When the weather won't cooperate, these are the plans with a roof over them: children's theater, family musicals, concerts, ballet and hands-on museum workshops, listed soonest first. A few mix indoor and outdoor parts, like holiday markets and festivals, so check the card before you head out.
Lastenkirjafestarit takes over the gallery spaces of Annantalo, Helsinki's arts center for children and young people. Three exhibition spaces across the first and second floors are given over to picture books, board books and poems for children.
It suits families with small children who enjoy picture books. Kids who have outgrown them may move through quickly.
The first show in HAM's renewed Tove Jansson Gallery follows the artist family whose home life found its way into the Moomin stories. Over 140 works by Tove, her parents and her brothers fill three rooms, from postage stamps to sculptures.
Kids can open hatches in a wall to find Moomin Valley characters based on the family, try drawing caricatures and handle a sculptor's stone.
A family evening of Halloween-themed circus and dance in Sirkus Magenta's circus space inside the Itis shopping center. Professionals and hobbyists take the stage with aerial rope acts, slack rope, yo-yo tricks, juggling with cigar boxes and Pacific Island dance.
Kids are invited to come dressed up for a playful costume contest, and there is face painting too. The evening is part of the international La Nuit du Cirque.
Molli is a children's theater show staged inside Paloheinä Library. It is a short play, which makes it an easy, low-key outing with a preschooler.
The show is in Finnish, so it works best for kids who follow spoken Finnish. Families without Finnish may find the story hard to follow.
A new stage version of Aili Somersalo's 1919 fairy-tale classic, Mestaritontun seikkailut. The ancient Master Elf guards the king's castle with a glowing pearl as his lantern, falls out with the king and leaves with the pearl.
He teams up with a former court witch, and the trip becomes a rescue through the dark caves of Kyöpelinvuori. Exciting but warm-hearted. It suits kids who follow spoken Finnish.
A fairy tale written around Musiikkitalo's famous organ. Kerttu lives in a village so small it barely exists, until a great wind blows her away from her family into a strange forest. There she meets a wolf, Hukkanen, who becomes her friend, and they set off for the wondrous tree Buu.
Martina Roos narrates while the organ plays, so it suits kids who enjoy a story told aloud.
Clown duo Timo Ruuskanen and Tuukka Vasama turn Mary Shelley's classic into a musical comedy with disco music, bright lights and plenty of audience participation. Kids meet the monster, of course, and two mad scientists who lead the show.
Under the jokes, it asks who gets to belong and who gets left out. A good pick for kids who like silly, interactive shows and don't mind being pulled in.
Är : Grus is a wordless family show from the Swedish company Claire Parsons Co. Two performers use dance, juggling and shadow theater to play with the very small and the very large, with stones and a grain of sand at the center.
Since no words are spoken, it works whatever language your family speaks at home.
A gentle stage show about feelings for toddlers and preschoolers, built from Eppu Nuotio's poems in the picture book Minä tykkään nyt. When does joy start? Where do you feel it when you like something? What do you do with sadness that hits out of nowhere, or anger that won't pass? It ends with a play session where kids explore the feelings themselves.
Kids decorate gingerbread cookies with icing and sprinkles at the Hotel and Restaurant Museum's returning Christmas workshop. The museum supplies the cookies and all the decorations, in partnership with baking brand Dr. Oetker, so there's nothing to bring. It's drop-in: walk in any time during a session, decorate at your own pace, and leave when you're done. Adults can tour the museum's food and drink exhibition on the same ticket.
A musical stage show built around 33 science questions children ask, set to song, from a dinosaur's hiccup to a bee's poop. The organizer calls it a fast-paced adventure, and it features musician Suvi Isotalo.
It is aimed at young school kids, and the whole family can come along. It is performed in Finnish, so it suits kids who follow spoken Finnish.
A day of puppets with a sea theme at Helsinki's Hungarian cultural center. Kids watch two short puppet shows in Finnish, help bring marionettes and masks to life, and draw a sea world together with their parents, which runs all day.
