Rainy afternoon, cold weekend, kids bouncing off the walls? These are the upcoming plans with a roof overhead: museum workshops where kids draw, print and make things, puppet shows, kids' concerts and family evenings at the galleries. The list updates itself as new dates come in, with the soonest at the top, so check back before the weekend.
An empty room, two performers and a heap of pillows. That is all this children's theater piece starts with, and from there it spins a playful collage of dream, nonsense and make-believe, with plenty of feathers and mischief along the way.
A sign language interpreter is part of the show, so deaf and hearing kids can watch together. Performed by Birte Hebold of Figurentheater Eigentlich and Sarah Wissner.
Two dancers from the Belgian company tout petit share the stage with a set of unusual viewing objects made by artist Ief Spincemaille. Kids first watch the dancers play with how things look from different angles, then get up and try the objects and the moves themselves.
There are no spoken words, so no German is needed. It suits curious preschoolers who like to move as much as watch.
A big special exhibition on dragons, told through art and science together. European dragon-slayer paintings sit beside East Asian sky dragons, along with fossils and animal specimens that may have fed the old stories.
Kids follow their own trail with Naseheiß, the museum dragon, using an activity booklet to hunt down six dragons. A reading corner and a drawing wall give younger visitors a break between rooms.
A pirate and a tapir open an old steamer trunk, and out come pop-up scenes, paper figures and cardboard worlds. Each one sets off a new game with words: rhymes, tongue twisters, puns and anagrams.
It suits kids who like word games and silly sounds. Because the fun lives in German wordplay, it works best for kids who understand German well.
Humperdinck's fairy-tale opera, staged by Keith Warner. Two siblings get lost in the woods and meet a gingerbread-house witch, and the Frankfurt Opera Children's Choir joins in. It is sung in German with German and English surtitles, so kids who know the Grimm story can follow along. Best for kids who can sit through a full opera.
The wind stops, two fairies lose the power to fly, and they land on earth with no way home. Dancer and clown Margie King and dancer-actor Katrin Schyns tell the story almost entirely through movement, so it works for kids who are just starting to talk.
It is a gentle first theater visit for toddlers and preschoolers. Older school kids may find it slow.
A hands-on workshop at EXPERIMINTA, Frankfurt's science center, built around air and air pressure. Kids measure how fast things fall, build rockets that fly on the recoil principle, and make chocolate marshmallow treats (Schaumküsse) burst.
It starts from questions kids ask, like why nobody falls off a round Earth and how a metal plane can fly. Good for curious kids who like to build and test things.
Henni Nachtsheim reads from his book De Grüffelo auf Hessisch, the Gruffalo story told in Hessian dialect. He also reads from the classic Grüffelo and, if time allows, from Die Oma vom Grüffelo, the newest book by Axel Scheffler. A book signing follows.
It suits kids who already know the story and follow German well. The dialect can be hard going for families still learning the language.
Fredrik Vahle is one of the songwriters who shaped the modern German children's song, the man behind "Anne Kaffeekanne" and "Der Katzentatzentanz". This year he plays with his band, and the concert is built for singing along and dancing.
It's in the Festsaal, the grand hall of the Palmengarten's Gesellschaftshaus. The songs are in German, so it suits kids who know some German nursery songs.
Two odd characters wander into a black-and-white room full of objects that might be art. They touch everything anyway. Then the music starts: four minimal pieces by Steve Reich and Terry Riley, each turning into a scene. Birds clatter a rhythm to get fed, rubber-boot animals gather at a watering hole, and the room changes.
A first taste of minimal music for preschoolers who like rhythm and play.
In the Grand Hotel, the instruments of four visiting musicians vanish without a trace, and soon nobody can keep track of anything. Who is behind the thefts?
The Federspiel ensemble tells the whole story without words, through humor, misunderstandings and plenty of live music. Kids follow it by watching and listening, so it suits families who speak no German and children who like a bit of chaos on stage.
A hands-on printing workshop where kids and parents make Hanukkah greeting cards together. Using a few different printing techniques, families print menorahs, candles and other symbols of the Jewish festival of lights, and pick up the story and customs of Hanukkah along the way.
No printing experience needed. Everyone takes their cards home, ready to give to grandparents, teachers or friends.
A girl arrives in a new city and wonders if she belongs. Somewhere, a zebra has been spotted. As the two wander through the crowds, the city builds itself around them like a life-size pop-up picture book, with music and surprising transformations.
