Posts | We help families to have fun + make happy memories

A toddler in a blue bucket hat, a blue and yellow striped top and dark shorts stands in shallow, still water on a rocky shoreline, facing away from the camera. Dark rocks surround the pool, the calm sea stretches behind, and a grassy headland sits in the

Rainy day plans sorted ☔

about 19 hours ago • 2 min read

Fast 5 Your top weekday events guide + the best posts for under 5s Event Picks 🗓️ Melbourne CBD ➝ More CBD picks Melbourne International Dumpling Festival (Monday 2 Nov) Free entry to dozens of dumpling stalls at Queen Victoria Market on Cup Eve, with live music and desserts (registration essential). 📍CBD Auslan Storytime (Monday 2 Nov) Stories told entirely in Auslan by Deaf storytellers at State Library Victoria, with an interpreter for hearing families. For ages 3 to 5, no bookings needed....

Person in a red checked shirt sitting at a curved desk using a 90s computer, with another beige computer beside them and a large purple-lit window behind showing a green neon sign that reads Cyber Café.

What's on for teens in November 🍒

3 days ago • 3 min read

Tot Teens Monthly events and ideas for tweens + teens Hey Reader November is shaping up to be a big month for older kids, with street food and lion dances at Colours of Asia, a classic musical night out and cherry picking season about to open. Halloween is tomorrow, and if you’re still looking for a plan, check out our mega list of Halloween events happening in Melbourne and surrounds. Our free Spring 2026 Guide has also just been updated, with fresh events running right through to the end of...

Families in Halloween costumes walk into a red barn decorated with fake spider webs and spiders. Kids are dressed as a witch, a skeleton, a pumpkin and a ghost, and a green inflatable monster looks out from the loft window. Pumpkins and hay bales sit on e

Halloween meets the long weekend

4 days ago • 3 min read

The Weekend Wrap Curated weekend fun + latest posts, straight to your inbox Hi there Reader Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, and for a lot of families it kicks off a long weekend, with Cup Day on Tuesday. That's plenty of time to fill, and probably a few too many lollies. If your kids are trick or treating, the Event Picks below cover street trails and Halloween events in every part of Melbourne. Plenty are free. Here are some photos of our team and their kids getting Halloween ready...

A smiling man in a black vampire cape holds a baby in an orange hat with a bat on it, on a shopfront footpath. Behind them, people wear costumes including a banana, a witch hat and a chicken, and a toddler in a skeleton top is held by an adult on the righ

A museum where nothing is what it seems 👀

8 days ago • 2 min read

Fast 5 Your top weekday events guide + the best posts for under 5s Event Picks 🗓️ Melbourne CBD ➝ More CBD picks Stompers (Tuesdays during term) Stories, songs, rhymes and movement for toddlers aged 18 months to 3 at Library at The Dock. 📍⁠Docklands Preschool Storytime (Thursdays during term) A fun-packed 45 minutes of stories, songs, rhymes and activities for ages 3 to 5 at narrm ngarrgu Library. 📍⁠CBD Brahms' Fourth Symphony: Jams for Juniors (Saturday 31 Oct) The MSO Jams Ensemble brings...

A person with grey hair and glasses leans over a small cart of glowing specimen jars in a dim, orange-lit room. A child in a dark costume stands beside the cart, with a crowd of visitors in the foreground and a screen showing a glowing blue sea creature o

Children's Week starts Saturday 🎈

11 days ago • 3 min read

The Weekend Wrap Curated weekend fun + latest posts, straight to your inbox Hi Reader Children's Week kicks off this Saturday, and it might be one of my favourite things on the calendar. It's a nine-day celebration of what kids can do, what they're good at and what they deserve, and this year's theme is every child's right to their own language, culture and religion. Events are free for families with kids up to 12, and the official Children's Week website has a map and a full list to help you...

A child in a purple jumper runs past the orange eye of a giant lizard sculpture in a sandy play area, with a toddler sitting nearby and tall trees behind.

Gelato all day? Yes please 🍦

15 days ago • 2 min read

Fast 5 Your top weekday events guide + the best posts for under 5s Event Picks 🗓️ Melbourne CBD ➝ More CBD picks Japanese Storytime (Monday 19 Oct) Free Japanese-language stories and crafts at City Library for ages 0-5, with no booking needed. 📍CBD Greek Storytime (Wednesday 21 Oct) Bilingual English and Greek stories and songs for ages 3-5, celebrating grandparents and special people. 📍CBD Inside Out: Jump, Jive, Jazz (Thursday 22 – Sunday 25 Oct) Free, no-booking live jazz play at ArtPlay...

A child in a checked shirt and shorts stands with their back to the camera at a vintage telephone exchange in a dimly lit museum gallery lined with books, wire cages and yellow-tagged crates.

Warmer weekend ahead. Make a plan ☀️

18 days ago • 3 min read

The Weekend Wrap Curated weekend fun + latest posts, straight to your inbox Hi Reader Have you seen the forecast? After a cool, cloudy week, it's looking like things are warming up again for the weekend. That's a weekend made for being outside, and my brain has gone straight to donuts. The Melbourne Donut Festival is taking over Queen Vic Market on Saturday and Sunday (free, undercover, with gluten-free and vegan options too), which means I need your help settling something. The great donut...

A woman in a cap kneels on straw-covered ground beside a woolly, golden-coloured animal lying down. Two young girls, one in a pink hoodie and one in a floral dress, lean in to brush it, with a man in a teal cap and navy jacket crouching beside them. A whi

Free weekday fun for little ones

22 days ago • 2 min read

Fast 5 Your top weekday events guide + the best posts for under 5s Event Picks 🗓️ Melbourne CBD ➝ More CBD picks Bilingual Korean and English Storytime (Monthly on the first Monday) Stories, songs, rhymes and a craft for ages 0 to 5 at City Library. Bookings essential. 📍CBD Toddler Tales (Mondays during term) Stories, rhymes and songs at 10.30am for ages 18 months to 3. No booking needed. 📍CBD Songbirds (Fridays during term) Songs, rhymes and stories for babies up to 18 months and their...

Two young girls in bucket hats sit at a wooden outdoor table, each holding a spoon over a glass dish of ice cream topped with rainbow sprinkles. A pink cup with a striped straw sits between them, with people seated at tables and a lawn in the sunny backgr

Free theatre, pet pals + pumpkin plans 🎃

25 days ago • 2 min read

The Weekend Wrap Curated weekend fun + latest posts, straight to your inbox Hi Reader I've noticed a lot of new names on our list lately, so if that's you, welcome. I'm Joyce, and helping families have more fun together is pretty much my mission in life. I started Tot Hot or Not after years as an intellectual property, IT and media lawyer, and I've been a happy career-changer ever since. At home in inner-city Melbourne, it's me, my husband and our two kids, Lady AB (15) and Baby 2.0 (13)....