Every mall in Hong Kong runs a school-holiday "family experience" these days, and most of them are a giant photo backdrop with a queue attached. CREATIVE CHILDREN FESTIVAL 2026: The Little Creative Monster Inside You, running now at AIRSIDE's GATE33 Gallery in Kai Tak, is a genuinely different proposition — an interactive art exhibition co-designed with art therapists, built to get children making things with their hands rather than just standing in front of them.
In This Guide
What is the Creative Children Festival?
Billed as Hong Kong's first "themed parent-child art experience initiative," the Creative Children Festival 2026 is a permanent-gallery takeover at GATE33 Gallery, AIRSIDE's 3,000-square-foot arts space on the mall's third floor. According to AIRSIDE's official event page, this year's theme, The Little Creative Monster Inside You, was co-designed by curators, art therapists and educators around three ideas: curious imagination, emotional care and collaborative art-making.
It's a different pitch from the usual mall pop-up. Instead of a set of static photo props, children (aged roughly 3–12, with a parent in tow) move through five zones: combing the fur of a two-metre-tall "Little Me" monster, building their own plush monster by hand, weaving fabric to make it soft, and helping co-create an entire "monster planet" out of shared materials. It sits alongside GATE33's other recent programming, and just downstairs from Kai Tak's permanent Yayoi Kusama pumpkin sculpture — AIRSIDE has quietly become one of Kowloon East's more interesting free-and-not-so-free art detours.
Creative Children Festival 2026 — GATE33 Gallery
Every admission includes a free designer weaving tool and a take-home Little Monster craft made during the visit.
Is it actually worth the HK$60?
For that price, you get 90 minutes across five interactive zones, a free craft kit, and — unlike a lot of these seasonal mall activations — content that was actually built with input from art therapists rather than a marketing brief. The "comb the fur" zone, centred on a two-metre plush monster, is aimed squarely at the sensory-play crowd, while the co-creation "monster planet" section is a decent nudge towards teamwork for siblings or small groups of friends.
It's not free, and 90 minutes with a toddler is 90 minutes with a toddler — pace expectations accordingly. But set against the going rate for indoor family activities in Hong Kong (an hour at a trampoline park or soft-play centre routinely runs past HK$150 per child), it's a reasonable outing, and one with a genuine creative hook rather than just a room full of balls.
Getting there and what to pair it with
AIRSIDE sits directly above Kai Tak MTR Station on the Tuen Ma Line — take Exit C for direct underground access into the mall, no street crossing required. Once you're there, it's an easy pairing with the rest of Kai Tak's fast-growing family circuit: Yayoi Kusama's permanent green pumpkin sculpture is a few minutes' walk away at The Twins, and AIRSIDE itself has a food hall and Bouncetopia trampoline park if the little ones haven't burned off enough energy in the gallery.
Kai Tak's transformation from disused airport runway to family-day-out destination continues apace, and the Creative Children Festival is a solid reason to make the trip before it wraps up on 20 September. For more school-holiday ideas around the city, browse our guide to Hong Kong's best kid-friendly activities.
Frequently Asked Questions
Book before it closes
Creative Children Festival 2026 runs until 20 September at GATE33 Gallery, AIRSIDE, Kai Tak — book via AIRSIDE's website or Klook.