A Scottish-German premiere by TheaterGrueneSosse and Tortoise in a Nutshell, played with very little spoken German, so kids still learning the language can follow along.
EXPERIMINTA, Frankfurt's hands-on science center in Bockenheim, runs an evening show series called Nacht im Museum, and the December edition has a Christmas theme.
The Scientastic team puts on big, showy experiments, and some kids get called up on stage to help. It suits school-age kids who like their science loud and bright, and who can stay sharp past their usual bedtime.
A classic circus in a big-top tent that sets up in Frankfurt every Christmas, now in its 13th edition. The 2026 show is headlined by Nomuna, a 14-person teeterboard troupe from Mongolia that won a Silver Clown at this year's Monte-Carlo circus festival.
Around them: the Bello Sisters' hand-balancing act, an aerial ring duo, a fast juggler and a knife-and-crossbow pair. Best for kids who can sit through a long show.
A drop-off workshop at the Senckenberg built around one question: did dinosaurs have scales or feathers? Kids start with a guided look at the skeletons and what they reveal about color and body shape, then make their own dino models together.
It is part of the museum's monthly Expedition Museum series. Kids take part without a parent, so it suits curious kids who are happy in a group.
A steam locomotive pulls heated historic carriages from the old Dotzheim station in Wiesbaden, along the southern end of the Aartalbahn line and on to Frankfurt-Höchst, then back the same way after a short stop to turn around. St. Nicholas walks the train handing small gifts to the children. The volunteer Nassauische Touristik-Bahn runs it, and it suits train-mad kids and families after an easy December outing.
A hands-on family workshop in the Jewish Museum's Studio Aleph. Kids and adults bake sufganiyot together, the sweet-filled doughnuts fried in oil that Jewish families eat at Hanukkah to recall the miracle of the oil.
Along the way, children learn the festival's customs through play, and everyone takes the recipe home. No baking experience needed, so it suits curious first-timers as well as families who already celebrate.
Larifari plays handmade indie pop and disco funk for kids and grown-ups together, with electric guitars and gentle vocals. The hall has no seats, so everyone can dance, sing and join in. The songs are about not letting anyone talk you down and never losing your courage, with diversity and inclusion built in.
This time the band plays with Tonstudio 13, a project of Gesamtkunstwerk e.V. from Dortmund.
A yearly Advent tradition at Zoo Frankfurt. Inside the bird halls, kids make handmade gifts for family and friends, while parents have mulled wine and cookies nearby.
It fits into a regular zoo day: craft for a while, then head back out to the animals. Best for preschool and primary-school kids who like making things; teens will find it young.
Schneekönigin is a stage musical of The Snow Queen fairy tale, sung and spoken in German, put on for families at the Jahrhunderthalle.
It suits kids who already follow a story in German and can sit through a full-length show. Children who don't understand German will get less from it, since the songs and dialogue carry the plot.
A Sunday morning boat trip on the Main with a play on board. Families board early for breakfast, then the ship heads out and the Märchentheater Aschaffenburg performs the Grimm tale of the hare and the hedgehog, pulling kids into the story at points.
Parents eat and watch the river slide past the panorama windows. It suits preschoolers and young school-age kids who can sit through a short play.
A poetry slam where the kids are the jury. Well-known adult slammers from across Germany take the stage with texts they wrote themselves, and the children in the audience score each one and decide who gets the crown.
It suits kids who enjoy rhymes, raps and stories, and who follow spoken German easily, since the words are the whole show.
Wonderworld is the brand-new touring show from Andreas and Chris Ehrlich, the star magicians known as the Ehrlich Brothers. It is a big stage show of illusions and effects in the Festhalle, pitched at parents and kids alike.
The brothers present it in German, so it suits kids who are happy watching the tricks unfold even if they miss some of the talk.
The Grosser Rat, the umbrella group of Frankfurt's carnival clubs, puts on a Fastnacht afternoon made for kids. On stage, children host and dance in costume, and the city's Kinderprinzenpaar and Prinzenpaar make an appearance.
Around the hall there's face painting, a balloon artist, game stations and a Bobby Car race. It suits kids who like dressing up and noise. Costumes for kids and adults are welcome.
Frankfurt's Fastnacht clubs bring their youngest dance troupes to one stage for a day of Gardetanz (guard dance) and show dance. Kids in matching uniforms march, kick and do splits in tight formation while judges score each routine.
It suits children who like costumes and music, and anyone curious to see the local carnival from the inside. Toddlers may tire of a long run of similar routines.