Toward the end, each kid makes a fish puppet, then brings it to a closing party with music, a projection show and a fish dance.
Pikkuisten joulu is Helsinki City Museum's cozy family Christmas event. Babies and toddlers get winter rhymes, songs and storytime, while older kids do crafts, like a Christmas tree candy workshop, and watch Magician Kari's tricks.
Santa visits, and so does Rudi the guide dog with owner Tiina. In the museum's Children's Town, kids can try a self-guided task trail and help grandma's house get ready for an old-fashioned Christmas.
A new Finnish musical based on Tove Jansson's Comet in Moominland, written and directed by Henna Tanskanen. Moomintroll, Snorkmaiden, Little My, Snufkin and Sniff are all on stage, telling the comet story through song, acting and visuals. The music mixes new Moomin songs from Sony Music's latest album with familiar Moomin classics in new arrangements. Kids who know the books or the cartoons will spot their favorites right away.
Red Nose Company stages Kaarina Helakisa's fairy tale Ihmeellinen maalari as a solo show that mixes clowning, puppetry and live music.
It is a family show for young kids, told in Finnish, so it suits children who follow spoken Finnish best.
Tchaikovsky's Christmas ballet, in a version set in the wintry Finnish town of Porvoo. On Christmas night Klaara is swept into a dream: an army of mice, a duel with the Mouse King, and a nutcracker who turns back into a prince.
The sets, costumes and dancing tell the story with no spoken words. For many families it is their yearly Christmas outing.
Alfons Åberg gets a Christmas party in this touring play with three actors, part of the Barnens Estrad children's stage program. It is made for young kids to watch alongside their families.
The show is short, which suits children who are new to theater. Vuotalo is the cultural center in Vuosaari, with concerts, theater and children's events through the year.
A Christmas theater show starring Mikko Mallikas, staged by the touring children's theater Barnens Estrad. Three actors bring the story to the stage at Vuotalo, the city's cultural center in Vuosaari.
This performance is in Finnish, so it suits kids who follow Finnish.
A new Finnish musical that drops Lewis Carroll's Alice into Wonderland, a video game where anyone can be anyone. A buggy update hands control to the Queen of Hearts, and Alice is soon accused of breaking the rules. Young performers from the Shed youth music theater group lead the cast, alongside two Helsinki City Theatre actors. The score borrows from retro game music, pop and Eurovision-style songs.
A Christmas sale at Annantalo, Helsinki's arts center for children and young people, where picture-book makers and publishers gather in a festive mood. Families can browse the books and buy them from the people who made them.
Kids also get a workshop of their own, Joululauluja koristellen (roughly, decorating with Christmas songs). Best for picture-book ages: it's a market, not a show.
Saunatonttu (the sauna elf) is a puppet show by Nukketeatteri Taiga-Matto, staged at the Etelä-Haaga library. The story is told in Finnish, in a translation by Sari Tirkkonen, with live music and dance woven through it.
Kids who speak Finnish will get the most from it. Others can still follow the puppets, songs and dancing, though they will miss much of the story.
Talvisirkus is Finland's biggest yearly contemporary circus show, staged since 1994 with a new theme each year. This year's Väri follows odd characters who each live in a single-color world until a twist makes the colors collide.
Kids see floor, aerial and partner acrobatics, juggling, tap dance and sleepwalking parkour, plus two Talvisirkus firsts: freestyle highline and a Chinese lion dance. The Rat, a longtime favorite, has an important role.
Tonttupolku is an elf trail (tonttu is the Finnish word for elf) set up inside Pohjois-Haaga Library. Kids follow the trail through the library, with crafts and gingerbread along the way and a chance to meet Santa.
It suits preschoolers and younger school kids looking for a small, low-key Christmas outing in the neighborhood rather than a big crowded event.
Tuomo Rannankari, the singer and host Finnish kids know from children's TV, leads a Christmas concert with a story running through it. Tuomo realizes he left the most important wish off his letter to Santa, and three elf musicians familiar from television (Heini Ikonen, Anssi Salminen and Veikko Muikku) help him get the message there in time. The songs are his own Christmas and winter tunes, all in Finnish.
