A day out with kids adds up fast, but plenty of good ones cost nothing. These are the free ones: parks and big woods to run in, playgrounds, open-air markets, libraries, museums with no entry fee, and free events as they come up. Each listing says what to expect when you get there, so you can plan a whole Saturday around them.
Two of Paris's big department stores fill their Boulevard Haussmann windows with moving puppet scenes, watched from the sidewalk. At Printemps, cats and mice chase a runaway ball of yarn through a house. Galeries Lafayette tells a colorful, funny tale by designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, with a giant sculpted tree under its glass dome.
The stores sit a short walk apart, so one stroll covers both.
The biggest Christmas market in the Paris region fills the La Défense esplanade with more than 350 wooden chalets. Kids come for the ice rink, the carousels, the costumed parades and a visit to Santa and Mrs. Claus. At the elves' workshop in Santa's house, younger ones make their own Christmas decorations to take home. Grown-ups get treats and gift shopping among the office towers.
Weekend family visits and workshops at this art foundation, built around Yu Nishimura's paintings and a trip to Japan. Babies move from canvas to canvas with gestures, sounds and games, then climb through inflatables and foam. Preschoolers follow a sensory walk to the sea, and older kids make a Japanese kite with a craftsman trained by a Japanese master.
The Super Kids Party brings everyone together.
A day of spoken stories at a neighborhood library in the 14th. Storyteller François-Moïse Bamba gives two shows: "Ma Tié, raconte-moi les animaux" for younger kids and "Contes du Burkina Faso" for older ones.
In between, an open stage lets anyone listen or step up and tell a story, followed by a shared snack. The shows are in French, so they suit kids who follow spoken French.
Two performers, Rouge et Bleu, went down to their cellar, found pieces of old drum kits and some very strange objects, and set about composing punk music with them. The result is a funny, surprising show where kids watch everyday things turn into instruments.
It suits kids who like noise, rhythm and silliness, and parents curious to hear what a kitchen appliance can do on stage.
The Magie de Noël is the first Christmas market to open in France: 95 wooden chalets and rides spread over a hectare of the Tuileries Garden.
Kids can go down the giant slide, ride Santa's little train and the Christmas carousel, skate on a 250 m² rink and meet Santa in his chalet. Grown-ups browse craft gifts from makers across France.
Little Nature is a themed weekend at Little Villette, the children's space inside Parc de la Villette, built around animals and plants. Kids move animal figurines through a landscape of woods, rivers and hills, play market stall with fruit and vegetables, and stamp a shared floral mural.
Short animated films about the forest round it out. It suits toddlers and young kids who like hands-on, pretend play.
La Magie de Noël fills a corner of the Jardin des Tuileries, between the Louvre and Place de la Concorde, with 95 wooden chalets and rides. Most chalets sell goods made in France.
Kids come for the fairground: a giant slide, hook-a-duck, Santa's little train and treasure hunts for small ones, bumper cars, flying chairs and a small roller coaster for older ones, with the Grande Roue Ferris wheel overhead.
A hands-on craft session built around Alexander Calder, the American sculptor known for his hanging mobiles. Kids take their cue from his work, then glue, assemble and hang a mobile of their own.
It runs in a neighborhood library in the 9th arrondissement. A good pick for kids who would rather make something than sit and listen.
A drag queen reads fairy tales that take a new turn. In these Contes à Paillettes, princesses rescue themselves, sensitive heroes dare to cry, and heroines head off to see the world without asking permission. Expect cunning witches, hairy frogs and imperfect princes.
The organizers say the grown-ups who come along laugh too, and not out of politeness, so it works as a family outing.
Kids invent one comic story as a group with comics writer Judith Peignen. Everyone pitches an idea and votes at each step of the plot.
Then each child draws the story their own way and goes home with their own comic page. It suits kids who like drawing and making up stories, and who are comfortable sharing ideas in French.
Lilou the little gardener wakes to find every leaf in her garden nibbled away. With her scarecrow friend Ficelle, she questions the suspects: a rabbit, a rooster, a hedgehog, a snail, a ladybug and a cheeky caterpillar, all plush hand puppets. Nine nursery rhymes keep the story moving, and the show nudges toddlers to look at garden creatures and treat nature with care.
Kids and parents work side by side to make seed bombs: small balls of compost, clay and wildflower seeds, meant to be tossed onto neglected patches of the city where the rain does the rest.
While they mix and roll, the Les Inventeurs team explains how seeds sprout, what soil does and why biodiversity matters in a city. Each adult works with one child.
Every winter the trees along the Champs-Élysées are wrapped in lights, turning the avenue into a long glowing walk from Place de la Concorde up to the Arc de Triomphe. There's nothing to book or queue for: kids walk, look up and spot the Arc glowing at the top.
After almost ten years away, a Christmas market returns to the lower end near Concorde, with craft and food chalets.
Europe's biggest children's book fair fills Paris Montreuil Expo with close to 400 publishers, from picture books and comics to teen fiction and kids' magazines.
Kids browse the stands, get books signed by authors and illustrators, and drop into readings, talks, workshops and an exhibition on this year's theme, "Aux frontières du réel". It suits young readers of every age, from board books to YA.
Storyteller Gilles Bizouerne and cellist Elsa Guiet tell the misadventures of Gray Wolf (Loup gris), a hungry wolf who struggles to catch his dinner. This time he has swallowed a fly and has no idea how to get it out. Elsa plays and sings along as Gilles spins this and other silly stories about clumsy anti-heroes. It's in French, so it suits kids who follow spoken French.
