The 19th has more room to run than almost anywhere else in the city. Think big parks with hills, grottoes and themed play gardens, a science center built for hands-on kids, canal-side walks, puppet shows, and an indoor pool and ice rink for cold days. This list gathers the spots we've checked in the arrondissement, so you can plan a whole day without crossing town.
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.
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 modern retelling of Perrault's Donkey Skin. In a picture-perfect family the polish cracks: Mom walks out, Dad imposes "nap games," and the girl has nightmares. A neighbor keeps watch, and Monique Bergamote, her donkey comfort toy and piggy bank, comes alive to save her.
Writer Marie Dilasser and director Hélène Soulié tackle incest head-on. Best for tweens and teens ready to talk it through afterward.
Canauxrama runs narrated boat trips along the Canal Saint-Martin, between Bassin de la Villette and Port de l'Arsenal by Bastille. Kids watch the boat work through 8 locks, pass 2 swing bridges and the Crimée lift bridge, then glide through the vault beneath Bastille, lit by skylights. Guides tell stories of Napoleon and old Paris along the way. The full canal trip runs one way, so plan the ride back.
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.
An open-air puppet theater in Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, dating from 1836. Kids sit on benches in front of a small painted stage while Guignol, the cheeky hero of French puppetry, gets into trouble and back out again. The company Les Petits Bouffons de Paris keeps the traditional, irreverent style.
There is no roof, so shows only go ahead in dry, mild weather.
Seven Squares is a 5,000m² indoor leisure center inside the Boom Boom Villette mall, next to the Cité des Sciences. Its pirate-themed soft play, L'Île de Tortuga, has a separate toddler area with ball pits and foam blocks, and a big-kid maze of slides, tunnels, a pirate ship and a kart track.
Older kids can move on to the trampoline park, bowling, laser game, VR and the arcade.
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.
An 800 m² ice rink under a glass roof, inside the Espace Sportif Pailleron a few streets from the Buttes-Chaumont park. Most of its ice time goes to public sessions rather than clubs, with music playing over the ice.
A rest area sits beside the rink, and a walkway and stands around it let parents watch from off the ice. Skates and helmets are for hire at the desk.
A glass-roofed hall holds a 33m pool, with six lanes split by swimming speed. Kids head for the leisure pools next door: a paddling pool, a wave pool, a massage bath and a jacuzzi. A solarium opens in warm weather.
The same sports center houses an ice rink, so a swim and a skate can share one outing.
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 national music museum holds nearly 9,000 instruments and artworks, laid out from the late 1500s to today: Stradivari violins, an octobass, Theremin and Hammond electronics, a gallery of Fender and Gibson electric guitars, and instruments from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. A free video guide lets kids see and hear the instruments played, and musicians give short live performances in the galleries every day.
Two hands-on play spaces inside the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie at Parc de la Villette, each split into themed zones. The younger side has a forest, an elastic climbing course, a building site and an air-and-water area.
The older side has water games, a tilted park full of soil creatures, a funfair of brain and body challenges, a tinkering workshop and a Weird House of puzzles.
A science museum in a huge glass-and-steel hall on the edge of Parc de la Villette. Kids push, pull and test their way through hands-on permanent and temporary exhibitions, sit under the planetarium dome, and walk through the Argonaute, a real navy submarine.
The Cité des enfants has two timed play areas, one for preschoolers and one for school-age kids, built around water play, a forest and a building site.
The 19th has more room to run than almost anywhere else in the city. Think big parks with hills, grottoes and themed play gardens, a science center built for hands-on kids, canal-side walks, puppet shows, and an indoor pool and ice rink for cold days. This list gathers the spots we've checked in the arrondissement, so you can plan a whole day without crossing town.
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.
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 modern retelling of Perrault's Donkey Skin. In a picture-perfect family the polish cracks: Mom walks out, Dad imposes "nap games," and the girl has nightmares. A neighbor keeps watch, and Monique Bergamote, her donkey comfort toy and piggy bank, comes alive to save her.
Writer Marie Dilasser and director Hélène Soulié tackle incest head-on. Best for tweens and teens ready to talk it through afterward.
Canauxrama runs narrated boat trips along the Canal Saint-Martin, between Bassin de la Villette and Port de l'Arsenal by Bastille. Kids watch the boat work through 8 locks, pass 2 swing bridges and the Crimée lift bridge, then glide through the vault beneath Bastille, lit by skylights. Guides tell stories of Napoleon and old Paris along the way. The full canal trip runs one way, so plan the ride back.
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.
An open-air puppet theater in Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, dating from 1836. Kids sit on benches in front of a small painted stage while Guignol, the cheeky hero of French puppetry, gets into trouble and back out again. The company Les Petits Bouffons de Paris keeps the traditional, irreverent style.
There is no roof, so shows only go ahead in dry, mild weather.
Seven Squares is a 5,000m² indoor leisure center inside the Boom Boom Villette mall, next to the Cité des Sciences. Its pirate-themed soft play, L'Île de Tortuga, has a separate toddler area with ball pits and foam blocks, and a big-kid maze of slides, tunnels, a pirate ship and a kart track.
Older kids can move on to the trampoline park, bowling, laser game, VR and the arcade.
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.
An 800 m² ice rink under a glass roof, inside the Espace Sportif Pailleron a few streets from the Buttes-Chaumont park. Most of its ice time goes to public sessions rather than clubs, with music playing over the ice.
A rest area sits beside the rink, and a walkway and stands around it let parents watch from off the ice. Skates and helmets are for hire at the desk.
A glass-roofed hall holds a 33m pool, with six lanes split by swimming speed. Kids head for the leisure pools next door: a paddling pool, a wave pool, a massage bath and a jacuzzi. A solarium opens in warm weather.
The same sports center houses an ice rink, so a swim and a skate can share one outing.
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 national music museum holds nearly 9,000 instruments and artworks, laid out from the late 1500s to today: Stradivari violins, an octobass, Theremin and Hammond electronics, a gallery of Fender and Gibson electric guitars, and instruments from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. A free video guide lets kids see and hear the instruments played, and musicians give short live performances in the galleries every day.
Two hands-on play spaces inside the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie at Parc de la Villette, each split into themed zones. The younger side has a forest, an elastic climbing course, a building site and an air-and-water area.
The older side has water games, a tilted park full of soil creatures, a funfair of brain and body challenges, a tinkering workshop and a Weird House of puzzles.
A science museum in a huge glass-and-steel hall on the edge of Parc de la Villette. Kids push, pull and test their way through hands-on permanent and temporary exhibitions, sit under the planetarium dome, and walk through the Argonaute, a real navy submarine.
The Cité des enfants has two timed play areas, one for preschoolers and one for school-age kids, built around water play, a forest and a building site.
