The Australian Museum
6 College Street
(02) 9320-6000
Cost: A$5 adults, A$2 children, A$12 family
Hours: Daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For children under 5, Kids Island is gaily decorated with a model hot-air balloon and features a slippery side and a shipwrecked boat with interesting cubbies to explore. The museum's dinosaur exhibit appeals to children aged 5-12. A Science and Discover Room, with microscopes, specimens and reference books, allows children to conduct their own "research."

The Powerhouse Museum
500 Harris Street
(02) 9217-0111
Cost: A$8 adults, A$2 children
Hours: Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The museum's many interactive displays are geared to peak the interest of smaller children. A NASA space station will entice their older siblings. Occasionally, the museum offers supervised children's activities from crafts to storytelling, free with entry.

Sega World
Darling Walk, Darling Harbour
(02) 9273-9273 (note: this number is correct)
Cost: A$25 adults, A$20 children
Hours: Monday-Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Kids clamor for the virtual-reality underwater trek and outer-space war games offered by this high-tech indoor theme park. Rides include a dodgem cars, a roller coaster, and a haunted house that lets adventurous kids hunt ghosts with a ghost-zapper. An arcade is populated by over 200 video games, and the Magic Motion Theatre requires viewers to strap into their seats for a wild sensory ride.

Australia's Wonderland
Walgrove Road, Rooty Hill
(02) 9830-9100
Cost: $34.95 adults, $23.95 children
Hours: Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with occasional later hours on summer Saturdays

Featuring more than 80 rides in seven "fantasy lands," Australia's Wonderland guarantees screams from the Space Probe, a free-fall plummet of 23 stories that reaches speeds in excess of 75 mph. Kids can cool off at The Beach, a manmade stretch of sand complete with waterslide.

Luna Park
Milson's Point
(02) 9922-6644
Hours: Rides open weekends and school holidays; call for seasonal hours
Cost: $20-25 adults, $12-17 children for rides

Built in 1935, modeled after Coney Island's Luna Park and set against the backdrop of Sydney Harbour, this is a loud, brash, in-your-face amusement park that features a variety of classic rides. Visitors enter beneath the ghastly, grinning face of a painted clown, who has evolved alongside the park's collection of attractions.

Taronga Park Zoo
Bradley's Head Road
(02) 9969-2777
Hours: Daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Cost: $15 adults, $38 families

Taronga lets children visit nearly nose-to-nose with some of Australia's most spectacular and exotic creatures - native koalas, of course, but also kangaroos, dingoes, Tasmanian devils and wombats. Kids will squeal at the inhabits of the Reptile House.

Centennial Park
Oxford Street, Paddington
(02) 9331-5056
Cost: Free
Hours: Daily, but hours change seasonally

Rent kids' bikes and rollerblades to help youngsters burn off excess energy in the park's beautiful setting. A nearly Equestrian Center offers horseback rides, and guided nature walks are available during school holidays for $5.