City of Wonder: Wildflower Edition

IN COLLABORATION WITH INTERNATIONAL ARTIST RAFFAELE SALVOLDI (ITALY)

Raffaele Salvoldi (Instagram) is an acclaimed Italian performance artist, known for his striking ephemeral installations that explore the balance between matter, time, and gravity. Using thousands of carefully stacked wooden planks, he creates monumental urban landscapes where the boundaries between art and architecture blur in captivating ways.

City of Wonder was born from Kidwonder’s dream to create a space where sustainability, creativity, and play come together. Collaborating with Raffaele has been an incredible experience, bringing that vision to life by uniting his awe-inspiring artistry with our purpose-driven ethos. Together, we’ve created more than a city — we’ve created a world where imagination flourishes and wonder truly comes alive.

About Mark Taylor, Founder of Kidwonder

Mark Taylor is the Founder of Kidwonder and Director of award-winning experience agency Belle Laide Events (BLE), with nearly two decades of experience delivering high-impact projects for global brands across Australia, APAC, and the USA. Kidwonder is his most personal venture, inspired by life as a father of three and his belief in the power of purposeful play. Through immersive, child-led experiences, Mark is driven by a mission to spark curiosity, creativity, and confidence in the next generation.

Kidwonder x Raffaele Salvoldi: Collaboration & Sustainability

The collaboration with Raffaele Salvoldi came from a shared vision of creativity and sustainability. When Founder Mark Taylor discovered Salvoldi’s plank-based installations, he saw a natural fit with Kidwonder’s idea for a child-built city using recycled plastic blocks. Excited to involve kids in the process, they created City of Wonder, a space where imagination, collaboration, and sustainable design come together.

Unlike typical school holiday programs, City of Wonder focuses on purposeful play, letting children explore sustainability, urban design, and teamwork through hands-on, creative experiences. Most materials, including hard-to-recycle straws from the NSW 2022 Single-Use Plastic Ban, are locally sourced and transformed into imaginative building blocks. Every aspect is designed to be low-waste, reusable, and environmentally conscious, inspiring kids to think critically about the world and their role in shaping it.

This immersive experience invites visitors to take part in one of three engaging ways:

• General Admission: A self-paced, family-friendly experience where children (and young-at-heart adults) can explore freely, build imaginative structures, create with wildflowers, and bring their own urban ideas to life.

• Wonder Workshops: Intimate, expert-led sessions that explore sustainability concepts and creative building techniques in greater depth, guided by the City of Wonder team.

• VIP Artist Experience: An exclusive opportunity to work with Italian artist Raffaele Salvoldi, who leads participants through his distinctive approach to sustainable design and artistic expression. Salvoldi is a renowned performance artist known for his ephemeral installations made from thousands of carefully stacked wooden planks, forming monumental urban landscapes where art, architecture, matter, time, and gravity come together in remarkable ways.

Dates: 19 December 2025 – 31 January 2026
Location: Royal Botanic Garden Sydney (Gadi Seminar Rooms and The Garden Gallery)
Recommended Ages: 3-12 years (and their adults!)

Entry Fees

• General Admission: An immersive, self-guided, hands-on play space where kids can build, craft, create and explore at their own pace. Thousands of recycled Wonder Planks. Creative craft zones. Mini missions. Pure imagination. Build it your way.. Monday – Sunday FROM 10:00AM UNTIL 4:00PM, EVERY 30 MINUTES FROM $25PP* FAMILY BUNDLE (GA) $95* (2A+2C)
• Wonder Workshops: A fun, hands-on building workshop with expert facilitators for curious minds. Learn tricks, build something brilliant, then take your ideas back into the main experience. Limited to 20 spots per session. Includes post-session General Admission access..  10:30AM & 2:00PM ONLY FROM $40PP* + Booking fee
• VIP Artist Experience: An incredible small group building session with international artist, Raffaele Salvoldi! Learn his techniques, ask questions, build together then take what you learn back into the main experience! Limited to just 20 spots per day. Includes post-session General Admission access. .. Tuesday – Sunday 12:00PM ONLY FROM $55PP* + Booking fee