Prague's oldest quarters fit a lot into a short walk. Old Town and Malá Strana sit on either side of Charles Bridge, and this is where we look for puppet theater, family plays, gardens and river views without crossing the city. The list updates itself as new plans open, so check back before a weekend in the center.
St. Martin rides a white horse across Charles Bridge, leading a costumed procession with banners and a flock of geese. Czech folk wisdom says Martin brings the first snow, so at the Old Town end he hands snow to Prague's burgomaster. Then a St. Martin's market opens on the square.
Kids who like horses, animals and history in costume get the most from it.
A puppet show about Prague's Astronomical Clock, staged at Říše loutek, a mechanical puppet theater that has run inside the Municipal Library for a hundred years. The story follows the clock as keeper of time: Death ringing his bell, the twelve apostles, and the city's legends.
Shadow puppets, marionettes and glove puppets, some spooky and some comic, tell it through pictures and music, so kids from anywhere can follow.
GEOLAB is a geography game room run by Charles University's science faculty, part of its Geography Days. Kids and parents hunt for mistakes on maps, work out what satellite images show, and match population pyramids to the right countries. The games go well past capital cities, so it suits curious school-age kids more than preschoolers.
Tramtárie is a playful Czech show stitched together from scraps of nonsense poems and set to live music. Actors pop up, run past, whisper, splash and make things vanish in a world of words, colors, magic and laughter.
There is no lesson to learn here: the point is permission to be silly. The verses repeat until they stick, and parents say kids go home singing them.
Princ a Večernice is the stage version of the classic Czech fairy tale film. Young Prince Velen marries off his three sisters to the rulers of sun, moon and wind, falls for their sister Večernice, then has to leave the castle and find his own courage on the road. Standing in his way are robbers, false merchants and the cruel Mrakomor, ruler of bad weather. Expect suspense and gentle humor.
Hansel and Gretel as a puppet show by the Říše loutek company. The children wander off while picking strawberries and find a house made of gingerbread, where a witch plans to fatten Hansel up. The grumpy old man who lives with her dislikes children but befriends Hansel and stops her. Two dwarf puppets guide the story. The sets and puppets were made by the family of a late Czech artist.
A family concert where the Prague Symphony Orchestra plays alongside actors, dancers and young performers from Prague music and ballet schools. Two guides lead kids through a fairy-tale adventure of dragons, princesses and magic, with plenty of laughs on the way. It suits curious kids meeting an orchestra for the first time.
A dance revue play about Josephine Baker, the Broadway dancer who made Paris her home, spied against the Nazis in World War II and fought racism all her life. Radka Pavlovčinová plays her through charleston, songs and quick costume changes, with a talkative one-man orchestra and a cheetah named Chiquita.
It suits teens ready to talk about discrimination and about using their own voice.
A stage version of the famous Czech bedtime cartoon about a small dog, a present for a girl named Ája, who grows into a giant. Kids watch Fík sit at a school desk, star in a circus ring, drive a car and travel the world, only to find home is best.
A funny show about friendship and courage, spoken in Czech, so it suits kids who follow the language.
A live lecture show where a presenter runs experiments with liquid nitrogen at minus 196°C. Kids see how far a chilled balloon shrinks, what happens to an LED at that temperature, whether a splash of liquid nitrogen is dangerous, and why supercooled materials can levitate in a magnetic field. Popular with school groups and the public, it suits kids curious about science who can follow a talk.
A classic Czech puppet tale. Princess Majdalenka ends up in hell by mistake, and Kašpárek, the cheeky jester of Czech puppetry, sets off with his friend Honza to free her by outwitting the devils.
It plays at Divadlo Říše loutek, a puppet theater in the Municipal Library building in the Old Town. A good first theater outing for preschoolers.
A sing-along concert led by composer Jaroslav Uhlíř, with a live band and singer Jana Bittnerová. The set runs through the Uhlíř and Svěrák songbook, from "Holubí dům" and "Severní vítr" to tunes from the fairy-tale films Ať žijí duchové! and Lotrando a Zubejda. Kids can join in, and parents and grandparents will know most of the words.
Libozvuky is an interactive music show from Divadlo Minor, directed by Jiří Adámek. Actors and musicians build a landscape of sound, then use light and voices to conjure a creature on stage. There are no seats: kids sit on the floor beside a long wooden walkway, and children often call out what they see and edge closer to the actors. Marek Doubrava's score won the 2015 Theatre Critics' Award.
Krysáci, the rat friends from the Czech Večerníček bedtime series and books, move to the stage in this fairy tale by Divadlo pohádek. Hubert and Hodan, Eda the lab mouse from Prague and Ludvík the plaster gnome share an unusual home in a forgotten corner of a dump in Vizovice.
