School holiday guide: Where to find the best activities for the kids this Easter

Step into a chess-themed world, solve the mystery at the Old Melbourne Gaol or explore a piece of history. Where to find the best activities these school holidays.

Old Melbourne Gaol is open for the school holidays. Picture: Supplied

Every day and knight for the next two weeks, visitors at Chadstone Shopping Centre will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the world of chess.

Until April 23, Chadstone x Blanc Noir Entertainment Series will be running chess-inspired activities throughout the shopping centre, including a game of giant chess and a chess-themed cabaret.

As boardgame lovers take to Chadstone, a classic whodunit mystery is ready to be solved at the Old Melbourne Gaol.

Chadstone’s Blanc Noir Entertainment Series kicks off on Saturday March 8 and will run until Sunday April 23. Picture: Rebecca Michael.

Explore the Murtoa Stick Shed these school holidays. Picture: Manuela Cifra

Those looking for a puzzle to decipher will be tasked with uncovering who stole the missing items at Victoria’s oldest surviving prison.

Executive Manager for Branded Marketing at the National Trust of Victoria Brook Powell said the mystery gives kids “agency over their own experience”.

“It’s really fun, the kids really love it, and it’s a great way for them to move through the gaol their own pace and in a way that makes sense to them,” Ms Powell said.

If puzzles aren’t your beat, step into a piece of history from WWII with The Stick Shed in Murtoa.

Team leader at the Stick Shed Robyn-Maree Penny said the structure was originally built to store wheat in the early 1940s after a particularly fruitful harvest.

“Young kids especially don’t understand what life was like back then and learning that this was built in a school term really blows their minds,” Ms Penny said.