Aside from its arts and culture, Melbourne is also a great balance of city attractions and nature or wildlife retreat. If you’re planning for a trip with your kids during the school holidays, you’re in luck.
There are tons of fun family activities in Melbourne both you and your little ones will enjoy! From checking out LEGOs at Legoland, going indoor skydiving, or meeting wildlife at the zoo or the SEA LIFE aquarium, there’s something for everyone!
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You should definitely try these fun things to do in Melbourne with kids during your visit:
- Go crazy with some LEGOS at Legoland Discovery Center
- Go on a safari tour at Werribee Zoo
- Discover a world under the sea at SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium
- Meet furry friends at Melbourne Zoo
- Plan a treetop adventure at Live Wire Park
- Experience the golden rush era of Ballarat at Sovereign Hill
- Hop aboard the Puffing Billy Train
- Feel the rush of indoor skydiving with iFLY
- Meet native Australian animals at Healesville Sanctuary
- Explore the canopy of a rainforest at Otway Fly Treetops Walk
- Interact with some art at ArtVo 3D Immersive Art Gallery
- Spark your imagination and creativity at Interaxcity Children’s Museum
- Get 3-in-1 fun at Gumbuya World—Victoria’s only water, wildlife, and theme park!
- Experience the thrill rides at Luna Park Melbourne
- Marvel at beautiful works of art at the National Gallery of Victoria
1. Go crazy with some LEGOS at Legoland Discovery Center
The kids will definitely enjoy this LEGO haven! Image credits: @legolanddiscoverycentremelb on Instagram
With 2 million LEGO bricks, 13 play zones for the whole fam, and even a mini theme park, Legoland Discovery Center in Melbourne is a haven for LEGO lovers of all ages!
Race your mini cars at the Build & Test zone, build your LEGO tower like a pro at the Master Model Builder Workshops, and more! You can even check out the mini LEGO versions of your favourite characters from comics and movies!
You and the whole family can let your creativity and imagination run wild at this LEGO playground for the young and young at heart.
2. Go on a safari tour at Werribee Zoo
You don't have to fly to Africa to go to the savannah. All you need is a 30-minute ride from Melbourne CBD to the Werribee Open Range Zoo, where you can go on a guided safari tour.
Here you'll see rhinos, giraffes, zebras, Przewalski's horse, bison, and more animals freely roaming about, without the usual cages and glass barriers you see in zoos. And if you want to go on thrilling family activities in Melbourne, you can check out the Serval Cat presentation. Here, you'll see several wild cats hunt right in front of you without any barriers!
Oh, and did you know that kids aged 4-15 can go for free when you visit during weekends, public holidays, and VIC school holidays?
3. Discover a world under the sea at SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium
Who doesn’t want to be a mermaid and explore the dazzling beauty of the sea? At SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium, you can take a peek at what it would be like to be one at The Mermaid Garden attraction. This 2.2 million litre Oceanarium is home to nurse sharks, stingrays, and stunning mermaid statues.
You can also make friends with the penguins in the Penguin Playground, meet the saltwater crocs at Croc Lair, or even go scuba diving with sharks!
4. Meet furry friends at Melbourne Zoo
In the middle of the busy city lies Melbourne Zoo, where you can escape from the hustle and bustle and go on a wildlife retreat. Going to the zoo is one of the best family activities in Melbourne for animal lovers, with its diverse collection of animals of various habitats.
Meet the penguins and seals from the Victorian coast at the Wild Sea attraction and visit the endangered Sumatran tiger and orangutans, which the zoo aims to conserve. You can even walk amongst the giants at their award-winning elephant trail!
Plus, kids aged 4-15 can go for free if you go on weekends and holidays!
5. Plan a treetop adventure at Live Wire Park
Strap on your helmets and go on the ultimate treetop adventure at Live Wark Park, where they have the best outdoor family activities in Melbourne! This attraction is no ordinary walk in the park with its treetop circuits and trails.
The little ones will enjoy the Short Circuit, filled with several safe, secure, but most importantly, kid-friendly obstacles. If the adults are up for more of a challenge, you can try the zip line or the Super Circuit, which has a total of 53 mid-air trails!
6. Experience the golden rush era of Ballarat at Sovereign Hill
At Sovereign Hill, it’s totally okay to do some gold-digging. Travel back in time to Ballarat’s gold rush era to pan for gold or even learn candle-dipping and rope-making from expert artisans. You can even ride a carriage down the vintage streets!
Sovereign Hill is an open-air museum that takes you back to the olden times of Ballarat with several exhibits that feature different activities. One must-see attraction is the Gold Museum which showcases several costumes and photos during the gold rush era!
7. Hop aboard the Puffing Billy Train
Choo-choo! Want to ride the Puffing Billy, too? Hop aboard the historic Puffing Billy Steam Railway Train and traverse the stunning temperate rainforest of the Dandenong Ranges with the little ones.
