If your toddler loves Play School (and actually, whose children don’t?), then mark your 2026 calendar. ACMI is opening a model new, FREE exhibition known as Play School: Come and Play!, celebrating 60 years of the enduring present — and it’s designed particularly for preschoolers.
Opening 4 March to 12 July 2026, this hands-on exhibition invitations curious children to step proper contained in the world of Play School. And sure — Big Ted, Little Ted, Jemima, Humpty and Kiya will all be there ready.
As a dad or mum who has spent loads of mornings singing alongside at dwelling, I can already image the thrill.
Step Inside an Episode of Play School at ACMI
This isn’t a nostalgic show for grown-ups (although dad and mom will completely really feel all of the feels). Instead, ACMI has constructed a kid-sized Play School world the place kids can discover precisely how an episode is made at the moment.
Little guests can:
- Pretend to be a presenter, speaking to digicam
- Try out being a director or digicam operator
- Peek by the well-known Play School home windows
- Hear tales beneath the rocket clock
- Sing alongside to favorite songs
- Meet their favorite toys in particular person
It’s interactive, hands-on and designed with kids aged two to 5 in thoughts.
Why Your Kids Will Love It
Play School has at all times been constructed round play, creativeness and curiosity. This exhibition channels all of that vitality into an area the place children can:
- Build confidence by faux play
- Explore storytelling and creativity
- Touch, transfer, faucet and have interaction with every part round them
- Feel like they’re a part of the Play School crew
It’s the kind of outing the place you may allow them to wander, discover and comply with their very own sense of marvel.
Why You Will Love It
Not solely is the exhibition free, but it surely’s additionally designed with real studying outcomes in thoughts. ACMI and the ABC have created an area that encourages children to consider how tales are made by play.
Plus, it’s proper in Fed Square, so you may simply pair it with a playground cease, lunch, a pram-friendly wander and even one other ACMI favorite.
ACMI Director & CEO Seb Chan calls the exhibition “magical and memorable”, and fogeys are prone to take pleasure in it simply as a lot because the little ones.
Extras for Families: Talks, Activities and a New Shop Range
It’s not simply the exhibition. ACMI and ABC are rolling out extra Play School celebrations.
Little Ted Talks
A 3-part speaker sequence for grown-ups exploring early studying by screens, the ability of play and display screen literacy for younger kids.
ACMI Preschoolers
ACMI’s free month-to-month play-based periods proceed, serving to little ones discover the museum with their dad and mom, carers or grandparents.
Family Education Kit
A downloadable useful resource stuffed with concepts for extending the enjoyable at dwelling.
Play School Collectibles
The ACMI Shop is releasing a brand new sixtieth anniversary vary of T-shirts, tote baggage, stickers and enamel pins.
Good to Know (Parent Essentials)
Location
ACMI, Fed Square, Melbourne
Cost
Free
Bookings
Required. Tickets accessible February 2026.
Exhibition Dates
4 March – 12 July 2026
Ages
Designed for youngsters aged 2–5, although older siblings will take pleasure in it too.
Why This Exhibition Matters
Play School is Australia’s longest-running kids’s TV present. For 60 years it has entertained households with songs, tales and imaginative play. This exhibition is a uncommon probability for youths to see behind the scenes of one thing they already love, whereas dad and mom get to share a slice of their very own childhood.
And better of all, it’s fully free. A genuinely accessible outing for households.
