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Family-Friendly Guide to Melbourne Fringe Festival 2025: XS Program
The Melbourne Fringe Festival 2025 is back from 30 September – 19 October 2025, transforming the city with more than 500+ events across art, performance, sound, and technology. While Fringe is famous for its bold, experimental works, families don’t miss out — thanks to the XS Program, a curated collection of family-friendly performances, installations, and interactive experiences designed for children and their grown-ups.
This year’s theme, Action Heroes Assemble, encourages all of us — not just caped crusaders — to step up and shape the world we want to live in. And for kids, that means playing, exploring, and imagining through cutting-edge performances that combine art, AI, technology, and creativity.
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THE CENSOR
Created in collaboration with children, THE CENSOR is a thought-provoking theatre piece that explores censorship, media, and who decides what kids can see, hear, or read. Interactive, playful, and smart, it sparks conversations between kids and parents.
Date: 2 – 5 October 2025
Location: ArtPlay
Price: $10 – $20
THE MNY
Part theatre, part augmented reality scavenger hunt, THE MNY invites families to uncover strange face-like digital creatures hidden across Melbourne. Capture them, name them, and upload them to a community map while revealing a secret story — perfect for curious minds who love tech and adventure.
Date: 4 – 5 October 2025
Location: Cnr La Trobe & Bowen Sts, Melbourne
Price: FREE
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THE SQUARE
Children take the lead in this participatory installation. Audiences respond to playful questions by physically moving to zones for “yes,” “no,” or “maybe.” It’s a mix of live polling, theatre, and dialogue that puts kids at the heart of the conversation.
Date: 3 – 4 October 2025
Time: 1.30 pm
Location: Fed Square – Swanston St Forecourt, Cnr Flinders & Swanston Sts, Melbourne
Price: FREE
WHIRLWIND
Whirlwind by Polyglot Theatre invites children aged 5–11 and their families into a playful world of recycled paper, fabric, and swirling fans, where imagination takes flight through art, movement, sound, and sensory play. Kids can dance, sing into a fan, or watch bubbles drift above as performers guide them through a fun, creative, and accessible experience.
Date: 18 – 19 October 2025
Time: Sat: 10 am, 11.30 am, 2 pm, 3.30 pm, Sun 10 am
Location: Immigration Museum – The Long Room, 400 Flinders St, Melbourne
Price: $15
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WE NEED A FLOWER
We Need A Flower is a joyful, movement-based performance created especially for babies aged 0–24 months and the people who love and care for them. Inspired by an Italian nursery rhyme, this delicate, wordless work explores the cycle of life and the connection between all things. Through improvised dance, tactile costumes, shifting light and sound, and playful interactions, the performers gently mirror babies’ physical development, inviting curiosity and imagination.
Date: 17 – 18 October 2025
Time: 10.30 am & 2.30 pm
Location: ArtPlay, Birrarung Marr, Russell St Ext (Behind Fed Square), Melbourne,
Price: $20
PETER COMBE IN WASH YOUR KIDS IN ORANGE JUICE!
Australia’s beloved “King of the Kids” returns for a 50-minute family music extravaganza that’s sure to have heads bopping and toes tapping. Join Peter Combe for a joyous mix of classic hits, alongside fresh tunes from his latest album.
Date: 19 October 2025
Time: 11 am & 1 pm
Location: Clocktower Centre – Theatre, 750 Mount Alexander Rd, Moonee Ponds
Price: $10 – $50
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Sonic Labyrinth is an immersive sound installation designed for families with kids aged 5–13. Created by Aviva Endean with Justin Marshall and children at ArtPlay, it invites participants to climb through a glowing sonic web, listen to hidden water gurgles with ‘hear muffs,’ feel intergalactic vibrations inside a spring drum, and create personal tunes on a bone-conduction harp.
Date: 9 -1 2 October 2025
Time: 10 am
Location: ArtPlay, Birrarung Marr, Russell St Ext (Behind Fed Square), Melbourne,
Price: FREE
Why Families Will Love Melbourne Fringe XS Program
✔ Free and ticketed events perfect for every budget.
✔ Interactive and tech-driven experiences like AI-inspired scavenger hunts and AR storytelling.
✔ Creative play spaces that encourage imagination, movement, and laughter.
✔ Melbourne-wide venues — from theatres to public squares — transforming the city into a playground of art.
Plan Your Visit
Dates: 30 September – 19 October 2025
Locations: Multiple venues across Melbourne/Narrm
Tickets & Info: Melbourne Fringe Festival XS Program
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We try our best to provide accurate information on kid-friendly events around Victoria but do recommend parents check details directly to confirm dates, times, prices as some details may be subject to change.
