Rain on the Baltic, wind off the harbor: some days the plan has to happen under a roof. This list pulls together the indoor events coming up for kids, from family musicals and sand-art shows to museum days and hands-on workshops. It updates on its own as new dates are announced, so check back before the weekend.
GCSW has turned its exhibition hall into a small town for kids, with a square, a stoop and a climbing frame shaped like a falowiec, Gdańsk's wave-shaped apartment block. Architects BudCud built it as a take on Palle Nielsen's 1968 playground inside Stockholm's Moderna Museet. There are no set rules: kids decide what to build, paint, climb or lie around on, and how to share it with the other kids.
A craft workshop at Sopoteka, the Sopot library's media gallery, built around calaveras, the skull figures of Mexico's Day of the Dead. It opens with a short talk on their history and symbolism, then kids make their own mask in the Mexican style.
It suits school-age kids who like making things and can follow a talk in Polish.
A hands-on carpentry workshop at GAK Gama in Letnica where kids learn the basics of working with wood and build a wooden bird feeder. They take it home to hang in a garden and help birds through the cold months.
It suits kids who like making things with their hands and want a first go at real woodworking.
A Fiesta Mexicana family workshop where kids and their grown-ups make a piñata together. It is a hands-on craft session, held upstairs in Stacja Food Hall.
It suits kids who like making things with their hands and a parent who is happy to join in. Kids who would rather watch than craft may get less out of it.
Archipelag Młodego Widza (Young Audience Archipelago) is a children's theater series from Gdański Archipelag Kultury (GAK). Rather than one production, it is a run of separate stage shows for young audiences, so a family can pick one date or come back for several.
It suits families trying theater with small kids for the first time, and anyone after an indoor plan on a cold Gdańsk weekend.
A family play space built around Stocznia Gdańska, Tashka's picture book about the shipyard's cranes, ships and the people who worked there. Kids and parents move freely between building, drawing, movement and drama: designing their own objects, setting constructions in motion and making up stories that happen between them.
There is no script and no single right result. Each session takes the book in a different direction.
Tuwim Plays! is a children's concert of songs built on the words of Tuwim, the Polish poet. A live orchestra plays, and the songs carry the program from start to finish.
It is in Polish and the words matter, so it suits kids who follow Polish songs best. Kids who already know some of Tuwim's rhymes will get the most out of it.
A comedy stage version of Jules Verne's novel, adapted by Robert Górski. Phileas Fogg bets a fortune he can circle the globe in 80 days, with his servant Passepartout in tow and Inspector Fix on his heels.
Projections and animation swap the set from London to India, the ocean and the American wilds. It is pitched at both kids and the adults who come with them.
A funny, surprise-filled family play that travels through Gdańsk and Pomerania: city streets, seaside beaches and Pomeranian forests, seen through old legends. Kids follow the characters past familiar places, meet figures from Pomeranian fairy tales and find out whether amber brings luck.
It is part of Archipelag Młodego Widza, the children's theater series. The show is in Polish, so it suits kids who follow the language.
A Christmas theater show for children about Miko and Piko and the holiday risk they decide to take. It is staged indoors at Mostownia.
The show is performed in Polish, so it suits kids who follow spoken Polish. Children without Polish may find the story hard to follow.
Marysia wants a goldfish for her birthday. Her parents give her an algae eater named Ryszard instead. Neither is pleased. Rysio can pull her into his tank, so the story moves underwater among a starfish, a snail and a golden fish. The actors sing original songs live, plus new takes on Polish preschool classics like "Stary niedźwiedź mocno śpi". A story about finding a friend where you least expect one.
Maciej Pol is one of Poland's best-known illusionists, and this is his stage show for families. Expect a rabbit conjured out of an empty box (and then lost), floating clocks, an assistant cut in two in full light, and thousands of snowflakes swirling over the audience.
He pulls people from the audience into the tricks, so a keen kid could be picked to help. The patter is in Polish.
A comedy-cabaret take on Jan Brzechwa's fairy tale, packed with wordplay and situational gags. The audience is part of the show: kids and grown-ups in the seats join in and get a say in how the story unfolds.
It is played in Polish and much of the fun is in the words, so it suits kids who follow spoken Polish. The company pitches it at adults as well as children.
Dookoła Świata (Around the World) is an interactive kids' show by Teatr Garden. The audience follows Nikola and her grandfather, a pilot, to China, India and Poland, discovering the customs and costumes of each country.
Kids learn to say hello and thank you in each language, and music and dance from each place fill the show. It is led in Polish, so it suits kids who follow Polish.
Teatrzyk Pacynka brings its puppet show "Where Are You, Bear?" (Gdzie jesteś misiu?) to Miniteka, the children's space of the Sopot city library. Once the show ends, kids stay on for an art session.
The show is in Polish and pitched at preschoolers, so it suits young kids who follow simple spoken Polish.
