ACMI Preschoolers

Give your two- to five-year-old 45 minutes of free, guided play at ACMI Preschoolers, inside a museum of film, television and video games, and then let them loose on the galleries!

ACMI Preschoolers runs on the third or fourth Friday of most months in Lab 2 at Federation Square, and every month brings a different theme.

What to Expect at ACMI Preschoolers

An ACMI educator leads each session, and past groups have made thaumatropes, animated their own stop-motion films and spent a very happy half hour working out what light and shadow actually do. October's session focuses on gameplay. Children build something, play with it and take the idea home. Carers stay in the room the whole time. This is one of the very few free things in the city centre that a two-year-old and a five-year-old will both sit through happily, start to finish, without a single request to go home.

Then the whole museum is yours! The Story of the Moving Image is free and open until 5 pm. Bring a snack and make a morning of it.

Good to know: ACMI has pram parking and nappy-change facilities, and the museum sits on Federation Square, a two-minute walk from Flinders Street Station. Book ahead, because entry is guaranteed only with a booked ticket, and there are only a handful of drop-in spots on the day. Arrive 10 minutes early. The session starts on time and 45 minutes goes fast.

Visit ACMI Preschoolers for more details and to book your tickets.

Where:  Lab 2, Level 1, ACMI, Federation Square, Flinders Street, Melbourne
When:   The third Friday of the month at 10.30 am, next on 16 October 2026, then 20 November and 18 December
Age:      2-5 years
Cost:     FREE; booking required

ACMI confirms each session about a month ahead, and some months fall on the fourth Friday, so check the program page before you plan a visit.

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