The Musée d'Orsay is turning 40, and it is celebrating with a festive weekend of music and shows for families, on top of the usual galleries.
Kids can watch a new show based on France Inter's hit podcast Les Fabuleuses histoires du doudou, catch Aldebert and his Enfantillages in concert, hear the Maîtrise populaire de l'Opéra-Comique, and join singing and dance workshops. Best for kids who follow French.
The Musée Cognacq-Jay, a collection of 18th-century art gathered by the founder of La Samaritaine, opens its rooms to families for a weekend of play. Kids and parents study the museum's pastels, then draw a portrait together, or take a tour of the star pieces picked by a deck of cards.
A pop-up game library adds wooden skill games, board games, a Playmobil table and a marquetry workshop.
Kamishibai is Japanese paper theater: the storyteller slides illustrated cards through a small wooden frame and tells the tale one picture at a time. This session marks World Kamishibai Day, and the frame arrives mounted on a bicycle.
The storyteller draws on old French country legends and tales from the days of fireside gatherings. It suits kids who like picture books and can sit for a story session.
Mon P'tit Loup Magique is a magic and storytelling show by magician Richard Atlas. Arthur goes looking for the so-called big bad wolf and finds him somewhere no one expects. Along the way come bits of famous wolf tales, old sayings, music, poetry and plenty of jokes.
It suits kids who like a story with a little fright in it that turns warm and funny.
A baby owl sets off through the forest to find its missing dad, and along the way meets a string of animal fathers, each kind and a little extraordinary. The children in the audience go with it and help it on its way.
It is a visual show, made for deaf and hearing kids to watch side by side, with tender and funny moments for preschoolers.
Inside a paper cave, a man finds a mysterious wall, a child calls to him, and animals spring to life by firelight. Philippe Beau, one of the few professional hand-shadow artists, performs alongside magic effects and projected drawings by Compagnie 14:20.
A quiet, poetic piece about prehistoric cave art, narrated in French. It suits kids happy to sit in the dark and watch; restless ones may struggle.
Once a month, Ground Control in the 12th turns its Charolais Club space into a dance floor for kids and their grown-ups. Les Doigts Dans La Prise run it: a new theme and decor each time, homemade giant games, glitter, and a guest DJ who normally plays for adults. Parents dance too. It suits kids who like music and a crowd; noise-sensitive kids may find it a lot.
Little Cirque is a circus weekend at Little Villette, the kids' space at La Villette. Circus artists coach kids through acrobatic lifts, juggling and balance games, and a second workshop has them fill balloons with semolina to make juggling balls.
A drop-in activity has kids make paper circus figures, or color them in, and put on a miniature circus. Good for beginners who like to move and make things.
A clumsy clown and a bubbly acrobat meet to the sound of a live cello. There are no words: the two study each other, copy each other and play a funhouse-mirror game of imitation, warming up to each other at the music's pace.
It is funny and gentle, built on movement and listening rather than story, which makes it an easy first show for the very youngest theatergoers.
Fête de la Musique turns Paris into one big free concert. Anyone can play: choirs, brass bands, rock groups on café terraces, DJs on street corners, plus bigger stages in squares and parks.
Families wander from one sound to the next and stop wherever the kids start dancing. Afternoons are calmer and easier with small children; after dark the crowds swell and the volume climbs, especially in the center.
France's national day opens with a military parade down the Champs-Élysées, from the Arc de Triomphe toward Place de la Concorde. Kids watch jets trail blue, white and red smoke overhead, then helicopters, marching troops, armored vehicles and the mounted Republican Guard.
It suits kids who can handle a long wait in a big crowd and loud flyovers. Toddlers and noise-sensitive kids may do better watching the jets from farther away.
Marché Bastille is an open-air street market that runs along Boulevard Richard-Lenoir, from rue Amelot to rue Saint-Sabin, a short walk from Place de la Bastille. Stalls of fruit, vegetables and other fresh food line the route, so kids can walk the aisles, point out what they want to try and help pick lunch.
It suits an unhurried morning walk with a stroller and a shopping bag.
The food hall of Le Bon Marché department store, stocked with groceries from France and around the world. Kids can browse shelves of chocolate, a pastry counter, a blue-tiled fish counter, and stacks of fruit and miniature vegetables.
It is a shop, not a play space, so it suits kids who like looking at food more than running around.
Marché d'Aligre is a street market along rue d'Aligre, with food stalls lining both sides. In the middle, on place d'Aligre, sits Marché Beauvau, a covered market hall built in 1843 and listed as a historic monument.
Kids can help pick fruit and vegetables at the stalls, then peek inside the old hall.
L'Heure Joyeuse opened in 1924 as the first children's library in Paris. Its two floors hold a children's space and a teen and adult space, with about 25,000 books, CDs, DVDs and board games on open shelves.
Kids can borrow kamishibai paper-theater sets, play board games, use computers set aside for young readers, and join storytimes, workshops, film screenings and shows.
Little Villette is a kids' building in Parc de la Villette, opposite the Grande Halle, easy to spot by its triangular windows and round doors. The drop-in side has a games bar, a reading lounge, a toddlers' rotunda, a LEGO table and wall, small exhibitions and the Little Ciné for cartoons and short films. Booked circus, storytelling, hip-hop and art workshops also run here.
A pocket-size gallery for young children, showing original artwork from contemporary picture books hung at kid height, with a new exhibition every month or so.
Art educators run workshops tied to each show, mixing art history with painting, collage and modeling. A shop sells illustrated children's books, art books and craft kits.
