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Art and museum exhibits on this school holidays

The LUME Melbourne by Visit Victoria
Jessica Taylor Yates

January 04, 2022

From Legoland® to THE LUME, here’s a roundup of the best indoor activities and exhibits for kids these summer holidays in Melbourne. 

Looking for kid-friendly activities these school holidays?

While getaways and days at the beach make for fabulous summer fun, with the La Nina weather event raining on our parade, an indoor activity that entertains both children and adults alike may be a better option.

This summer, Victoria is open for business, with a plethora of galleries, exhibitions, and museums for kids and parents to enjoy, explore and learn. 


Indoor activities for kids in the school holidays 

Disney: The Magic of Animation 

ACMI, Melbourne, 13 May – 23 Jan 2022

Where dreams come true.

If you can’t make it to the real Disneyland just yet, let ‘the happiest place on Earth’ come to you at ACMI’s Disney Exhibition. Featuring over 500 original sketches, paintings, videos and works over almost 100 years, the Walt Disney Animation Studios have brought an exhibit that brings your favourite childhood films to life. 

The display also has interactive and immersive features, including giant projections, immersive animation rooms, and the ability to ‘step inside’ and become part of a scene from a beloved Disney classic.  

The exhibit also offers free parking at the Fed Square Car Park. Dreams really do come true. 

THE LUME Melbourne – An Epic Adventure Into Art

Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, until June 2022

Enjoy a Starry Night in the middle of the day.

Postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions, the epic Vincent van Gogh immersive digital gallery is finally here. Running over the summer and into 2022, THE LUME is ‘the Southern Hemisphere’s first purpose-built space to seamlessly animate art at such a jaw-dropping scale.’   

Billed as an ‘epic adventure into art,’ THE LUME features van Gogh’s work as a 360-degree experience, encompassing light and sound across walls, ceilings and floors in a vibrant art experience set to invigorate the senses as you ‘step inside’ the paintings and watch them come to life. 

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The Disney exhibition allows you to become a part of the story at ACMI this summer

Van Gogh comes to life at THE LUME in Melbourne. Image: Visit Victoria

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ArtVo, Docklands

Ongoing exhibit

Become part of the artwork!

The unique experience of Australia’s first immersive, ‘trick-art’ gallery, ArtVo, provides hours of fun for the whole family. Featuring over 80 large hand-painted images, kids will delight in being able to interact with artworks. One feature instructs guests to take photos where they become a ‘part’ of the exhibition - where the help of positioning your camera ‘just-so’ (there are pointers throughout on where to stand, don’t worry!) can make you look as though you are face-to-face with King Kong, in a castle battling dragons, on a magic carpet ride or perhaps earning your first fairy wings. 

Make sure to get tickets, and don’t forget to charge your camera for some seriously entertaining snaps! 

Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto 

NGV Melbourne, 5 Dec 2021- 25 April 2022

Fashion fades. Only style remains the same.

An activity for adults and older children (although the NGV has plenty of activities for kids), fashion lovers will be queueing up to enjoy NGV’s exclusive look at the exhibit of Chanel which we have covered in all the Fashion Exhibits Coming To Victoria. Trés magnifique!    

Jurassic World by Brickman®

Melbourne Convention and Exhibitions Centre, until Jan 31 2022

The largest LEGO® brick experience in Australian history.

Where dinosaurs and LEGO® collide! One for kids and perhaps kids at heart, Jurassic World by Brickman® is a LEGO® exhibit featuring over 50 dinosaur and Jurassic Park-themed LEGO® constructions. Utilising over six million LEGO® bricks, the immersive experience also features a petting zoo, science lab, and LEGO® building zone. There is also an opportunity for young hands to build escape vehicles to get away from T-Rex and learn how to track dinosaur footprints.

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Become a part of the interactive image with family fun at ArtVo

Fashionistas can rejoice for a style session at the NGV's Chanel exhibition. Image: Getty

Jurassic World by Brickman© is sure to provide plenty of fun and activity.Image: Visit Victoria

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Imaginaria

The District Docklands, until Jan 30 2022

An immersive play experience from the future.

Billing itself as ‘Part Game. Part Gallery. Part Journey,’ Imaginaria is an immersive audio-visual experience comprised of a range of walk-thru installations that utilise ‘light, sound, sculpture and scent’. Featuring a blend of ‘imagination and technology,’ adults and children can immerse themselves in features including an interactive cave, multi-dimensional light maze, inflatables, giant bubbles and more. 

Treasures of the Natural World

Melbourne Museum, until 16 Jan 2022

‘Some of the world’s biggest, rarest, oldest and most fascinating treasures.’

London’s prized Natural History Museum has sent 200 of its most unique and mysterious artefacts on a journey to the Melbourne Museum. Encompassing rare articles from dinosaur fossils (which can be followed up with a visit to IMAX’s Museum Alive in 3D) to Charles Darwin’s studies, Egyptian mummies and the largest butterfly wings. Treasures of the Natural World provides the ability to come face-to-face with objects and remains that have affected history as we know it.   

While you’re at Melbourne Museum, be sure to also check out the River Connections - Learning Lab experience, a five-minute immersive projection that was made in collaboration with First Peoples community members for a digital journey through the Murray River. 

Legoland®

Chadstone Shopping Centre, ongoing

Let your imagination run wild.

With entertainment including LEGO®-themed rides, a 4D cinema with LEGO® movies, a MINILAND® of Melbourne to explore and 10 zones to, of course, build and play with LEGO®, kids will have the time of their life at the LEGOLAND® Discovery Centre.

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Invoke the senses at Imaginaria in the Docklands. Image: The District Docklands

Melbourne Museum has dinosaur artifacts from London's esteemed Museum of Natural History

There's fun for the whole family at LEGOLAND© located inside Chadstone Shopping Centre

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Looking for saving on exhibits these school holidays?

RACV Members save on tickets to attractions in Victoria