Instead of a screen, kids get live actors and a real stage. Libor Jeník wrote and directed it.
A stage version of the 1980 Czech TV fairy tale. A dragon has moved in just outside the kingdom, Princess Lenka is in danger, and it falls to young Martin and his brother Honza, the so-called fool, to prove that beating a dragon takes more than shiny armor.
The Svěrák and Uhlíř songs are ones Czech kids, parents and grandparents all know, and the cast sings them on stage. Performed in Czech.
A bathtub is the whole stage in this Divadlo Minor show about the rules parents repeat every day ("Don't run or you'll fall", "The bed is not a trampoline"). Mom and Dad turn out to be big kids themselves, with live music and animation projected on stage. In the second half, kids join in, shooting ping-pong balls into a sink and building marble runs from plumbing pipes.
Prague's biggest Christmas markets fill Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square with wooden stalls of Czech crafts: wooden nativity scenes, glass and straw ornaments, gingerbread and Czech sausages.
Old Town Square's giant spruce is the centerpiece, and choirs from around the country sing on the stage. Kids who like lights and music do well here; on evenings the crowds get thick, so a stroller moves slowly.
After falling out of a tree, Ema is stuck in a hospital bed with white walls and nothing to do. Out of that boredom, her room turns into a jungle, the sea and outer space, with guides from a monkey to Albert Einstein. The play mixes music, movement, projections and animation, and a group of primary-school kids who helped shape it also appear on stage.
A family walk across Prague Castle that ends in a Christmas labyrinth built by the Forman Brothers' Theatre (Divadlo bratří Formanů) and friends inside the Imperial Stables.
Start at the tree on St. George's Square, stop at the nativity scene beside St. Vitus Cathedral, then cross the Second Courtyard to the stables. Inside, kids wander an imaginary landscape that includes Johannes Kepler's astronomer's workshop.
Prague Castle opens its state rooms, usually closed to visitors, decorated for Advent. Families walk from the Matthias Gate through Plečnik's Column Hall, the Spanish Hall and the Rudolf Gallery, then on to the Throne Hall in the New Palace.
The cathedral, Golden Lane and the South Gardens open too, so it is a long day on foot. It suits school-age kids who can walk the route without a stroller.
The Říše loutek ensemble stages Božena Němcová's classic Czech fairy tale with string marionettes: gold is rare and salt is ordinary, until the salt runs out and the whole kingdom is in trouble.
The company has played this basement theater under the Municipal Library since it opened in 1928. The art deco hall has a starry ceiling and height-adjustable seats for small children.
The two hapless handymen from the Czech cartoon step off the screen and onto the stage, played by two actors. On vacation they still can't leave their tools alone: they tinker on the seabed, in outer space and in a hotel room they rebuild to look like their workshop at home. Petr Skoumal's familiar theme tune runs through the whole show.
On St Nicholas Eve, wooden boats leave the Vltava and slip into the Čertovka, the narrow canal behind Kampa. Devils lurk along the banks, hurling spooky but kind tales full of fire at the passing boats. On the river you also meet an angel and St Nicholas, who rewards the good kids.
A thrill for kids who know the Mikuláš tradition. Very fearful toddlers may find the devils too much.
Mikuláš, the Czech St. Nicholas, comes to Kampa with angels and devils to hand out gifts to kids, and the neighborhood switches on its Christmas tree on the island by the Vltava. It is an open-air, local evening that suits kids who like a costumed visitor, and the tree lighting gives everyone a reason to linger.
Čarodějnice Bordelína is the heroine of Sandra Dražilová Zlámalová's Czech children's books, and this stage musical brings her to life with songs, dance numbers and lavish staging. The theater bills it as a funny fairy tale for kids and their parents.
Her world includes an owl, a squirrel, a hare named Cyril, another witch and a wizard. It suits families who follow Czech, especially kids who know the books.
Three kings on camels lead a noisy band of drummers and trumpeters through Prague's old center, retelling the Magi's journey to Bethlehem. At the end they hand their gifts to the baby Jesus in a nativity scene.
It marks Three Kings Day, the close of Christmas, and kicks off the Three Kings Collection, a charity drive by Prague's Catholic charity. Kids who like animals and marching bands get both.
Each spring, Open House Praha unlocks dozens of Prague buildings that normally stay closed: palaces, embassies, monasteries, old waterworks, stadiums and new apartment blocks. Families wander in, follow volunteer guides and poke around spaces most locals never see.
The festival also runs a children's program, so younger visitors get their own way in. Best for curious kids who like exploring; toddlers may tire of the lines at the most popular buildings.
