How We Elevated a Childcare Open Day with Family-Friendly Circus Entertainment
Updated: Sep 12
When planning open day entertainment in Sydney, the goal isn’t just to fill a schedule,
it’s to create an experience that draws people in, keeps them engaged, and leaves a lasting impression.
That was exactly the brief from Rise & Shine Kindergarten in Dundas.
A Community Event Designed to Attract and Engage Families
Rise & Shine were hosting an open day to welcome local families into their centre.
They expected:
Around 50 children
Over 100 total attendees
A mix of new families and existing community
They had already booked a magician to open the event.
The challenge was what came next.
How do you maintain energy, keep families present, and ensure the event continues to build rather than taper off?
The Strategy, Elevate the Energy and Create Connection
At Cirqular Entertainment, we don’t just provide kids entertainment in Sydney, we design experiences that elevate events and connect audiences.
For this event, the focus was:
Keeping families gathered instead of drifting away
Engaging both children and parents simultaneously
Creating shared moments of laughter and interaction
Building a strong finish to the event
This is the difference between passive entertainment and something that truly impacts the success of an open day.
The Circus Experience
We delivered a family-friendly circus show featuring:
Interactive comedy juggling
Audience participation
Visual circus performance
Fan dancing
A feature lollipop lyra performance
Comedy and interaction designed for children and adults to enjoy together
The comedy juggling was led by James Bustar, an internationally experienced comedy juggler and entertainer who has spent more than 25 years performing for audiences around the world.
James combines technical juggling with comedy, improvisation and audience interaction, creating performances that can adapt to the people in front of him rather than simply following a predetermined routine.
Our feature lollipop lyra performance was performed by Sydney aerialist and Cyr wheel artist Kylie Simpson.
Lollipop lyra is particularly effective for venues such as childcare centres, schools, shopping centres and function spaces because the apparatus is freestanding. This allows us to create the visual impact of an aerial-style circus performance without requiring traditional overhead aerial rigging.
Together, James and Kylie perform as Chaos Meets Circus, combining professional circus skills, comedy and audience interaction into adaptable live entertainment for family events, festivals, open days and community celebrations.
For open days specifically, you can discover more about our family circus entertainment for open days and how the show can be adapted for different venues and audiences.
Why Circus Entertainment Works for Childcare Open Days
When you're investing in an open day, entertainment shouldn't simply keep children occupied while parents look around.
It should contribute to the experience you're creating for prospective families.
Interactive circus entertainment works particularly well because it can:
Create an immediate sense of excitement and atmosphere
Give families a central experience to enjoy together
Engage children and parents at the same time
Encourage visitors to stay at the event longer
Create natural opportunities for photos and videos
Provide memorable moments children can talk about afterwards
Help transform an open day into an event rather than simply a tour of the centre
For Rise & Shine Kindergarten, combining comedy, circus and audience participation helped create a shared experience for the families attending.
The Outcome for the Client
For Rise & Shine, this meant:
Increased dwell time at the event
Stronger engagement with visiting families
A vibrant and memorable environment
A positive emotional connection with their brand
Open days are about more than attendance, they are about creating a feeling.
That feeling influences decisions.
The 5-Star Result
Following the event, the client shared this Google review:
“We loved Cirqular Entertainment, they were wonderful to have at our Open Day in Dundas, the audience loved them, such a fun event.”
This is the outcome we aim for.
Not just a performance, but a result.
Entertainment That Works With Your Event
One of the most important parts of planning entertainment is understanding how it fits into the wider event.
For this Open Day, our circus show was scheduled immediately after the magician.
That meant families already gathered for entertainment could transition directly into the circus performance without a long break or loss of energy.
This is something we consider when recommending entertainment to our clients.
Rather than simply sending through a list of performers and prices, we want to understand your event, your audience, your venue and what you're trying to achieve.
Sometimes the right solution is a feature circus show.
For another event, it might be roving performers interacting with guests throughout the venue.
For larger open days and festivals, the strongest solution might combine a feature performance with roving entertainment and interactive activities.
More Family Entertainment Options
Not every event needs the same entertainment.
Through Cirqular Entertainment and our network of professional performers, we can create entertainment packages for childcare centres, schools, festivals, councils, shopping centres, corporate events and community celebrations.
Options can include:
Circus shows
Comedy jugglers
Stilt walkers
Aerial performers
Lollipop lyra
Cyr wheel
Roving circus performers
Interactive circus workshops
Hand balance and contortion
Character performers
LED and illuminated entertainment
Custom entertainment activations
If you're looking for a wider range of performers beyond circus, you can also explore kids entertainment in Sydney through Event Act Connect.
Event Act Connect provides another way to discover professional entertainment for festivals, schools, shopping centres, family fun days, council events and other celebrations.
Add an Interactive Circus Workshop
For open days where families will be arriving and leaving throughout the event, an interactive circus workshop can be an excellent addition to a scheduled performance.
Rather than requiring everyone to be in the same place at the same time, a circus workshop can operate as an ongoing activity where children and families drop in throughout the day.
Participants can try circus skills such as juggling, plate spinning and other accessible circus activities with professional performers there to demonstrate, encourage and interact with guests.
Our interactive circus workshops in Sydney can be delivered as standalone entertainment or combined with roving performers and feature shows to create a complete circus entertainment zone.
This format works particularly well for childcare open days, school events, festivals, council celebrations and family fun days.
What About Corporate and Staff Events?
Circus isn't only for kids.
The same skills that create laughter and participation at a family event can be adapted into engaging experiences for adults, corporate groups and workplace teams.
For businesses looking for something different from traditional team-building activities, our corporate juggling and circus workshops use juggling and circus skills to get people participating, laughing and interacting.
These experiences can be adapted for:
Corporate team-building days
Conferences
Staff development days
Conference breakout sessions
Workplace celebrations
Corporate events
You can also explore our dedicated corporate circus workshops in Sydney for more information.
Why Work With Cirqular Entertainment?
Booking entertainment shouldn't mean scrolling through hundreds of performers and trying to work out what will actually work at your event.
At Cirqular Entertainment, we approach entertainment from the perspective of performers, producers and event professionals.
We consider the audience, venue, available space, performance schedule, technical requirements and the atmosphere you want to create before recommending entertainment.
That might mean one incredible feature act.
It might mean two colourful stilt walkers greeting your guests.
It might mean a comedy juggler bringing hundreds of people together.
Or it could mean building an entire entertainment program around your event.
Our goal is always the same: More than Circus. Connecting People.
Planning a Childcare, School or Community Open Day?
If you're organising an upcoming open day, tell us what you're planning.
Send us your:
Event date
Location
Expected attendance
Audience age range
Available performance space
Event times
Entertainment budget, if known
What you'd love guests to experience
From there, we can recommend the right combination of feature performances, roving entertainment and interactive activities for your event.
Whether you're planning a childcare open day for 100 families or a major community event attracting thousands of people, we'll help you create entertainment that fits the audience and the occasion.
Planning an upcoming open day, family event or community celebration?
Contact Cirqular Entertainment today and let's create an experience your guests will remember.
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