Gandel Gondwana Garden at Melbourne Museum

A NEW Kids Garden in Melbourne, the Gandel Gondwana Garden opened last weekend at the Melbourne Museum and we love it! This new garden is an outdoor and interactive gallery where kids and families can step into the ecosystems of the past.

New Garden for Toddlers and Kids in Melbourne 2023

Image credit: Mailed with Love for Busy City Kids

Mailed with Love and her children had a pleasant morning on opening day and took part in arts & crafts too after their walk around the garden to celebrate.

Kids walking through the Gandel Gondwana Garden in Melbourne Australian Dinosaur

Image credit: Mailed with Love for Busy City Kids

Visitors can walk through the gardens and discover Victoria’s ancient landscapes and learn about creatures that once walked this land from dinosaurs and megafauna to the ancestors of today’s iconic Australian species.

Children enjoying Australian Natives at Garden in Melbourne Museum

Image credit: Mailed with Love for Busy City Kids

Gandel Gondwana Garden Plants and Flowers Australian Garden Melbourne Museum

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Children can touch replicas of the bones, teeth and claws of ancient creatures and admire the garden’s megafauna.

Child touching dinosaur bones at Gandel Garden Melbourne Museum

Image credit: Mailed with Love for Busy City Kids

Interactive things to do toddlers in Melbourne

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Children will also understand First Peoples' knowledge passed through thousands of generations, and uncover traces of Gondwana, the supercontinent that once connected Australia to the world.

Australian Native interactive garden Gandel Gondwana in Melbourne

Image credit: Mailed with Love for Busy City Kids

The Gandel Gondwana Garden is a living gallery, so it will change with the seasons and grow over time which is fascinating! Today its plants are still young, but even the towering trees in the Forest Gallery were once tiny seedlings.

Children touching dinosaur eggs new children garden in Melbourne in 2023

Image credit: Mailed with Love for Busy City Kids

This is an exciting new garden for children in Melbourne and for interstate and overseas visitors to enjoy. A great place to visit for a play date with friends, family, mothers’ group with the rest of the Melbourne Museum to visit during the visit as well as the Pauline Gandel Children's Gallery - see our review here.

Melbourne Museum NEW Kids Garden 2023

Image credit: Mailed with Love for Busy City Kids

Dinosaur Places to visit with Kids in Melbourne 2023

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To celebrate the opening of the Gandel Garden, children were invited to do some arts & crafts and to think about insects and animals visiting the garden.

Nature Crafts for kids Melbourne Museum

Image credit: Mailed with Love for Busy City Kids

Arts Crafts Melbourne Kids 2023

Image credit: Mailed with Love for Busy City Kids

The Gandel Gondwana Garden, named in recognition of the generous support of Victorian philanthropists Mr John Gandel AC and Mrs Pauline Gandel AC is now open to families and carers to enjoy.

Great for kids 6 to 12 years old however everyone is welcome to explore and enjoy! Something new to do with kids in Melbourne on weekends and school holidays in 2023!

Open daily 10am to 5pm. This experience is free with Melbourne Museum Entry.

More info & in depth Melbourne Museum Garden Guide via this link.

Find out about NEW events, activities and programs across Melbourne via our What’s On Melbourne page.