The leafy west side of the city, with palace gardens, lakeside paths, forest trails and grand old theaters. We keep this list updated with the kid-friendly plans we track across the district: weekend workshops, family shows, playgrounds and parks for an easy afternoon out. It changes as new listings come in, so check back before the weekend.
Kackebart is a farm boy who wants to be a knight. He heads to King Pipifax's tournament, gets laughed at by the other knights, then gets his chance when a dragon kidnaps the princess.
Kindertheater Purzelbaum plays it as a silly, potty-humor fairy tale. It suits kids who find a poop beard hilarious; families who'd rather skip toilet jokes should pick another show.
A shorter, kid-sized version of the opera house's backstage tour. Children walk past the giant stage sets waiting in storage, look down into the orchestra pit and stand on the main stage where singers perform their arias.
Along the way they see how stagehands, the props team and other departments get a show ready. It suits curious school-age kids who like to know how things work.
Old toys lie in an attic until the sound of a piano wakes them up. That's the setup for this story of Mischka the bear and Masha the doll, told with poetry and humor by actress Claudia Maria Franck while pianist Elena Bregman plays music by Dmitri Shostakovich.
It suits young kids curious about classical music and families happy with a short show told in German.
A funny children's play starring the NEINhorn. It has fallen out with the KönigsDOCHter, and nobody remembers why. When the NAhUND starts playing teacher too, the NEINhorn has had enough and sets off. After a long walk it lands in a dark jungle with the SchLANGEWEILE, who hangs from a branch and finds everything deadly boring.
The jokes are German wordplay, so it suits kids who follow spoken German.
A hands-on design workshop run by the Bauhaus-Archiv, inspired by pieces from its collection and by how design was taught at the Bauhaus. Kids and adults explore photography, drawing, material and pattern, craft techniques and color, using analog and digital tools. No experience needed.
A Christmas market in front of Charlottenburg Palace, with craft stalls, food stands and street musicians among fir trees and lit decorations. Once it gets dark, a light-mapping show plays across the palace facade.
Kids ride the carousels and watch the palace light up, while parents browse handmade gifts and grab mulled wine or gingerbread. It suits younger kids who like lights and rides.
Staatsballett Berlin opens its rehearsal studios at the Deutsche Oper to families for a hands-on morning. Dance teachers explain how ballet works, then kids and their grown-ups try some steps themselves.
At the end, everyone watches the company's professional dancers up close during their daily morning class. A good fit for kids who like to move or are curious about what happens behind the stage.
The Grunewaldturm is a 55-meter red-brick tower from 1899, built on the Karlsberg hill in the Grunewald forest as a memorial to Emperor Wilhelm I. Kids climb about 200 steps to a platform 36 meters up, with views over the treetops and the Havel, as far as Potsdam on a clear day.
The emperor's marble statue stands in the hall, and a restaurant terrace sits at the foot.
Puppentheater Berlin has been staging figure theater since 1984 in a small hall by the Luisenkirche, with about 70 seats for afternoon kids' shows. The repertoire mixes hand puppets, marionettes, shadow play and masks, from fairy tales like Hänsel und Gretel to Karneval der Tiere. Almost every show has live music on piano, violin or cello. Shows for the youngest invite kids to sing along; evening shows are for adults.
Teufelsberg is a hill built from World War II rubble in the Grunewald, and on top sit the ruins of a Cold War listening station run by US and British intelligence. Its radar domes and walls now hold one of Europe's largest street art galleries, and a 360-degree viewing platform looks over the city.
Kids can follow a spy puzzle trail across the site, with a prize at the end.
Aquarium Berlin fills three floors of the historic building at the Zoo. The ground floor holds the fish: blacktip reef sharks, a coral reef, seahorses, octopuses and drifting jellyfish.
The first floor is reptiles, with snakes, iguanas, a chameleon and the glass-walled Tropical Hall, where a wooden bridge crosses the crocodile river. The small top floor has glowing scorpions, poison frogs and leafcutter ants farming fungus gardens.
A three-deck play ship on the Spree bank, nicknamed the Black Pearl. Kids climb and balance their way between decks, ride a 5-meter spiral tube slide, cook in the galley play kitchen and play table tennis on deck.
Ramps reach part of the ship, and pieces like a marble run, speaking tubes and a memory wall are built so kids with and without disabilities can play together.
Teufelsberg is a hill built from World War II rubble in the Grunewald forest, topping out at 120 meters above sea level, the city's second-highest point. When snow falls, families sled and snowboard down its open slopes, which once had a ski lift and an official sled run.
The old run is now closed and partly fenced off. The abandoned US listening station sits on the summit.
Horst-Dohm-Eisstadion is a large public ice rink run by the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district, with room for first-timers and confident skaters on the same ice. A rental shop on site lends skates and sharpens blades, so kids without their own pair can still go.
The restaurant inside the stadium is the place to warm up between laps.
