Scienceworks goes bright these spring school holidays, with a new hands-on colour exhibition, live science shows and a free outdoor scavenger hunt for the kids.
Scienceworks is leaning into colour this spring. From Saturday 19 September to Sunday 4 October 2026, the museum’s big-ticket exhibition is Colour: See the World in a New Light, a Questacon touring show packed with 21 interactive exhibits exploring how colour actually works. Around it, there’s a free colour-themed scavenger hunt, a free colour workshop, the ever-popular Glow Show in the Lightning Theatre, and the usual run of favourites like FlushBack and the Planetarium. It’s a hands-on program, which makes it a solid pick if your kids are the type who need to touch, press and experiment rather than just look.
Here’s everything on offer, what it costs, and what you need to know before you go.
What’s on at Scienceworks These Spring School Holidays
1. Colour: See the World in a New Light
Until Tuesday 26 January 2027 | Daily, 10am–4:30pm | Ages 5–14 | Adult $25 / Senior $22 / Child $10 / Concession $10 / Member $8 / Under 3 free
This is the exhibition anchoring the whole spring program, and it’s sticking around well past the holidays. Developed by Questacon, it’s split into four zones — Seeing Colour, Coloured Light, Changing Colour, and Making Sense of Colour — where kids experiment with light, materials and optical illusions to figure out how colour is actually made and perceived.
There’s also a Scienceworks-exclusive interactive called Colour in Action, where kids use projected light to design their own creature and explore how colour works in nature, from camouflage to attracting a mate. It’s built for ages 5 to 14, though younger siblings will still get a kick out of the more visual, playful stations.
Related post: Melbourne Museum Spring School Holidays 2026
2. Free Colour Workshop
School holidays only | Included with Colour exhibition entry
A free hands-on workshop that runs alongside the exhibition during the holiday period only. It’s a nice way to extend the Colour experience without an extra ticket — worth booking into when you buy your exhibition entry, since spots are limited during the busiest weeks.
3. Colour Scavenger Hunt
Free | Outdoor
A free, drop-in scavenger hunt that sends kids chasing colour clues around the museum grounds. No booking or extra cost — a good one to do first as a way to burn off car-trip energy before heading inside.
4. The Glow Show
Daily | School holidays: 11am, 12 noon, 1pm, 2pm & 3pm | 30 minutes | Ages 5+ | Adult $25 / Senior $22 / Child $10 / Concession $10 / Member $8
A highlight for kids who like a bit of drama with their science. This live show in the Lightning Theatre covers fluorescence, glow-in-the-dark chemistry and coloured light, before finishing with a giant Tesla coil throwing real lightning around the theatre using more than two million volts. It’s loud and full of sparks, so the museum recommends it for ages five and up rather than toddlers or infants.
Book tickets for The Glow Show.
5. FlushBack
Daily | School holidays: 1pm & 2pm | 40–60 minutes | Recommended ages 8+ | $3 per ticket (1 iPad per 3 people) / Members $2 / Extra iPad $5
An augmented reality adventure through the heritage-listed Spotswood Pumping Station, where kids use a borrowed iPad to travel back to 1942 and keep Melbourne’s sewage system running. It’s genuinely different from a standard exhibition and works best for kids eight and up, since younger children will need more help from an adult to follow the AR puzzles. Tickets are bought in person at the Scienceworks desk, and you’ll need to leave photo ID while you have the iPad.
6. Planetarium Shows
Daily | Tycho Goes to Mars runs daily; Solar System Adventures: The Planets and Starlight run until Friday 18 September only
Scienceworks’ dome theatre has a rotating line-up, and worth noting: two of the current shows wrap the Friday before the holidays start, so Tycho Goes to Mars is your reliable pick if you’re visiting once the school holidays are underway. Check the Planetarium page on the day for the current session times.
Book into the Planetarium and enjoy an out-of-this-world show exclusive to Scienceworks.
7. Pumping Station Tours
Thursdays and Saturdays
A guided tour through the historic Spotswood Pumping Station’s engine room, with stories about the 19th-century engineering that helped Melbourne deal with its sewage problem before FlushBack turns it into a game.
Pumping Station Tours are available every day and run for thirty minutes. However, do note that the tours are sometimes closed for private events so it would be best to check Scienework’s What’s On Page first to see if tours are running.
8. Collection Store Tours
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays
A behind-the-scenes tour through some of the 40,000-plus objects in the Scienceworks collection store, for kids and adults curious about what’s not usually on display.
Scienceworks Permanent Exhibits
While you visit during the school holidays, make sure you stop by these awesome exhibits at Scienceworks
- Ground Up: Building Big Ideas, Together (Daily Exhibition) – A fun exhibition that’s focused on science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) learning for children under 5 years.
- Beyond Perception: Seeing the Unseen (Daily Exhibition) – Explore the invisible fields and forces that surround us, such as gravitational waves, invisible light, sound and aerodynamics.
- Sportsworks (Daily Exhibition) – A place to leap, run, throw and row.
- Think Ahead (Daily Exhibition) – With more than 200 objects from the past, the present and the speculative future, this exhibition blends technology with hands-on experiences.
What Parents Need to Know
- General admission: Adult $15, Senior $12, Child 16 & under Free, Concession Free, Members Free. The Colour Scavenger Hunt and the guided walks are also included at no extra cost.
- Paid extras: The Colour exhibition ($10 per child, includes museum entry), the Glow Show ($10 per child) and FlushBack ($3 per person, bought on the day) are ticketed separately. If you’re doing Colour and the Glow Show in the same visit, check whether combined tickets are cheaper at the desk.
- Members go free: Worth the maths if you’re a regular — members get free entry to the museum and most exhibitions.
- Booking: General admission and the Colour exhibition can be booked online. FlushBack tickets are sold in person only, on the day.
- Hours: Scienceworks is open 10am to 4:30pm daily throughout the school holidays.
- Address: 2 Booker Street, Spotswood.
- Pram access, toilets and food: The museum is pram-friendly, with a café on site, and Grazeland next door if you want a proper meal.
Read more: Scienceworks Melbourne: The Complete Family Guide
Is It Worth Visiting These Spring Holidays?
Yes, especially for kids aged 5 to 14 who like to get their hands on things. The Colour exhibition is the standout — it’s a big, well-built touring show and it’s sticking around until late January 2027, so there’s no rush if the holidays are already packed. The Glow Show is worth booking for kids who like a bit of spectacle, though it’s genuinely loud, so skip it for toddlers or anyone sensitive to noise. FlushBack is a great option if you’ve got an 8 to 12-year-old after something a bit different from a standard museum wander.
Best for: families with kids aged 5 to 14, particularly hands-on learners. Allow at least half a day to properly work through the Colour exhibition plus one live show, or a full day if you’re adding FlushBack and a guided walk.
FAQs
What are the Scienceworks 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 Scienceworks? No. Children 16 and under get free entry to the museum itself. Adult entry is $15, and the Colour exhibition is a separate ticket on top of that.
Is the Colour exhibition only running during the school holidays? No — Colour: See the World in a New Light runs until Tuesday 26 January 2027, so you don’t need to visit during the holidays specifically to see it. The free Colour Workshop, however, is only available during the school holiday period.
Is the Glow Show suitable for toddlers? The museum recommends it for ages five and up, due to loud noises and bright electrical sparks in the show’s finale. It’s not recommended for young children or infants.
Do I need to book FlushBack in advance? No, but tickets are sold in person only at the Scienceworks desk, so you can’t pre-book online. Turn up early in busy periods to avoid missing out on iPads.
