Little Food Festival 2026

• Learn all about pollination with Rooftop Bees.
• Plant lettuce, silverbeet or an edible viola seedling with Bunnings.
• Koorie Heritage Trust will educate kids about the cultural significance of the Murnong Yam Daisy with Indigenous artists.

• Ready, set, Farm Dash! The race is on between a supermarket tomato and locally grown tomato. Kids get to play the role of farmer, to explore how farmers plant tomatoes from seed, care for them and get them to the market. Little ones will be able to see first-hand the difference between two types of farming, then decide which they prefer.

• Visit the mini grocer with A Better Choice! Kids will grab their shopping basket and special tokens, and have fun playing the shopping game. They can exchange their tokens for yummy fruit and veggies.
• Get crafty at the Seasonal Fruit & Veggie Calendar making workshop. Illustrator Angharad Neal-Williams will help kids create their own calendar to put on the fridge, to help them know what’s in season throughout the year.
• Play the Ugly Food game with Monash University.

• Pack it with purpose with the National Nutrition Foundation. Kids and families can discover how to pack a nutritious, energising lunch for maximum energy and brain power for school days.
• Taste delicious cordials, featuring native ingredients, with the Common Ground Project.
• Touch, taste and smell Indigenous bush food with Killara Foundation.
• Create a cute and crunchy mini cucumber caterpillar. Kids can decide whether they prefer the sweetness of apple or a juicy tomato to make their caterpillar at the Veggies First stall, then taste their edible creation!
• Ubuntu Theatre Company will teach kids how vegetables can give us safe dye for fabric and food.

• Kids are encouraged to taste their way through the Little Food Festival! They can grab a free JAZZ™ apple for a healthy, tasty snack – or pick up a free Chobani Greek Yoghurt.
• Open up a whole new world of fruits and veggies with United African Farm. Kids can learn about African culture, discover African fruits and veggies, and then get creative and make their own fruit and veg sculptures out of Play-Doh.
• After kids eat and drink well – it’s time to clean their teeth well, too! Kids can make their own delicious fruit and veggie rainbow with the Oral Health Victoria team.
• Discover what powers are lurking in mystery boxes with Tiny Fork. As kids answer riddles and find out what food grant you superowers they’ll meet Rainbow Rae and other lunchbox superheroes.

• Calling all young explorers. Join CERES school of nature and climate for a fun-filled journey that will dig deep into the world of healthy soil, food waste, and our tiny, but mighty, friends – the worms.
• Everyone’s favourite smoothie bikes are back. Kids can use rescued fruit to blend their very own smoothie to drink. Yum!
• Make your own pickles. Kids get to choose their own herbs and vegetables and learn the science behind the pickling process – a great way to reduce food waste in our household.

Sign up for a tour of the Test Garden with Head Gardener Russell Larke and explore the bees, butterflies and other critters that regularly visit our garden. Learn about the pollinators, recyclers, helpers and food that all contribute to a healthy ecosystem, keeping the garden alive and healthy.

Thanks to the closed loop system from Green My Plate, we are proud to say the upcoming Little Food Festival will be a low waste event. All food vendors will be serving up their delicious food on the reusable Green My Plate plates and bowls which you then simply place into the pink bins within the venue. The team from Green My Plate will be continuously collecting the reusable plates and co to then wash and recirculate, leaving a cleaner footprint, and diverting single-use food packaging from landfill.

The process is simple. Simply head to your choice of food vendor, order up, then place your reusable plate in the pink bin.

The plates will be reused over and over at events across Victoria. We encourage and thank everyone for doing their part and assisting us with making dishes, not waste.