A large city library set in the historic Saint-Lazare enclosure, behind Square Alban Satragne. The children's section holds about 30,000 books, comics, audiobooks, CDs and DVDs, with a kids' comics corner, board games and video games.
It also houses the Heure Joyeuse collection, children's books from the 16th century to today, and a 70m² gallery that runs three exhibitions a year.
Le Centquatre is an arts center built around huge covered halls that anyone can walk through. Dancers, jugglers, roller skaters and acrobats rehearse in the open spaces, so kids can watch krump, breakdance or diabolo up close.
Inside, the Maison des Petits is a play and reading room designed by artist matali crasset, with painting and water play for toddlers and a parent. Exhibitions and shows run alongside.
The Puces de Saint-Ouen is the world's largest cluster of antique and secondhand dealers, spread over seven hectares just past the northern edge of Paris. Eleven covered markets, among them Vernaison, Paul Bert Serpette and Dauphine, sit alongside five shopping streets and sidewalk stalls. Kids who like a treasure hunt can wander narrow alleys packed with old furniture, paintings, crystal and vintage clothes.
La Terrasse is the open-air roof on the 8th floor of the Galeries Lafayette Haussmann department store, directly above its Art Nouveau glass dome. From the top, kids can pick out the Eiffel Tower and the white Sacré-Cœur on the Montmartre hill across a sea of gray rooftops.
In the warmer months pop-up bars and restaurants set up on the terrace, and in winter an ice rink opens there.
Place du Tertre is the old village square at the top of Montmartre, a few streets from the Sacré-Cœur basilica. Painters set up easels here every day, and portrait artists sketch visitors, kids included, while families watch.
Picasso, Modigliani and Utrillo lived nearby in the early 1900s. The Montmartre funicular climbs from the foot of the hill to Sacré-Cœur, skipping the Rue Foyatier stairs.
Notre-Dame is the Gothic cathedral on the Île de la Cité, built between 1163 and 1345 and reopened in December 2024 after the 2019 fire. Inside, kids can look up at the restored stone vaults and the big rose windows.
A separate climb up the south tower runs 424 steps past the gargoyles, which were built as rain spouts, to views across Paris from 69 meters up.
Sacré-Cœur sits on top of the Montmartre hill, and the steps and lawns below its white domes are where families stop to look out over the rooftops. Inside, kids can hunt for the huge mosaic of Christ above the choir.
The bigger adventure is the dome: 280 steps up a narrow staircase, past the basilica roofs, to a walkway with a 360-degree view of Paris and its monuments.
A 5-hectare organic working farm run by the City of Paris inside the Bois de Vincennes. Kids meet sheep in the barn, Gascon pigs, goats and rabbits, then walk the meadows, an orchard of fruit trees and a vegetable garden full of herbs. It suits toddlers who want to see animals up close as much as older kids curious about where food comes from.
Two playgrounds sit in this 4-hectare garden between the Canopée and the Bourse de Commerce, with Saint-Eustache church as a backdrop. Toddlers have a play area for ages 2 to 6.
Older kids get the Terrain d'aventures, a maze-like course designed by sculptor Henri Marquet's team, with the Mégamachines slide structure, a trampoline, swings, spinning tops and planted corners to hide in, run by city play workers.
Car-free stretches of the Seine's banks, 4.5 km on the right bank and 2.5 km on the left, form a 10-hectare riverside park. Kids get a 40-meter balance trail of stumps and logs from Paris trees, and a docks-themed play corner with a pontoon, a small boat and a crate maze.
The paths double as a cycle route where walkers have priority, and about fifteen cafés and barges line the way.
Also called the Promenade Plantée, this 4.5 km walkway follows an old railway line from Bastille toward the Bois de Vincennes. One stretch runs on a viaduct above Avenue Daumesnil at treetop height, then the path drops through tunnels and cuttings into the Reuilly gardens.
The arches below hold the Viaduc des Arts, where some craftspeople work in glass-front workshops. It suits a long stroller walk or a slow family ramble.
Built on the site of the old Vaugirard slaughterhouses, this hilly park has a duck pond with a belfry, a stream with a small bridge, a lookout and a pinot noir vineyard.
For kids there are swings, sandpits, a climbing wall, a carousel, pony rides, ping-pong tables and a Guignol puppet theater. A beekeeping society keeps hives here, and a scented garden carries braille labels.
Parc de Sceaux is a formal French garden laid out by André Le Nôtre in the 17th century, spread over 181 hectares just south of Paris. Kids can follow the stepped cascades down to the Octagon basin, walk the 1,140-meter Grand Canal and hunt for the statues along the allées.
In spring, the grove of Japanese cherry trees draws families for hanami picnics. The château houses the estate's museum.
A 460-hectare former royal estate on the hillside above the Seine, laid out by André Le Nôtre. The Grande Cascade, the Grand Jet basin and terraces looking toward Paris anchor the formal gardens; beyond them are English-style lawns, woods and a 19th-century landscape garden, the Jardin du Trocadéro.
There are two playgrounds, six places to eat, and a small museum on the vanished château.
Parc de Belleville covers a steep hillside, with the Willy Ronis belvedere at the top looking out over the rooftops of Paris. A cascading fountain over 100 meters long runs down the slope between stairs, pergolas and terraced lawns.
Kids head for the playground, the ping-pong tables and the foosball table, and can spot the small vineyard, replanted in 1992 where monks once made wine.
A 10-hectare park built on former rail freight yards, and one of the biggest green spaces in the city. Kids get a playground with log climbing frames, a skate park, basketball courts, ping-pong tables and a boules pitch, with wide lawns in between. Wind turbines, solar panels and rainwater harvesting are part of the design. Locals usually call it Parc Martin Luther King.
