QUT The Cube: School Holiday Activities these Holidays!

Find out what’s on at QUT The Cube during these school holidays in this article.

QUT School holiday activities are the best!

QUT The Cube

The Cube is one of the world’s largest digital interactive learning and display spaces consisting of 48 multi-touch screens and soaring across two storeys in QUT’s Science and Engineering Centre. It delivers unique interactive digital learning experiences that communicate science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) concepts and bring research to the public. The Cube inspires and engages the next generation with extensive outreach to schools, including hands-on and interactive workshops and public programs for students during school terms and in school holidays.

QUT The Cube Projects

EarthTime

The Cube has a crisis on its hands and the Time Keeper, Clockwork Larry, needs your help. Everyone knows there’s 24 hours in a day right? But the Time Keeper’s atomic clock is out by one whole second! This is a disaster. The five Time Alignment Temples are what keep everything stable. But something’s disrupting them, and you need to act fast.

Learn more about EarthTime here.

Dino Zoo

Ever wanted to meet a dinosaur? Dino Zoo at The Cube is the closest you can get to the real thing – minus the danger of being eaten! The life-sized dinosaurs are the most scientifically accurate portrayals of these creatures in the world. And, thanks to artificial intelligence, the dinosaurs will even behave like the real thing, based on a set of behavioural parameters for each species. This is the first time that these dinosaurs have been portrayed to this level of accuracy using current movement studies as well as matching their locomotion and stride to existing trackways.

Dino Zoo includes digital activities, an archaeological dig simulator, an interactive Earth timeline and more. Please note: A life-sized dinosaur isn’t cuddly or friendly.  While the experience can be a lot of fun, some children might need the comfort of a brave adult ranger to ensure a positive experience. Children under 12 must be supervised at all times.

The Living Reef

A digital marine ecosystem, The Living Reef is a free immersive underwater interactive experience of the Great Barrier Reef. The Living Reef features interactive on-screen activities. Turtle Tangle allows visitors to cut away ghost nets to help to free a turtle and Reef Ranger allows visitors to navigate RangerBot – an underwater vehicle developed by QUT’s Professor Matthew Dunbabin.

Climate Futures: Air

Air is essential to life on our planet. It forms our atmosphere, creates our climate, sustains ecosystems, and clean air is crucial for good health and well-being for us all. Adverse changes in the make-up of air puts us all in danger. Air pollution is mostly invisible to us. When we breath and exhale several times per minute the impact of this pollution is felt in every part of our bodies and lives.

Climate Futures: Air uncovers the hidden contexts of air pollution, from high-up in the atmosphere, down to the air we breathe. It looks at what happens in our homes, schools and work places, in our urban and natural environments, and the policies that guide the action we take.

Symbiosville

Congratulations, you are a superorganism! An ecosystem exists inside your body, which is home to billions of microscopic organisms living on you and in you. Also known as your microbiome, lots of these bacteria are friendly. They play a huge role in our health. They influence our minds and bodies in all sorts of ways, most of which we still do not fully understand.

Welcome to Symbiosville. Create a character and explore the world. Here you can get to know your tiny residents and learn how to keep them (and you) happy.

River City Stories

Experience Brisbane like never before with River City Stories, a digital interactive journey offering a rich blend of nostalgia and fresh perspectives. Displayed on the vibrant screens of The Cube, this exploration offers a view of the city’s past and present on an epic scale in breathtaking detail. Delve into Brisbane’s evolution from the 1800s to today through an impressive collection of imagery from QUT Digital Collections.

The Mirror Sphere

Lobwein’s immersive performance under The Sphere at QUT, Kelvin Grove expanded upon the ‘total works of art’ created by the 1920s avant-garde. Thie digital reimagining of Bauhaus and Constructivist performances combined digital computer graphics with dance, architecture, sound and narrative, to reflect on the future of virtual spaces in contemporary society.