Prague's main public library fills a 1928 building on Mariánské náměstí. In the foyer stands Idiom, a column of 8,000 books built by Slovak artist Matej Krén.
The children's department has a reading corner for kids and parents, and the basement holds an Art Deco puppet theater with seats that raise up for the youngest audience. The library's own cinema also screens films for children.
Říše loutek is a marionette theater founded in 1920, playing in the City Library building on Žatecká street since 1928. Its own company stages classic Czech fairy tales, such as Hansel and Gretel (Perníková chaloupka), Dášeňka and Kašpárek in Hell, with string puppets on a traditional stage.
UNIMA, the international puppetry union, was founded here in 1929. Shows are performed in Czech, so the puppets carry the story.
The Náprstek Museum holds the National Museum's collections from Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania. The long-term Australia and Oceania halls show boomerangs, spears, carved masks, bark paintings and bark-cloth tapas, with interactive elements and large photographs. Other rooms host temporary shows and the story of founder Vojta Náprstek. The Oceania labels are in Czech only, so it suits kids who like looking more than reading.
An underground laser tag arena below Na Příkopě. Players suit up with a vest and blaster, get a short briefing, then play 12-minute rounds through fog, UV-painted walls and obstacles, with scores and stats after each game.
Modes range from free-for-all and red-versus-blue to secret-agent missions. Groups of 8 or more get the arena to themselves and pick the game mode.
A marionette theater in an Art Deco hall on Žatecká street, in the historic center of world puppetry, where the puppeteers' organization UNIMA was founded in 1929. The repertoire is built on two well-known marionette operas, Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute. The shows suit families and adults alike.
Minor is a theater of actors and puppets, founded in 1950 as the Central Puppet Theatre and housed in a colorful, award-winning building on Vodičkova since 2001. Shows mix puppets, masks and live acting.
Beyond the stage, kids can play in the Minor Gallery, an interactive installation in the passage, join hands-on workshops in the small Barloutka room, and snack at the theater café.
A fenced, staffed playground inside Kampa Park on Kampa Island, the strip of Malá Strana between the Vltava and the Čertovka channel. Rebuilt in 2006 with unusual architect-designed play structures, it is aimed at small children and includes equipment for kids with disabilities. There is a drinking fountain and a toilet on site. Older kids may find it tame; the riverside lawns of the park are next door.
A public playground on the summit of Petřín Hill, in park U rozhledny, the 2.5-hectare park around the Petřín Lookout Tower. The tower and the Mirror Maze stand a short walk away, and the Rose Garden spreads across the plateau next door, so a play break fits easily between sights. The funicular from Újezd climbs to the top and saves the steep walk up.
Kampa Park spreads 2.65 hectares of lawns and old trees across an island between the Vltava and the Čertovka, a narrow man-made channel. Kids can run the grass, use the playground, and spot the big wooden mill wheel of the old Grand Priory Mill on the Čertovka.
Museum Kampa's giant chair sculpture stands above the river, and Charles Bridge crosses the island's northern tip.
Petřín is a wooded hill of linked gardens rising above Malá Strana, crossed by walking paths with benches and city views. A funicular climbs from Újezd to the top, where the Petřín Lookout Tower, built in 1891 after the Eiffel Tower, and a mirror maze sit side by side. Kids also find several playgrounds, the medieval Hunger Wall and a rose garden at the summit.
A walled monastery garden tucked behind Wenceslas Square, with rose arches over the benches, low yew hedges, fruit trees and herb beds. Kids can hunt for the sculptures and fountains, including the Boy with a Shell and the Wild Girls fountain, then head to the playground, which sits behind a wall of climbing plants. The early-Baroque pavilion and the Church of Our Lady of the Snows frame the lawns.
A walled former convent garden, counted as the oldest partly preserved garden in the city, with shady paths, old trees and a small pond. Several peacocks roam the grounds.
Kids can peer into the Chapel of St. Elijah, built to look like a stalactite cave, climb the wide stairs to a terrace with rose pergolas and a painted 17th-century sundial, and burn off energy at the playground.
Small boats leave from Judita, a medieval underground pier beside Charles Bridge, and cruise the Vltava and the Čertovka, the narrow mill channel that splits Kampa Island from Malá Strana. Kids pass under the bridge arches and past an old waterwheel.
Commentary comes on headphones in 19 languages, and the ticket includes the Charles Bridge Museum at the pier. In winter the boats are enclosed and heated.
Slovanka is a long-running boat rental on Slovanský ostrov, the Vltava island that holds Žofín Palace. Families take out wooden rowing boats, pedal boats for up to six, or the swan-shaped pedal boat, with Charles Bridge and Prague Castle in view from the water.