Rainy afternoon, cold weekend, kids bouncing off the walls? These are the upcoming plans with a roof overhead: museum workshops where kids draw, print and make things, puppet shows, kids' concerts and family evenings at the galleries. The list updates itself as new dates come in, with the soonest at the top, so check back before the weekend.
An empty room, two performers and a heap of pillows. That is all this children's theater piece starts with, and from there it spins a playful collage of dream, nonsense and make-believe, with plenty of feathers and mischief along the way.
A sign language interpreter is part of the show, so deaf and hearing kids can watch together. Performed by Birte Hebold of Figurentheater Eigentlich and Sarah Wissner.
Two dancers from the Belgian company tout petit share the stage with a set of unusual viewing objects made by artist Ief Spincemaille. Kids first watch the dancers play with how things look from different angles, then get up and try the objects and the moves themselves.
There are no spoken words, so no German is needed. It suits curious preschoolers who like to move as much as watch.
A big special exhibition on dragons, told through art and science together. European dragon-slayer paintings sit beside East Asian sky dragons, along with fossils and animal specimens that may have fed the old stories.
Kids follow their own trail with Naseheiß, the museum dragon, using an activity booklet to hunt down six dragons. A reading corner and a drawing wall give younger visitors a break between rooms.
A pirate and a tapir open an old steamer trunk, and out come pop-up scenes, paper figures and cardboard worlds. Each one sets off a new game with words: rhymes, tongue twisters, puns and anagrams.
It suits kids who like word games and silly sounds. Because the fun lives in German wordplay, it works best for kids who understand German well.
Humperdinck's fairy-tale opera, staged by Keith Warner. Two siblings get lost in the woods and meet a gingerbread-house witch, and the Frankfurt Opera Children's Choir joins in. It is sung in German with German and English surtitles, so kids who know the Grimm story can follow along. Best for kids who can sit through a full opera.
The wind stops, two fairies lose the power to fly, and they land on earth with no way home. Dancer and clown Margie King and dancer-actor Katrin Schyns tell the story almost entirely through movement, so it works for kids who are just starting to talk.
It is a gentle first theater visit for toddlers and preschoolers. Older school kids may find it slow.
A hands-on workshop at EXPERIMINTA, Frankfurt's science center, built around air and air pressure. Kids measure how fast things fall, build rockets that fly on the recoil principle, and make chocolate marshmallow treats (Schaumküsse) burst.
It starts from questions kids ask, like why nobody falls off a round Earth and how a metal plane can fly. Good for curious kids who like to build and test things.
Henni Nachtsheim reads from his book De Grüffelo auf Hessisch, the Gruffalo story told in Hessian dialect. He also reads from the classic Grüffelo and, if time allows, from Die Oma vom Grüffelo, the newest book by Axel Scheffler. A book signing follows.
It suits kids who already know the story and follow German well. The dialect can be hard going for families still learning the language.
Fredrik Vahle is one of the songwriters who shaped the modern German children's song, the man behind "Anne Kaffeekanne" and "Der Katzentatzentanz". This year he plays with his band, and the concert is built for singing along and dancing.
It's in the Festsaal, the grand hall of the Palmengarten's Gesellschaftshaus. The songs are in German, so it suits kids who know some German nursery songs.
Two odd characters wander into a black-and-white room full of objects that might be art. They touch everything anyway. Then the music starts: four minimal pieces by Steve Reich and Terry Riley, each turning into a scene. Birds clatter a rhythm to get fed, rubber-boot animals gather at a watering hole, and the room changes.
A first taste of minimal music for preschoolers who like rhythm and play.
In the Grand Hotel, the instruments of four visiting musicians vanish without a trace, and soon nobody can keep track of anything. Who is behind the thefts?
The Federspiel ensemble tells the whole story without words, through humor, misunderstandings and plenty of live music. Kids follow it by watching and listening, so it suits families who speak no German and children who like a bit of chaos on stage.
A hands-on printing workshop where kids and parents make Hanukkah greeting cards together. Using a few different printing techniques, families print menorahs, candles and other symbols of the Jewish festival of lights, and pick up the story and customs of Hanukkah along the way.
No printing experience needed. Everyone takes their cards home, ready to give to grandparents, teachers or friends.
A girl arrives in a new city and wonders if she belongs. Somewhere, a zebra has been spotted. As the two wander through the crowds, the city builds itself around them like a life-size pop-up picture book, with music and surprising transformations.