Breathe in the fresh air as you observe the stunning flora and fauna all around while enjoying the ride on an authentic steam train. Your grandparents can even relive their childhood on this preserved historical train! This is an excellent option if you’re looking for more relaxing family activities in Melbourne.
8. Feel the rush of indoor skydiving with iFLY
Jumping off a plane thousands of feet in the air can be a bit much for kids (and frankly most adults), but at iFLY Indoor Skydiving, you can fly without fear!
Just gear up with your helmet and suit (it’s all provided by iFly!), then step into their ultra-safe, state-of-the-art indoor facility. It’s so easy, even little kids can try it! Plus, iFLY’s expert instructors will guide you throughout the experience.
9. Meet native Australian animals at Healesville Sanctuary
Located in rural Healesville, this conservation sanctuary is home to numerous native Australian animals, including the famous koalas, kangaroos, dingoes, wombats, and more! What makes this sanctuary special is that it mimics each animals’ natural forest habitat, so it’s like seeing them in their authentic homes. Kids can also go for free during weekends and school holidays!
Only an hour away from Melbourne CBD, Healesville is a great destination for a wildlife retreat with the family. With a General Entry ticket, you can witness the magnificent collection of birds of prey at the Spirits of the Sky bird show. If you want an exclusive tour with one of the sanctuary’s rangers and witness special showcases of the native wildlife, you can bump up to a VIP Sanctuary Tour.
10. Explore the canopy of a rainforest at Otway Fly Treetops Walk
Explore the Aussie rainforest with a twist and go on one of the most exciting walks of your life!
Only a two and half hour drive from Melbourne, Otway Fly Treetop Walk is a great destination for a nature retreat. There, you’ll walk across a 600-metre steel walkway elevated 30 metres above the ground for a view of the forest like no other. This activity is perfectly safe and great for kids and adults of any fitness level.
You can also climb up the 47-metre high Spiral Tower, which provides an unbridled 360-degree view of the green expanse! Definitely one of the most unique family activities in Melbourne.
11. Take amazing photos at ArtVo 3D Immersive Art Gallery
You totally need to bring your camera for this one. ArtVo 3D Immersive Art Gallery in Melbourne is the first-ever “trick art” gallery in Australia. It features several optical illusion paintings and murals that guests can interact with. Through these paintings, you’ll look like you’re riding the rapids, surfing on a dolphin or across the galaxy, going through portals, and other wacky and unbelievable things!
The sky’s the limit at ArtVo, so making crazy poses and snapping funny pics here is one of the must-try family activities in Melbourne!
12. Let the kids be adults at Interaxcity Children’s Museum
At Interaxcity, kids rule the world—or in this case, the mini-city. Interaxcity is a miniature city where kids could pretend to take on jobs for the day. The tiny construction sites, labs, clinics, and offices are absolutely adorable and perfectly sized for the little professionals!
Running the mini-city for a day is a great way to play and have fun while learning new skills! Your little one could be a doctor, pilot, mechanic, chef, and more!
13. Get 3-in-1 fun at Gumbaya World—Victoria’s only water, wildlife, and theme park!
Can’t decide between going to a water park, zoo, or theme park? At Gumbuya World, you can have it all!
Gumbuya World is Victoria’s only theme park, wildlife park, and water park! The water park opens in September, so you can check out their 8 epic water slides, relax in their lazy pool, and catch a wave at their wave pool! For the rest of the year, you can visit Gumbaya’s wildlife park where you can meet and feed kangaroos, dingoes, and other animals with the help of the rangers.
Gumbuya World is also a theme park so you can hop on the mini roller coaster, train, or bumper cars with the whole family on the same day! If you want to see their park schedule for 2021, you can check this out.
14. Experience the thrill rides at Luna Park Melbourne
A theme park is always an excellent choice for a family holiday. And when it comes to theme parks, Luna Park is a classic.
Luna Park in Melbourne was established in 1912 and has been making several generations smile ever since. Its Great Scenic Railway roller coaster is the second oldest operating roller coaster in the world at 109 years old! It’s also complete with theme park staples such as the Sky Rider Ferris Wheel and the Luna Park Carousel.
The park also mixes in modern rides such as the Supernova that will make you spin 360 degrees on a tower, and the Mirror Maze that has over 75 life-size mirrors.
15. Marvel at beautiful works of art at the National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria, or NGV, was founded in 1861 and is one of the oldest art galleries in the country. It is home to various artworks from magnificent artists such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Tom Roberts, Frederick McCubbin, and more. They exhibit different art forms, from French Impressionism, contemporary Australian art, pottery, installation art, and even fashion design!
It’s definitely a great way to acquaint the kids with the greatest pieces of art in Australia!