Jullov, the school Christmas break, falls in the darkest weeks of the year, when the sun sets before 3pm. Swedes celebrate on julafton, Christmas Eve, and the city goes quiet that day. For the rest of the break we paired outdoor rinks with warm indoor backups: holiday shows, hands-on museums and a big indoor pool. Here's what we checked, from skating in Kungsträdgården to the story train at Junibacken.
Gröna Lund opens Lilla Området, the small-kids corner of the amusement park, for a new winter season built around Christmas. Kids ride winterized carousels, watch ice-skating shows and Gnutt performances, meet the Ice Queen, and hand their wish lists to Tomten, Tomtemor and their elves.
Made for families with younger children. Kids hoping for the big thrill rides should know only the little-kids area is open.
Pär Isberg's Nutcracker is the Royal Swedish Ballet's Christmas classic, retold with Elsa Beskow's storybook characters. Petter and Lotta live with Aunt Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavender and are celebrating Christmas for the very first time.
The children want to sleep under the Christmas tree, and that night an enchanted world opens up around them. It suits kids who can sit through a full evening ballet with an intermission.
Dröse & Norberg's own stage version of The Jungle Book, with Mowgli, Baloo, Bagheera, Kaa and Shere Kahn alongside a troop of monkeys and their King Gibbon. It mixes original songs, humor and acrobatics, played by a large cast of Swedish musical performers in big fur-and-feather costumes. The show has drawn over 200,000 people and suits kids who can sit through a full-length theater show with an intermission.
Gräv (Dig) is a new puppet musical by Miriam Forsberg. Every morning Billie walks past a building site on the way to preschool, until one day the digger turns and looks back. A friendship grows from feeling different, and Billie's fascination brings back the digger's lost spark.
Songs carry the story. The director calls it a tribute to kids with special interests, so it lands well with machine-obsessed preschoolers.
A playful music session built around The Little Prince, the French classic about a boy from the tiny planet B612 who travels between planets. A Dramaten actor and young musicians from the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic's Orchestra Academy tell the story to live classical music on flute, bassoon and violin.
It's made for toddlers with a grown-up beside them, so expect joining in more than watching from afar.
Babblarna, the colorful Swedish characters, star in an interactive musical set at Klonk's birthday party. There's cake, balloons, a fishing game and party hats on stage, and the kids join in: clapping the beat, babbling, pretending to drive a car and dancing along.
The cast tells the story with speech, signs, song and dance. It's made for the very youngest, so school-age siblings may find it too young.
Teater Pero's stage version of Sven Nordqvist's picture book. Lonely old Pettson gets a kitten delivered in a box of green peas, names him Findus, and his gray days fill with color. Then one day Findus is gone. Two actors play the story with music on a set built from rag rugs. It is about daring to get a little lost, and trusting others to help when you do.
Tomtebobarnen is a dance and music show for toddlers, loosely based on Elsa Beskow's picture book Children of the Forest. Three performers in red mushroom hats play siblings through a year in the woods: they grow, squabble, play and learn about each other. Teater Tre tells it through dance, movement, music and play, and the room is small, so the youngest sit close to the action.
An outdoor public rink in Kungsträdgården, the central park locals call Kungsan, open to everyone each winter while the weather allows. It works for a first wobbly try on skates as well as a few laps after a walk around the city center.
Through the season the rink hosts skating discos, try-it sessions, figure skating shows, concerts and choir performances, plus the switch-on of the city's Christmas lights.
A small outdoor ice rink set on Medborgarplatsen, the large Södermalm square locals call "Medis". In winter kids skate laps right in the middle of the square; in summer the same spot turns into a terrace with benches.
A big public library stands on one corner of the square, and the 17th-century Lillienhoff Palace sits diagonally across.
Skansen has celebrated New Year's Eve since 1893, and the midnight countdown on the Solliden stage is broadcast live on Swedish TV by SVT. Families count down together outdoors, with Stockholm as the backdrop.
It suits kids who can stay up late and cope with a crowd in the winter cold. Daytime visitors can explore the park earlier in the day; the evening is all about the countdown.
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.
A 2,500-square-meter indoor exhibition on Skeppsholmen with 26 animatronic dinosaurs, two complete skeletons and three skulls. The dinosaurs stand in built sets with plants, water, wind, light, sound and scent, so kids walk through a prehistoric world instead of past glass cases.
It comes from the team behind Paradox Museum and Fotografiska. Moving animatronics with sound can be a lot for toddlers who scare easily.
Eriksdalsbadet is the City of Stockholm's big public swimming complex beside Årstaviken, and Sweden's national arena for competitive swimming. Indoors there are 50-meter and 25-meter pools, a diving pool with a tower and a teaching pool.
The adventure pool has water slides, several whirlpools and a section where you can swim out into the open air. A large outdoor 50-meter pool opens in summer.