A sung-through musical based on Sinikka and Tiina Nopola's Heinähattu and Vilttitossu books. A new baby is on the way, and Vilttitossu, sure it's a car, schemes to keep a rival youngest out of the house. Two singing actors play the sisters; an accordion, percussion and violin trio doubles as Mom and Dad. Told with humor from the kid's side of a new-sibling arrival. Sung in Finnish.
Each year Finland's Lucia is crowned in Helsinki Cathedral, then walks through the cathedral with the Lucia procession. The tradition brings light and hope to the dark winter.
Kids watch the crowning and hear the singing. It suits families who enjoy music and a calm, formal evening.
Tapiola Choir sings a family Christmas concert, with Mauri Kunnas's book "12 lahjaa joulupukille" (12 gifts for Santa) running through it as the story.
The story is told in Finnish, so it suits kids who speak the language or already know the book. For everyone else it is still an evening of live choir music and cheerful Christmas mood in Tapiola Church.
Hämärinkäinen is a puppetry performance in Finnish, staged at Annantalo as part of the Children's Book Festival. Annantalo is Helsinki's arts center for children and young people.
It suits preschoolers and early school-age kids who follow Finnish. Families who don't speak the language may find the story hard to follow.
Once a month the Finnish Aviation Museum in Vantaa runs a Children's Sunday with a new theme, and this one is Christmas. Kids bake and decorate real gingerbread at Simppa's gingerbread workshop, make their own tree ornaments at a craft table, and follow Simppa's picture trail through the exhibition.
There are Christmas aviation activities too. It suits preschoolers and young school kids who like making things with their hands.
Two overexcited professors invent a way to turn children into adults in a second. When the plan goes wrong, it reveals the rebels' secret world: an adult-free zone where wild animals run loose, candy is eaten by the kilo, stuffed toys wake up and dogs train grown-ups. Laura Ruohonen wrote it after interviewing more than 100 children, and it asks what kids and adults need each other for.
When the weather won't cooperate, these are the plans with a roof over them: children's theater, family musicals, concerts, ballet and hands-on museum workshops, listed soonest first. A few mix indoor and outdoor parts, like holiday markets and festivals, so check the card before you head out.
Lastenkirjafestarit takes over the gallery spaces of Annantalo, Helsinki's arts center for children and young people. Three exhibition spaces across the first and second floors are given over to picture books, board books and poems for children.
It suits families with small children who enjoy picture books. Kids who have outgrown them may move through quickly.
The first show in HAM's renewed Tove Jansson Gallery follows the artist family whose home life found its way into the Moomin stories. Over 140 works by Tove, her parents and her brothers fill three rooms, from postage stamps to sculptures.
Kids can open hatches in a wall to find Moomin Valley characters based on the family, try drawing caricatures and handle a sculptor's stone.
A family evening of Halloween-themed circus and dance in Sirkus Magenta's circus space inside the Itis shopping center. Professionals and hobbyists take the stage with aerial rope acts, slack rope, yo-yo tricks, juggling with cigar boxes and Pacific Island dance.
Kids are invited to come dressed up for a playful costume contest, and there is face painting too. The evening is part of the international La Nuit du Cirque.
Molli is a children's theater show staged inside Paloheinä Library. It is a short play, which makes it an easy, low-key outing with a preschooler.
The show is in Finnish, so it works best for kids who follow spoken Finnish. Families without Finnish may find the story hard to follow.
A new stage version of Aili Somersalo's 1919 fairy-tale classic, Mestaritontun seikkailut. The ancient Master Elf guards the king's castle with a glowing pearl as his lantern, falls out with the king and leaves with the pearl.
He teams up with a former court witch, and the trip becomes a rescue through the dark caves of Kyöpelinvuori. Exciting but warm-hearted. It suits kids who follow spoken Finnish.
A fairy tale written around Musiikkitalo's famous organ. Kerttu lives in a village so small it barely exists, until a great wind blows her away from her family into a strange forest. There she meets a wolf, Hukkanen, who becomes her friend, and they set off for the wondrous tree Buu.
