😍 Top Picks Events This Winter
🎉 Roola Boola is BACK!
🎨 One of Melbourne’s most loved kids’ arts festivals returns these winter school holidays!
✨ 30+ events across venues including Chapel Off Chapel, Prahran Market & local libraries.
Workshops, multicultural cooking, magic shows, circus, music & more!
🎟️ Free & ticketed events for children aged 0–12.
📅 8–18 July | 👧 Ages 0–12
📍 Chapel Off Chapel, Prahran Market, local libraries & more
❄️ Whitehorse - Winter Holiday Program
Stay entertained these school holidays with a range of fun and affordable activities! From sports to arts, environment, history, and family fun, there's something for all ages.
🏀 Basketball, Netball, Pickleball
🎭 The Listies
🍫 Hot Chocolate Scavenger Hunt
🐉 How to Train Your Dragon Craft
🦋 Insect Art & Textile Butterflies
🍣 Mini Master Cooks
🌼 Winter Garden Workshop , and a lot more!
🎟️ Booking required for most activities. Don’t miss out!
🎄🎅 Christmas in July Market 🤩
🎁 WIN 1 of 2 $100 Endota Spa vouchers (Draws at 11:45AM & 2:45PM) 🍲 Delicious winter eats & hot drinks from handpicked food vendors 🎶 All-day festive vibes – come celebrate the season early!
For the Kids:
🎅 Free Santa Photos
🎶 Live Christmas Band
🍪 Kids Cookie Decorating
🗓 Saturday 5 July
🕓 10AM – 4PM
📍 The Atrium at Fed Square
🎟️ Free Event – Family Friendly – School Holiday Fun!
🔥 Illumina at Flowerdale Estate 🌟
This winter, the historic grounds of Flowerdale Estate will come alive in a breathtaking celebration of light, music, and memory. 🌟 Wander glowing gardens 🔥 Toast marshmallows under the stars 🎨 Neon face-paint 🍽️ A la carte or casual eats 🏡 Accommodation available
🗓 10 – 13 July
📍Flowerdale Estate, Strath Creek
🎬 Children's International Film Festival
Get ready for the wildest, sweetest, and most magical kids' films from around the globe! This year’s lineup features a fresh twist on Bambi, fan favourites like the Moomins, Ernest & Celestine, the Elfkins, and Captain Sabertooth, plus 40th anniversary screenings of: Explorers (Joe Dante) & Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (Tim Burton).
🗓 7 June – 20 July
📍 Lido, Classic & Cameo Cinemas
❄️ Riviera Winter Wonderland
❄️ Real Ice Skating Rink ❄️ Private Igloos for parties
❄️ Festival snacks: popcorn, fairy floss, snow cones
❄️ Face painting, markets & more
❄️ Night sessions with DJs, disco skating and more!
🗓 1 June – 3 August
🕓 4pm-10pm weekdays 10am-10pm weekends
📍 42B Marine Parade, Elwood VIC
🦉 The Owl’s Apprentice
Get ready for a heartwarming, hilarious adventure!
The Owl’s Apprentice is a magical mix of shadow puppetry and physical comedy, telling the story of how owls become wise — because they’re not born that way!
📍 Bunjil Place, Narre Warren
🗓 Friday 11 July 🕙 10am & 12pm
🪄 Harry Potter™: The Exhibition
✨ Melbourne, get ready for magic! ✨⚡
Step into the Wizarding World at Harry Potter: The Exhibition! This interactive and immersive experience brings you closer than ever to your favorite characters, props, and locations from the films. 🏰⚡
✨ Conjure your Patronus & test your Quidditch™ skills
🧙♂️ Get up close with authentic costumes & props
🎬 Go behind the scenes & uncover movie magic
🏰 Explore iconic spots like Hagrid’s Hut & The Great Hall
📍 Exhibition & Experience Centre, Melbourne
📅 Open daily 10am – 7pm
👨👩👧👦 All ages welcome! Wheelchair accessible ♿
🐳 Island Whale Festival 2025
🗓️ 11–13 July
📍 Phillip Island
Winter on Phillip Island means one thing — WHALES are back! 🐋💙 Dive into a magical weekend celebrating the majestic humpback and southern right whales that grace our shores.
✨ Family fun alert! Whale watching cruises, kids’ crafts, citizen science, mind-blowing VR experiences, and a chance to meet real marine scientists!
🔒 Prison Island
Where escaping isn’t the goal… winning is! 💥
Gather your crew and take on 34 epic prison cells filled with wild mental and physical challenges. 🧠💪
🎯 90 minutes of non-stop action
👫 Teams of 2–5 (perfect for families, friends, or co-workers)
🎉 Awesome for birthdays, bucks & hens—bride/groom plays FREE!
📍 The District Docklands
👧 Ages 7+ welcome!
