Nan’s place. A place to rest, catch your breath, and get ready for more creative fun. Nan will be there with couches, comfy cushions, crafts, stories, board games, and some old stuff to touch and explore.

Take a look around...

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