School Holiday Activities Melbourne 2026

Looking for some fun school holiday activities Melbourne? Don’t go scrolling endlessly looking for ideas! Here we have rounded up a huge list of the best events, activities and fun things to do these school holidays in Melbourne in this family friendly guide.

The next school holiday dates in Victoria are from 21st September – 2n October. Term 4 starts 5th October in most government schools.

As a team of local Melbourne mums, we have lots of tried and tested so many ideas to keep the kids entertained Below you can find a list of the best school holiday activities in Melbourne with the kids broken the list up into the following to make it easier for you:

School Holiday Events Melbourne
School Holiday Activities Melbourne
School Holiday Day Trips from Melbourne

*We will keep updating this post with new school holiday activities leading up to when school finishes. Make sure you join our FACEBOOK GROUP to connect with more Melbourne Mums, or follow our INSTAGRAM PAGE.

School Holiday Activities Melbourne (Whats On – Events)

Melbourne Country Show
Known as The Value Show, the Melbourne Country Show has been created as an affordable family event, with entry tickets from just $5 and children’s rides starting from $2.50. Running for ten days during the Melbourne school holidays, families can visit during the day for rides and animal experiences or stay into the evening for live entertainment, lights and nightly fireworks.
25 September to 4 October

DinoFest, Wantirna South
DinoFest Melbourne is an immersive, outdoor event designed especially for families with younger children. With over 30 dinosaur species to discover, including a life-size Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Spinosaurus, and more, there’s something to amaze everyone.
19th September – 11th October 2026

Tulip Festival
Located in Silvan in Melbourne’s stunning Dandenong Ranges, the festival grounds will be transformed into a vibrant kaleidoscope as over a million blooms burst into colour across the fields.
12th September – 11th October

Royal Melbourne Show
The Melbourne Royal Show is one of Melbourne’s biggest annual family events. Held every spring at the Melbourne Showgrounds in Flemington, it combines agriculture, entertainment, food, rides, and showbags into one massive celebration.
24th September – 4th October

Tinkerbell & The Dream Fairies
These school holidays Tinkerbell and the Dream Fairies are back in Melbourne for an enchanting world of song and dance. Children and their parents will be swept into Tinkerbell’s magical world and taken on an adventure full of fairies and fun.
19th September – 4th October

Winter Glow, Adventure Park
Discover a glowing winter wonderland of snow, lights, fire and ice these Winter school holidays at Adventure Park! There is a massive snow zone for kids and live ice carving daily with lots of family fun!
Until 3rd October

Museum Sleepover:
A night to remember for families at the Museum with exclusive access to the Museum and IMAX after hours, sleeping among the dinosaurs, and waking to a hot breakfast in the morning! Options for younger kids and older kids, full itinerary on the website.
TBA

Family Adventure Days:
Created by parents and loved by families, these themed experiences are perfect for keeping kids entertained and adults relaxed. Each day features engaging activities, delicious local food, and endless fun, with a variety of themes to suit every interest from dinos to farmyard, fairies and even chocolate themed!

School Holiday Activities Melbourne (Any day)

These school holiday activities are every day activities but sometimes run extra special things during the holiday period. Make sure to check their website to see what’s on during the school holidays in Melbourne.

Best Museums in Melbourne for Families and Kids

Melbourne Museums

Melbourne Museum always has something new on, check out the new Rome expo
Scienceworks and the planetarium are great for those who love science.
Artvo is great to introduce your kids to art with a 3D interactive gallery.
Pollywoodside in the city centre is perfect for a family day out aboard a tall ship.

See our whole list>>> Best Museums in Melbourne

Melbourne Farms

Get kids up to nature and visit and experience what real farm life is about. Melbourne has some fantastic farm experiences all over Melbourne including

Collingwood Children’s Farm in the city
Myuna Farm in Melbourne’s south east
Chesterfield Farm in the east
Bundoora Farm in the north and Collingwood Children’s Farm near the CBD.

See our full list>>> Melbourne Farms

Melbourne Zoo’s

There is always something new going on at the Zoo’s and lots of great school holidays activities planned at the Melbourne Zoos

Werribee Open Range Zoo has the brand new elephant enclosure and safari
Melbourne Zoo has a fun dance party going on
Healesville Sanctuary is always great for seeing native animals

Read More: Melbourne Zoos

Active Fun

Get kids active and burning energy at one of these amazing climbing and play centres. So many great places in Melbourne

Climb n Play is one of our favs in the west, offering climbing walls, and a huge multilevel playcentre.
Flip out is fun for trampolines, playcentre and climbing with multiple venues including Braybrook in the west and Knox in the East
Bounce has various locations as well with all venues filled with different types of trampolines to jump around on.

See more:
Best Climbing Centres
Best Trampoline Parks
Best Indoor Playcentres

Skating Fun

There’s some fantastic fun school holiday activities all around Melbourne if you like skating!

Sk8House in Melbourne’s south east is great for roller skating or roller blading
O’brien Skate House at the Docklands
Ice HQ is another great one in Melbourne’s north.

Melbourne Theme Parks

Looking for an adventure filled day out? You can find some of Melbourne’s favourite school holiday activities at a range of fun theme parks and water parks!

Luna Park and has been an iconic city attraction for more than a hundred years and is only 10 minutes from the city.
Funfields in the northern suburbs
Gumbuya World in Melbourne’s outer east is a water park, wildlife park and theme park all in one.
Fairy Park is an old style fairy tale themed park in Melbourne’s West towards Geelong.

Melbourne Attractions

There are so many awesome attractions that are great school holiday activities in Melbourne.

Skydeck has the highest observation platform in the Southern Hemisphere. If you are game, make sure to head out on “The Edge”
Melbourne River Cruises are great fun to see a bit of Melbourne from the water. The city skyline views are beautiful
Australian Sports Museum at the MCG is a fantastic day out for sports lovers. You can take a tour of the ground and then check out the museum itself full of memorabilia.

School Holiday Day Trips

We have put together a list of days out in Melbourne with the kids. Whatever the weather, sun, clouds or rain, there are some fun and exciting ideas for you.

Read our Day Trips From Melbourne For Families or our Weekend Getaways post, or see some inspiration below.

Mornington Peninsula

If you are heading to the Mornington Peninsula or down the south coast of Melbourne this summer, there is plenty to see and do. From farms to theme parks so much fun to be had.

See our Full post: Things to do Mornington Peninsula

Geelong

In Geelong during the school holidays you can visit:

MOPA
Adventure Park
Carousel
Eastern Beach

See our full post: Things to do in Geelong and if you are visiting from Melbourne, why not take the Port Phillip Ferry as an alternative to driving.

Ballarat

If you go out West, Ballarat has plenty of school holiday activities. See our full post: Things to do Ballarat

Sovereign Hill (and their special Winter Wonderlights in July!)
Kryal Castle
Ballarat Wildlife Park

Great Ocean Road

On the Great Ocean Road, make sure to check out:

See our full post: Things to do Great Ocean Road.

Yarra Valley / Dandenong Ranges

Heading out East to the Yarra Valley or Dandenong Ranges, there are lots of fun school holiday activities, places to see and things to do for kids and families:

See our full posts: Things to do Yarra Valley, Things to do Dandenong Ranges.

More Holiday Fun

More School Holiday Activities Melbourne

Have we missed something? Do you know of any fun school holiday activities in Melbourne? Are you a business offering fun kids activities for the school holidays? Let us know!

Keep checking in as we update this post each term with new school holiday fun!!

Follow Mum’s Little Explorers on FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM for more inspiration, and check out our main post Melbourne for Kids.