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Melbourne Summer School Holiday Guide 2024-2025
Are you looking for exciting activities to keep the kids entertained this summer? Melbourne has something for everyone in the 2024 – 2025 Victorian School Holidays, from interactive workshops to incredible stage performances and immersive exhibitions.
Highlights include Operation Ouch Live: Jurassic Fart (4 January 2025), Imagine Live (8-11 January 2025), Alice in Wonderland (15-17 January 2025), Yayoi Kusama – Kusama For Kids (15 December 2024 – 21 April 2025), The 78-Storey Treehouse (25-26 January 2025) and The Magic Workshop with Lee Cohen (8-18 January 2025)..
Explore our guide for the best Melbourne Summer School Holiday events for 2024-2025 – What’s on
The Victorian Summer School Holidays run from 21 December 2024 to 28 January 2025.
See below for your chance to WIN a family pass to see Imagine Live at Fairfax Studio or Alice in Wonderland at the Athenaeum Theatre.
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Operation Ouch Live: Jurassic Fart
After four sold-out tours across Australia and two hit seasons in London’s West End, Dr. Chris and Dr. Xand are back with their epic adventure, Quest for the Jurassic Fart! Join the twins on a dino-mite journey to discover the most powerful, most dangerous, and most mysterious fart in history—the Jurassic Fart!
This fun-packed show is loaded with new experiments that will transport audiences to the age of the dinosaurs, as the doctors unforgettably explore science. Expect plenty of laughs and some gross-out moments along the way!
Date: Sat 4 Jan 2025
Times: 1 pm – 2.20 pm & 4 pm – 5.20 pm
Location: Bunjil Place Theatre
Price: $54.90 – $64.90
IMAGINE LIVE
Imagine Live brings Alison Lester’s beloved book Imagine to life on stage, celebrating creativity, friendship, and the natural world. This family-friendly show combines live action, animation, and digital puppetry.
Date: 8 – 11 January 2025
Time: 10.30 pm & 1.30 pm
Location: Fairfax Studio
Price: $32
See below to WIN a family pass.
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Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland will return to Melbourne’s Athenaeum Theatre for a limited season from 15 to 17 January 2025. With only five performances, this imaginative production brings Alice’s adventures to life through stunning costumes, puppetry, and clever stagecraft. Audiences of all ages will enjoy meeting over 20 unforgettable characters, including the White Rabbit, Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, and Queen of Hearts.
Date: 15 – 17 January 2025
Location: Melbourne Athenaeum, 188 Collins Street, Melbourne
Price: $39.90 – $59.90
See below to WIN a family pass.
YAYOI KUSAMA – Kusama For Kids
Explore the illustrious career of celebrated artist Yayoi Kusama in a world-premiere exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. Curated in collaboration with Kusama for Australian audiences, this showcase spans her eight-decade practice with over 180 works, including several making their Australian debut. Highlights include the artist’s latest immersive infinity mirror room and other iconic installations.
Running alongside this exhibition is Kusama for Kids at the NGV’s free children’s galleries, where young visitors can enjoy an immersive experience inspired by a renowned Kusama artwork, specially designed to captivate and engage kids in the world of contemporary art.
Date: 15 December 2024 to 21 April 2025
Time: 9am – 5 pm
Location: NGV International, St Kilda Road
Price: Kusama for Kids is a FREE Exhibition
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The Future & Other Fictions
Step into tomorrow at The Future & Other Fictions, an immersive exhibition showcasing over 180 works from 19 global visionaries. From cyberpunk cityscapes to rewilded landscapes, this world premiere features concept art, costumes, props, and more that shape our imagined futures. Highlights include Afrofuturist designs like Ruth E. Carter’s costumes for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, concept art from Cyberpunk 2077 and Blade Runner 2049, and intricate designs by Icelandic pop icon Björk. Curated by ACMI’s Amanda Haskard (Gunai/Kurnai), Chelsey O’Brien, and filmmaker Liam Young, this exhibition invites you to envision the future we’ll create together.
