Tiddalik the Thirsty Frog @ Melbourne Museum + Give Away
by PlanningQueen on January 5, 2012 in Children's ActivitiesThis give away has now closed. The winners as chosen by Nuffnang were:
1. Sandy M
My kids haven’t been yet, but I just know they will love the performance about Tiddalik the frog. I think it is so important that all Australian children learn about our aboriginal culture and why looking after our land is important for the future, and this makes it so easy and fun!
2. Cheryl Moulton
My Grandchildren have moved her from the ACT and are very eager to visit the Melbourne Museum. They (naturally) wish to see the dinosaurs and the mummies…..don’t all children? Anyway, I would love to have a chance to take them to see something which is not only fun for them but also educational, these school holidays, instead of them staying indoors playing Wii or going to the movies
3. Elise
My young amphibian lover has been dying to see Tiddalik the Thirsty Frog since an ad for them came up briefly on my blog. I’ve promised to take her to the Museum when we go back to Melbourne later this month as she is dying to visit it now thanks to that ad.
4. Trace
Dinosoars!!!
But your post has shown me that there must be a lot of the museum that we missed last time!
I would love to go back and check out all the things you mentioned
5. Michelle Carr
we have never been … but my four children would love the interactive aspect of the museum. will be a must do for 2012
This post is sponsored by Nuffnang.
Just before Christmas I took the 8, 5 and nearly 3 year old to the Melbourne Museum to see a sneak pick of Tiddalik the Thirsty Frog at Melbourne Museum.
Tiddalik is an Aboriginal creation story from the Gunai people of Gippsland, Victoria. It is a funny and entertaining story with an important message about looking after the water resources around us.
A greedy frog, Tiddalik, drinks all the water and the other animals need to work out how to get Tiddalik to return the water, so they and the plants can also have the water they need.
Uncle Herb (pictured above) is of the Gunai people and he and the rest of the cast had such a great connection with the kids in the audience.
Funny dancing and animated expressions are always a hit with the kids! The kids are encouraged to clap and get up and dance too.
The props and the set is just gorgeous – vibrant colours and beautiful patterns, really drawing the kids in to the action on stage.
Throughout the performance you get to meet a host of Australian animals, all of them working together to try and get that water out of Tiddalik.
We were even lucky enough to have Uncle Herb play some Christmas songs on a gum leaf. My kids have been trying to master this skill ever since with no luck!
Tiddalik is a collaboration between Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre (at Melbourne Museum), Melbourne Museum and Ilbijerri Theatre Company.
You can find these organisations on twitter as well – @bunjilaka @Ilbijerri @melbournemuseum.
Tiddalik the Thirsty Frog – the details
When: Performances of Tiddalik run daily 11.30am, 1pm, 2pm from 3rd Jan until 31st Jan 2012 (except Saturdays and Australia Day)
Duration: 20 minutes (perfect timing for younger kids)
Where: Melbourne Museum Theatre
Ages: All
Bookings: Not required
Cost: Free with entry to the Melbourne Museum. Entry prices to Melbourne Museum – Adults are $10, children and concessions are free!
As we only were able to see a sneak peak and the kids loved it so much, I have promised to take them back so we can see the full performance!
Tiddalik the Thirsty Frog – additional activities
The Melbourne Museum is one of those places you can take kids back time and time again, as there is so much to see.
After seeing a little bit of Tiddalik we headed down to the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre. No photography is allowed in this space, but it was great to follow up the Aboriginal creation story with more exploration of Aboriginal Culture in Victoria.
There were similar themes in the Belonging to Country exhibition we saw as well (it is finishing quite soon). In the Talking Country section taking care of the land we are on was prominent:
“It is a duty to look after our country. The people belong to the land rather than the land belongs to the people. This duty of care is felt equally in the bush and in the cities.”
Lin Onus, 1992
We then moved to the forest gallery, which is a favourite with my kids. We were visiting on a beautiful sunny day, so spent quite a bit of time exploring the forest.
The theme of water and our role in looking after this resource flows through this space. Showing the kids also how many living creatures are dependant upon us taking good care of the environment around us.
