The latest exhibition in the Ipswich Art Gallery’s designated children’s space is On The Move, a free and interactive exhibition curated by the Sydney Living Museums.

On The Move is designed especially for children aged from 3 to 8 years old but as you will see there is plenty here for kids of all ages.

Upon arriving, children will receive a bag of materials to support visitors in engaging with the exhibition. These personalised bags are part of the CovidSafe plan and also add to the excitement of the experience and encourages kids to explore their materials and how they might use them in the exhibition.

Activities on offer at On The Move Exhibition

The exhibition space is immediately welcoming with vibrant colours and lots of hands-on activities. The displays include elements of physics, art, crafts, mechanics, engineering, history, geography and a whole lot of fun to create an educational and entertaining experience.

Children will find themselves immediately drawn to touch, explore, and interact with the exhibition due to the child-friendly and welcoming design.

There are cars they can climb into
Planes to fly
Displays they can move
Puzzles to solve
LEGO to build
4 different instructions for paper plane construction ranging from simple to quite involved.

Friendly and helpful Ipswich Art Gallery staff are on hand to assist, encourage and support families in their experience of this exhibition.

Paper planes fly zone

Brisbane kids might enjoy challenging their siblings or even their parents to a fly-off to see whose plane makes it further along the net. The paper planes fly zone is located centrally in the large gallery room and will be a highlight of the experience for many. Kids are welcome to fly their planes over and over again to see if different angles or folds result in different outcomes, and they are also able to try multiple plane designs (either from the 4 provided or use their imagination, prior knowledge or trial and error) to see which they prefer.

Interactive cars

Another highlight of this exhibition are a pair of interactive cars, one is powered by petrol and the other is an electric vehicle. Children are invited to sit in these cars, change their wheels, fiddle with their engines by rearranging and connecting the series of pipes and hoses and press a range of buttons to ‘drive’. There are also tools for children to fix these cars. It’s a fantastic place for interactive and imaginative play.

Transport through the ages

The interactive screen shows modes of transport through the ages, from penny farthings and early motor vehicles through to spacecraft. Children will come back to this screen time and again as they move around the space, often discovering something new as they interact differently with the elements.

LEGO challenges

Kids with an interest in LEGO might enjoy trying to come up with a vehicle that can handle the steep ramps. This encourages children to evaluate and improve on their designs to try to meet the challenge posed to them.

There is a distinctly Australian flavour to this exhibition, with facts about early Australian explorers and transport innovators, to information about people at the cutting edge of the industry today. The Did You Know board is shaped like a map of Australia, posing questions and providing a whole range of interesting information about transport in Australia.

Highlights for toddlers and preschoolers:

The fuel station and the interactive screen are hands-on and immediately rewarding. There are also specific toddler programs on Tuesdays with Duplo available instead of LEGO and there are other resources available specifically for younger visitors.

Highlights for school kids:

The LEGO and paper plane challenges – build, test, improve or adjust and try again! Older kids will also be fascinated by the information and the facts available throughout the exhibition.

While you are at the Ipswich Art Gallery

While you are here, make some time to wander through the other exhibits in the Ipswich Art Gallery – there’s a range of fascinating modern and traditional art throughout the gallery, and plenty of fun and interesting items in the gift shop which is great unique gifts or for kids to spend a little pocket money.

On The Move runs from Saturday the 27th of February until Sunday the 18th of July, 2021. There are 3 2 hour sessions each day and while this is a free exhibition, bookings are essential.

Getting there / parking

There is metered street parking on weekdays and free street parking on weekends, and Ipswich CBD parking (access from Bremer Street) is a short walk from the gallery and has 3 hours of free parking on weekdays and all day free parking on weekends. Ipswich Railway Station is also a short walk from Ipswich Art Gallery.