A long, narrow garden on the Left Bank of the Seine, running along Quai Saint-Bernard between Pont de Sully and Place Valhubert. Kids get a playground, a skate park, ping-pong tables, a soccer pitch and street workout bars, with sculptures set along the riverside paths.
Parc de Bercy runs along the Seine on the site of the old wine warehouses, and its old rail tracks still show in the cobbled paths. The open lawns at the west end have a playground, a carousel, a skate park and ping-pong tables. Further east, gated gardens hold a vegetable patch, a vineyard, a maze, duck ponds and a small lake with an island.
Parc Montsouris spreads across three big lawns linked by bridges, around a lake with ducks and, in winter, coots and gulls. Old trees shade the paths, including a giant sequoia and a ginkgo that turns bright yellow in fall.
Kids get a playground, carousels, a Guignol puppet theater, ping-pong tables and a basketball court. From May to September the bandstand hosts concerts.
Jardin d'Éole is a long, narrow park built on former rail land beside the tracks, on the edge of the 18th and 19th arrondissements. Its 4-plus hectares hold toddler playgrounds, a basketball court, ping-pong tables, a tennis practice wall and space for ball games, along with a big meadow, a planted canal and a gravel garden. One of its eight drinking fountains pours sparkling water.
Parc André-Citroën sits on the site of the old Citroën car factory beside the Seine. A long central lawn runs down to a canal, renovated in 2024 with shallow streams, floating gardens and geyser jets near the river.
Kids run through the fountain jets on hot days, then head to the playground, the merry-go-rounds or the ping-pong tables. Glass greenhouses and a series of themed gardens round it out.
Parc Monceau is an English-style garden laid out in 1861, with winding paths, a pond ringed by stone colonnades (the Naumachie), a small pyramid and other 18th-century follies. Kids head for the playground, the swings and the carousel, then go looking for the Oriental plane tree planted in 1814.
The Bois de Boulogne is an 845-hectare woodland on the western edge of the city, with two lakes, the Grande Cascade waterfall and long forest paths. Rowing boats can be rented on the Lac Inférieur, whose island holds the Emperor's Kiosk.
Inside the woods sit the Jardin d'Acclimatation amusement park and the Bagatelle and Pré Catelan gardens, plus a playground, pony rides and picnic tables.
The city's largest green space covers 995 hectares of woods, four lakes linked by streams, and open lawns on its eastern edge. Kids can rent a rowboat on Lac Daumesnil and cross the bridges to its two islands, ride a pony, catch a Guignol puppet show, or try the playgrounds, sandpits and swings. The Parc Floral and the Paris Zoo sit inside the woods.
Paris's first botanical garden, open to the public for almost 400 years, runs from Gare d'Austerlitz to the Grande Galerie de l'Évolution between long alleys of trimmed plane trees.
Kids can climb the labyrinth hill to Buffon's gazebo, one of the oldest metal structures in the world, and find a cedar planted in 1734. The Ménagerie zoo, the Grandes Serres greenhouses and the natural history galleries sit inside the grounds.
A giant multicolored dragon sculpture is the centerpiece of this playground in Parc de la Villette. Its tongue is a long tunnel slide, with climbing to get up to it. Under the dragon's belly, younger kids get swings and seesaws of their own.
The park's other themed gardens, big lawns and the Canal de l'Ourcq are a short walk away, so it fits easily into a longer day out.
A fenced play garden inside Parc de la Villette, designed by Isabelle Devin and Catherine Rannou and inspired by the Breton seaside. Kids pedal to spin wind turbines, push walls of movable sails and bounce across waves of air cushions, all built to train balance and coordination.
The smallest kids get their own play pieces, and loungers let parents sit close by.
Parc de la Villette covers 55 hectares along the Canal de l'Ourcq, with ten themed gardens, big lawns for running and picnics, and red folly pavilions. Kids head for the Jardin du Dragon and its tongue slide, the seaside-themed Jardin des Vents et des Dunes, and the farm with donkeys, goats, chickens and sheep. Little Villette runs free weekend play and children's shows.
Parc des Buttes-Chaumont is a hilly park built on an old gypsum quarry, with a lake below steep cliffs and the Temple de la Sibylle on its rocky island.
Kids get playgrounds with sandboxes and swings, a carousel, a hook-a-duck stall and a can-toss game, plus two Guignol puppet theaters. A biodiversity trail marks 28 stops around the park, and waffle stands and cafés sit inside.
The Tuileries is the formal garden stretching from the Louvre to Place de la Concorde, with over 3,000 trees, open lawns and ornamental ponds. Kids push little sailboats across the octagonal Grand Basin with a stick, a tradition here since 1850.
The north side, along Rue de Rivoli, holds a play area with a rope bridge in the trees, a carousel and trampolines set among palm trees.
The Senate's garden mixes formal French lawns with wooded English-style paths around the Grand Bassin, where kids rent toy sailboats and push them across the pond.
Elsewhere there are pony rides, a carousel, a puppet theater, a playground, swings and sandpits. Older kids can shoot hoops or play table tennis and chess, and 102 statues and the Medici Fountain line the walks.
Musée Carnavalet is the city's history museum, running from prehistoric oak dugout canoes to the 20th century. For kids, the standouts are two rooms of old shop signs, the Gallo-Roman finds, and the Revolution rooms with a heater shaped like the Bastille and Marie Antoinette's slipper.
Later rooms hold Mucha's Art Nouveau jewelry shop and Proust's bedroom, and the gardens are open for a snack break.
