😍 Top Picks Events This Winter
🎭 Yong
Yong is a powerful new Aussie play for ages 10+, blending history and storytelling in an epic journey from China to the Ballarat goldfields in 1857. 🌏⛏
Based on Yong: The Journey of an Unworthy Son by Janeen Brian, this moving adventure explores family, courage, and finding strength when it matters most.
🗓 30 July – 2 August
📍 The Show Room, Arts Centre Melbourne
✨ Auslan interpreted performance: 2 Aug
🎉 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!
❄️ Springvale Snow Fest
Get ready for a winter wonderland in the heart of Springvale! Bring the whole family for a magical day packed with:
⛄️ Snow Play; 🎭 Roving performers & stage shows; 🎡 Amusement rides; 🍔 Food trucks & market stalls; 🎨 Children’s activities galore!
🗓 Sunday 27 July 🕓 11am – 6pm
📍 Buckingham Avenue, Springvale
🎟 FREE event
🕵️ Crime Busters
Junior detectives, get ready! 🕵️♀️🕵️♂️
These school holidays, solve mysteries at Old Melbourne Gaol:
🗝️ Examine clues
🗝️ Crack puzzles
🗝️ Unravel Ned Kelly’s and Ann Davis’s secrets
Explore at your own pace in this fun, self-guided adventure! 🏰
🗓 Winter School Holidays
🕓 10am to 5pm
📍 Old Melbourne Gaol, Melbourne
🦖 The ULTIMATE Dinosaur Experience DinoFest! 🦕
Rug up, grab a coffee, and get ready to travel back to the Jurassic! Meet our walking Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Spinosaurus, Pachycephalosaurs, and Ankylosaur, and lots of cute baby dinosaurs on the school holidays! 🦕
🗓 28 June - 20 July
📍 Nortons Park, Wantirna South
🎡 Winter Wonderland Skyline
Skyline Melbourne transforms into a dreamy winter escape! Think hourly snowfalls, daily Elsa meet & greets, free kids crafts, s’mores by the fire, fondue in cosy igloos, wintery treats, rides and more!
🗓 5–20 July
📍 Skyline Melbourne, South Wharf (outside MCEC)
🎁 Win an unforgettable day out for 4 people:
🎡 Ferris Wheel ride; ⛳ 9-hole Mini Golf; 🎠 Tea Cup ride; 🧀 Cheese Fondue + 4 drinks!
🕰️ Time Travellers Scavenger Hunt
Step back in time at Pentridge Prison these school holidays! ✨
🔒 Follow clues & uncover hidden stories
🔒 Explore a fascinating former prison site
🔒 Fun for the whole family
This self-guided outdoor trail is perfect for curious minds—just bring adult supervision and dress for the weather!
🗓 5 - 20 July
🕓 10am – 4pm
📍 Pentridge Prison Tours, Melbourne
🎶 Yamaha Music Education - Free Trial Class 🎉
Give your child the gift of confidence, coordination, and social connection through the world-renowned Yamaha Music Education System.
🌍 Trusted in 40+ countries | Loved by 650,000+ students
🎓 Backed by over 50 years of experience in Australia
✨ Special Offer: Get 10% off tuition for all new students enrolling in Semester 2!
🎉 Plus, join us for a FREE trial class – choose from:
🗓️ 21 June or 6 July
📍 Yamaha Music School: 1030 Dandenong Rd, Carnegie
🎬 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
🎉 Climb N' Play - Maidstone Birthday Party Giveaway 🥳
🎈What's Included?
✅ Private party room + dedicated host
✅ Full access to climbing walls & giant playground
✅ Homemade pizza & unlimited drinks
✅ Free grip socks or climbing shoes for all guests
✅ Party invites & special gift for the birthday child
📍 3/98–108 Hampstead Rd, Maidstone (near Highpoint)
🎟️ Climbnplay.com.au
❄️ 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
🐇 FRITZ
The Magician’s Rabbit On a Mission! Madame Magica has vanished… and her rabbit FRITZ is taking over the show!
Expect chaos, magic, and laugh-out-loud mayhem in this 50-minute slapstick adventure full of puppetry and clowning fun. Created by Emilie Bloom, directed by award-winning Clare Bartholomew. 🎩 All ages welcome!
🗓 Friday 11 July 🕓 11AM & 3PM
📍 Glen Eira Town Hall, Caulfield
🎟️ Tickets $15 | Kids under 2 free
😍 Don’t forget to check out the full Storytelling Festival program to see what else is happening!
🪄 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 ♿
🌟 LOST – A Magical World 🌿
This winter, step into the extraordinary with LOST — a spectacular, large-scale art installation that brings the beauty of nature to glowing life.
These breathtaking creations turn Bunjil Place into a dreamlike garden straight out of Wonderland.
🗓 11 – 27 Jul
🕓 10am – 10pm
📍 Bunjil Place, Narre Warren
🎟️ Free Event. No bookings needed.
🧠 Brainchild: A Magic Show with a Mindful Twist!
Bring your family to Brainchild Created by the hilarious Big Bobby and his cheeky (invisible) sidekick Rhodneey, this brand-new magic show blends belly laughs, mind-blowing tricks, and a powerful mental health message your kids will actually remember. It’ll Blow Your Mind at the 2025 Melbourne Magic Festival!
🗓 Wed 16 July
🕓 11am (Pre-show Games 10.30am)
📍 5a Jamieson Street, St Albans
🎟️ Tickets $10
🔒 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!
🌈 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
🎪✨ 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
💣🔥 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 )
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
More Free Kids Events
🎉 Want even more FREE family fun? 🎉
Head to our Instagram!
📲 Check out the Highlights for all the July events 🌟, tap through our Stories for the latest updates ⏩, and don’t miss the Feed for awesome posts and giveaways! 🧒👧🎈
Plus, join us on Facebook to see what events the community is sharing too! 💬👨👩👧👦
👉 Follow us and join the fun!
