National Gallery of Victoria (Central Melbourne)

There are always plenty of activities available for kids.
Upcoming schedule of events:
Become an Art Deco artists and join in the art activities in the Deco Kids Space.

Opening Hours:

Opening Times
Various times for activities. See timetable of activities.

Cost:

Free or ticketed depending on the activity. Bookings are recommended for all ticketed programs.

Review:

Admission to the main part of the gallery (excluding special exhibitions) is free and it is an ideal place to split up into multiple visits since it is so large and has an ideal location near Flinders Street Station.

The Gallery is going to get the kids attention as soon as they arrive since there are a range of fountains in a moat and a wall of water at the entrance.

A nice element is that there is a place to keep your coat secure and the service is free to use.

As well as the extensive collection of art (which may or may not hold your child's interest for long) there are some child friendly parts of the gallery. Look out for the large room (behind the open courtyard) which has a beautiful coloured glass ceiling (an iconic part of the gallery which goes back to 1963 - 1967), some dodgy paintings on the wall (apologies in advance to the artist) and big cushions of different sizes to loll about on.

The other kid friendly area is near the Contemporary Art area. The room has a structure hanging from the roof made from threaded rope and plastic balls for a walkway by Ernesto Neto called "The Island Bird". This room also has a display called "Watchword" where people can pin up on a board a single word from a protect slogan. Unfortunately our kids found the word crap to pin up - maybe that came from the slogan "Our politicians are crap"?

The whole Gallery has a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere and people seemed to be wandering about with bags, food, drinks and kids without so much as a single word of admonishment from the security guards. Maybe if it was messy kids WITH food and drinks wandering about then it may have been a different story. The only time security had to step in was when sometime was taking photos of the painting with a flash on, which is entirely understandable since it damages the paintings.