The leafy west side of the city, with palace gardens, lakeside paths, forest trails and grand old theaters. We keep this list updated with the kid-friendly plans we track across the district: weekend workshops, family shows, playgrounds and parks for an easy afternoon out. It changes as new listings come in, so check back before the weekend.
Kackebart is a farm boy who wants to be a knight. He heads to King Pipifax's tournament, gets laughed at by the other knights, then gets his chance when a dragon kidnaps the princess.
Kindertheater Purzelbaum plays it as a silly, potty-humor fairy tale. It suits kids who find a poop beard hilarious; families who'd rather skip toilet jokes should pick another show.
A shorter, kid-sized version of the opera house's backstage tour. Children walk past the giant stage sets waiting in storage, look down into the orchestra pit and stand on the main stage where singers perform their arias.
Along the way they see how stagehands, the props team and other departments get a show ready. It suits curious school-age kids who like to know how things work.
Old toys lie in an attic until the sound of a piano wakes them up. That's the setup for this story of Mischka the bear and Masha the doll, told with poetry and humor by actress Claudia Maria Franck while pianist Elena Bregman plays music by Dmitri Shostakovich.
It suits young kids curious about classical music and families happy with a short show told in German.
A funny children's play starring the NEINhorn. It has fallen out with the KönigsDOCHter, and nobody remembers why. When the NAhUND starts playing teacher too, the NEINhorn has had enough and sets off. After a long walk it lands in a dark jungle with the SchLANGEWEILE, who hangs from a branch and finds everything deadly boring.
The jokes are German wordplay, so it suits kids who follow spoken German.
A hands-on design workshop run by the Bauhaus-Archiv, inspired by pieces from its collection and by how design was taught at the Bauhaus. Kids and adults explore photography, drawing, material and pattern, craft techniques and color, using analog and digital tools. No experience needed.
A Christmas market in front of Charlottenburg Palace, with craft stalls, food stands and street musicians among fir trees and lit decorations. Once it gets dark, a light-mapping show plays across the palace facade.
Kids ride the carousels and watch the palace light up, while parents browse handmade gifts and grab mulled wine or gingerbread. It suits younger kids who like lights and rides.
Staatsballett Berlin opens its rehearsal studios at the Deutsche Oper to families for a hands-on morning. Dance teachers explain how ballet works, then kids and their grown-ups try some steps themselves.
At the end, everyone watches the company's professional dancers up close during their daily morning class. A good fit for kids who like to move or are curious about what happens behind the stage.
The Grunewaldturm is a 55-meter red-brick tower from 1899, built on the Karlsberg hill in the Grunewald forest as a memorial to Emperor Wilhelm I. Kids climb about 200 steps to a platform 36 meters up, with views over the treetops and the Havel, as far as Potsdam on a clear day.
The emperor's marble statue stands in the hall, and a restaurant terrace sits at the foot.
Puppentheater Berlin has been staging figure theater since 1984 in a small hall by the Luisenkirche, with about 70 seats for afternoon kids' shows. The repertoire mixes hand puppets, marionettes, shadow play and masks, from fairy tales like Hänsel und Gretel to Karneval der Tiere. Almost every show has live music on piano, violin or cello. Shows for the youngest invite kids to sing along; evening shows are for adults.
Teufelsberg is a hill built from World War II rubble in the Grunewald, and on top sit the ruins of a Cold War listening station run by US and British intelligence. Its radar domes and walls now hold one of Europe's largest street art galleries, and a 360-degree viewing platform looks over the city.
Kids can follow a spy puzzle trail across the site, with a prize at the end.
Aquarium Berlin fills three floors of the historic building at the Zoo. The ground floor holds the fish: blacktip reef sharks, a coral reef, seahorses, octopuses and drifting jellyfish.
The first floor is reptiles, with snakes, iguanas, a chameleon and the glass-walled Tropical Hall, where a wooden bridge crosses the crocodile river. The small top floor has glowing scorpions, poison frogs and leafcutter ants farming fungus gardens.
A three-deck play ship on the Spree bank, nicknamed the Black Pearl. Kids climb and balance their way between decks, ride a 5-meter spiral tube slide, cook in the galley play kitchen and play table tennis on deck.
Ramps reach part of the ship, and pieces like a marble run, speaking tubes and a memory wall are built so kids with and without disabilities can play together.
Teufelsberg is a hill built from World War II rubble in the Grunewald forest, topping out at 120 meters above sea level, the city's second-highest point. When snow falls, families sled and snowboard down its open slopes, which once had a ski lift and an official sled run.
The old run is now closed and partly fenced off. The abandoned US listening station sits on the summit.
Horst-Dohm-Eisstadion is a large public ice rink run by the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district, with room for first-timers and confident skaters on the same ice. A rental shop on site lends skates and sharpens blades, so kids without their own pair can still go.
The restaurant inside the stadium is the place to warm up between laps.