Martina Roos narrates while the organ plays, so it suits kids who enjoy a story told aloud.
Clown duo Timo Ruuskanen and Tuukka Vasama turn Mary Shelley's classic into a musical comedy with disco music, bright lights and plenty of audience participation. Kids meet the monster, of course, and two mad scientists who lead the show.
Under the jokes, it asks who gets to belong and who gets left out. A good pick for kids who like silly, interactive shows and don't mind being pulled in.
Är : Grus is a wordless family show from the Swedish company Claire Parsons Co. Two performers use dance, juggling and shadow theater to play with the very small and the very large, with stones and a grain of sand at the center.
Since no words are spoken, it works whatever language your family speaks at home.
A gentle stage show about feelings for toddlers and preschoolers, built from Eppu Nuotio's poems in the picture book Minä tykkään nyt. When does joy start? Where do you feel it when you like something? What do you do with sadness that hits out of nowhere, or anger that won't pass? It ends with a play session where kids explore the feelings themselves.
Kids decorate gingerbread cookies with icing and sprinkles at the Hotel and Restaurant Museum's returning Christmas workshop. The museum supplies the cookies and all the decorations, in partnership with baking brand Dr. Oetker, so there's nothing to bring. It's drop-in: walk in any time during a session, decorate at your own pace, and leave when you're done. Adults can tour the museum's food and drink exhibition on the same ticket.
A musical stage show built around 33 science questions children ask, set to song, from a dinosaur's hiccup to a bee's poop. The organizer calls it a fast-paced adventure, and it features musician Suvi Isotalo.
It is aimed at young school kids, and the whole family can come along. It is performed in Finnish, so it suits kids who follow spoken Finnish.
A day of puppets with a sea theme at Helsinki's Hungarian cultural center. Kids watch two short puppet shows in Finnish, help bring marionettes and masks to life, and draw a sea world together with their parents, which runs all day.
Toward the end, each kid makes a fish puppet, then brings it to a closing party with music, a projection show and a fish dance.
Pikkuisten joulu is Helsinki City Museum's cozy family Christmas event. Babies and toddlers get winter rhymes, songs and storytime, while older kids do crafts, like a Christmas tree candy workshop, and watch Magician Kari's tricks.
Santa visits, and so does Rudi the guide dog with owner Tiina. In the museum's Children's Town, kids can try a self-guided task trail and help grandma's house get ready for an old-fashioned Christmas.
A new Finnish musical based on Tove Jansson's Comet in Moominland, written and directed by Henna Tanskanen. Moomintroll, Snorkmaiden, Little My, Snufkin and Sniff are all on stage, telling the comet story through song, acting and visuals. The music mixes new Moomin songs from Sony Music's latest album with familiar Moomin classics in new arrangements. Kids who know the books or the cartoons will spot their favorites right away.
Red Nose Company stages Kaarina Helakisa's fairy tale Ihmeellinen maalari as a solo show that mixes clowning, puppetry and live music.
It is a family show for young kids, told in Finnish, so it suits children who follow spoken Finnish best.
Tchaikovsky's Christmas ballet, in a version set in the wintry Finnish town of Porvoo. On Christmas night Klaara is swept into a dream: an army of mice, a duel with the Mouse King, and a nutcracker who turns back into a prince.
The sets, costumes and dancing tell the story with no spoken words. For many families it is their yearly Christmas outing.
Alfons Åberg gets a Christmas party in this touring play with three actors, part of the Barnens Estrad children's stage program. It is made for young kids to watch alongside their families.
The show is short, which suits children who are new to theater. Vuotalo is the cultural center in Vuosaari, with concerts, theater and children's events through the year.
A Christmas theater show starring Mikko Mallikas, staged by the touring children's theater Barnens Estrad. Three actors bring the story to the stage at Vuotalo, the city's cultural center in Vuosaari.
This performance is in Finnish, so it suits kids who follow Finnish.