A day out with kids adds up fast, but plenty of good ones cost nothing. These are the free ones: parks and big woods to run in, playgrounds, open-air markets, libraries, museums with no entry fee, and free events as they come up. Each listing says what to expect when you get there, so you can plan a whole Saturday around them.
Two of Paris's big department stores fill their Boulevard Haussmann windows with moving puppet scenes, watched from the sidewalk. At Printemps, cats and mice chase a runaway ball of yarn through a house. Galeries Lafayette tells a colorful, funny tale by designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, with a giant sculpted tree under its glass dome.
The stores sit a short walk apart, so one stroll covers both.
The biggest Christmas market in the Paris region fills the La Défense esplanade with more than 350 wooden chalets. Kids come for the ice rink, the carousels, the costumed parades and a visit to Santa and Mrs. Claus. At the elves' workshop in Santa's house, younger ones make their own Christmas decorations to take home. Grown-ups get treats and gift shopping among the office towers.
Weekend family visits and workshops at this art foundation, built around Yu Nishimura's paintings and a trip to Japan. Babies move from canvas to canvas with gestures, sounds and games, then climb through inflatables and foam. Preschoolers follow a sensory walk to the sea, and older kids make a Japanese kite with a craftsman trained by a Japanese master.
The Super Kids Party brings everyone together.
A day of spoken stories at a neighborhood library in the 14th. Storyteller François-Moïse Bamba gives two shows: "Ma Tié, raconte-moi les animaux" for younger kids and "Contes du Burkina Faso" for older ones.
In between, an open stage lets anyone listen or step up and tell a story, followed by a shared snack. The shows are in French, so they suit kids who follow spoken French.
Two performers, Rouge et Bleu, went down to their cellar, found pieces of old drum kits and some very strange objects, and set about composing punk music with them. The result is a funny, surprising show where kids watch everyday things turn into instruments.
It suits kids who like noise, rhythm and silliness, and parents curious to hear what a kitchen appliance can do on stage.
The Magie de Noël is the first Christmas market to open in France: 95 wooden chalets and rides spread over a hectare of the Tuileries Garden.
Kids can go down the giant slide, ride Santa's little train and the Christmas carousel, skate on a 250 m² rink and meet Santa in his chalet. Grown-ups browse craft gifts from makers across France.
Little Nature is a themed weekend at Little Villette, the children's space inside Parc de la Villette, built around animals and plants. Kids move animal figurines through a landscape of woods, rivers and hills, play market stall with fruit and vegetables, and stamp a shared floral mural.
Short animated films about the forest round it out. It suits toddlers and young kids who like hands-on, pretend play.
La Magie de Noël fills a corner of the Jardin des Tuileries, between the Louvre and Place de la Concorde, with 95 wooden chalets and rides. Most chalets sell goods made in France.
Kids come for the fairground: a giant slide, hook-a-duck, Santa's little train and treasure hunts for small ones, bumper cars, flying chairs and a small roller coaster for older ones, with the Grande Roue Ferris wheel overhead.
A hands-on craft session built around Alexander Calder, the American sculptor known for his hanging mobiles. Kids take their cue from his work, then glue, assemble and hang a mobile of their own.
It runs in a neighborhood library in the 9th arrondissement. A good pick for kids who would rather make something than sit and listen.
A drag queen reads fairy tales that take a new turn. In these Contes à Paillettes, princesses rescue themselves, sensitive heroes dare to cry, and heroines head off to see the world without asking permission. Expect cunning witches, hairy frogs and imperfect princes.
The organizers say the grown-ups who come along laugh too, and not out of politeness, so it works as a family outing.
Kids invent one comic story as a group with comics writer Judith Peignen. Everyone pitches an idea and votes at each step of the plot.
Then each child draws the story their own way and goes home with their own comic page. It suits kids who like drawing and making up stories, and who are comfortable sharing ideas in French.
Lilou the little gardener wakes to find every leaf in her garden nibbled away. With her scarecrow friend Ficelle, she questions the suspects: a rabbit, a rooster, a hedgehog, a snail, a ladybug and a cheeky caterpillar, all plush hand puppets. Nine nursery rhymes keep the story moving, and the show nudges toddlers to look at garden creatures and treat nature with care.
Kids and parents work side by side to make seed bombs: small balls of compost, clay and wildflower seeds, meant to be tossed onto neglected patches of the city where the rain does the rest.
While they mix and roll, the Les Inventeurs team explains how seeds sprout, what soil does and why biodiversity matters in a city. Each adult works with one child.
Every winter the trees along the Champs-Élysées are wrapped in lights, turning the avenue into a long glowing walk from Place de la Concorde up to the Arc de Triomphe. There's nothing to book or queue for: kids walk, look up and spot the Arc glowing at the top.
After almost ten years away, a Christmas market returns to the lower end near Concorde, with craft and food chalets.
Europe's biggest children's book fair fills Paris Montreuil Expo with close to 400 publishers, from picture books and comics to teen fiction and kids' magazines.
Kids browse the stands, get books signed by authors and illustrators, and drop into readings, talks, workshops and an exhibition on this year's theme, "Aux frontières du réel". It suits young readers of every age, from board books to YA.
Storyteller Gilles Bizouerne and cellist Elsa Guiet tell the misadventures of Gray Wolf (Loup gris), a hungry wolf who struggles to catch his dinner. This time he has swallowed a fly and has no idea how to get it out. Elsa plays and sings along as Gilles spins this and other silly stories about clumsy anti-heroes. It's in French, so it suits kids who follow spoken French.
