Rupert Bunny and ABBAWorld Exhibitions

Thank you for visiting Planning With Kids. This give away is now closed and the winner will be announced on the blog soon.

Today three of the children, my lovely youngest sister and myself headed into Fed Square to join in the Nuffnang Family Day. We had a great time and took in an amazing amount in the four hours that we were there. I had the pleasure to met again Del, Karen, Kylie, Belinda and Grace and meet the lovely Kathy for the first time. Thanks Nuffnang for a fun Sunday!

Rupert Bunny: Artist In Paris

First stop was, the Rupert Bunny exhibition at the NGV Ian Potter Centre
and it traces “Bunny’s extraordinary life and art, from Melbourne to Paris and back again”. I wrote a post last week on tips for visiting an art gallery with kids and applied most of them for this visit too!

I let the the 4 and 6 year olds lead the way and take turns in choosing a painting to look at. Two of the paintings had dogs in them, which impressed the dog obsessed 4 year old. The kids led us very quickly through the first part of the exhibition, you could see that they were so keen on just seeing what was around the corners. Once they settled down a bit, we were able to look more slowly at the paintings and talk more about them. The bench seats also provided a wonderful climbing distraction for the toddler who no longer wanted to remain in his stroller.

I found Bunny’s later work influenced by the Ballets Russes, his danse chromatique series quite mesmerising. The gorgeous, bright colours and the mythology he presented in them made such stunning pieces to admire. This exhibition runs until 4th July. If you are taking kids with you to see this exhibition, you might like to download the education kit.

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Next stop was lunch, then a visit to the lovely Kids Corner at NGV. The kids loved this place and it was a lovely opportunity of them to have a hands on experience. More to come on this one….

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ABBAWorld – interactive exhibition

ABBAWorld interactive exhibition
The ABBAWorld – interactive exhibition was our last activity for the day. Now I don’t hate ABBA but I am not a die-hard ABBA fan either. Naturally as a child of the 70’s I grew up listening to ABBA, but I don’t currently own any ABBA music, nor have I seen Mama Mia nor any ABBA tribute band, but I did actually enjoy this exhibition a lot!

So what was so good about the exhibition that made me enjoy it? It is fun and it is an exhibition that gets you to participate. If you are a massive ABBA fan then you will just love it!!! Highlights of the exhibition are:

  • A short 4 minute movie with quick sound bites of their greatest hits and the hysteria that surrounded the group.
  • Footage of their Eurovision performance and the voting.
  • Tretow MIX Challenge – you can try your hand at mixing up some ABBA beats.
  • Perform with ABBA – if you are brave (and I was not!) you can go on stage and perform with ABBA in a 3D holographic illusion. The photo above doesn’t really do it justice, it was a lot of fun to watch others doing this.
  • The fact that all interactive features are recorded onto your ticket, so you can check it all out on www.abbaworld.com when you get home.


Tips for getting the most out of the ABBAWorld exhibition:

  • There are no prams allowed. The exhibition goes over a couple of levels, so you if like me, you take a pram along, you have to leave it unattended downstairs.
  • You have to register your tickets before you enter the actual exhibition. This involves having your photo taken so when you go home, you can look at all the fun stuff you did on their website. If you have many people going through together, once registered, write their names on the back of the tickets. I put all our tickets together. When it came time to scan the ticket for one of the activities like the dancing game, it took me a number of goes to get the right photo to come up for the right child.
  • Read the terms and conditions for the tickets – it has important info about when you should arrive etc.
  • Think about only having minimal stuff to carry around. I was lugging a large carry bag and a toddler and it was pretty tiring.
  • Allow at least an hour minimum to go through the exhibition. As it is interactive, you will have to wait occasionally for your turn and for others in your group to have a go, so the more of you there is, the more time you should allow yourself.
  • It is very warm inside, so dress in layers, so you can take of something if you get hot.

Tickets can be bought online and are: Adult $24.90 Child (6-16 Years) $14.90 Concession $21.90 Family – 2 Adults & 2 Children $65.00 (plus booking fees).

Ticket Give Away!

But I have two tickets to give away! The tickets are valid until 4th July (obviously this is for the ABBAWorld Melbourne show only). If you would like to win the tickets:

  • Simply leave a comment below.
  • You may only enter once.
  • Entry is limited to Melbourne residents or Australian residents who will visit Melbourne before 4th July and be able to use the tickets.
  • Competition closes 5pm Friday 25th June AEST.
  • Winner will be drawn randomly and announced on the blog Saturday 26th June.
  • Tickets are not redeemable for cash.