Octopus Estate

Beneath the ocean’s surface, an octopus hides away. A shark draws near. Will you command your octopus to challenge the shark? Try to escape? Or try and eat it? The fate of your octopus rests with you. Nurture your octopus, aiding its survival. Remain vigilant, for in this world where octopuses are prey and predator, anything could happen! You can find this game on app stores.

Terra Nil

Terra Nil is a fun yet challenging game tasking you to transform desolate landscapes into flourishing, harmonious ecosystems. In the game, your mission is to rejuvenate barren lands by purifying soil, restoring oceans, cultivating forests, and reintroducing fauna.

Physics Observatory

Imagine throwing a wooden block while on the Moon’s gravity and then observing the difference when you throw one on the Sun. As you explore the Physics Observatory you will learn about key historical figures, their experiments, and be able to play through different scenarios to discover key principles of physics. Get zapped by a Tesla coil, change the gravity in the environment, drop weights from a great height and even find out how long light takes to travel across the Solar System.

Digital Garden

Digital Garden by Man & Wah is the 2018 Artist in Residence program at The Cube. Their project is a visual exploration of nature and its marvellous plants to inspire thoughts of cosmic connections and the vital role nature performs in sustaining a habitable planet.

Water Tank

A sophisticated real-time digital water simulation, Water Tank is water play without getting wet! Fill and drain the water, add objects like a stone, a rubber duck or a ball to the tank to learn about buoyancy, and watch as ripples and waves demonstrate how the surface of the water reacts to your touch.

Wind Tunnel

Using complex algorithms, Wind Tunnel simulates air flow as it passes over a static object such as an aerofoil, car, truck or plane. Choose your object, set your parameters and watch as smoke and particle effects help to visualise the air movement over the object, demonstrating the concepts of drag and lift, turbulence, velocity and pressure.

Using complex algorithms, Wind Tunnel simulates air flow as it passes over a static object such as an aerofoil, car, truck or plane. Choose your object, set your parameters and watch as smoke and particle effects help to visualise the air movement over the object, demonstrating the concepts of drag and lift, turbulence, velocity and pressure.

Code-A-Bot

Code-A-Bot is a free interactive digital game putting you in charge of programming robot workers to collect and sort rubbish, improving the overall efficiency of a waste recycling plant. Using The Cube’s digital touch screens, robots can be coded to move, sense, and collect or distribute rubbish around the facility and into the correct bins.

Chem World

Chem World provides an inspiring and hands-on experience of chemistry and its fundamentals. 

Robot Factory

QUT’s Robot Factory is open for business and we need as many workers as possible. Build your own unique robot using spare parts from the factory: there are millions of combinations to explore! Then, launch your robot into space and watch as it floats into zero gravity – can you spot yours?

Wind and Water Simulations

A sophisticated real-time digital water simulation, Water Tank is water play without getting wet! Fill and drain the water, add objects like a stone, a rubber duck or a ball to the tank to learn about buoyancy, and watch as ripples and waves demonstrate how the surface of the water reacts to your touch.

Nature Imagined

Nature imagined is an interactive digital learning experience and exhibition of works by artist William Robinson.

The Cube’s Nature imagined project displays three of William Robinson’s landscape paintings, digitised for the first time at high resolution. Visitors can zoom in on each of the artworks to see the detail and discover fascinating facts about the painted landscapes.

This project brings together the interaction of art and science, providing an opportunity to learn about the flora and fauna of the Springbrook area, and gain insights into the artist’s techniques.

Visiting QUT The Cube

• Parental supervision is required at all times.
• Bookings may be required for some events. 
• There are different shows on the screens each day so be sure to look online for what’s on each day.
• Admission to The Cube is free. 
• These holiday activities are suitable for children ages 5 and up.
• Head to The Cube, Science & Engineering Centre (P Block), QUT Gardens Point.
• Head here for more information.

Previous QUT The Cube Projects and school holiday activities

Watch our video of all the past fun and find out all the details here: