Swedish Easter has its own witches. On Maundy Thursday, kids dress up as påskkärringar in headscarves and painted cheeks, knock on doors and trade drawings for candy, and homes fill with birch twigs tied with colored feathers. Påsklov, the school spring break, falls right around the holiday, so there are days to fill. Here's what we checked, from Easter in Skansen's old farmsteads to the hands-on experiments at Tom Tits.
Skansen, Stockholm's open-air museum, marks Easter the way Swedes did in the past. Its historic houses and farmsteads show how homes were decorated and festive meals prepared for the holiday.
It suits kids who like stories and old things, and the folklore is good to share: Maundy Thursday was witches' night, and on Easter Eve people gathered around the fire to scare the Easter witches away.
Skansen is the world's oldest open-air museum: historic houses and farmsteads from across Sweden that show how people lived and worked over the centuries. Its zoo keeps Nordic wild animals such as moose, bears and seals, plus traditional Swedish farm breeds.
Lill-Skansen, the children's zoo, has small animals and big indoor and outdoor play areas with a snake slide. The Baltic Sea Science Center shows life under the Baltic.
Junibacken is an indoor attraction built around children's books, on Djurgården. The Story Train carries visitors through handmade sets from Astrid Lindgren's stories, from Emil to Ronja, with narration in 12 languages.
The ride ends at Villa Villekulla, Pippi Longstocking's house, where the in-house ensemble puts on theater shows. A story square holds scenes from the Moomins and other picture books, and there is a children's bookstore and a restaurant.
Tekniska museet, the National Museum of Science and Technology, has ten hands-on exhibitions across 12,000 square meters. In Teknoleket, the youngest visitors build marble mazes and turn cog wheels. In The Mine, kids walk the dark old mining tracks, then try drill simulators and detonate explosives. Play Beyond Play has game stations, and the Wisdome Stockholm dome runs 3D shows on space and nature.
Sweden's largest museum runs from dinosaur skeletons in Fossils and Evolution to the native animals of Nature in Sweden, set in their habitats. Polar Tracks covers the Arctic and Antarctica, and Treasures from the Earth's Interior has gemstones and crystals.
The Animal Human is the most hands-on hall, where kids test how their bodies work against other animals. The building also holds Cosmonova, an IMAX dome theater 23 meters across.
Tom Tits Experiment is Sweden's largest science center, with more than 400 do-it-yourself experiments over four floors and an outdoor experiment park. Kids build a bridge and test whether it holds their weight, pull out a model small intestine to see how long it is, and puzzle through an illusion gallery. No prior knowledge is needed, and many experiments are built at a height small children can reach.
Stora Skuggans 4H-gård is a nonprofit farm run like an old Swedish farmstead, set in Ekoparken on Norra Djurgården. Most of the animals are Swedish heritage breeds kept in gene-bank conservation projects: mountain cows, Jämtland goats, Rya sheep and Hedemora hens, plus rabbits, cats, Icelandic horses and a Shetland pony.
Visitors walk between the paddocks to see the animals, and walking paths run through the parkland around the farm.
Rosendals Trädgård is a biodynamic market garden on Djurgården, run by a foundation. Paths lead past vegetable plots, a rose garden, an orchard, a vineyard and greenhouses, and there is a playground and an educational garden for children.
The greenhouse café cooks with the garden's own harvest, and the wood-fired bakery holds Stockholm's largest oven. From late July, kids can cut their own bouquet in the flower field.
Swedish Easter has its own witches. On Maundy Thursday, kids dress up as påskkärringar in headscarves and painted cheeks, knock on doors and trade drawings for candy, and homes fill with birch twigs tied with colored feathers. Påsklov, the school spring break, falls right around the holiday, so there are days to fill. Here's what we checked, from Easter in Skansen's old farmsteads to the hands-on experiments at Tom Tits.
Skansen, Stockholm's open-air museum, marks Easter the way Swedes did in the past. Its historic houses and farmsteads show how homes were decorated and festive meals prepared for the holiday.
It suits kids who like stories and old things, and the folklore is good to share: Maundy Thursday was witches' night, and on Easter Eve people gathered around the fire to scare the Easter witches away.
Skansen is the world's oldest open-air museum: historic houses and farmsteads from across Sweden that show how people lived and worked over the centuries. Its zoo keeps Nordic wild animals such as moose, bears and seals, plus traditional Swedish farm breeds.
Lill-Skansen, the children's zoo, has small animals and big indoor and outdoor play areas with a snake slide. The Baltic Sea Science Center shows life under the Baltic.
Junibacken is an indoor attraction built around children's books, on Djurgården. The Story Train carries visitors through handmade sets from Astrid Lindgren's stories, from Emil to Ronja, with narration in 12 languages.
The ride ends at Villa Villekulla, Pippi Longstocking's house, where the in-house ensemble puts on theater shows. A story square holds scenes from the Moomins and other picture books, and there is a children's bookstore and a restaurant.
Tekniska museet, the National Museum of Science and Technology, has ten hands-on exhibitions across 12,000 square meters. In Teknoleket, the youngest visitors build marble mazes and turn cog wheels. In The Mine, kids walk the dark old mining tracks, then try drill simulators and detonate explosives. Play Beyond Play has game stations, and the Wisdome Stockholm dome runs 3D shows on space and nature.
Sweden's largest museum runs from dinosaur skeletons in Fossils and Evolution to the native animals of Nature in Sweden, set in their habitats. Polar Tracks covers the Arctic and Antarctica, and Treasures from the Earth's Interior has gemstones and crystals.
The Animal Human is the most hands-on hall, where kids test how their bodies work against other animals. The building also holds Cosmonova, an IMAX dome theater 23 meters across.
Tom Tits Experiment is Sweden's largest science center, with more than 400 do-it-yourself experiments over four floors and an outdoor experiment park. Kids build a bridge and test whether it holds their weight, pull out a model small intestine to see how long it is, and puzzle through an illusion gallery. No prior knowledge is needed, and many experiments are built at a height small children can reach.
Stora Skuggans 4H-gård is a nonprofit farm run like an old Swedish farmstead, set in Ekoparken on Norra Djurgården. Most of the animals are Swedish heritage breeds kept in gene-bank conservation projects: mountain cows, Jämtland goats, Rya sheep and Hedemora hens, plus rabbits, cats, Icelandic horses and a Shetland pony.
Visitors walk between the paddocks to see the animals, and walking paths run through the parkland around the farm.
Rosendals Trädgård is a biodynamic market garden on Djurgården, run by a foundation. Paths lead past vegetable plots, a rose garden, an orchard, a vineyard and greenhouses, and there is a playground and an educational garden for children.
The greenhouse café cooks with the garden's own harvest, and the wood-fired bakery holds Stockholm's largest oven. From late July, kids can cut their own bouquet in the flower field.