Life jackets for children and non-swimmers are on hand, and the dock kiosk sells drinks and snacks. Evening trips come with a kerosene lantern.
The main square of the Old Town, edged by the Týn Church and the Old Town Hall. On the hall's Gothic tower, the medieval astronomical clock puts on its show every hour, when the twelve apostles file past above the dial.
Kids can ride a futuristic elevator or climb the tower for views over the square, and guided tours go down into the Romanesque-Gothic vaults under the hall.
Petřín Lookout Tower is a steel lattice tower built in 1891 as a one-fifth copy of the Eiffel Tower. Kids climb 299 wooden steps to the top cabin at 51 meters, with a gallery and binoculars at 20 meters to break up the climb. On a clear day the view takes in the whole city and much of Bohemia. The basement holds a small exhibition on the hill's history.
A cable railway that climbs Petřín Hill from Újezd in Malá Strana, with a middle stop at Nebozízek and the top station by the lookout tower, the mirror maze and the rose garden. The ride takes about three minutes up a steep wooded slope, with views to Prague Castle.
New glass-heavy cars arrived in 2026: when they pass halfway, one winks and the other changes color.
Charles Bridge is a 516-meter stone footbridge over the Vltava, linking the Old Town to Malá Strana. Thirty statues and statue groups of saints line its railings, and fortified towers stand at each end.
No cars have crossed since 1965, so kids can walk the whole span, and a stone staircase near the Malá Strana end leads down to Kampa.
The largest castle complex in the world spreads across 45 hectares of courtyards, palaces and gardens on the hill above the Vltava. Kids can walk the small, colorful houses of Golden Lane, climb the St Vitus Cathedral tower, and see the Old Royal Palace and St George's Basilica.
Uniformed guards stand at the gates, and the changing of the guard draws a crowd.
An interactive museum of Karel Zeman, the Czech filmmaker whose trick effects made Journey to the Beginning of Time and The Fabulous Baron Munchausen famous. The rooms are built as film sets, and kids are invited in: climb onto a flying machine, ride Baron Munchausen's winged horses, or steer the submarine from Invention for Destruction. Each set explains the trick behind the scene, and photos and videos are encouraged.
More than 150 interactive optical illusions and large trick paintings fill this museum on the first floor of the Myšák Gallery, a short walk from Wenceslas Square.
Kids shrink and grow in a magic room, walk up a ceiling, get fired from a cannon, and ride off in a dinosaur's talons. Every exhibit is set up for photos, so bring a charged phone.
The main building of the Museum of Prague reopened after a five-year renovation, with new technology inside a 1900 building. Kids get a bird's-eye flight over 19th-century Prague in an immersive hall, life-size "living pictures", and Antonín Langweil's 20 m² paper model of the city, where they can hunt for familiar streets.
An AI portrait of Langweil talks back, and Grifo, the museum's griffin, talks only to kids.
A wooden pavilion shaped like an old Gothic city gate, built for the 1891 Jubilee Exhibition and moved to Petřín Hill the next year. Kids wind through a maze of 35 mirrors to a large painted diorama of Prague's 1648 fight against the Swedes on Charles Bridge, then end in the Hall of Laughter, where warped mirrors stretch and squash them. The Petřín Lookout Tower stands a short walk away.
A public astronomy observatory from 1928 on Petřín hill, built against the medieval Hunger Wall. Its three domes hold telescopes, including a historic Zeiss double astrograph in the main dome. On clear days visitors look at the sun and sunspots; after dark, the moon, planets and deep-sky objects. Inside there is a permanent astronomy exhibition, and the Astrobistro café sits on the ground floor.
An indoor illusion museum a short walk from Wenceslas Square, with more than 50 hands-on exhibits about how eyes and brains get fooled. Kids grow and shrink in the Ames Room, lie on a bed of 1,209 nails, cast colored shadows in the RGB Room and dance in a mirrored disco room that seems to go on forever. Cameras are welcome in every room, so expect plenty of photos.
A private LEGO museum with about 3,000 models built from more than a million bricks, spread over 20 themed displays. Kids can spot LEGO versions of Charles Bridge, the Astronomical Clock and the National Theatre, plus Star Wars, Harry Potter, knights and trains, and learn that the first LEGO toys were wooden.
A building corner lets them make their own, and the shop stocks hard-to-find sets and minifigures.
The Historical Building at the top of Wenceslas Square holds the natural history halls: a fin whale skeleton, life-size models of prehistoric animals, fluorescent minerals and meteorites, and the domed Pantheon.
An underground passage leads to the New Building and its hands-on Children's Museum, where kids explore nature and invention through interactive exhibits and games. Older kids can add the 20th-century history galleries.