Jullov, the school Christmas break, falls in the darkest weeks of the year, when the sun sets before 3pm. Swedes celebrate on julafton, Christmas Eve, and the city goes quiet that day. For the rest of the break we paired outdoor rinks with warm indoor backups: holiday shows, hands-on museums and a big indoor pool. Here's what we checked, from skating in Kungsträdgården to the story train at Junibacken.
Gröna Lund opens Lilla Området, the small-kids corner of the amusement park, for a new winter season built around Christmas. Kids ride winterized carousels, watch ice-skating shows and Gnutt performances, meet the Ice Queen, and hand their wish lists to Tomten, Tomtemor and their elves.
Made for families with younger children. Kids hoping for the big thrill rides should know only the little-kids area is open.
Pär Isberg's Nutcracker is the Royal Swedish Ballet's Christmas classic, retold with Elsa Beskow's storybook characters. Petter and Lotta live with Aunt Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavender and are celebrating Christmas for the very first time.
The children want to sleep under the Christmas tree, and that night an enchanted world opens up around them. It suits kids who can sit through a full evening ballet with an intermission.
Dröse & Norberg's own stage version of The Jungle Book, with Mowgli, Baloo, Bagheera, Kaa and Shere Kahn alongside a troop of monkeys and their King Gibbon. It mixes original songs, humor and acrobatics, played by a large cast of Swedish musical performers in big fur-and-feather costumes. The show has drawn over 200,000 people and suits kids who can sit through a full-length theater show with an intermission.
Gräv (Dig) is a new puppet musical by Miriam Forsberg. Every morning Billie walks past a building site on the way to preschool, until one day the digger turns and looks back. A friendship grows from feeling different, and Billie's fascination brings back the digger's lost spark.
Songs carry the story. The director calls it a tribute to kids with special interests, so it lands well with machine-obsessed preschoolers.
A playful music session built around The Little Prince, the French classic about a boy from the tiny planet B612 who travels between planets. A Dramaten actor and young musicians from the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic's Orchestra Academy tell the story to live classical music on flute, bassoon and violin.
It's made for toddlers with a grown-up beside them, so expect joining in more than watching from afar.
Babblarna, the colorful Swedish characters, star in an interactive musical set at Klonk's birthday party. There's cake, balloons, a fishing game and party hats on stage, and the kids join in: clapping the beat, babbling, pretending to drive a car and dancing along.
The cast tells the story with speech, signs, song and dance. It's made for the very youngest, so school-age siblings may find it too young.
Teater Pero's stage version of Sven Nordqvist's picture book. Lonely old Pettson gets a kitten delivered in a box of green peas, names him Findus, and his gray days fill with color. Then one day Findus is gone. Two actors play the story with music on a set built from rag rugs. It is about daring to get a little lost, and trusting others to help when you do.
Tomtebobarnen is a dance and music show for toddlers, loosely based on Elsa Beskow's picture book Children of the Forest. Three performers in red mushroom hats play siblings through a year in the woods: they grow, squabble, play and learn about each other. Teater Tre tells it through dance, movement, music and play, and the room is small, so the youngest sit close to the action.
An outdoor public rink in Kungsträdgården, the central park locals call Kungsan, open to everyone each winter while the weather allows. It works for a first wobbly try on skates as well as a few laps after a walk around the city center.
Through the season the rink hosts skating discos, try-it sessions, figure skating shows, concerts and choir performances, plus the switch-on of the city's Christmas lights.
A small outdoor ice rink set on Medborgarplatsen, the large Södermalm square locals call "Medis". In winter kids skate laps right in the middle of the square; in summer the same spot turns into a terrace with benches.
A big public library stands on one corner of the square, and the 17th-century Lillienhoff Palace sits diagonally across.
Skansen has celebrated New Year's Eve since 1893, and the midnight countdown on the Solliden stage is broadcast live on Swedish TV by SVT. Families count down together outdoors, with Stockholm as the backdrop.
It suits kids who can stay up late and cope with a crowd in the winter cold. Daytime visitors can explore the park earlier in the day; the evening is all about the countdown.
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.
A 2,500-square-meter indoor exhibition on Skeppsholmen with 26 animatronic dinosaurs, two complete skeletons and three skulls. The dinosaurs stand in built sets with plants, water, wind, light, sound and scent, so kids walk through a prehistoric world instead of past glass cases.
It comes from the team behind Paradox Museum and Fotografiska. Moving animatronics with sound can be a lot for toddlers who scare easily.
Eriksdalsbadet is the City of Stockholm's big public swimming complex beside Årstaviken, and Sweden's national arena for competitive swimming. Indoors there are 50-meter and 25-meter pools, a diving pool with a tower and a teaching pool.
The adventure pool has water slides, several whirlpools and a section where you can swim out into the open air. A large outdoor 50-meter pool opens in summer.