The Musée d'Orsay is turning 40, and it is celebrating with a festive weekend of music and shows for families, on top of the usual galleries.
Kids can watch a new show based on France Inter's hit podcast Les Fabuleuses histoires du doudou, catch Aldebert and his Enfantillages in concert, hear the Maîtrise populaire de l'Opéra-Comique, and join singing and dance workshops. Best for kids who follow French.
The Musée Cognacq-Jay, a collection of 18th-century art gathered by the founder of La Samaritaine, opens its rooms to families for a weekend of play. Kids and parents study the museum's pastels, then draw a portrait together, or take a tour of the star pieces picked by a deck of cards.
A pop-up game library adds wooden skill games, board games, a Playmobil table and a marquetry workshop.
Kamishibai is Japanese paper theater: the storyteller slides illustrated cards through a small wooden frame and tells the tale one picture at a time. This session marks World Kamishibai Day, and the frame arrives mounted on a bicycle.
The storyteller draws on old French country legends and tales from the days of fireside gatherings. It suits kids who like picture books and can sit for a story session.
Mon P'tit Loup Magique is a magic and storytelling show by magician Richard Atlas. Arthur goes looking for the so-called big bad wolf and finds him somewhere no one expects. Along the way come bits of famous wolf tales, old sayings, music, poetry and plenty of jokes.
It suits kids who like a story with a little fright in it that turns warm and funny.
A baby owl sets off through the forest to find its missing dad, and along the way meets a string of animal fathers, each kind and a little extraordinary. The children in the audience go with it and help it on its way.
It is a visual show, made for deaf and hearing kids to watch side by side, with tender and funny moments for preschoolers.
Inside a paper cave, a man finds a mysterious wall, a child calls to him, and animals spring to life by firelight. Philippe Beau, one of the few professional hand-shadow artists, performs alongside magic effects and projected drawings by Compagnie 14:20.
A quiet, poetic piece about prehistoric cave art, narrated in French. It suits kids happy to sit in the dark and watch; restless ones may struggle.
Once a month, Ground Control in the 12th turns its Charolais Club space into a dance floor for kids and their grown-ups. Les Doigts Dans La Prise run it: a new theme and decor each time, homemade giant games, glitter, and a guest DJ who normally plays for adults. Parents dance too. It suits kids who like music and a crowd; noise-sensitive kids may find it a lot.
Little Cirque is a circus weekend at Little Villette, the kids' space at La Villette. Circus artists coach kids through acrobatic lifts, juggling and balance games, and a second workshop has them fill balloons with semolina to make juggling balls.
A drop-in activity has kids make paper circus figures, or color them in, and put on a miniature circus. Good for beginners who like to move and make things.
A clumsy clown and a bubbly acrobat meet to the sound of a live cello. There are no words: the two study each other, copy each other and play a funhouse-mirror game of imitation, warming up to each other at the music's pace.
It is funny and gentle, built on movement and listening rather than story, which makes it an easy first show for the very youngest theatergoers.
Fête de la Musique turns Paris into one big free concert. Anyone can play: choirs, brass bands, rock groups on café terraces, DJs on street corners, plus bigger stages in squares and parks.
Families wander from one sound to the next and stop wherever the kids start dancing. Afternoons are calmer and easier with small children; after dark the crowds swell and the volume climbs, especially in the center.
France's national day opens with a military parade down the Champs-Élysées, from the Arc de Triomphe toward Place de la Concorde. Kids watch jets trail blue, white and red smoke overhead, then helicopters, marching troops, armored vehicles and the mounted Republican Guard.
It suits kids who can handle a long wait in a big crowd and loud flyovers. Toddlers and noise-sensitive kids may do better watching the jets from farther away.
Marché Bastille is an open-air street market that runs along Boulevard Richard-Lenoir, from rue Amelot to rue Saint-Sabin, a short walk from Place de la Bastille. Stalls of fruit, vegetables and other fresh food line the route, so kids can walk the aisles, point out what they want to try and help pick lunch.
It suits an unhurried morning walk with a stroller and a shopping bag.
The food hall of Le Bon Marché department store, stocked with groceries from France and around the world. Kids can browse shelves of chocolate, a pastry counter, a blue-tiled fish counter, and stacks of fruit and miniature vegetables.
It is a shop, not a play space, so it suits kids who like looking at food more than running around.
Marché d'Aligre is a street market along rue d'Aligre, with food stalls lining both sides. In the middle, on place d'Aligre, sits Marché Beauvau, a covered market hall built in 1843 and listed as a historic monument.
Kids can help pick fruit and vegetables at the stalls, then peek inside the old hall.
L'Heure Joyeuse opened in 1924 as the first children's library in Paris. Its two floors hold a children's space and a teen and adult space, with about 25,000 books, CDs, DVDs and board games on open shelves.
Kids can borrow kamishibai paper-theater sets, play board games, use computers set aside for young readers, and join storytimes, workshops, film screenings and shows.
Little Villette is a kids' building in Parc de la Villette, opposite the Grande Halle, easy to spot by its triangular windows and round doors. The drop-in side has a games bar, a reading lounge, a toddlers' rotunda, a LEGO table and wall, small exhibitions and the Little Ciné for cartoons and short films. Booked circus, storytelling, hip-hop and art workshops also run here.
A pocket-size gallery for young children, showing original artwork from contemporary picture books hung at kid height, with a new exhibition every month or so.
Art educators run workshops tied to each show, mixing art history with painting, collage and modeling. A shop sells illustrated children's books, art books and craft kits.
