Westend and Bockenheim sit close enough to share a morning: big parks, museums and small stages, all a few tram or U-Bahn stops apart. This list gathers the kids' events and places we've checked across both neighborhoods, from the leafy streets of Westend-Süd up through Bockenheim. It updates as new plans come in, so check back before the weekend.
On St. Martin's Day, kids across Germany carry glowing lanterns through dark streets, singing songs their parents still know by heart.
In Frankfurt, parishes lead short neighborhood walks, and some have St. Martin riding ahead on horseback. Several end at a bonfire with Martinswecken, sweet buns shared in honor of the soldier who split his cloak with a beggar.
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.
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.
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.
An evening walk through Frankfurt's botanical garden, lit by about 30 light installations. Giant glowing moons, snowdrops and floating hearts hang over the paths and trees, with music, video projections and a few interactive light pieces along the way.
The route is outdoors and on foot, so it suits kids who can walk a while in the cold. Younger ones tend to like the big, bright shapes most.
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.
The Frankfurter Feldbahnmuseum looks after field railways: the small narrow-gauge trains once used on building sites, farms and in industry. On running days its historic trains carry families through Rebstockpark.
The St. Nicholas edition is the museum's last running day of the year. One ticket covers as many rides as you like, so kids can get off to look at the engines and ride again.
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 Bundesbank's museum about money and how it works. The exhibition sits on one level with a lift, and a coffee shop is on the same floor. It suits kids who like coins, cash and how banks work, and fits a short visit better than a full day.
A small music theater under the trees of the Palmengarten: a green arched hall with 199 seats on steep raked seating, so kids in the back rows still see the stage. Afternoon shows turn fairy tales and children's books into sung stories, from Frau Holle (set to Mozart) to Räuber Hotzenplotz. Everything is performed in German. Evenings belong to operetta and opera for grown-ups.
The Frankfurter Feldbahnmuseum keeps about 75 narrow-gauge field railway locomotives and more than 200 wagons in three halls, from hand-pushed brickworks carts to the world's smallest articulated steam locomotive, built in 1909 for sugar cane lines on Java.
On running days, steam and diesel trains carry visitors along a 2 km line through Rebstockpark. The volunteer club restores its own engines, with teenagers working on some of them.
Grüneburgpark is the largest park inside Frankfurt's Alleenring: 29 hectares of open meadows, old tree groups and curving gravel paths that suit bikes and inline skates. Several playgrounds sit around the edges, and the Korean garden on the east side has pavilions, ponds and a small stream. The octagonal Schönhof pavilion houses a café, and the Palmengarten and Botanical Garden border the park.
A 20-hectare botanical garden in the Westend with around 13,000 plant species. Indoors, kids walk through the 1869 Palm House, the Tropicarium's rainforest and desert glasshouses, a carnivorous plant collection with Venus flytraps, and a butterfly house where pupae hatch in view.
Outside are a large playground with a water play area, a shaded playground above the pond, rental boats in summer and a mini golf course.
A hands-on science center with around 200 experiment stations over four floors, covering math, computer science, natural science and technology. Kids stand inside a giant eye, lie on a bed of nails, watch sand jump to sound on Chladni plates and power a light bulb themselves.
A puzzle room tests patience, and one exhibit looks into the black hole at the heart of the Milky Way. Suits curious school-age kids.
A natural history museum built around a dinosaur hall, where a Tyrannosaurus, a Triceratops and a long-necked Diplodocus stand over the floor. Other galleries cover whales and elephants, the deep sea, coral reefs, insects, and 47-million-year-old fossils from the nearby Messel Pit.
In the Aha?! Science Lab, kids handle more than 100 natural objects, look at them under microscopes and help sort samples for real research projects.
Westend and Bockenheim sit close enough to share a morning: big parks, museums and small stages, all a few tram or U-Bahn stops apart. This list gathers the kids' events and places we've checked across both neighborhoods, from the leafy streets of Westend-Süd up through Bockenheim. It updates as new plans come in, so check back before the weekend.
On St. Martin's Day, kids across Germany carry glowing lanterns through dark streets, singing songs their parents still know by heart.
In Frankfurt, parishes lead short neighborhood walks, and some have St. Martin riding ahead on horseback. Several end at a bonfire with Martinswecken, sweet buns shared in honor of the soldier who split his cloak with a beggar.
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.
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.
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.
An evening walk through Frankfurt's botanical garden, lit by about 30 light installations. Giant glowing moons, snowdrops and floating hearts hang over the paths and trees, with music, video projections and a few interactive light pieces along the way.
The route is outdoors and on foot, so it suits kids who can walk a while in the cold. Younger ones tend to like the big, bright shapes most.
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.
The Frankfurter Feldbahnmuseum looks after field railways: the small narrow-gauge trains once used on building sites, farms and in industry. On running days its historic trains carry families through Rebstockpark.
The St. Nicholas edition is the museum's last running day of the year. One ticket covers as many rides as you like, so kids can get off to look at the engines and ride again.
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 Bundesbank's museum about money and how it works. The exhibition sits on one level with a lift, and a coffee shop is on the same floor. It suits kids who like coins, cash and how banks work, and fits a short visit better than a full day.
A small music theater under the trees of the Palmengarten: a green arched hall with 199 seats on steep raked seating, so kids in the back rows still see the stage. Afternoon shows turn fairy tales and children's books into sung stories, from Frau Holle (set to Mozart) to Räuber Hotzenplotz. Everything is performed in German. Evenings belong to operetta and opera for grown-ups.
The Frankfurter Feldbahnmuseum keeps about 75 narrow-gauge field railway locomotives and more than 200 wagons in three halls, from hand-pushed brickworks carts to the world's smallest articulated steam locomotive, built in 1909 for sugar cane lines on Java.
On running days, steam and diesel trains carry visitors along a 2 km line through Rebstockpark. The volunteer club restores its own engines, with teenagers working on some of them.
Grüneburgpark is the largest park inside Frankfurt's Alleenring: 29 hectares of open meadows, old tree groups and curving gravel paths that suit bikes and inline skates. Several playgrounds sit around the edges, and the Korean garden on the east side has pavilions, ponds and a small stream. The octagonal Schönhof pavilion houses a café, and the Palmengarten and Botanical Garden border the park.
A 20-hectare botanical garden in the Westend with around 13,000 plant species. Indoors, kids walk through the 1869 Palm House, the Tropicarium's rainforest and desert glasshouses, a carnivorous plant collection with Venus flytraps, and a butterfly house where pupae hatch in view.
Outside are a large playground with a water play area, a shaded playground above the pond, rental boats in summer and a mini golf course.
A hands-on science center with around 200 experiment stations over four floors, covering math, computer science, natural science and technology. Kids stand inside a giant eye, lie on a bed of nails, watch sand jump to sound on Chladni plates and power a light bulb themselves.
A puzzle room tests patience, and one exhibit looks into the black hole at the heart of the Milky Way. Suits curious school-age kids.
A natural history museum built around a dinosaur hall, where a Tyrannosaurus, a Triceratops and a long-necked Diplodocus stand over the floor. Other galleries cover whales and elephants, the deep sea, coral reefs, insects, and 47-million-year-old fossils from the nearby Messel Pit.
In the Aha?! Science Lab, kids handle more than 100 natural objects, look at them under microscopes and help sort samples for real research projects.