Prague's oldest quarters fit a lot into a short walk. Old Town and Malá Strana sit on either side of Charles Bridge, and this is where we look for puppet theater, family plays, gardens and river views without crossing the city. The list updates itself as new plans open, so check back before a weekend in the center.
St. Martin rides a white horse across Charles Bridge, leading a costumed procession with banners and a flock of geese. Czech folk wisdom says Martin brings the first snow, so at the Old Town end he hands snow to Prague's burgomaster. Then a St. Martin's market opens on the square.
Kids who like horses, animals and history in costume get the most from it.
A puppet show about Prague's Astronomical Clock, staged at Říše loutek, a mechanical puppet theater that has run inside the Municipal Library for a hundred years. The story follows the clock as keeper of time: Death ringing his bell, the twelve apostles, and the city's legends.
Shadow puppets, marionettes and glove puppets, some spooky and some comic, tell it through pictures and music, so kids from anywhere can follow.
GEOLAB is a geography game room run by Charles University's science faculty, part of its Geography Days. Kids and parents hunt for mistakes on maps, work out what satellite images show, and match population pyramids to the right countries. The games go well past capital cities, so it suits curious school-age kids more than preschoolers.
Tramtárie is a playful Czech show stitched together from scraps of nonsense poems and set to live music. Actors pop up, run past, whisper, splash and make things vanish in a world of words, colors, magic and laughter.
There is no lesson to learn here: the point is permission to be silly. The verses repeat until they stick, and parents say kids go home singing them.
Princ a Večernice is the stage version of the classic Czech fairy tale film. Young Prince Velen marries off his three sisters to the rulers of sun, moon and wind, falls for their sister Večernice, then has to leave the castle and find his own courage on the road. Standing in his way are robbers, false merchants and the cruel Mrakomor, ruler of bad weather. Expect suspense and gentle humor.
Hansel and Gretel as a puppet show by the Říše loutek company. The children wander off while picking strawberries and find a house made of gingerbread, where a witch plans to fatten Hansel up. The grumpy old man who lives with her dislikes children but befriends Hansel and stops her. Two dwarf puppets guide the story. The sets and puppets were made by the family of a late Czech artist.
A family concert where the Prague Symphony Orchestra plays alongside actors, dancers and young performers from Prague music and ballet schools. Two guides lead kids through a fairy-tale adventure of dragons, princesses and magic, with plenty of laughs on the way. It suits curious kids meeting an orchestra for the first time.
A dance revue play about Josephine Baker, the Broadway dancer who made Paris her home, spied against the Nazis in World War II and fought racism all her life. Radka Pavlovčinová plays her through charleston, songs and quick costume changes, with a talkative one-man orchestra and a cheetah named Chiquita.
It suits teens ready to talk about discrimination and about using their own voice.
A stage version of the famous Czech bedtime cartoon about a small dog, a present for a girl named Ája, who grows into a giant. Kids watch Fík sit at a school desk, star in a circus ring, drive a car and travel the world, only to find home is best.
A funny show about friendship and courage, spoken in Czech, so it suits kids who follow the language.
A live lecture show where a presenter runs experiments with liquid nitrogen at minus 196°C. Kids see how far a chilled balloon shrinks, what happens to an LED at that temperature, whether a splash of liquid nitrogen is dangerous, and why supercooled materials can levitate in a magnetic field. Popular with school groups and the public, it suits kids curious about science who can follow a talk.
A classic Czech puppet tale. Princess Majdalenka ends up in hell by mistake, and Kašpárek, the cheeky jester of Czech puppetry, sets off with his friend Honza to free her by outwitting the devils.
It plays at Divadlo Říše loutek, a puppet theater in the Municipal Library building in the Old Town. A good first theater outing for preschoolers.
A sing-along concert led by composer Jaroslav Uhlíř, with a live band and singer Jana Bittnerová. The set runs through the Uhlíř and Svěrák songbook, from "Holubí dům" and "Severní vítr" to tunes from the fairy-tale films Ať žijí duchové! and Lotrando a Zubejda. Kids can join in, and parents and grandparents will know most of the words.
Libozvuky is an interactive music show from Divadlo Minor, directed by Jiří Adámek. Actors and musicians build a landscape of sound, then use light and voices to conjure a creature on stage. There are no seats: kids sit on the floor beside a long wooden walkway, and children often call out what they see and edge closer to the actors. Marek Doubrava's score won the 2015 Theatre Critics' Award.
Krysáci, the rat friends from the Czech Večerníček bedtime series and books, move to the stage in this fairy tale by Divadlo pohádek. Hubert and Hodan, Eda the lab mouse from Prague and Ludvík the plaster gnome share an unusual home in a forgotten corner of a dump in Vizovice.