We were even able to see frogs and if you look closely at the photo on the right hand side, you can see the mum frog with a baby on her back the kids spotted!
During the school holidays the museum will be running Frogs Alive! Kids will be able to meet some of the frogs that live at the museum and learn more about their habitats, life cycle and behaviours.
Frogs Alive will run from 11am – 3pm at Bunjilaka and you can check their website for more details.
While at Bunjilaka the kids will also be able to paint their own Tiddalik the frog mask. Both of these events are included in the entry price.
Children’s Gallery
After the Forest Gallery we were all getting a little bit hungry, so like us, you may like to pack a picnic lunch and head to the Children’s Gallery.
We sat outside and had a picnic. The Children’s Gallery is such a great space, both indoors and out. We sat outside for about half an hour.
After a quick bite to eat the kids were off playing with the equipment in the area.
Then it was back inside to the interactive displays of the Children’s Gallery.
Lots of things to touch and feel!
Once again we had a fabulous time at the Melbourne Museum and the kids are looking forward to going back in the new year!
Give Away – 2 x Adult Entry to Melbourne Museum
Thanks to Melbourne Museum I have 5 double passes for adult entry to the Melbourne Museum. To enter:
- Leave a comment below letting me know what is your kids favourite part of the Melbourne Museum or if they haven’t been yet, what part you think they will love the most.
- The giveaway is open to Australian residents only. If outside of Melbourne you must be able to use the passes by June 2012.
- You may only enter once.
- Entries close at 5pm AEDST 12th Jan 2012.
- Five winners will each win a double pass.
- Good luck!
Fine print:
Passes are valid until 30 June 2012
Excludes special exhibitions and events.
Not valid with any other offer. Not redeemable for cash.
Open daily 10am – 5pm (closed Good Friday and Christmas Day)
65 comments...read them below or add one
Thanks Nicole, my 3YO son learnt his first joke reading Tiddalik with his Nanna – they will have such a great time at the show – don’t know how but we would have missed learning of it if it before she goes on holiday if it weren’t for your review. The museum is his favourite place. At the moment a trip must include the ‘olden days house’ in the Melbourne gallery – fascinated by the tiny rooms and tales of the dunny-can man.
Miss Five has never been to Melbourne Museum, but my feeling is that she would love all the interactive spaces in the Children’s Gallery. She’d probably want to spend the whole day there, rather than taking in anything else in the Museum!
My 3year old daughter will definetly love the interactive displays, she is so hands and will love to touch without being told off! My 1 year old son will probably enjoy the preformance the most, he loves to dance and would be fascinated by the stage.
My daughter is 3, I’m so glad you mentioned you took your 3 yr old along I was not sure how age appropriate it would be for her. She absolutely loves dinosaurs and frogs, she has tadpoles growing in her Nannys pond that we MUST check everyday. Thanks for the post this will definitely be something to do while her Dad is on holidays
I’m keen to take them to the 3-8 year old section, I love that they can touch.
We visited the Museum last January, and we’re scared stiff by the dinosaur exhibit. Despite this, the kuds aven stopped talking about it, so it was certainly a memorable exhibit.
Hi Nicole, I love taking my five children to the museum, they are aged between 2 and 16, so it is an outing that we can all enjoy, something for everyone!!!!! My little ones love the children’s space, the aboriginal painted old holden and having some time in the outdoors area, with the hula hoops, giant building blocks and little stilts!!! My older ones enjoy the 3d shows, and the human body exhibition, always something to learn!!!
I’ve taken my 3 year old son once and he loved the dinosaurs. He was also quite facinated with the bug section, much to my horror. Ewww!
My young amphibian lover has been dying to see Tiddalik the Thirsty Frog since an ad for them came up briefly on my blog. I’ve promised to take her to the Museum when we go back to Melbourne later this month as she is dying to visit it now thanks to that ad.
I remember the Tidalik story from when I was a youngster!
My son’s favourite part of the museum is the bug collection. He loves the natural world in general but I think he might be an entomologist one day as he is fascinated by the life of the micro world. He is always appearing out of the garden with some new creature in hand for us to identify together (thank goodness we don’t live in Sydney lest he find a funnel web to study!)
