Puppets in Federation Square

This week and last week were winter school holidays for the kids in Melbourne. Every place we went the past two weeks had special activities for kids. In Federation Square this week they had puppet themed activities. They had larger than life puppets wandering the square, puppet shows, puppet themed movies, puppet crafts, etc. We spent a couple mornings in the square taking advantage of all the activities.

R and C waiting for the puppets to make an appearance.

The strangest thing had to be these large puppets wandering the square. There were two seagulls, a snail, and an elephant. These were not your friendly Disney-type characters. They seemed to enjoy scaring the children, and there were many toddlers leaving the square crying. C and the older children seemed to enjoy teasing the puppets and being chased. R preferred the safety of my arms or the stroller.

These seagulls started fighting by hitting each other in the head with their beaks. They fought for a while, until one fell down. C said, "Did he kill him?" I said, "No, see look, the other seagull is going to help him up." as the seagull leaned down. Then I watched in horror as the one seagull pretended to eat the other one. C looked a little worried, so we ran off to find the snail.

They also were stealing food from people eating at the cafe. The man in the brown coat is trying to ignore them.
The snail- this guy really scared R. He had gotten brave and gone up to it and it started chasing him. He ran to me as fast as his little two year old legs could carry him.
I am convinced that Australian kids aren't as pampered and protected as American kids, as I seemed to be the only parent a little bothered by the non-Disney like puppets.

After seeing the large puppets we went to either a puppet show or movie, depending on the day.

C and R hanging out in the Atrium at Federation Square watching Babe.
Overall the puppets were fun. They were great for school aged kids, and fun for little ones from a distance. At least all the activites were free and a great way to spend a few mornings this week.

Thanks for checking on us!