A new Finnish musical that drops Lewis Carroll's Alice into Wonderland, a video game where anyone can be anyone. A buggy update hands control to the Queen of Hearts, and Alice is soon accused of breaking the rules. Young performers from the Shed youth music theater group lead the cast, alongside two Helsinki City Theatre actors. The score borrows from retro game music, pop and Eurovision-style songs.
A Christmas sale at Annantalo, Helsinki's arts center for children and young people, where picture-book makers and publishers gather in a festive mood. Families can browse the books and buy them from the people who made them.
Kids also get a workshop of their own, Joululauluja koristellen (roughly, decorating with Christmas songs). Best for picture-book ages: it's a market, not a show.
Saunatonttu (the sauna elf) is a puppet show by Nukketeatteri Taiga-Matto, staged at the Etelä-Haaga library. The story is told in Finnish, in a translation by Sari Tirkkonen, with live music and dance woven through it.
Kids who speak Finnish will get the most from it. Others can still follow the puppets, songs and dancing, though they will miss much of the story.
Talvisirkus is Finland's biggest yearly contemporary circus show, staged since 1994 with a new theme each year. This year's Väri follows odd characters who each live in a single-color world until a twist makes the colors collide.
Kids see floor, aerial and partner acrobatics, juggling, tap dance and sleepwalking parkour, plus two Talvisirkus firsts: freestyle highline and a Chinese lion dance. The Rat, a longtime favorite, has an important role.
Tonttupolku is an elf trail (tonttu is the Finnish word for elf) set up inside Pohjois-Haaga Library. Kids follow the trail through the library, with crafts and gingerbread along the way and a chance to meet Santa.
It suits preschoolers and younger school kids looking for a small, low-key Christmas outing in the neighborhood rather than a big crowded event.
Tuomo Rannankari, the singer and host Finnish kids know from children's TV, leads a Christmas concert with a story running through it. Tuomo realizes he left the most important wish off his letter to Santa, and three elf musicians familiar from television (Heini Ikonen, Anssi Salminen and Veikko Muikku) help him get the message there in time. The songs are his own Christmas and winter tunes, all in Finnish.
A sung-through musical based on Sinikka and Tiina Nopola's Heinähattu and Vilttitossu books. A new baby is on the way, and Vilttitossu, sure it's a car, schemes to keep a rival youngest out of the house. Two singing actors play the sisters; an accordion, percussion and violin trio doubles as Mom and Dad. Told with humor from the kid's side of a new-sibling arrival. Sung in Finnish.
Each year Finland's Lucia is crowned in Helsinki Cathedral, then walks through the cathedral with the Lucia procession. The tradition brings light and hope to the dark winter.
Kids watch the crowning and hear the singing. It suits families who enjoy music and a calm, formal evening.
Tapiola Choir sings a family Christmas concert, with Mauri Kunnas's book "12 lahjaa joulupukille" (12 gifts for Santa) running through it as the story.
The story is told in Finnish, so it suits kids who speak the language or already know the book. For everyone else it is still an evening of live choir music and cheerful Christmas mood in Tapiola Church.
Hämärinkäinen is a puppetry performance in Finnish, staged at Annantalo as part of the Children's Book Festival. Annantalo is Helsinki's arts center for children and young people.
It suits preschoolers and early school-age kids who follow Finnish. Families who don't speak the language may find the story hard to follow.
Once a month the Finnish Aviation Museum in Vantaa runs a Children's Sunday with a new theme, and this one is Christmas. Kids bake and decorate real gingerbread at Simppa's gingerbread workshop, make their own tree ornaments at a craft table, and follow Simppa's picture trail through the exhibition.
There are Christmas aviation activities too. It suits preschoolers and young school kids who like making things with their hands.
Two overexcited professors invent a way to turn children into adults in a second. When the plan goes wrong, it reveals the rebels' secret world: an adult-free zone where wild animals run loose, candy is eaten by the kilo, stuffed toys wake up and dogs train grown-ups. Laura Ruohonen wrote it after interviewing more than 100 children, and it asks what kids and adults need each other for.
