Museums & Landmarks in Docklands

All three of these sit in Docklands, so the choice is really about what your children will actually do once inside. ArtVo is the big-ticket option, rated 4.7 from more than 5,300 Google reviews. The official What's On Melbourne guide describes it as an interactive 3D gallery of optical illusions that visitors can touch and explore, aimed at families, and a family blog, Mamma Knows West, calls it a fantastic family outing. In practice it is a photography exercise: floor position guides at each station let kids line up their own shots, reviewers praise the illusion quality and the variety of themed stations, and staff will take group photos if asked. Allow 90 minutes to two hours to get through every station.

IMAGINATOR is the smaller, more divisive pick, rated 3.3 from 581 reviews. The city guide lists it as an immersive experience built around imagination, technology and play, and reviewers find the interactive installations fun, but they also note the compact space relative to the price. It runs roughly 45 to 60 minutes, shoes come off at the entrance shelving, and the layout suits school-age children and teens far better than toddlers who need room to run.

Fox Classic Car Collection goes the other way: quieter, volunteer-staffed and rated 4.6. What's On Melbourne describes it simply as a place to see some of the world's most iconic cars, and files both it and IMAGINATOR under hidden gems rather than mainstream attractions. For children the draw is the racing simulators, so budget time for repeat goes. The display rotates, which rewards return visits from car-mad kids aged around 8 and up, and there is free on-site parking.