The Canberra Theatre Centre hosts a crafty 50th birthday

Parents brought eager little ones clad in puffer jackets and cardigans out for the Family Fun Open Day festivities which kicked off at 11am.

People flocked to admire The Great Zamboni's marvellous magic tricks, giggled with children's comedy duo The Listies and got stuck into face-painting, craft, and puppetry workshops.

Along with many free activities and live music, there were ticketed matinee and evening performances of Storm Boy in The Playhouse.

Seven-year-old Cameron Hewitson and his 5-year-old sister Asha had their heads down creating a Mr Percival inspired pelican rod puppets with Puppetoodle founder Marianne Mettes.

Built with a styrofoam body, cardboard beak and feet and requisite googly eyes, Cameron said the hardest part was attaching the puppet's fabric neck.

"You don't want it to get jammed," he said. "I made one puppet before, but not like this. It was a sock puppet."

Nikki Farrow was hard at work putting the finishing touches on two spikey dinosaur hats made by her sons Bailey, 6 and Koby, 3.

The boys patiently lined up to have their faces painted and were proudly sporting Batman and Spiderman designs.

Home in Kaleen for the long weekend, Ms Farrow said she wanted the kids to get out of the house and enjoy live music, performance and wide range of activities on throughout the day.

Canberra Theatre Centre programming manager Gill Hugonnet spent most of the event navigating the busy crowds in a foyer filled with more than 800 yellow helium balloons.

She said transforming the centre into a warm and creative space for families was the vision for the day.

"There is a fantastic buzz in the air and it's been a great turn out," she said.

"The future audiences are the children of today and tomorrow. There is a desire to make those connections early so they are familiar with begin in the theatre."