We love the forest gallery, walking through the tunnels and seeing the water running round, playing peekaboo and getting lost in a safe environment. All within a big museum within a big city.
It would be good to see who wins your giveaways. eg the sunscreen, Scrabble etc so we can know what types of comments are the winning ones. Or do you just give the stuff to your friends?
Transparency would be well-received I think. I contacted Nuffnang about it and they said you could do it if you wanted to, and I think readers would like it.
Hi Marco,
I completely understand where you are coming from. I have gone back and added the winners and the comments to the give aways you mentioned and another one that I had missed.
I have always endeavoured to go back and list the winner for the give aways, however for the last two months of 2011 when things were busy, I didn’t get to it as I should have.
In general, the Nuffnang give aways are actually decided by Nuffnang and not me also.
Thanks for the reminder and will endeavour to make sure I update the posts quicker after notifying the winner in 2012.
Nicole
Cheers hun
I think my son would love the dinosaur exhibits, and my daughter would love anything to do with space! Thanks for the giveaway!
My kids love the reading part of the Childrens’ Area, it is always set up with a different theme to match the books. Last time we went it was about Australia, the beach and camping – there was a tent for them to play in, a sandpit filled with shells, and toys and puppets of Australian animals. They love that they can pull books off the shelf, and crawl in and touch everything.
My toddler son loves racing up and down the ramps at the museum. It’s not exactly educational, but I have my hands pretty full with a newborn, so whatever works, I say!
My girls love the rainforest & the dinosaurs!
I would love to take our grandson 3 who is coming in from Cambodia for a family holiday in Melb for 1 week 6th Jan to !0th Jan . He would love the touch section and I know he would love the production Tiddalik the Thirsty Frog. He devours his books!!
We live in Adelaide but visit Melbourne regularly to see relatives. Miss 5 and Miss 3 would love Tiddalick but unfortunately we’ll miss it as we won’t be back to Melbourne until April. However I’m sure our girls would love the childrens gallery and their aunty loves frogs do we’d probably have a hunt for the frogs aswell. Have been meaning to get to the museum but haven’t yet on any of our visits!
My 2 and 4 year old would love the dinosaur exhibit. They are both perfecting their ‘rahhhhs’ as they dress up in their nanna made dinosaur outfits! I’d love to surprise them by taking them to see it!
Thanks for reminding me of the museum – It’s reminded me to take them!
My son keeps asking me to take him to the museum to see the dinosaurs maybe this is my opportunity to take him.
My son is 3.5 and for the last year we can never make it to the museum without seeing Dinosaur Walk at least 3 times. He is fascinated by the dinosaurs especially the massive brachiasauraus which towers across the entire front room! He adores watching the videos and I honestly believe we have a mini archeologist in the making!
Curious master 7 and master 9 both love the human body section. They both ran around saying the word nude too loud for my embarassed self, but it did generate lots of discussion about how their bodies work.
My kids haven’t been to the Melbourne Museum but they always love museums/science centres etc. They have so many questions and their minds are buzzing. It’s so good!
HI,
I have three boys & going into the city is a real treat for us as we ilive in a semi rural coastal town.They love the mini beast section of the museum as they love all things natural and awaesome! They would love to go to the museum again, especially with the Tiddalick show on at the moment.The would love the gum leaf ntsrument and wouldno doubt try to playit once they’ve seen it..Ciao, Shaney
Too many favourite places for my 4 and 7 year olds to explore in the Museum! We do however all love the reproduction of the Luna Park paper moon in the Melbourne Gallery and always get a new photo when we visit!
Never been to the Museum, and always wanted to go but parents could not afford it in my day, now a grandparent, would love to take the grandchildren. Would love to see Phar Lap, and the insect area, the children I know would enjoy it, and so would I.
My twin girls are currently obsessed by dinosaurs and I have promised to take them to the museum so they can see them. I know they will be totally enthralled when we eventually get there.
The Melbourne Museum is awesome value! I have taken the kids enough times that they’ve gotten over being scared of the videos of dinosaurs, and now they love the 3d volcano experience. We plan which sections to see each time we go, knowing we can’t do it all in one day.