Instead of a screen, kids get live actors and a real stage. Libor Jeník wrote and directed it.
A stage version of the 1980 Czech TV fairy tale. A dragon has moved in just outside the kingdom, Princess Lenka is in danger, and it falls to young Martin and his brother Honza, the so-called fool, to prove that beating a dragon takes more than shiny armor.
The Svěrák and Uhlíř songs are ones Czech kids, parents and grandparents all know, and the cast sings them on stage. Performed in Czech.
A bathtub is the whole stage in this Divadlo Minor show about the rules parents repeat every day ("Don't run or you'll fall", "The bed is not a trampoline"). Mom and Dad turn out to be big kids themselves, with live music and animation projected on stage. In the second half, kids join in, shooting ping-pong balls into a sink and building marble runs from plumbing pipes.
Prague's biggest Christmas markets fill Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square with wooden stalls of Czech crafts: wooden nativity scenes, glass and straw ornaments, gingerbread and Czech sausages.
Old Town Square's giant spruce is the centerpiece, and choirs from around the country sing on the stage. Kids who like lights and music do well here; on evenings the crowds get thick, so a stroller moves slowly.
After falling out of a tree, Ema is stuck in a hospital bed with white walls and nothing to do. Out of that boredom, her room turns into a jungle, the sea and outer space, with guides from a monkey to Albert Einstein. The play mixes music, movement, projections and animation, and a group of primary-school kids who helped shape it also appear on stage.
A family walk across Prague Castle that ends in a Christmas labyrinth built by the Forman Brothers' Theatre (Divadlo bratří Formanů) and friends inside the Imperial Stables.
Start at the tree on St. George's Square, stop at the nativity scene beside St. Vitus Cathedral, then cross the Second Courtyard to the stables. Inside, kids wander an imaginary landscape that includes Johannes Kepler's astronomer's workshop.
Prague Castle opens its state rooms, usually closed to visitors, decorated for Advent. Families walk from the Matthias Gate through Plečnik's Column Hall, the Spanish Hall and the Rudolf Gallery, then on to the Throne Hall in the New Palace.
The cathedral, Golden Lane and the South Gardens open too, so it is a long day on foot. It suits school-age kids who can walk the route without a stroller.
The Říše loutek ensemble stages Božena Němcová's classic Czech fairy tale with string marionettes: gold is rare and salt is ordinary, until the salt runs out and the whole kingdom is in trouble.
The company has played this basement theater under the Municipal Library since it opened in 1928. The art deco hall has a starry ceiling and height-adjustable seats for small children.
The two hapless handymen from the Czech cartoon step off the screen and onto the stage, played by two actors. On vacation they still can't leave their tools alone: they tinker on the seabed, in outer space and in a hotel room they rebuild to look like their workshop at home. Petr Skoumal's familiar theme tune runs through the whole show.
On St Nicholas Eve, wooden boats leave the Vltava and slip into the Čertovka, the narrow canal behind Kampa. Devils lurk along the banks, hurling spooky but kind tales full of fire at the passing boats. On the river you also meet an angel and St Nicholas, who rewards the good kids.
A thrill for kids who know the Mikuláš tradition. Very fearful toddlers may find the devils too much.
Mikuláš, the Czech St. Nicholas, comes to Kampa with angels and devils to hand out gifts to kids, and the neighborhood switches on its Christmas tree on the island by the Vltava. It is an open-air, local evening that suits kids who like a costumed visitor, and the tree lighting gives everyone a reason to linger.
Čarodějnice Bordelína is the heroine of Sandra Dražilová Zlámalová's Czech children's books, and this stage musical brings her to life with songs, dance numbers and lavish staging. The theater bills it as a funny fairy tale for kids and their parents.
Her world includes an owl, a squirrel, a hare named Cyril, another witch and a wizard. It suits families who follow Czech, especially kids who know the books.
Three kings on camels lead a noisy band of drummers and trumpeters through Prague's old center, retelling the Magi's journey to Bethlehem. At the end they hand their gifts to the baby Jesus in a nativity scene.
It marks Three Kings Day, the close of Christmas, and kicks off the Three Kings Collection, a charity drive by Prague's Catholic charity. Kids who like animals and marching bands get both.
Each spring, Open House Praha unlocks dozens of Prague buildings that normally stay closed: palaces, embassies, monasteries, old waterworks, stadiums and new apartment blocks. Families wander in, follow volunteer guides and poke around spaces most locals never see.
The festival also runs a children's program, so younger visitors get their own way in. Best for curious kids who like exploring; toddlers may tire of the lines at the most popular buildings.
