This winter, school holidays across the country are getting an extra dose of creative energy, thanks to a stacked line-up from Museums Victoria. From LEGO Star Wars helmets built with near-monkish patience, to after-hours drag trivia and a planetarium show narrated by Geoffrey Rush, this is a season where play meets purpose.
Let’s start with the obvious crowd-puller: LEGO® Star Wars: The Exhibition at Melbourne Museum. Open now in the Touring Hall, the show features towering LEGO recreations of iconic Star Wars headgear. One of the centrepieces? A battle-scarred helmet of bounty hunter Boba Fett, pieced together in 54 hours, brick by brick. With adult tickets at $38 and kids at $24, it’s not your cheapest outing, but it’s a galaxy far, far away worth stepping into.
Not far behind is Nocturnal: Museum After Dark, falling neatly within NAIDOC Week on Thursday 10 July from 6 to 9pm. This year’s theme, The Next Generation: Strength, Vision, & Legacy, marks 50 years of NAIDOC celebrations, spotlighting young First Peoples voices. Expect DJs, culture-led installations and an irreverent dash of drag via Miss First Nations: Supreme Queen 2023, Cerulean. It’s part conversation, part party.
For younger kids who’d rather build than browse, Tinkertown at Scienceworks is quietly winning fans. This one’s open daily and priced to suit most families (adults $25, kids $10, members $8). It’s a sort of tinkerer’s village where children can build cubbies, send secret messages via a giant fidget popper, or design their own magnetic ball-run rollercoaster. Unlike other exhibits, there’s no fixed route or grand finale—just lots of options to make something, break something, or start again.
On Friday nights, Scienceworks transforms into something a bit more cosmic. Planetarium Nights is back this July with two adult-only sessions under the dome. The first includes Black Holes—Journey into the Unknown (yes, narrated by Geoffrey Rush) followed by a guided look at what’s visible in the sky right now. The second session, Sphere, is more meditative—a slow, immersive audio-visual drift through space. It’s for anyone craving silence, scale, and a glass of wine with their science.
Meanwhile, Top Designs 2025 is wrapping up on 20 July. This showcase of student work from across Victoria gives a glimpse into the next wave of creativity—from sustainable eveningwear and handmade furniture to theatre set design and digital tech. Museum entry includes access to the show, and kids can enter for free. One of the featured pieces this year, Marilyn Vincent’s Sustainable Multicultural Evening Wear, has been making quiet waves online and is worth seeing in person.
As for timing your visit, here’s when school holidays kick off around the country:
- Victoria: Saturday, 5 July—Sunday, 20 July
- New South Wales: Saturday, 5 July—Sunday, 20 July
- Queensland: Saturday, 28 June—Sunday, 13 July
- South Australia: Saturday, 5 July—Sunday, 20 July
- Western Australia: Saturday, 5 July—Sunday, 20 July
- Tasmania: Saturday, 5 July—Sunday, 20 July
- Northern Territory: Saturday, 21 June—Sunday, 13 July
officeworks.com.au - ACT: Saturday, 5 July—Sunday, 20 July
Whether you’re orbiting a black hole, admiring teen-designed tech, or watching your kids invent gravity-defying sculptures with magnets and marbles, these school holidays offer something to do that doesn’t feel like homework.
Tickets and times vary, so best to check the Melbourne Museum or Scienceworks websites before heading out. Just don’t be surprised if your kids start asking for drag shows with their science lessons.
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