Saturday morning and no plan yet? This list gathers the kids' events happening this coming weekend, with the soonest at the top. Expect a mix of shows, exhibitions, workshops and outings. It refreshes on its own as new events come in, so check it again just before you head out.
A St. Martin's lantern walk from a farm at Munich's eastern edge. The loop runs about 2 km along field paths from Reitsberger Hof to the old village of Baldham-Dorf and back, with stops that tell the story of St. Martin sharing his cloak.
Stands at the farm and in Baldham-Dorf serve hot apple juice, sausages, pretzels and roast goose, so it doubles as an early dinner.
A touring kids' musical where five costumed dinosaurs, led by T-Rex Leo, set off for a fire volcano and need the audience's help to get there. Kids shout warnings, solve riddles, sing and dance along.
It's staged as a full theater production with LED walls, spotlights, fog and amplified music. That suits kindergarten and early primary kids well, less so a child who startles at loud noise or big costumes.
A hands-on coding workshop at the Westend public library, part of its ENTER! digital learning series. Kids work with LEGO SPIKE, a kit that combines building, engineering and programming, and code what they build.
It is a playful first look at how computers "think", with lots of trying things out and tinkering. It suits curious kids who are happy following spoken instructions in German.
Lichterkinder are the kids' music group behind "Der Körperteil Blues" and "Guck mal diese Biene da", songs many Munich kids already know from daycare and lantern walks. A seven-piece live band plays them with dance moves and bright costumes, joined by the mascots Liki and Lumi. The audience is the star: everyone sings and dances along, and the hall becomes the stage.
A puppet show from Zagreb's Teatar Gavran, written by Miro Gavran. A little rabbit raised in the city heads back to the forest to find his mom, meets the forest animals along the way, and finds litter piling up there too. He sets out to clean it up.
Performed in Croatian with no subtitles, it best suits Croatian-speaking families.
Magic Maxl is a magician so young he still goes to school, and not Hogwarts: an ordinary school where magic is strictly forbidden. He does it anyway, and kids see what he does with bad essays and how he solves a math problem.
It is comedy magic built around school life. The show is all in German, so it suits kids who follow spoken German, and primary-school kids most.
Storyteller Claudia Schleich brings fairy tales to life inside a snug yurt, told aloud by a crackling fire. Kids sit close and listen to the story as it unfolds.
It suits kids who can follow a short spoken story, and families after a calm Sunday afternoon. The yurt is at Alte Utting, the old excursion ship moored on dry land in Munich.
Tomcat Matze and his friends take a homemade submarine down into a jazz concert made for singing along. Kids meet a jumpy jellyfish, a wild shaggy whale and dancing octopuses, led by two moderators and a live band of sax, guitar, double bass and drums. Jazz standards and playful originals by Alex Naumann.
Astrid Lindgren's Pippi moves into Villa Villekulla with her monkey, Mr. Nilsson, and her horse, and turns life upside down for Tommy and Annika, the well-behaved kids next door. Police officers, robbers and worried neighbors all try to rein her in, and she outwits every one.
Daniela Kranz, who staged Ronja Räubertochter at the Residenztheater, directs this big-stage version with songs and choreography.
A paper and object theater version of the Grimm tale The Fisherman and His Wife. Pulcinella, who loves dancing, singing, eating and sleeping, catches a shimmering magic fish that grants any wish. He asks for a huge plate of pasta. His wife Zeza wants a house, then a palace, then more.
Every figure and picture is made from recycled paper, and a narrator carries the story like a song.
A family session in Robotic Worlds, the robot exhibition at Die Neue Sammlung, Munich's design museum. Kids and parents watch odd machines roll past on a conveyor belt, some shaped like dogs, sea creatures or cartoon characters, and talk about what each one can do and why it was built.
Then it turns hands-on: each kid draws a robot of their own, and gets to program a few real ones.
Flint was the Stone Age toolmaker's favorite material, and this workshop teaches the basics of shaping it. Kids work with real flint to make carving knives and arrowheads, guided by Dr. Robert Graf. It is part of the museum's program for the Stonehenge exhibition.
Artist Karin Traxler opens her print lab ahead of Christmas. You and your kid design postcards with winter motifs, print them yourselves and take the finished cards home.
It suits a kid who likes making things with their hands, and a family that would rather send its own cards than buy them.
Once a year the Olympia-Schwimmhalle turns into one big try-it day for water sports. Kids can swim like mermaids, paddle a kayak, try diving, jump from the diving boards or balance on a slackline strung over the water.