Prague's main public library fills a 1928 building on Mariánské náměstí. In the foyer stands Idiom, a column of 8,000 books built by Slovak artist Matej Krén.
The children's department has a reading corner for kids and parents, and the basement holds an Art Deco puppet theater with seats that raise up for the youngest audience. The library's own cinema also screens films for children.
Říše loutek is a marionette theater founded in 1920, playing in the City Library building on Žatecká street since 1928. Its own company stages classic Czech fairy tales, such as Hansel and Gretel (Perníková chaloupka), Dášeňka and Kašpárek in Hell, with string puppets on a traditional stage.
UNIMA, the international puppetry union, was founded here in 1929. Shows are performed in Czech, so the puppets carry the story.
The Náprstek Museum holds the National Museum's collections from Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania. The long-term Australia and Oceania halls show boomerangs, spears, carved masks, bark paintings and bark-cloth tapas, with interactive elements and large photographs. Other rooms host temporary shows and the story of founder Vojta Náprstek. The Oceania labels are in Czech only, so it suits kids who like looking more than reading.
An underground laser tag arena below Na Příkopě. Players suit up with a vest and blaster, get a short briefing, then play 12-minute rounds through fog, UV-painted walls and obstacles, with scores and stats after each game.
Modes range from free-for-all and red-versus-blue to secret-agent missions. Groups of 8 or more get the arena to themselves and pick the game mode.
A marionette theater in an Art Deco hall on Žatecká street, in the historic center of world puppetry, where the puppeteers' organization UNIMA was founded in 1929. The repertoire is built on two well-known marionette operas, Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute. The shows suit families and adults alike.
Minor is a theater of actors and puppets, founded in 1950 as the Central Puppet Theatre and housed in a colorful, award-winning building on Vodičkova since 2001. Shows mix puppets, masks and live acting.
Beyond the stage, kids can play in the Minor Gallery, an interactive installation in the passage, join hands-on workshops in the small Barloutka room, and snack at the theater café.
A fenced, staffed playground inside Kampa Park on Kampa Island, the strip of Malá Strana between the Vltava and the Čertovka channel. Rebuilt in 2006 with unusual architect-designed play structures, it is aimed at small children and includes equipment for kids with disabilities. There is a drinking fountain and a toilet on site. Older kids may find it tame; the riverside lawns of the park are next door.
A public playground on the summit of Petřín Hill, in park U rozhledny, the 2.5-hectare park around the Petřín Lookout Tower. The tower and the Mirror Maze stand a short walk away, and the Rose Garden spreads across the plateau next door, so a play break fits easily between sights. The funicular from Újezd climbs to the top and saves the steep walk up.
Kampa Park spreads 2.65 hectares of lawns and old trees across an island between the Vltava and the Čertovka, a narrow man-made channel. Kids can run the grass, use the playground, and spot the big wooden mill wheel of the old Grand Priory Mill on the Čertovka.
Museum Kampa's giant chair sculpture stands above the river, and Charles Bridge crosses the island's northern tip.
Petřín is a wooded hill of linked gardens rising above Malá Strana, crossed by walking paths with benches and city views. A funicular climbs from Újezd to the top, where the Petřín Lookout Tower, built in 1891 after the Eiffel Tower, and a mirror maze sit side by side. Kids also find several playgrounds, the medieval Hunger Wall and a rose garden at the summit.
A walled monastery garden tucked behind Wenceslas Square, with rose arches over the benches, low yew hedges, fruit trees and herb beds. Kids can hunt for the sculptures and fountains, including the Boy with a Shell and the Wild Girls fountain, then head to the playground, which sits behind a wall of climbing plants. The early-Baroque pavilion and the Church of Our Lady of the Snows frame the lawns.
A walled former convent garden, counted as the oldest partly preserved garden in the city, with shady paths, old trees and a small pond. Several peacocks roam the grounds.
Kids can peer into the Chapel of St. Elijah, built to look like a stalactite cave, climb the wide stairs to a terrace with rose pergolas and a painted 17th-century sundial, and burn off energy at the playground.
Small boats leave from Judita, a medieval underground pier beside Charles Bridge, and cruise the Vltava and the Čertovka, the narrow mill channel that splits Kampa Island from Malá Strana. Kids pass under the bridge arches and past an old waterwheel.
Commentary comes on headphones in 19 languages, and the ticket includes the Charles Bridge Museum at the pier. In winter the boats are enclosed and heated.
Slovanka is a long-running boat rental on Slovanský ostrov, the Vltava island that holds Žofín Palace. Families take out wooden rowing boats, pedal boats for up to six, or the swan-shaped pedal boat, with Charles Bridge and Prague Castle in view from the water.
