Enjoy a day out at Fed Square, your way, these school holidays – featuring free and inclusive programming for rainbow families and the neurodiverse.
Kids can learn about our food systems at the Little Food Festival – Australia’s only food festival designed just for kids – or they can dance along with Turtle and Sugar Rush at Play Date by All The Queens Men, an interactive performance and dance party.
Looking for an experience at a gentler pace? Catch double features of classic Studio Ghibli animated films on our Big Screen, enjoy a relaxed performance of live music by Nat Bartsch, designed for neurodiverse kids and families, and take a stroll through the Test Garden to see what’s blooming in the garden.
Explore the program below and be sure to register for those events that have limited attendance capacities – it’s free!
The Little Food Festival is Australia’s first food festival created especially for kids. A free community event, it promotes health, wellbeing and sustainability education, focused on the food system.
A live music concert for all kids and families, particularly neurodivergent people. Registrations are required – it’s free to register.
Enjoy some of your favourite Studio Ghibli films on the Big Screen these school holidays. Studio Ghibli Afternoons presents a daily double-feature, showcasing the iconic films of Hayao Miyazaki and his team.
Play Date is a dance party for little people and their families with pop music duo Turtle and Sugar Rush. Come early to enjoy colouring-in activities before the show. Registrations are required – it’s free to register.
One massive day of free-flowing family fun on Good Friday! Kick off the Easter long weekend with a huge day of laughs at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Take the kids to walk through the Test Garden at Fed Square, to see what’s growing, and watch the bees busily gathering nectar from the flowering plants. Can you spot a native blue-banded bee? Enjoy the experience at your own pace.
Journey through the past, present and future of the moving image through interactive experiences, digital innovation and captivating stories at ACMI’s free centrepiece exhibiton – open every day during the school holidays.
Why toddle when you can dance? Join DJ Monski Mouse and her dancers for this award-winning, epic session of bopping, bonkers, beautiful fun. Expect high-energy smiling to retro beats and thumping nursery rhymes. Get your disco-dancing booties on!
Jon & Jero love telling stories – but they’ve forgotten how they go! The Forgotten Tales is an improvised comedy experience for the whole family presented by Melbourne’s tallest comedy duo, Jon & Jero, alongside a live musician on piano.
Sam and Justin will be once again hitting the stage with brand-new illusions direct from a Las Vegas stage! Joining them will be the enchanting Ringmaster who, after searching far and wide, has finally found The Greatest Magic Show – and will do everything he can to keep it on track!
Playhouse Pantomimes is proud to present… absolutely anything you want! Their hilarious team of improvisers will make up a brand-new musical pantomime on the spot. But they need your help! Bring along a head full of ideas and they’ll create a fairytale based on suggestions that you, the audience, give them!
Tricky Nick is the funniest magician… ever. Laugh your guts out with Tricky Nick, the funniest, funnest and most extraordinary magician you’ve ever seen. 100% giggle guarantee.
Join Monski Mouse, and her super talented friends, for a live musical sing-a-long cabaret extravaganza of nursery classics, song, puppetry and bonkers fun for 0-5s and their parents/carers. All the big topics covered– elephants, fish, wiggly worms, transport and the existential ways of the toddler.
Our premier First Nations comedians present a one-off kids show. Laughs, singalongs, dance and an education for all no matter where you’re from and who’s your mob. Starring comedians Andy Saunders, Elaine Crombie, Janty Blair, Jay Wymarra, Kevin Kropinyeri & Sean Choolburra.
In this workshop, you will discover the art of creating amazing botanical prints on fabric with Emma Stenhouse (Ngarrindjeri) using a portable printing press. The process involves pressing plants to extract tannins, natural compounds found in plant tissues.
Dalmatians, tabby cats and labradoodles! Cats and dogs come in many different colours, patterns, shapes and sizes. Celebrating the NGV exhibition Cats & Dogs, drop by NGV Australia, these school holidays and join drawing activities inspired by these much-loved furry friends.
Are you working on your art folio at school or perhaps you enjoy drawing in your free-time? Sharpen up your observational drawing skills with a local artist in these drop-by drawing sessions just for teens. These sessions are created especially for secondary school students aged 12 to 18 years. No prior art experience is required, and all materials will be provided.
Numbers are limited so booking is recommended.
Are you hungry to draw? Drop by The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia and draw your favourite food. Will it be pizza, a bowl of noodles or a big plate of beans? Eating healthy food, drawing pictures and spending time with family and friends helps make us feel good inside and out.