Czuły Domek is a warm, funny play with music by Teatr Gili-Gili. Two characters, Exclamation Mark and Question Mark, go looking for a safe place to live and end up in a house where all the feelings live: joy, anger, sadness and love.
The show helps kids recognize and name their emotions. It suits preschoolers and early school-age kids who can follow a spoken play in Polish.
Andrzejki, St. Andrew's Eve, is the Polish night for fortune-telling, and Sztukarium turns it into a party for kids. Expect traditional fortune games, a magic trick show, games run by the center's animators, art workshops, a balloon piñata hiding predictions, and a disco.
Younger and older kids get separate sessions, each pitched at their age. It is all led in Polish, so it suits kids who follow the language.
Teatr Piasku Tetiany Galitsyny tells the story of bitter, stingy Scrooge and his change of heart, with actors performing in front of scenery that is drawn live in sand and light. Carols are played and sung on stage.
It suits kids who can follow a spoken story and enjoy watching pictures appear as they go. Younger or restless kids may find it long, since it runs straight through.
Danka złodziejka świąt (Danka the Christmas Thief) is a Christmas family show from Teatr Barnaby. The story follows Danka, a thief with her sights set on the holidays, and makes a festive outing for kids and parents together.
It is performed in Polish, so it suits kids who follow spoken Polish best.
A Polish-language musical for kids, made for Gdynia's 100th birthday. Majka and Kajtek board a trolleybus to the station, but a homeless little Light sends it on a detour through the city's past: the Kashubian village Gdynia once was, divers building the port, a sailor with oranges from the Baltona shop, and the old Oksywie lighthouse. Original songs, a life-size trolleybus on stage and quick dance numbers keep it moving.
Annie Jr. is the junior version of the stage musical Annie, the story of the orphan Annie told in song and dialogue.
It suits school-age kids who can sit through a full show and follow the words, since this is a sung and spoken musical rather than a wordless performance.
Christmas Gifts for Many Voices is a Christmas concert in the Little Gdynia Philharmonic (Mała Gdyńska Filharmonia) series, made for children and the grown-ups who bring them.
It takes place indoors at the Port of Gdynia's concert hall, so December weather on the Baltic doesn't matter. It suits preschoolers and primary-age kids best.
World Balloon Festival is an indoor exhibition of balloon displays, laid out in five zones inside the AMBEREXPO exhibition hall. Kids walk through the displays, get their faces painted, play along with the animators and try a balloon workshop.
The displays are visual, so a child needs no Polish to enjoy them, and being under a roof makes it an easy weekend outing in a Gdańsk winter.
Rain on the Baltic, wind off the harbor: some days the plan has to happen under a roof. This list pulls together the indoor events coming up for kids, from family musicals and sand-art shows to museum days and hands-on workshops. It updates on its own as new dates are announced, so check back before the weekend.
GCSW has turned its exhibition hall into a small town for kids, with a square, a stoop and a climbing frame shaped like a falowiec, Gdańsk's wave-shaped apartment block. Architects BudCud built it as a take on Palle Nielsen's 1968 playground inside Stockholm's Moderna Museet. There are no set rules: kids decide what to build, paint, climb or lie around on, and how to share it with the other kids.
A craft workshop at Sopoteka, the Sopot library's media gallery, built around calaveras, the skull figures of Mexico's Day of the Dead. It opens with a short talk on their history and symbolism, then kids make their own mask in the Mexican style.
It suits school-age kids who like making things and can follow a talk in Polish.
A hands-on carpentry workshop at GAK Gama in Letnica where kids learn the basics of working with wood and build a wooden bird feeder. They take it home to hang in a garden and help birds through the cold months.
It suits kids who like making things with their hands and want a first go at real woodworking.
A Fiesta Mexicana family workshop where kids and their grown-ups make a piñata together. It is a hands-on craft session, held upstairs in Stacja Food Hall.
It suits kids who like making things with their hands and a parent who is happy to join in. Kids who would rather watch than craft may get less out of it.
Archipelag Młodego Widza (Young Audience Archipelago) is a children's theater series from Gdański Archipelag Kultury (GAK). Rather than one production, it is a run of separate stage shows for young audiences, so a family can pick one date or come back for several.
It suits families trying theater with small kids for the first time, and anyone after an indoor plan on a cold Gdańsk weekend.
A family play space built around Stocznia Gdańska, Tashka's picture book about the shipyard's cranes, ships and the people who worked there. Kids and parents move freely between building, drawing, movement and drama: designing their own objects, setting constructions in motion and making up stories that happen between them.
There is no script and no single right result. Each session takes the book in a different direction.
Tuwim Plays! is a children's concert of songs built on the words of Tuwim, the Polish poet. A live orchestra plays, and the songs carry the program from start to finish.
It is in Polish and the words matter, so it suits kids who follow Polish songs best. Kids who already know some of Tuwim's rhymes will get the most out of it.
A comedy stage version of Jules Verne's novel, adapted by Robert Górski. Phileas Fogg bets a fortune he can circle the globe in 80 days, with his servant Passepartout in tow and Inspector Fix on his heels.