A large city library set in the historic Saint-Lazare enclosure, behind Square Alban Satragne. The children's section holds about 30,000 books, comics, audiobooks, CDs and DVDs, with a kids' comics corner, board games and video games.
It also houses the Heure Joyeuse collection, children's books from the 16th century to today, and a 70m² gallery that runs three exhibitions a year.
Le Centquatre is an arts center built around huge covered halls that anyone can walk through. Dancers, jugglers, roller skaters and acrobats rehearse in the open spaces, so kids can watch krump, breakdance or diabolo up close.
Inside, the Maison des Petits is a play and reading room designed by artist matali crasset, with painting and water play for toddlers and a parent. Exhibitions and shows run alongside.
The Puces de Saint-Ouen is the world's largest cluster of antique and secondhand dealers, spread over seven hectares just past the northern edge of Paris. Eleven covered markets, among them Vernaison, Paul Bert Serpette and Dauphine, sit alongside five shopping streets and sidewalk stalls. Kids who like a treasure hunt can wander narrow alleys packed with old furniture, paintings, crystal and vintage clothes.
La Terrasse is the open-air roof on the 8th floor of the Galeries Lafayette Haussmann department store, directly above its Art Nouveau glass dome. From the top, kids can pick out the Eiffel Tower and the white Sacré-Cœur on the Montmartre hill across a sea of gray rooftops.
In the warmer months pop-up bars and restaurants set up on the terrace, and in winter an ice rink opens there.
Place du Tertre is the old village square at the top of Montmartre, a few streets from the Sacré-Cœur basilica. Painters set up easels here every day, and portrait artists sketch visitors, kids included, while families watch.
Picasso, Modigliani and Utrillo lived nearby in the early 1900s. The Montmartre funicular climbs from the foot of the hill to Sacré-Cœur, skipping the Rue Foyatier stairs.
Notre-Dame is the Gothic cathedral on the Île de la Cité, built between 1163 and 1345 and reopened in December 2024 after the 2019 fire. Inside, kids can look up at the restored stone vaults and the big rose windows.
A separate climb up the south tower runs 424 steps past the gargoyles, which were built as rain spouts, to views across Paris from 69 meters up.
Sacré-Cœur sits on top of the Montmartre hill, and the steps and lawns below its white domes are where families stop to look out over the rooftops. Inside, kids can hunt for the huge mosaic of Christ above the choir.
The bigger adventure is the dome: 280 steps up a narrow staircase, past the basilica roofs, to a walkway with a 360-degree view of Paris and its monuments.
A 5-hectare organic working farm run by the City of Paris inside the Bois de Vincennes. Kids meet sheep in the barn, Gascon pigs, goats and rabbits, then walk the meadows, an orchard of fruit trees and a vegetable garden full of herbs. It suits toddlers who want to see animals up close as much as older kids curious about where food comes from.
Two playgrounds sit in this 4-hectare garden between the Canopée and the Bourse de Commerce, with Saint-Eustache church as a backdrop. Toddlers have a play area for ages 2 to 6.
Older kids get the Terrain d'aventures, a maze-like course designed by sculptor Henri Marquet's team, with the Mégamachines slide structure, a trampoline, swings, spinning tops and planted corners to hide in, run by city play workers.
Car-free stretches of the Seine's banks, 4.5 km on the right bank and 2.5 km on the left, form a 10-hectare riverside park. Kids get a 40-meter balance trail of stumps and logs from Paris trees, and a docks-themed play corner with a pontoon, a small boat and a crate maze.
The paths double as a cycle route where walkers have priority, and about fifteen cafés and barges line the way.
Also called the Promenade Plantée, this 4.5 km walkway follows an old railway line from Bastille toward the Bois de Vincennes. One stretch runs on a viaduct above Avenue Daumesnil at treetop height, then the path drops through tunnels and cuttings into the Reuilly gardens.
The arches below hold the Viaduc des Arts, where some craftspeople work in glass-front workshops. It suits a long stroller walk or a slow family ramble.
Built on the site of the old Vaugirard slaughterhouses, this hilly park has a duck pond with a belfry, a stream with a small bridge, a lookout and a pinot noir vineyard.
For kids there are swings, sandpits, a climbing wall, a carousel, pony rides, ping-pong tables and a Guignol puppet theater. A beekeeping society keeps hives here, and a scented garden carries braille labels.
Parc de Sceaux is a formal French garden laid out by André Le Nôtre in the 17th century, spread over 181 hectares just south of Paris. Kids can follow the stepped cascades down to the Octagon basin, walk the 1,140-meter Grand Canal and hunt for the statues along the allées.
In spring, the grove of Japanese cherry trees draws families for hanami picnics. The château houses the estate's museum.
A 460-hectare former royal estate on the hillside above the Seine, laid out by André Le Nôtre. The Grande Cascade, the Grand Jet basin and terraces looking toward Paris anchor the formal gardens; beyond them are English-style lawns, woods and a 19th-century landscape garden, the Jardin du Trocadéro.
There are two playgrounds, six places to eat, and a small museum on the vanished château.
Parc de Belleville covers a steep hillside, with the Willy Ronis belvedere at the top looking out over the rooftops of Paris. A cascading fountain over 100 meters long runs down the slope between stairs, pergolas and terraced lawns.
Kids head for the playground, the ping-pong tables and the foosball table, and can spot the small vineyard, replanted in 1992 where monks once made wine.
A 10-hectare park built on former rail freight yards, and one of the biggest green spaces in the city. Kids get a playground with log climbing frames, a skate park, basketball courts, ping-pong tables and a boules pitch, with wide lawns in between. Wind turbines, solar panels and rainwater harvesting are part of the design. Locals usually call it Parc Martin Luther King.
