Melbourne Museum’s spring holiday program goes back to ancient Rome, with gladiator workshops, mosaic art and a new exhibition to explore with the kids.
Melbourne Museum is trading dinosaurs for gladiators this spring (well, mostly — the dinosaurs are still there too). From Saturday 19 September to Sunday 4 October 2026, the museum ties its school holiday program to the new exhibition Rome: Empire. Power, People, with a Creative Lab workshop where kids design their own gladiator mask, a free mosaic art activity in the foyer, and the return of the ever-popular Family Museum Sleepovers. Add in Dino Days, Tiny Tours for the under-5s and a run of IMAX documentaries, and there’s a full week and a half of things to fill in around the Melbourne Museum favourites your kids already love, like Our Wondrous Planet and the Dinosaur Walk.
Here’s everything on offer, what it costs, and what you need to know before you go.
What’s On at Melbourne Museum These Spring School Holidays
1. Creative Lab: Rise of the Gladiators
Saturday 19 September – Sunday 4 October | 10am, 11am, 12 noon & 1:30pm | 30 minutes | Child 16 & under $12 / Members $10
This is the headline act of the spring program. Kids head into the “armoury” beneath the Colosseum to design and build their own gladiator mask, inspired by real Roman helmets and armour. It’s aimed at curious creatives aged 12 and under, and blends craft with a bit of theatre and history. Meet at Learning Lab 1 & 2, near the escalators by the Children’s Gallery, ten minutes before your session.
Read our review of Rome: Empire. Power, People,
2. Mosaic Monuments
Saturday 19 September – Sunday 4 October | 11am–3pm | Free with museum entry
A drop-in activity for all ages in the museum foyer. Kids colour in a mosaic tile and add it to a growing artwork built around a set of Roman-style “ruined” columns. No booking needed — just wander in and out as you please, which makes it a good one for littlies with shorter attention spans.
Related post: Hands-On Fun: Spring School Holidays At Scienceworks 2026
3. Family Museum Sleepovers
Friday 18, Saturday 19, Friday 25 & Saturday 26 September | 6pm start | Ages 5–16 | Adult $265 / Child $245 / Member Adult $245 / Member Child $225
Sleep under the dinosaurs, quite literally. This premium overnight experience (valued at $400 per ticket) includes an IMAX screening and snacks, a torchlight tour of Dinosaur Walk, an exhibition tour through Our Wondrous Planet, a comfy Ecosa mattress to sleep on, hot breakfast, and a morning meet-and-greet with a baby Triceratops puppet. Bookings sell out fast, so get in early if this is on your list.
4. Tiny Tours: Rainforest to Reef
Tuesdays (extra sessions during the holidays) | 10am | 1 hour | Ages 3–5 | Adult $18 / Child $22 / Concession free / Member Adult free / Member Child $18
Built for preschoolers, this guided tour explores how different animals are built for the places they live in, from the top of the rainforest canopy to the bottom of the sea. It runs through the Our Wondrous Planet exhibition and starts from the entrance on the upper level. Bookings recommended for kids over 5.
5. Dino Days
Wednesdays | 10am–2pm | Included with museum entry
A dinosaur-themed morning for the little ones, running across the Children’s Gallery and Science & Life Gallery. Highlights include Triceratops Tales story time (10.15am and 1.15pm), a live kids’ Q&A called Can You Dig It? (11am), and the Dino Disco (12 noon), where kids stomp, munch and soar their way through a movement session.
6. Stop, Look, Listen, Think & Stick: Your Path to Safety
Monday 21 September – Saturday 3 October (excluding Sundays) | Included with museum entry
A hands-on road safety activity for ages 3–10 in the Road to Zero space on the Lower Ground Floor. Kids use stickers to map out a safe route through a mini street network, picking up pedestrian safety basics along the way without it feeling like a lesson.
7. IMAX Melbourne
Three documentaries are screening at IMAX Melbourne over the holidays: Penguin Island 3D (King penguins in the sub-Antarctic), Wild Asia 3D (narrated by Colin Firth, featuring snow leopards and red pandas) and Shark Kingdom 3D.
Documentary tickets include museum entry — Adult $30, Senior $23, Child 16 & under $14, Concession $18, with member pricing at $12 across the board. Buying your IMAX ticket alongside museum entry saves $7.50 for adults and $5 for seniors compared to buying separately.
Melbourne Museum Permanent Exhibits
While you visit during the school holidays, make sure you stop by these awesome exhibits at Melbourne Museum.
- Pauline Gandel Children’s Gallery (Daily Exhibition) – a wondrous place for babies to five-year-olds to explore, play and learn.
- Our Wondrous Planet (Daily Exhibition) – A breathtaking exhibition inviting visitors to explore the extraordinary story of life on Earth.
- Triceratops: Fate of the Dinosaurs (Daily Exhibition) – Don’t miss the a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see one of the world’s most complete Triceratops fossils too, all under one roof!
- Gondwana Garden (Daily Exhibition) – Wander through Gondwana Garden and step into ecosystems of the past.
- Dinosaur Walk (Daily Exhibition) – Walk among skeletons of prehistoric animals.
- 600 Million Years (Daily Exhibition) – The origin and evolution of life in Victoria.
- Dynamic Earth (Daily Exhibition) – A brilliant, immersive exhibition about our ever-changing Earth.
- Mini Mega Model Museum (Daily Exhibition) – Welcome to the Mini Mega Model Museum, where the apples are wax and the Colosseum is small!
What Parents Need to Know
- General admission: Adult $18, Senior $12, Child 16 & under Free, Members Free. Most of the spring program — Mosaic Monuments, Dino Days, Stop Look Listen Think & Stick, and the Our Wondrous Planet exhibition — is included with entry.
- Paid extras: Creative Lab ($12 per child), Tiny Tours ($22 per child), IMAX documentaries ($14 per child) and the Family Museum Sleepovers ($245 per child) are ticketed separately.
- Members go free: If you’re visiting more than once or twice a year, a Museums Victoria membership is worth doing the maths on — members get free entry to the museum and most holiday activities.
- Booking: General admission and most activities can be booked online in advance, which we’d recommend during the holidays when the museum gets busy. Sleepovers and Tiny Tours in particular book out early.
- Hours: Melbourne Museum is open 9am to 5pm daily throughout the school holidays.
- Address: 11 Nicholson Street, Carlton.
- Pram access, toilets and food: The museum is pram-friendly throughout, with parents’ rooms and toilets on multiple levels, and a café on site for lunch and snacks.
FAQs
What are the Melbourne Museum spring school holiday dates for 2026? The spring school holiday program runs from Saturday 19 September to Sunday 4 October 2026.
Do kids need a ticket to enter Melbourne Museum? No. Children 16 and under get free entry to the museum. Adult entry is $18, and Museums Victoria members go free.
Is the Creative Lab: Rise of the Gladiators workshop good for toddlers? It’s designed for curious creatives aged 12 and under, though the craft element will suit school-aged kids best. Younger toddlers may find the 30-minute format a stretch.
Do I need to book the Family Museum Sleepovers in advance? Yes. Sleepovers run on just four nights this spring (18, 19, 25 and 26 September) and are a premium, limited-capacity experience, so we’d recommend booking as early as possible.
Is Melbourne Museum pram-friendly? Yes, the museum is fully pram-accessible with parents’ rooms available on-site.