It suits families with a mix of ages: there is water play for the smallest, while confident swimmers can sample sports a normal pool visit never offers.
Polarwelten is an indoor exhibition about the Arctic and Antarctic. Kids meet polar bears, penguins and whales through pictures and interactive stations.
The main draw is a 360° room with a show of about 25 minutes, where glaciers, icebergs, underwater scenes and northern lights surround you. It suits curious kids who like animals.
A hands-on exhibition about where food comes from and what it does inside us. Kids milk a cow, turn milk into butter, grind grain into flour and play supermarket with a recipe in hand. A giant nose and an oversized tongue explain smell and taste, and a digestion station follows a bite through the body.
A night watchman leads kids along Munich's old city wall on his evening rounds, telling them how the city lived in the Middle Ages. Kids help him watch for shady characters and lock the city gates, or just listen if they prefer. The stories get a little spooky but are chosen for children, and it's less gory than the adult tour. Stay after for a photo with him.
Two actors play with opposites: up and down, in front and behind, together and alone. They chase, hide and seem to vanish on a stage full of surprises, with fast moments and quiet ones. Director Simone Oswald, a pioneer of theater for the very youngest, developed the show with Munich nursery children.
A 750-square-meter open-air ice rink on Karlsplatz, the square locals call Stachus, at the edge of Munich's old town. Kids skate under Christmas lights to music, with themed evenings through the week.
Skates and helmets rent on site, so nobody needs their own gear. Between laps, the Schmankerl-Hütte and Glühwein-Alm huts serve hot food and drinks. It works for first-timers and confident skaters alike.
LUMAGICA turns the Showpalast grounds in Fröttmaning into a 1.5 km loop of glowing sculptures and light installations. This year's theme follows Phileas Fogg and Passepartout from Around the World in 80 Days, through light worlds for Asia, the Americas and Europe.
Kids can set off some of the installations themselves, pose at photo spots and catch a light and laser show along the way.
LUMAGICA is an outdoor light park, a walking loop of about 1.5 km through light installations after dark. This season's theme is Around the World in 80 Days.
It suits kids who are happy to walk a while on a cold winter evening. Younger kids who tire quickly may need a carrier or a ride on your shoulders for part of the loop.
A stage version of Otfried Preußler's second Hotzenplotz book. The robber has broken out of jail, eaten Grandmother's sausages and sauerkraut, and kidnapped her. Kasperl and Seppel set out to rescue her, get caught themselves, and need help from the fortune teller Mrs. Schlotterbeck and her crocodile-dog Wasti. Played by a cast of seven. Kids who already know the books will follow it most easily.
A stage version of the Grimm tale Die Sterntaler, with music and choreography. Hanne, on her own since her parents' accident, helps out at a Christmas market. When a gold coin falls from the sky, she sets out to return it, riding a barrel organ tune up to the post room for wish lists and the star workshop. Suits kids who can follow a long story in German.
A marionette play about Tabaluga, the little green dragon. A snowstorm from Arktos, the ice king, buries him and wipes his memory, and a ladybug helps him piece his past back together: bees, a dolphin, pigs, and a forbidden red button that sets off a volcano. To save both worlds, dragon and ice king team up with a giant snow cannon. Performed in German with recorded voices and songs.
A stage version of Otfried Preußler's classic about a young witch who wants to do good, though her spells still go wrong and it rains clothespins or white mice. With her hungry raven Abraxas she helps the chestnut seller and rescues Korbinian the ox, while the witch Rumpumpel spies on her before the big test on the Blocksberg. Performed in German by a professional cast in full costume.
A stage version of Sven Nordqvist's Pettersson and Findus Christmas story, played in German by a full cast in hen, cat and fox costumes. Findus crashes his sled into Pettersson while hunting for a tree, and the old man's sprained foot is only the start: a lost wish list, a homemade tree that looks like a wilted cactus, and Snorre the fox stealing the best laying hen.
Sarah Mettenleiter, a Munich pianist and singer who has played with the Jazzrausch Bigband, tells the story of her younger self, who meets the Nix, a dachshund-like creature that appears in moments of pure boredom. Soon little Sarah is wrongly suspected in a jewel theft and needs the Nix and her classmates to clear her name. A five-piece jazz band plays the score while illustrations tell the story alongside.
A merchant lost in the forest steals a rose from a castle garden, and his daughter Bella takes his punishment with the Beast. This is Johannes Galli's own join-in play, not the Disney musical. Kids call out ideas that go into the story, and at many points they can join in on stage. It suits kids who like to take part and can follow German.