Their favourites include ‘riding’ the old roller-coaster, observing the bower birds in the Rainforest, climbing on the animal sculptures in the Children’s gallery, and a recent find–the Discovery Centre downstairs which is a plethora of information. They’ll even answer questions via email if you want to identify something you find on a nature walk or what-have-you. (Though it may not be the place you’d want to bring an active toddler, as it feels a bit like a research library.)
A real treasure!
They would love the dinosaur exhibit. I would too! Roarrr!!!
We love dinosaurs, Phar Lap, spiders and insects, life-size statues of people, pretty much everything!
My sons are 7 and 5 ~ they would love all the interactive exhibits ~ touching things and exploring everything would be their favourite part I’m sure… I know they would love the dinosaur exhibit too!!
The water theme, kids love water. Spotting animals will be exciting too. Teaching our kids about the environment is so important
My boys love the “fart” button in the Human Body section of the Melbourne Museum. It never fails to amuse them and I am usually stuck there for at least 30 minutes; needless to say I am now an expert on human digestion!
Unfortunately we have only been once, and the dinosaurs were the favorite by far.
That’s such a great story and both my girls LOVE the museum.
Bugs & Crustacea for sure, they’re both fascinated with all the little critters in the garden and are thrilled exploring when we go to the beach. Although yet to go, I’m sure this would be their cup of tea and more.
Rocks, rocks and more rocks. They’ve yet to experience the Museum first hand but absolutely adore collecting rocks, adding them to my collection of crystals and ores, being absolutely in awe of them.
Yet to take my little bloke to the Museum but he’ll be into fossils for sure. He’s already decided he’s going to be an archaeologist when he grows up!
The bug section is favourite among my brood – especially the cockroaches as they all know I’ve got a horror of them. Much joy is had from the game of “show mum the roaches”.
The outdoor part of the children’s gallery is also popular, with the hoola-hoops being somehow so much more fun than the ones at home, kinder and school!
I haven’t taken the kids to the museum yet but I known they would love the Aboriginal Cultural Centre. Tiddalik the frog is one of our favourite stories here (I bought the book and puppets to go with it for my son for his first birthday actually!) and they love hearing all those other Aboriginal creation stories as well! We’ll definitely be going to see Tiddalik these school holidays!
I’m always trying to think of good ideas to take more boys on something of interest and of learning over the school holidays, this would be ideal.
I have three boys aged nearly 7, 3.5 and 8 months. Looking for entertaining activities over the school holiday period which will engage all three as well as be educational and not overly expensive can be a tad difficult. Melbourne Museum looks like the ideal venue for all the boys to have a bot of fun and games. I imagine they will love teh children’s museum most of all, but anything which allows them the opportunity to discover and play will definitely win them over.
I have two sons and they both love the Dinosaur exibition. Which is amusing as when i was little I loved that area as well.
My Grandchildren have moved her from the ACT and are very eager to visit the Melbourne Museum. They (naturally) wish to see the dinosaurs and the mummies…..don’t all children? Anyway, I would love to have a chance to take them to see something which is not only fun for them but also educational, these school holidays, instead of them staying indoors playing Wii or going to the movies
My kids haven’t been yet, but I just know they will love the performance about Tiddalik the frog. I think it is so important that all Australian children learn about our aboriginal culture and why looking after our land is important for the future, and this makes it so easy and fun!
My 4 year old son has never been to the museum…but I suspect he’d Love the toilets the most…as we’ve only just day trained him with toileting so I’m sure he’d love to check them out! It’s always simple things that kids enjoy the most.
my kids love the musuem and living in the country its a real treat for us.. they love the hands on exhibits, the art works,dinorsaurs pretty much excited about the entire place
we have never been … but my four children would love the interactive aspect of the museum. will be a must do for 2012
My son is always asking to go to the Melbourne Museum, he loves the children’s gallery usually have to drag him out, he loves the dinosaurs, the taxidermy animals have to drag him away from them too. He especially loves visiting that big horse Phar Lap. Whilst he is a huge fan of Tiddalik. The Melbourne Museum is a wonderful place for families to visit, and my son’s always want to go back.
My son loves the outdoor area with all teh birds, fish and insects, and Pharlap for measuring himself against!!!