Looking for fun things to do with the kids?
Explore our kid-friendly directory
Family-friendly program at RISING Festival
RISING is inviting families to get lost, go deep and shake loose at this year’s festival. RISING will electrify Melbourne City from 1 — 12 June 2022 with a surge of art, music, performance and ceremony.
RISING will comprise 225 events — including 22 commissions and 14 world premieres — featuring 801 local and international artists, who will take the city as their canvas, transforming its streets, gardens, car parks, waterways and rooftops in an explosion of culture aimed squarely at the heart of Melbourne’s night-time scene.
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Across 12 nights, Melbourne will come alive with an array of free and family focussed events; transformative public art installations; large-scale performances; intimate works of theatre; dance that redefines the form; and a music program that traverses the globe from Japan to Switzerland, South London to Saskatchewan — the program also marks the city’s first international music festival line-up in over two years.
The Wilds
The Wilds will once again spring to life in 2022, with a moonlit forest of stimulation at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. A fluoro fantasy of art, sound, taste and ice, this year’s iteration of The Wilds sees acclaimed New York-based Australian artists Tin & Ed create an all-new technicolour world.
Science and nature co-exist in a multicellular meadow of giant inflatable sculptures and digital art deploying video game design engines.
Meanwhile, mythic architectural organisms will populate The Wilds care of the Filipino contemporary fine artist Leeroy New. Using the recycled bamboo bones of The Wilds 2021, New has built a tangled, abundant landscape blurring the lines between the organic and constructed.
Kids under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
Date: 1 — 19 June 2022
Time: entry from 5 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, last entry 9 pm. Friday – Saturday last entry 10 pm. Closed Mondays.
Location: Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Kings Domain Gardens, Linlithgow Ave, Melbourne
Price: $12 – $22
Monochord
Audio-visual artist Robin Fox’s luminescent public artwork Monochord will light up the waters of the Birrarung (Yarra River). A giant laser beam, almost one kilometre long, will shoot blazing light down the Birrarung, all synchronised to sound and music.
Monochord radically alters the city’s landscape and makes visible the invisible lines that connect us — a mammoth moment of iridescent unification.
Date: 1 — 12 June 2022
Time: 6.30 pm — 9.30 pm
Location: Birrarung (Yarra River), between Sandridge Bridge and Birrarung Marr, Melbourne
Price: FREE (tickets not required)
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The Wilds – Rinky Dink
Rinky Dink ice-skating will take over the main stage at Sidney Myer Music Bowl – The Wilds. Suitable for skaters of all levels, learners can use special ‘kangaroos’ if needed. The Night Chorus will be belting out ‘80s and ‘90s hits at certain times.
Sessions are limited and include entry to The Wilds. Kids under 12 must be accompanied by an ice-skating adult.
Date: 1 — 19 June 2022
Time: Skating is every 30 mins. Sunday — Thursday 5.15 pm – 9.15 pm, Friday – Saturday 5.15 pm – 10.15 pm. Closed Mondays.
Location: Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Kings Domain Gardens, Linlithgow Ave, Melbourne
Price: $37 – $47 + transaction fee
Fart Fabulous
Fart Fabulous is a playful, punk variety show bursting with circus, drag, dance, visual art and live music. Reverberating the rock and roll spirit, the cast reminds us that bodies have folds, make noises and come in all sizes, shapes and genders — all of them are valid and all of them fart.
Fart Fabulous is a jam-packed hour of queer celebration, rebellious performance, comedy and joyful anarchy.
Date: 2 — 4 June 2022
Time: Thursday 6 pm, Friday 6 pm & 8.30 pm, Saturday 2 pm & 7.30 pm
Location: The National Theatre Melbourne, 20 Carlisle Street, St Kilda, Melbourne
Price: $25 — $45 + transaction fee
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A Miracle Constantly Repeated
Hidden for decades, Flinders Street Station’s mysterious ballroom has opened its doors to visitors for an immersive and transformative takeover by leading Australian artist Patricia Piccinini.
Conceived and created by Piccinini, A Miracle Constantly Repeated is an immersive multi-sensory experience that has taken over the entire top floor of one of the country’s most recognisable buildings, including its majestic ballroom and 15 adjacent and secret rooms. Piccinini has created a walkable eco-system of hyper-real silicon sculptures, video, sound and light.
Date: on until 12 June 2022
Time: Wednesday — Saturday 10 am — 9 pm, Sunday 10 am — 5 pm, Monday — Tuesday closed.
Location: Flinders Street Station, Flinders Street, Melbourne
Price: $32 — $36 + transaction fee. Kids under 12 enter free.
Patricia Piccinini: ArtPlay Workshop
Young art fans have the opportunity to meet acclaimed artist Patricia Piccinini and create their own artwork at ArtPlay. Patricia Piccinini will take kids on a tour through her exhibition A Miracle Constantly Repeated, they will then return to ArtPlay and work with visual artist Sue Davis, to further explore the themes that Patricia investigates such as humanity’s relationship to technology and the environment.
Recommended for kids aged 9 — 13 years.
Date: 4 & 5 June 2022
Time: 10 am
Location: ArtPlay, Birrarung Marr, Melbourne
Price: $35 + transaction fee
Kaleidoscope
Kaleidoscope allows you to step inside a constantly shifting illusion. A brand new solo project by Keith Courtney, one of the masterminds behind House of Mirrors and 1000 Doors, Kaleidoscope provides the brave and adventurous with a new and different space to explore, contemplate and dream. An experience that disorientates the senses, providing access to a new kind of engagement with beauty and tranquillity in a colour field of ever-changing light.
Date: 1 — 19 June 2022
Time: performance times vary
Location: Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Road, Southbank, Melbourne
Price: $15. Free for visitors under 5 and over 75, bookings required
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Anything & Everything
Set in a TV studio, Anything & Everything is a live performance that explores online and IRL spaces where young people navigate technology, consent, identity, ability and connection.
Date: 3 — 12 June 2022
Time: performance times vary
Location: ACMI, Gandel Lab, 2 Swanston Street, Melbourne
Price: $45 — $50 + transaction fee
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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.