Projections and animation swap the set from London to India, the ocean and the American wilds. It is pitched at both kids and the adults who come with them.
A funny, surprise-filled family play that travels through Gdańsk and Pomerania: city streets, seaside beaches and Pomeranian forests, seen through old legends. Kids follow the characters past familiar places, meet figures from Pomeranian fairy tales and find out whether amber brings luck.
It is part of Archipelag Młodego Widza, the children's theater series. The show is in Polish, so it suits kids who follow the language.
A Christmas theater show for children about Miko and Piko and the holiday risk they decide to take. It is staged indoors at Mostownia.
The show is performed in Polish, so it suits kids who follow spoken Polish. Children without Polish may find the story hard to follow.
Marysia wants a goldfish for her birthday. Her parents give her an algae eater named Ryszard instead. Neither is pleased. Rysio can pull her into his tank, so the story moves underwater among a starfish, a snail and a golden fish. The actors sing original songs live, plus new takes on Polish preschool classics like "Stary niedźwiedź mocno śpi". A story about finding a friend where you least expect one.
Maciej Pol is one of Poland's best-known illusionists, and this is his stage show for families. Expect a rabbit conjured out of an empty box (and then lost), floating clocks, an assistant cut in two in full light, and thousands of snowflakes swirling over the audience.
He pulls people from the audience into the tricks, so a keen kid could be picked to help. The patter is in Polish.
A comedy-cabaret take on Jan Brzechwa's fairy tale, packed with wordplay and situational gags. The audience is part of the show: kids and grown-ups in the seats join in and get a say in how the story unfolds.
It is played in Polish and much of the fun is in the words, so it suits kids who follow spoken Polish. The company pitches it at adults as well as children.
Dookoła Świata (Around the World) is an interactive kids' show by Teatr Garden. The audience follows Nikola and her grandfather, a pilot, to China, India and Poland, discovering the customs and costumes of each country.
Kids learn to say hello and thank you in each language, and music and dance from each place fill the show. It is led in Polish, so it suits kids who follow Polish.
Teatrzyk Pacynka brings its puppet show "Where Are You, Bear?" (Gdzie jesteś misiu?) to Miniteka, the children's space of the Sopot city library. Once the show ends, kids stay on for an art session.
The show is in Polish and pitched at preschoolers, so it suits young kids who follow simple spoken Polish.
Czuły Domek is a warm, funny play with music by Teatr Gili-Gili. Two characters, Exclamation Mark and Question Mark, go looking for a safe place to live and end up in a house where all the feelings live: joy, anger, sadness and love.
The show helps kids recognize and name their emotions. It suits preschoolers and early school-age kids who can follow a spoken play in Polish.
Andrzejki, St. Andrew's Eve, is the Polish night for fortune-telling, and Sztukarium turns it into a party for kids. Expect traditional fortune games, a magic trick show, games run by the center's animators, art workshops, a balloon piñata hiding predictions, and a disco.
Younger and older kids get separate sessions, each pitched at their age. It is all led in Polish, so it suits kids who follow the language.
Teatr Piasku Tetiany Galitsyny tells the story of bitter, stingy Scrooge and his change of heart, with actors performing in front of scenery that is drawn live in sand and light. Carols are played and sung on stage.
It suits kids who can follow a spoken story and enjoy watching pictures appear as they go. Younger or restless kids may find it long, since it runs straight through.
Danka złodziejka świąt (Danka the Christmas Thief) is a Christmas family show from Teatr Barnaby. The story follows Danka, a thief with her sights set on the holidays, and makes a festive outing for kids and parents together.
It is performed in Polish, so it suits kids who follow spoken Polish best.
A Polish-language musical for kids, made for Gdynia's 100th birthday. Majka and Kajtek board a trolleybus to the station, but a homeless little Light sends it on a detour through the city's past: the Kashubian village Gdynia once was, divers building the port, a sailor with oranges from the Baltona shop, and the old Oksywie lighthouse. Original songs, a life-size trolleybus on stage and quick dance numbers keep it moving.
Annie Jr. is the junior version of the stage musical Annie, the story of the orphan Annie told in song and dialogue.
It suits school-age kids who can sit through a full show and follow the words, since this is a sung and spoken musical rather than a wordless performance.
Christmas Gifts for Many Voices is a Christmas concert in the Little Gdynia Philharmonic (Mała Gdyńska Filharmonia) series, made for children and the grown-ups who bring them.
It takes place indoors at the Port of Gdynia's concert hall, so December weather on the Baltic doesn't matter. It suits preschoolers and primary-age kids best.
World Balloon Festival is an indoor exhibition of balloon displays, laid out in five zones inside the AMBEREXPO exhibition hall. Kids walk through the displays, get their faces painted, play along with the animators and try a balloon workshop.
The displays are visual, so a child needs no Polish to enjoy them, and being under a roof makes it an easy weekend outing in a Gdańsk winter.