Date: 28 Nov 2024 – 27 Apr 2025
Time: 10 am – 5 pm
Location: Gallery 4, Lower Ground, ACMI, Fed Square
Price: $10 – $22.5
NGV Summer Festival 2025
Date: 11 – 17 January 2025
Time: 9 am – 5 pm
Location: NGV Australia and NGV International
Price: FREE
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The 78-Storey Treehouse
Andy and Terry’s treehouse keeps growing – with 13 new levels, including a Scribbletorium, a high-security potato chip storage facility (guarded by an angry duck!), and even an open-air movie theatre! When the legendary Mr Big Shot arrives to make a Hollywood blockbuster, chaos ensues. After firing Andy and replacing him with a gibbon named Mel Gibbon, the battle begins. Will the Treehouse Blockbuster ever get made? Why are mysterious spy cows showing up?
Recommended for kids aged 6-12 and their adults.
Duration: 60 minutes.
Date: 25 – 26 January 2025
Time: various times
Location: Athenaeum Theatre
Price: $35 – $49 + BF
The Magic Workshop
Step behind the velvet curtain and discover the secrets of magic! Join Melbourne magician Lee Cohen for an interactive workshop where you will learn magical skills and take home a goodie bag of tricks to wow family and friends.
No prior experience needed. Recommended for 10-15-year-olds.
Date: 8 – 18 January 2025
Time: 11 am
Location: The Channel, St Kilda Road Terrace, Southbank
Price: $10 – $25
The Wind in the Willows
The Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne will transform into a riverside wonderland as The Australian Shakespeare Company’s The Wind in the Willows returns for its 38th year of enchanting outdoor theatre.
Join Kenneth Grahame’s unforgettable characters — Ratty, Mole, Badger, Otter, Portly, and the adventurous Mr. Toad — for a performance filled with laughter, music, and timeless charm. Perfect for audiences of all ages, this critically acclaimed show brings to life the heart and humour of a treasured classic.
Date: 21 December 2024 – 25 January 2025
Time: 10.30 am, 11 am & 6 pm
Location: Royal Botanic Gardens, Oak Lawn Gate
Price: $25-$30 or $90-$110 per group of four
More information
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BOX MACHINE!
Get ready for a world of creativity and hands-on fun with BOX MACHINE!, an interactive exhibition for children and their adults. Created by Melbourne artists Mischa Long (Polyglot Theatre) and Ross Koger (Box Wars), this unique experience transforms the historic Magdalen Laundry at the Abbotsford Convent into a space filled with oversized cardboard machines.
Date: 4 – 25 January 2025 (closed on Mondays)
Time: 10 am – 2 pm
Location: Magdalen Laundry, Abbotsford Convent
Price: Entrance $5 per head, Children aged 3 and under FREE
WIN
Win a family pass to see ‘Imagine Live’ on Wednesday 8 January 2025 at 10.30am, Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne.
Simply fill in your details below to enter.
The giveaway ends at midnight on Sunday 15 December 2024.
The winners will be announced on our Facebook page and emailed directly.
Good luck!
Terms and conditions
The winner will be notified by email and must claim their prize within 48 hours. Any prizes not claimed within 48 hours may be reallocated to another winner. Open to Australian Residents only. You must be aged 18 years or over to enter. Those who add their details on the above form and press submit by midnight Sunday 15 December 2024, will be entered into the competition. There is one family pass (4 tickets) to be won. The family pass can only be used to see Imagine Live at the Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne on 8 January 2025 at 10.30 am. The prize is non-transferable. In the event that Kiddiehood postpones or varies the competition prize, Kiddiehood will not be liable to any person for any loss, damage or personal injury suffered or sustained as a result of entering the competition. While Kiddiehood takes care to ensure all information relating to the Competition is correct, it does not warrant the accuracy of all information provided and will not be liable for any inaccuracy or error.
WIN
Win a family pass to see Alice in Wonderland at Athenaeum Theatre on 15 January 2025 at 7pm. THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW CLOSED
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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.
