When the first Museum of Play and Art landed in Geelong in early 2020, it was only open briefly before Covid-19 reared its ugly head. But in that short period of time, it quickly became a hotspot for parents eager to give their tots a place to play, create and learn with other children.
"The minute we opened MoPA in Geelong, it was clear that families yearned for wondrous, cultural and creative experiences for their children as much as we thought and hoped they would," says Thomas Mahon, the director of MoPA. "Over the next 18 months of periodic shutdowns, we decided to use this downtime to grow the organisation and design more museums.
The result is a second location in Sandringham with a multi-million dollar fit-out that was co-funded by the Arts Council of Australia. Like its predecessor, it's primarily designed for children aged between one and seven to experience creative, play-based learning. Upon arrival, I immediately notice several familiar features from the Geelong location: the interactive mirrors wall, the blue foam bricks for kids to build and knock down, the vacuum pipe and ball feature and, of course, the tall city buildings tunnel course with the frequently Instagrammed light-up rainbow entrance.
Mahon says that while MoPA Melbourne shares a lot of favourite exhibits from the Geelong museum, overall it's quite different. It's nearly four times the size of the Geelong location, and some of the new features include a life-sized model car that children can paint and interactive photo design booths, among many others.
"We had the luxury of applying our learnings from our first museum," says Mahon. "Many of the new museum features, such as the interactive family slide and the experiential colour wheel, include technology and engineering techniques that have developed a lot over the last few years."
The space is also fitted out with enormous family bathrooms, offers plentiful parking and has a fully licensed café with heaps of healthy options. With this second location now fully operational, Mahon says the next plan is to expand into other capital cities across Australia, and eventually touch down in a few overseas markets.
MoPA Melbourne is open daily, and bookings are essential.