Museum of Play and Art (MoPA) Nunawading opens this month, landing in Melbourne's east with over 2,000 square metres of exhibits.
Museum of Play and Art (MoPA) has opened its fourth location, this time landing in Nunawading, Melbourne with some seriously fun square metreage.
MoPA Nunawading takes over 2,000 square metres at Homemaker HQ on Whitehorse Road, becoming the fourth museum location for founders Thomas Mahon and Billie Georgieff. They started the concept in Geelong back in 2020, right as COVID was shutting everything down, which was either terrible or perfect timing depending on how you look at it.
Five years on, they’ve built enough momentum to justify a museum expansion into Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
Museum of Play and Art Nunawading
- 372 Whitehorse Road, Nunawading
- Children from $21, infants under 12 months free
- Adults from $16, seniors $14
- Memberships from $82
- Pre-booking required, here
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
View this post on Instagram
Play-based learning drives the entire Melbourne museum operation, pulling from Early Learning Framework and Victorian Curriculum principles without getting too academic about it. Kids get hands-on experiences designed to develop skills while actually having fun, which shouldn’t be a radical concept but often feels like one in educational spaces.
Soft Play handles the toddler crowd who are still working out basic coordination. Sunset City offers climbing structures for kids ready to test their limits vertically. Wind Wall has become a signature MoPA installation across their locations; interactive, kinetic and mesmerising enough that kids return to it repeatedly throughout visits.
A DUPLO-filled Zoom Room caters to brick-building obsessives, while the Art Car serves as the centrepiece for creative chaos. It’s an actual VW Bug that kids can paint, draw on and generally destroy in the name of artistic expression.
Art and craft activities run throughout the space, joined by dance parties that let kids burn energy in structured bursts. It’s programming designed around how children actually engage with spaces rather than how adults think they should.
What else is on offer at this new Melbourne museum?
Beyond drop-in play sessions, MoPA Nunawading offers memberships for regular visitors, birthday party packages, school excursion bookings and dedicated art classes. MoPA After Dark adds something different; evening sessions partnering with Deakin University for adult-focused creative conversations. Parents can engage with the concepts behind play-based learning without simultaneously wrangling children.
Session numbers are capped deliberately to prevent overcrowding. That means pre-booking isn’t suggested; it’s mandatory. You can’t just rock up and hope for space. Limited capacity should keep the environment calmer and more manageable, particularly during school holidays when similar venues become overwhelming.
Nunawading’s location works well for eastern and southeastern suburbs, with Homemaker HQ providing existing parking infrastructure that family-focused venues desperately need. Getting there doesn’t require navigating CBD traffic or paying exorbitant parking fees that double the cost of admission.
For more information, head here.