A Scottish-German premiere by TheaterGrueneSosse and Tortoise in a Nutshell, played with very little spoken German, so kids still learning the language can follow along.
EXPERIMINTA, Frankfurt's hands-on science center in Bockenheim, runs an evening show series called Nacht im Museum, and the December edition has a Christmas theme.
The Scientastic team puts on big, showy experiments, and some kids get called up on stage to help. It suits school-age kids who like their science loud and bright, and who can stay sharp past their usual bedtime.
A classic circus in a big-top tent that sets up in Frankfurt every Christmas, now in its 13th edition. The 2026 show is headlined by Nomuna, a 14-person teeterboard troupe from Mongolia that won a Silver Clown at this year's Monte-Carlo circus festival.
Around them: the Bello Sisters' hand-balancing act, an aerial ring duo, a fast juggler and a knife-and-crossbow pair. Best for kids who can sit through a long show.
A drop-off workshop at the Senckenberg built around one question: did dinosaurs have scales or feathers? Kids start with a guided look at the skeletons and what they reveal about color and body shape, then make their own dino models together.
It is part of the museum's monthly Expedition Museum series. Kids take part without a parent, so it suits curious kids who are happy in a group.
A steam locomotive pulls heated historic carriages from the old Dotzheim station in Wiesbaden, along the southern end of the Aartalbahn line and on to Frankfurt-Höchst, then back the same way after a short stop to turn around. St. Nicholas walks the train handing small gifts to the children. The volunteer Nassauische Touristik-Bahn runs it, and it suits train-mad kids and families after an easy December outing.
A hands-on family workshop in the Jewish Museum's Studio Aleph. Kids and adults bake sufganiyot together, the sweet-filled doughnuts fried in oil that Jewish families eat at Hanukkah to recall the miracle of the oil.
Along the way, children learn the festival's customs through play, and everyone takes the recipe home. No baking experience needed, so it suits curious first-timers as well as families who already celebrate.
Larifari plays handmade indie pop and disco funk for kids and grown-ups together, with electric guitars and gentle vocals. The hall has no seats, so everyone can dance, sing and join in. The songs are about not letting anyone talk you down and never losing your courage, with diversity and inclusion built in.
This time the band plays with Tonstudio 13, a project of Gesamtkunstwerk e.V. from Dortmund.
A yearly Advent tradition at Zoo Frankfurt. Inside the bird halls, kids make handmade gifts for family and friends, while parents have mulled wine and cookies nearby.
It fits into a regular zoo day: craft for a while, then head back out to the animals. Best for preschool and primary-school kids who like making things; teens will find it young.
Schneekönigin is a stage musical of The Snow Queen fairy tale, sung and spoken in German, put on for families at the Jahrhunderthalle.
It suits kids who already follow a story in German and can sit through a full-length show. Children who don't understand German will get less from it, since the songs and dialogue carry the plot.
A Sunday morning boat trip on the Main with a play on board. Families board early for breakfast, then the ship heads out and the Märchentheater Aschaffenburg performs the Grimm tale of the hare and the hedgehog, pulling kids into the story at points.
Parents eat and watch the river slide past the panorama windows. It suits preschoolers and young school-age kids who can sit through a short play.
A poetry slam where the kids are the jury. Well-known adult slammers from across Germany take the stage with texts they wrote themselves, and the children in the audience score each one and decide who gets the crown.
It suits kids who enjoy rhymes, raps and stories, and who follow spoken German easily, since the words are the whole show.
Wonderworld is the brand-new touring show from Andreas and Chris Ehrlich, the star magicians known as the Ehrlich Brothers. It is a big stage show of illusions and effects in the Festhalle, pitched at parents and kids alike.
The brothers present it in German, so it suits kids who are happy watching the tricks unfold even if they miss some of the talk.
The Grosser Rat, the umbrella group of Frankfurt's carnival clubs, puts on a Fastnacht afternoon made for kids. On stage, children host and dance in costume, and the city's Kinderprinzenpaar and Prinzenpaar make an appearance.
Around the hall there's face painting, a balloon artist, game stations and a Bobby Car race. It suits kids who like dressing up and noise. Costumes for kids and adults are welcome.
Frankfurt's Fastnacht clubs bring their youngest dance troupes to one stage for a day of Gardetanz (guard dance) and show dance. Kids in matching uniforms march, kick and do splits in tight formation while judges score each routine.
It suits children who like costumes and music, and anyone curious to see the local carnival from the inside. Toddlers may tire of a long run of similar routines.