Life jackets for children and non-swimmers are on hand, and the dock kiosk sells drinks and snacks. Evening trips come with a kerosene lantern.
The main square of the Old Town, edged by the Týn Church and the Old Town Hall. On the hall's Gothic tower, the medieval astronomical clock puts on its show every hour, when the twelve apostles file past above the dial.
Kids can ride a futuristic elevator or climb the tower for views over the square, and guided tours go down into the Romanesque-Gothic vaults under the hall.
Petřín Lookout Tower is a steel lattice tower built in 1891 as a one-fifth copy of the Eiffel Tower. Kids climb 299 wooden steps to the top cabin at 51 meters, with a gallery and binoculars at 20 meters to break up the climb. On a clear day the view takes in the whole city and much of Bohemia. The basement holds a small exhibition on the hill's history.
A cable railway that climbs Petřín Hill from Újezd in Malá Strana, with a middle stop at Nebozízek and the top station by the lookout tower, the mirror maze and the rose garden. The ride takes about three minutes up a steep wooded slope, with views to Prague Castle.
New glass-heavy cars arrived in 2026: when they pass halfway, one winks and the other changes color.
Charles Bridge is a 516-meter stone footbridge over the Vltava, linking the Old Town to Malá Strana. Thirty statues and statue groups of saints line its railings, and fortified towers stand at each end.
No cars have crossed since 1965, so kids can walk the whole span, and a stone staircase near the Malá Strana end leads down to Kampa.
The largest castle complex in the world spreads across 45 hectares of courtyards, palaces and gardens on the hill above the Vltava. Kids can walk the small, colorful houses of Golden Lane, climb the St Vitus Cathedral tower, and see the Old Royal Palace and St George's Basilica.
Uniformed guards stand at the gates, and the changing of the guard draws a crowd.
An interactive museum of Karel Zeman, the Czech filmmaker whose trick effects made Journey to the Beginning of Time and The Fabulous Baron Munchausen famous. The rooms are built as film sets, and kids are invited in: climb onto a flying machine, ride Baron Munchausen's winged horses, or steer the submarine from Invention for Destruction. Each set explains the trick behind the scene, and photos and videos are encouraged.
More than 150 interactive optical illusions and large trick paintings fill this museum on the first floor of the Myšák Gallery, a short walk from Wenceslas Square.
Kids shrink and grow in a magic room, walk up a ceiling, get fired from a cannon, and ride off in a dinosaur's talons. Every exhibit is set up for photos, so bring a charged phone.
The main building of the Museum of Prague reopened after a five-year renovation, with new technology inside a 1900 building. Kids get a bird's-eye flight over 19th-century Prague in an immersive hall, life-size "living pictures", and Antonín Langweil's 20 m² paper model of the city, where they can hunt for familiar streets.
An AI portrait of Langweil talks back, and Grifo, the museum's griffin, talks only to kids.
A wooden pavilion shaped like an old Gothic city gate, built for the 1891 Jubilee Exhibition and moved to Petřín Hill the next year. Kids wind through a maze of 35 mirrors to a large painted diorama of Prague's 1648 fight against the Swedes on Charles Bridge, then end in the Hall of Laughter, where warped mirrors stretch and squash them. The Petřín Lookout Tower stands a short walk away.
A public astronomy observatory from 1928 on Petřín hill, built against the medieval Hunger Wall. Its three domes hold telescopes, including a historic Zeiss double astrograph in the main dome. On clear days visitors look at the sun and sunspots; after dark, the moon, planets and deep-sky objects. Inside there is a permanent astronomy exhibition, and the Astrobistro café sits on the ground floor.
An indoor illusion museum a short walk from Wenceslas Square, with more than 50 hands-on exhibits about how eyes and brains get fooled. Kids grow and shrink in the Ames Room, lie on a bed of 1,209 nails, cast colored shadows in the RGB Room and dance in a mirrored disco room that seems to go on forever. Cameras are welcome in every room, so expect plenty of photos.
A private LEGO museum with about 3,000 models built from more than a million bricks, spread over 20 themed displays. Kids can spot LEGO versions of Charles Bridge, the Astronomical Clock and the National Theatre, plus Star Wars, Harry Potter, knights and trains, and learn that the first LEGO toys were wooden.
A building corner lets them make their own, and the shop stocks hard-to-find sets and minifigures.
The Historical Building at the top of Wenceslas Square holds the natural history halls: a fin whale skeleton, life-size models of prehistoric animals, fluorescent minerals and meteorites, and the domed Pantheon.
An underground passage leads to the New Building and its hands-on Children's Museum, where kids explore nature and invention through interactive exhibits and games. Older kids can add the 20th-century history galleries.
