Imaginationation, Chadstone

Visited August 2026
Where Chadstone Shopping Centre, Melbourne. There's a separate entrance, so you don't have to go through the centre itself.
Ages 0–7
Cost From $24.95 per child / $17.95 per adult for one hour, Thursday–Sunday. Two-hour passes available daily. Grippy socks $5 if you don't bring your own; adults are issued shoe covers.
How long we stayed Four hours on a two-hour ticket
Verdict Worth planning the day around
Site imaginationation.com.au

Not sponsored. We paid for our own tickets.

We booked two hours. We stayed four, and left because we needed enough energy in the tank to get home again rather than because the kiddo was finished.

It was a Sunday and it wasn't busy. I don't know whether the time limit gets enforced on a busier day and I'd assume it does, so book the two hours and treat anything past that as luck.

There's a lot in there. The interactive floor kept a bunch of kids interested for ages. The magnetic tiles room was the other big one. A running track, climbing options, slides with cushions to sit on. There were even toys he could play with out in the entrance foyer, which I appreciated.

The staff were what really elevated this above what I've experienced elsewhere. They weren't just supervising the space, they were in it with the kids. At one point someone was blowing bubbles for the kids to chase. One staff member in particular got the full download from my guy — dinosaur facts, some dinosaur fiction, a briefing on his secret missions — and she took all of it seriously and played along.

Which meant I wasn't really needed. I've been to a lot of play centres where you end up standing around at the bottom of a slide for ninety minutes. Here I sat down and had a coffee, which was good. (Is every coffee in Melbourne good? It can't be.) My little guy didn't need me and the staff didn't need me hovering over him. I'd have stayed closer if he wasn't playing well with the other kids, but he was.

The kids' lunch box had grapes, sliced vegie sticks, a biscuit and sandwiches in it. Actual food.

The toilets are also worth a mention. Another thing that makes a real difference. Especially when they're a bit younger. There's a cubicle with both an adult toilet and a child's toilet in it, which is such an obvious idea for these kinds of venues that I don't understand why it isn't the norm everywhere. Everything was clean and well maintained in the bathrooms and, indeed, everywhere I saw in the centre. It's fairly new, so I hope that holds up over time.

It isn't cheap. Sam and I tagged in and out rather than pay for two adults. Which was easy enough to do (we just exchanged the shoe covers) and didn't seem to bother anyone at the centre.