Saturday morning and no plan yet? This list gathers the kids' events happening this coming weekend, with the soonest at the top. Expect a mix of shows, exhibitions, workshops and outings. It refreshes on its own as new events come in, so check it again just before you head out.
A St. Martin's lantern walk from a farm at Munich's eastern edge. The loop runs about 2 km along field paths from Reitsberger Hof to the old village of Baldham-Dorf and back, with stops that tell the story of St. Martin sharing his cloak.
Stands at the farm and in Baldham-Dorf serve hot apple juice, sausages, pretzels and roast goose, so it doubles as an early dinner.
A touring kids' musical where five costumed dinosaurs, led by T-Rex Leo, set off for a fire volcano and need the audience's help to get there. Kids shout warnings, solve riddles, sing and dance along.
It's staged as a full theater production with LED walls, spotlights, fog and amplified music. That suits kindergarten and early primary kids well, less so a child who startles at loud noise or big costumes.
A hands-on coding workshop at the Westend public library, part of its ENTER! digital learning series. Kids work with LEGO SPIKE, a kit that combines building, engineering and programming, and code what they build.
It is a playful first look at how computers "think", with lots of trying things out and tinkering. It suits curious kids who are happy following spoken instructions in German.
Lichterkinder are the kids' music group behind "Der Körperteil Blues" and "Guck mal diese Biene da", songs many Munich kids already know from daycare and lantern walks. A seven-piece live band plays them with dance moves and bright costumes, joined by the mascots Liki and Lumi. The audience is the star: everyone sings and dances along, and the hall becomes the stage.
A puppet show from Zagreb's Teatar Gavran, written by Miro Gavran. A little rabbit raised in the city heads back to the forest to find his mom, meets the forest animals along the way, and finds litter piling up there too. He sets out to clean it up.
Performed in Croatian with no subtitles, it best suits Croatian-speaking families.
Magic Maxl is a magician so young he still goes to school, and not Hogwarts: an ordinary school where magic is strictly forbidden. He does it anyway, and kids see what he does with bad essays and how he solves a math problem.
It is comedy magic built around school life. The show is all in German, so it suits kids who follow spoken German, and primary-school kids most.
Storyteller Claudia Schleich brings fairy tales to life inside a snug yurt, told aloud by a crackling fire. Kids sit close and listen to the story as it unfolds.
It suits kids who can follow a short spoken story, and families after a calm Sunday afternoon. The yurt is at Alte Utting, the old excursion ship moored on dry land in Munich.
Tomcat Matze and his friends take a homemade submarine down into a jazz concert made for singing along. Kids meet a jumpy jellyfish, a wild shaggy whale and dancing octopuses, led by two moderators and a live band of sax, guitar, double bass and drums. Jazz standards and playful originals by Alex Naumann.
Astrid Lindgren's Pippi moves into Villa Villekulla with her monkey, Mr. Nilsson, and her horse, and turns life upside down for Tommy and Annika, the well-behaved kids next door. Police officers, robbers and worried neighbors all try to rein her in, and she outwits every one.
Daniela Kranz, who staged Ronja Räubertochter at the Residenztheater, directs this big-stage version with songs and choreography.
A paper and object theater version of the Grimm tale The Fisherman and His Wife. Pulcinella, who loves dancing, singing, eating and sleeping, catches a shimmering magic fish that grants any wish. He asks for a huge plate of pasta. His wife Zeza wants a house, then a palace, then more.
Every figure and picture is made from recycled paper, and a narrator carries the story like a song.
A family session in Robotic Worlds, the robot exhibition at Die Neue Sammlung, Munich's design museum. Kids and parents watch odd machines roll past on a conveyor belt, some shaped like dogs, sea creatures or cartoon characters, and talk about what each one can do and why it was built.
Then it turns hands-on: each kid draws a robot of their own, and gets to program a few real ones.
Flint was the Stone Age toolmaker's favorite material, and this workshop teaches the basics of shaping it. Kids work with real flint to make carving knives and arrowheads, guided by Dr. Robert Graf. It is part of the museum's program for the Stonehenge exhibition.
Artist Karin Traxler opens her print lab ahead of Christmas. You and your kid design postcards with winter motifs, print them yourselves and take the finished cards home.
It suits a kid who likes making things with their hands, and a family that would rather send its own cards than buy them.
Once a year the Olympia-Schwimmhalle turns into one big try-it day for water sports. Kids can swim like mermaids, paddle a kayak, try diving, jump from the diving boards or balance on a slackline strung over the water.