🎉 The Quizzical Mr Jeff
Step into a world of circus, comedy & impossible magic with the one and only Mr Jeff — a family fave that’ll have everyone grinning from ear to ear. Expect giant balloons, optical illusions, jaw-dropping tricks, and a whole lot of laughs. 🏆 Winner – Best Children's Show – Melbourne Magic Festival 2023 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Super fun show with laugh-out-loud moments for the whole family” – Eventalaide
👨👩👧👦 Perfect for all ages – mums, dads, kids, and even grandparents! 🗓 8–12 July 📍 Arrow on Swanston
🌈 SENSAS: A Multi-Sensory Experience
🖐️ Test all five senses (sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing) in both pitch-black and ultra-colourful workshops
✨ Gather your team to take on exciting challenges and surprising experiences in the Sensory Labs
🤩 Conquer your primary fears and embrace your emotions
🪙 Collect as many sensory charms as possible—each charm means a donation to a local charity supporting people with disabilities
💖 Perfect for groups of all sizes. Age requirement: 7+. Duration: 2 hours. 📍 South Yarra VIC
🦢 Musical Storytime: Bila’s Big Dance 🎵
🌧️ The Wheeler Centre and Orchestra Victoria bring Bila the Spoonbill to life with live music, storytelling, and a heartwarming tale of community and courage. Will Bila's big rain dance save the day? 🎻 Relaxed, interactive shows where kids help tell the story through music – perfect for ages 5–8 (but everyone’s welcome!)
🗓 10 – 12 July 🕓 10am, 11:30am & 1:30pm
📍 The Wheeler Centre, Melbourne
🎪✨ Elmo’s Circus Dream ✨🎪
Get ready, Melbourne! A magical new live show is hitting Caulfield Racecourse these July school holidays! 🎉
Join Elmo in a dreamy circus adventure packed with acrobatics, illusions, stunts, and all your favourite Sesame Street friends – Abby, Cookie Monster, Grover, Bert & Ernie! 🎪
🗓 27 June – 3 August
📍 Caulfield Racecourse
🍹 Alcotraz: The World’s First Prison-Themed Cocktail Bar
Alcotraz is Melbourne’s immersive prison-themed cocktail bar, where you’ll wear an orange jumpsuit, sip secret cocktails, and dodge the Warden 👮♂️⛓️
🍹 4 custom cocktails (or swap for beer/wine)
🎭 New stories, new cocktails, same unforgettable chaos
📍 Melbourne | 18+ only
The Story of the Moving Image
From the first projections and optical illusions to the birth of film and beyond, moving images have the power to spark imagination, share stories and shape history. Discover how inventors, innovators and artists at the turn of the 20th century wielded light, split time and captured motion, heralding a technological revolution that continues today.
🗓 Daily, 10am - 5pm
📍 ACMI: Flinders St, Melbourne
💣🔥 Melbourne, Can You Beat the Boom?
123Boom! is the real-life arcade game experience that’s taking Melbourne by storm! Solve puzzles, dodge lasers, battle flying monsters—and most importantly, stop the bomb before time runs out! ⏳
👥 Perfect for groups of 4-8 💥 6 immersive challenges that test your speed, skill & teamwork
🎯 Avoid lasers, solve puzzles & dodge flying monsters ♿ Wheelchair accessible
📍 551 Little Collins St, Melbourne CBD
📅 Choose your date & time
⏳ Duration: 75 minutes 👀 Age: 12+
Ayoung Kim – Delivery Dancer's Arc: 0° Receiver
Using CGI, live-action footage and game engines, Korean artist Ayoung Kim creates a speculative multiverse that blurs the boundaries between space, time and the self.
Work duration: 30 mins on loop.
🗓 Daily
📍 ACMI, Fed Square (Gallery 2, Ground Floor )
👷♀️ The Little Builder!
🎁 WIN a family ticket at The Little Builder!
🤑 Plus, everyone gets an exclusive discount code!
Melbourne's newest indoor play space is here! 🎉
At Little Builders, kids can dig, build, and explore 50m² of clean sand with ride-on excavators, 100+ interactive toys, and epic themed zones. Perfect for playdates, birthdays, and school groups! 👷♂️
📍 Docklands, Melbourne
🗓️ 5 July – 31 August
🕓 90-min sessions (9:30am – 5pm)
🤑 Use the code TINYTIX10 to get a 10% discount!
Australian Music Vault
The Australian Music Vault is a celebration of the Australian contemporary music story – past, present and future. It’s a place to explore your love of music, revisit some of the big music moments of your life and discover exciting new stories from today’s Australian music scene.
🗓 10am - 5pm Daily
📍 Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne
Djaara Lights
Experience the six seasons by Troy Firebrace and Drew Berick, with one of Bendigo's most unique and cultural activation experiences.
Djaara Lights aims to highlight Dja Dja Wurrung culture in the Bendigo region through combining the display of Djaara artwork and augmented reality experiences. A sequence of activations tells stories of the Dja Dja Wurrung six seasons on Djandak (Country) from Dja Dja Wurrung People, the Traditional Owners of Bendigo.
🗓 Daily, 7:00PM - 11:00PM
📍 Oscars Walk and Bath Lane Precinct, Bendigo