A long, narrow garden on the Left Bank of the Seine, running along Quai Saint-Bernard between Pont de Sully and Place Valhubert. Kids get a playground, a skate park, ping-pong tables, a soccer pitch and street workout bars, with sculptures set along the riverside paths.
Parc de Bercy runs along the Seine on the site of the old wine warehouses, and its old rail tracks still show in the cobbled paths. The open lawns at the west end have a playground, a carousel, a skate park and ping-pong tables. Further east, gated gardens hold a vegetable patch, a vineyard, a maze, duck ponds and a small lake with an island.
Parc Montsouris spreads across three big lawns linked by bridges, around a lake with ducks and, in winter, coots and gulls. Old trees shade the paths, including a giant sequoia and a ginkgo that turns bright yellow in fall.
Kids get a playground, carousels, a Guignol puppet theater, ping-pong tables and a basketball court. From May to September the bandstand hosts concerts.
Jardin d'Éole is a long, narrow park built on former rail land beside the tracks, on the edge of the 18th and 19th arrondissements. Its 4-plus hectares hold toddler playgrounds, a basketball court, ping-pong tables, a tennis practice wall and space for ball games, along with a big meadow, a planted canal and a gravel garden. One of its eight drinking fountains pours sparkling water.
Parc André-Citroën sits on the site of the old Citroën car factory beside the Seine. A long central lawn runs down to a canal, renovated in 2024 with shallow streams, floating gardens and geyser jets near the river.
Kids run through the fountain jets on hot days, then head to the playground, the merry-go-rounds or the ping-pong tables. Glass greenhouses and a series of themed gardens round it out.
Parc Monceau is an English-style garden laid out in 1861, with winding paths, a pond ringed by stone colonnades (the Naumachie), a small pyramid and other 18th-century follies. Kids head for the playground, the swings and the carousel, then go looking for the Oriental plane tree planted in 1814.
The Bois de Boulogne is an 845-hectare woodland on the western edge of the city, with two lakes, the Grande Cascade waterfall and long forest paths. Rowing boats can be rented on the Lac Inférieur, whose island holds the Emperor's Kiosk.
Inside the woods sit the Jardin d'Acclimatation amusement park and the Bagatelle and Pré Catelan gardens, plus a playground, pony rides and picnic tables.
The city's largest green space covers 995 hectares of woods, four lakes linked by streams, and open lawns on its eastern edge. Kids can rent a rowboat on Lac Daumesnil and cross the bridges to its two islands, ride a pony, catch a Guignol puppet show, or try the playgrounds, sandpits and swings. The Parc Floral and the Paris Zoo sit inside the woods.
Paris's first botanical garden, open to the public for almost 400 years, runs from Gare d'Austerlitz to the Grande Galerie de l'Évolution between long alleys of trimmed plane trees.
Kids can climb the labyrinth hill to Buffon's gazebo, one of the oldest metal structures in the world, and find a cedar planted in 1734. The Ménagerie zoo, the Grandes Serres greenhouses and the natural history galleries sit inside the grounds.
A giant multicolored dragon sculpture is the centerpiece of this playground in Parc de la Villette. Its tongue is a long tunnel slide, with climbing to get up to it. Under the dragon's belly, younger kids get swings and seesaws of their own.
The park's other themed gardens, big lawns and the Canal de l'Ourcq are a short walk away, so it fits easily into a longer day out.
A fenced play garden inside Parc de la Villette, designed by Isabelle Devin and Catherine Rannou and inspired by the Breton seaside. Kids pedal to spin wind turbines, push walls of movable sails and bounce across waves of air cushions, all built to train balance and coordination.
The smallest kids get their own play pieces, and loungers let parents sit close by.
Parc de la Villette covers 55 hectares along the Canal de l'Ourcq, with ten themed gardens, big lawns for running and picnics, and red folly pavilions. Kids head for the Jardin du Dragon and its tongue slide, the seaside-themed Jardin des Vents et des Dunes, and the farm with donkeys, goats, chickens and sheep. Little Villette runs free weekend play and children's shows.
Parc des Buttes-Chaumont is a hilly park built on an old gypsum quarry, with a lake below steep cliffs and the Temple de la Sibylle on its rocky island.
Kids get playgrounds with sandboxes and swings, a carousel, a hook-a-duck stall and a can-toss game, plus two Guignol puppet theaters. A biodiversity trail marks 28 stops around the park, and waffle stands and cafés sit inside.
The Tuileries is the formal garden stretching from the Louvre to Place de la Concorde, with over 3,000 trees, open lawns and ornamental ponds. Kids push little sailboats across the octagonal Grand Basin with a stick, a tradition here since 1850.
The north side, along Rue de Rivoli, holds a play area with a rope bridge in the trees, a carousel and trampolines set among palm trees.
The Senate's garden mixes formal French lawns with wooded English-style paths around the Grand Bassin, where kids rent toy sailboats and push them across the pond.
Elsewhere there are pony rides, a carousel, a puppet theater, a playground, swings and sandpits. Older kids can shoot hoops or play table tennis and chess, and 102 statues and the Medici Fountain line the walks.
Musée Carnavalet is the city's history museum, running from prehistoric oak dugout canoes to the 20th century. For kids, the standouts are two rooms of old shop signs, the Gallo-Roman finds, and the Revolution rooms with a heater shaped like the Bastille and Marie Antoinette's slipper.
Later rooms hold Mucha's Art Nouveau jewelry shop and Proust's bedroom, and the gardens are open for a snack break.