It suits families with a mix of ages: there is water play for the smallest, while confident swimmers can sample sports a normal pool visit never offers.
Polarwelten is an indoor exhibition about the Arctic and Antarctic. Kids meet polar bears, penguins and whales through pictures and interactive stations.
The main draw is a 360° room with a show of about 25 minutes, where glaciers, icebergs, underwater scenes and northern lights surround you. It suits curious kids who like animals.
A hands-on exhibition about where food comes from and what it does inside us. Kids milk a cow, turn milk into butter, grind grain into flour and play supermarket with a recipe in hand. A giant nose and an oversized tongue explain smell and taste, and a digestion station follows a bite through the body.
A night watchman leads kids along Munich's old city wall on his evening rounds, telling them how the city lived in the Middle Ages. Kids help him watch for shady characters and lock the city gates, or just listen if they prefer. The stories get a little spooky but are chosen for children, and it's less gory than the adult tour. Stay after for a photo with him.
Two actors play with opposites: up and down, in front and behind, together and alone. They chase, hide and seem to vanish on a stage full of surprises, with fast moments and quiet ones. Director Simone Oswald, a pioneer of theater for the very youngest, developed the show with Munich nursery children.
A 750-square-meter open-air ice rink on Karlsplatz, the square locals call Stachus, at the edge of Munich's old town. Kids skate under Christmas lights to music, with themed evenings through the week.
Skates and helmets rent on site, so nobody needs their own gear. Between laps, the Schmankerl-Hütte and Glühwein-Alm huts serve hot food and drinks. It works for first-timers and confident skaters alike.
LUMAGICA turns the Showpalast grounds in Fröttmaning into a 1.5 km loop of glowing sculptures and light installations. This year's theme follows Phileas Fogg and Passepartout from Around the World in 80 Days, through light worlds for Asia, the Americas and Europe.
Kids can set off some of the installations themselves, pose at photo spots and catch a light and laser show along the way.
LUMAGICA is an outdoor light park, a walking loop of about 1.5 km through light installations after dark. This season's theme is Around the World in 80 Days.
It suits kids who are happy to walk a while on a cold winter evening. Younger kids who tire quickly may need a carrier or a ride on your shoulders for part of the loop.
A stage version of Otfried Preußler's second Hotzenplotz book. The robber has broken out of jail, eaten Grandmother's sausages and sauerkraut, and kidnapped her. Kasperl and Seppel set out to rescue her, get caught themselves, and need help from the fortune teller Mrs. Schlotterbeck and her crocodile-dog Wasti. Played by a cast of seven. Kids who already know the books will follow it most easily.
A stage version of the Grimm tale Die Sterntaler, with music and choreography. Hanne, on her own since her parents' accident, helps out at a Christmas market. When a gold coin falls from the sky, she sets out to return it, riding a barrel organ tune up to the post room for wish lists and the star workshop. Suits kids who can follow a long story in German.
A marionette play about Tabaluga, the little green dragon. A snowstorm from Arktos, the ice king, buries him and wipes his memory, and a ladybug helps him piece his past back together: bees, a dolphin, pigs, and a forbidden red button that sets off a volcano. To save both worlds, dragon and ice king team up with a giant snow cannon. Performed in German with recorded voices and songs.
A stage version of Otfried Preußler's classic about a young witch who wants to do good, though her spells still go wrong and it rains clothespins or white mice. With her hungry raven Abraxas she helps the chestnut seller and rescues Korbinian the ox, while the witch Rumpumpel spies on her before the big test on the Blocksberg. Performed in German by a professional cast in full costume.
A stage version of Sven Nordqvist's Pettersson and Findus Christmas story, played in German by a full cast in hen, cat and fox costumes. Findus crashes his sled into Pettersson while hunting for a tree, and the old man's sprained foot is only the start: a lost wish list, a homemade tree that looks like a wilted cactus, and Snorre the fox stealing the best laying hen.
Sarah Mettenleiter, a Munich pianist and singer who has played with the Jazzrausch Bigband, tells the story of her younger self, who meets the Nix, a dachshund-like creature that appears in moments of pure boredom. Soon little Sarah is wrongly suspected in a jewel theft and needs the Nix and her classmates to clear her name. A five-piece jazz band plays the score while illustrations tell the story alongside.
A merchant lost in the forest steals a rose from a castle garden, and his daughter Bella takes his punishment with the Beast. This is Johannes Galli's own join-in play, not the Disney musical. Kids call out ideas that go into the story, and at many points they can join in on stage. It suits kids who like to take part and can follow German.
