December holds a special terror for parents. It's the month when, having finished school for the year, children are faced with endless free time that inevitably leads to boredom.
Happily, Johannesburg is full of child-friendly distractions and your child's idle hands need not become the devil's playground.
Theatre
Scattered around the city are a number of children's theatres for little ones to get their recommended daily dose of princes, paupers and beasts.
The Joburg Theatre is showing a Peter Pan pantomime and Beauty and the Beast.
The Kinder Theatre in Emmarentia is hosting puppet shows themed around classic stories.
- Visit www.joburgtheatre.com and call the Kinder Theatre on 011-646-0870
Science
A trip to the Johannesburg Planetarium at Wits is likely to save you the headache of trying to explain to your kids why the sun shines yellow. It's also very entertaining.
www.planetarium.co.za
For those who like their science with a bite, the Dino Expo at the Botanical Gardens gives children the chance to interact with life-size dinosaurs, and also offers them fossil-digging, jumping castles, water slides, face painting, balloon sculpting and ceramic dinosaur painting.
- www.thedinoexpo.com or call 011-040-0884
Adventure
In Johannesburg you have an adventure every time you get lost in a dodgy area.
This is not an advisable pastime for kids, unlikeA-maize-ing Mazes in Honeydew, which features a host of Harry Potter-esque labyrinths that rug rats can get lost in for hours while parents chill at the coffee shop.
- www.honeydewmazes.co.za or call 073-795-2174
Should the prospect of testing your child's sense of direction be more than you can bear, Acrobranch Tree Top Adventures can help.
The venue in Melrose offers obstacle courses and the longest zip-line in Gauteng.
- www.acrobranch.co.za or call 086-999-0369
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