picnics, parks, bush walks, bike rides, botanic gardens, beach / beach walks, baking

Coming from the country, I just like to wander round the streets of Melbourne and looking at things. So much to see

Some great suggestions here (some of which I will be using…)

I’m not in Melbourne but a few ideas are bushwalks, fishing or camping (might have to get a bit out of the city), parkrun or exploring different local parks. We have got into a new hobby of painting rocks and finding painted rocks. Check out the VIC rocks group on Facebook and you can see if people have hidden rocks near you then you go find them. The kids love hunting for rocks and also painting their own to hide too.

When my kids were younger , we used to take advantage of the discounted family train fare and catch the train to the city to take them to Darling Harbour in the city and they used to love the childrens fun area to play where they have outdoor swings and equipment . Make sure you bring a change of clothes as they will be sweaty afterwards which we forgot the first time out. Then catch the train back home after they eat . A simple outing on a sunny weekend.

I live over south eastern way. Our local library and bunjil place do free activities. Though some activities may varies at other librarys but free. Bunjil place had friday night movies outside. Me and my daughter watched hop. It was a good atmosphere. We drove to warburton, went up to mt donna buang and collected spring water again thats free. We got 35litres of water. Its yum n very chilled. Plenty of bush walking and we swam in the yarra river. It was brrrrrr cold but very refreshing. No regrets.

Over Easter we bought the cheap paint bunnies and they spent hours making sure theirs were perfect and then a bubble pool made the rest of the day busy.

The other day me and my kids enjoyed nature and we all brought pen paper, easel, canvas, paint and brushes. We had so much fun, pretending to be artists (or maybe we are, no pretending), enjoying nature and each other.

parkrun! ….. walk or jog with a great community of people at 8am on Saturday mornings. Check out http://www.parkrun.com.au/events/ to find the one nearest to you.

It really depends where you are and how fit you are or if you have access to a car.
There are heaps of bushwalks in the dandenongs. You can go for a day at the beach on either the belarine or mornington peninsula.
You could spend a couple of hours at Caldemede farm at Koo Wee Rup then 5 minutes from there is a reserve at Bayles where you can look for kangaroos.
There are generally markets on somewhere.
Can we have some more information about what you’re into and what you have in mind?

Make a list of all the parks/playgrounds in the local area and cross 1-2 off your list each weekend. Explore them all!

I don’t know Melbourne, but we like to have walks around lakes, tip our toes in the water and have a picnic enjoying our surroundings. Other days we just search for interesting playgounds and have a bbq there. My kids also love to go to the sea and at certain area’s where are lots of rocks and the water stands low there are lots of fishes and crabs. We bring a fish net and containers and study sea life. Forests walks are great too, bring a binocular and study bird life !

I’ve never been to Melbourne. But going geocaching could be a great way to get to know the city. And it’s fun for the kids!! https://www.geocaching.com/play

Going out exploring nature is a great and rewarding free activity to do. There’s a lot of beautiful places around Melbourne.