The Child Friendly Djurgården

Royal Djurgården is the perfect island for the whole family! For many generations, kids have grown up with wonderful memories here and bring their own children or grandchildren to get the same fun and educational experience. Playful, interactive museums, kid friendly foods and green areas to run around in. On our website you’ll find our Calender, where you can filter events to suit your interests and family. Fun activities happen all the time so stay updated! Here are some suggestions on child friendly places to visit!

Junibacken: 

Junibacken is a given to visit with the family, and no wonder! Visitors come from all over the world to dive into Astrid Lindgren’s magical stories. With a variety of interactive exhibitions made for kids to play with it’s no wonder you get hours of fun. Play areas are made for the kids to move and get creative. Astrid Lindren was an advocate to bring other authors into the light so you will also encounter other iconic stories like Moomin, Pettson and Findus, Lasse-Maja’s Detective Bureau and many more. It’s a place which celebrates childrens literature and brings fairytales to life. 

Besides the play areas you can catch shows for all ages. Of course you get to meet Pippi and her friends but also many others. There is also the exciting Story Train which takes you on a ride through the stories of Astrid Lindgren. You will meet Maddicken, Emil, Karlsson On The Roof, Ronja the Robbers Daughter and so many more characters. The audio guide in Swedish is also the last thing Astrid Lindgren wrote and recorded with her own voice, a nostalgic voice that continues to put a smile on people’s lips. A truly magical heritage from our beloved author. 

The Nordic Museum:

This museum focuses on culture history in Sweden from the 1600s until present day and offer exhibitions that uses different items, fashion and images to present different themes and eras. It’s extra fun for the kids since they enter for free! In their Time Valut you get to step through a portal that takes you back to 1870 and moves you through time. in here children get to experience what their daily lives would have looked like during different times. What toys existed? What did a home look like? The exhibition is a praised and awarded experience which uses stageography, digital stations and real items to tell 150 years worth of history. It’s open daily and requires a booking ahead of time.

During weekends there is also the Play Room which allows kids to play with many interesting objects (genuine historical items too!) and act out the lives of a maid or farmer during the end of the 1800s. Milking the cows, take the cart down to the general store, carry firewood to the stove or hang laundry on a line. There are always chores on the farm! There is a small fee for kids to enter the Play Room and bookings are required. Suitable for kids 5 years old and up.

Museum of Science and Technology:

The heart of our science and technology community is found at our Museum of Science and Tech! With lots of fun, interactive exhibitions and experiments you can spend ours both playing and learning. You can get creative, play video games, experience alternative futures and partake in experiments of different kinds. It’s a diverse collection of exhibitions too: A.I, mining, sustainable cities, nuclear power and so much more. Best part is that this museum has the longest opening hours, which lets you play from 10 in the morning until 10 in the evening. Isn’t that awesome?

Durin December of 2023 we will welcome the experience called Wisdome! The museum has built a unique building with groundbreaking technology that allows us to view and understand the world on a microscopic level. Here they will show cool movies about science, act as a meeting point to organize events and provide educational material for school trips. 

Skansen:

Skansen is a beloved place where families have gathered since 1981! It is an open-air museum which displays Swedish culture and history along with nordic animals of different kinds, making it a must for the kids to experience. Skansen offers daily activities for kids as well as older kids and adults. For the kids they have theatre and musicals, crafts, interactive meetings with animals and games from the past. You also find playgrounds spread out all over the park as well as the tivoli area Galejan, Little Skansen, play areas and much more.

Skansen is open all year round and getting a annual card for the family is a must for many Stockholm families. There are events and activities during holidays and different seasons so it’s always a good idea to check their calender and aily activities. One day is never enough to experience all that Skansen has to offer. 

Child Friendly Exhibitions and Attractions:

There are several attractions and exhibitions that are child-friendly. for exmple, at The Museumpark (Museiparken) you will find several museums that welcome kids. You can do cultural crafts at the Ethnographic Museum, play at the Blubb exhibition at the Maritime Museum, solve crimes at the Police Museum or try different sports at the National Sport Museum (which is free for everyone!). They also bring out toys and games to use outside when the weather allows for it.  

For the more adventurous ones, Gröna Lund amusement park offers a separate area for the youngest visitors where you can go on smaller, slower rides such as the merry-go-round, the teacups or vintage cars on rails. You can visit Pettson and Findus curious house or enjoy tivoli games. Around the corner from the amusement park you will find The Viking Museum which has a story ride for the bravest of kids, which brings you on a raid through Europe. Maybe you dare challenge a viking to a sword fight? 

Many of the museums also offer family friendly tours and guides which is adapted to the kids. It’s a good way to introduce history, culture and science to kids of all ages.

Foods for all ages:

During or after all the play and games you might need to eat something to charge your batteries. The restaurants around djurgården have kids menues and there is always something available for most. However, some pearls stick out and are worth a visit. Junibacken’s own restaurant has something for everyone, such as typcial Swedish pancakes. How about viking-meatballs at Restaurant Eld or maybe a good pizza by the water at Restaurant Djurgårdsbron.

As tasty as these meals can be, kids often only have one thing on their minds: ice cream of course! To celebrate the exhibition about Emil In Lönneberga, Junibacken has created a Emil-ice cream with a blueberry and creamy vanilla flavor. At the Wasa Harbouryou will find Kenny’s Gelato who are the national champions in ice cream making! Find exciting and unique flavors that are made with celeb-collaborations or using flavors of the season. It’s a place everyone must visit in the summer!

Play in nature:

Sometimes, the only thing you need for a good time is nice weather, a ball and a packed lunch. You will find a number of beautifal parks at Djurgården. The Royal Djurgården Park Management (KDI) does an amazing job at caring for the areas and planting beautiful plants and flower arrangements to enjoy. If you didn’t bring food with you there are plenty of places where you can pick up meals or snacks to bring to the park areas. At Skroten Food and Deli they offer everything from a bag of chips to tasty lunches and their sallad bar. In the Rosendal Garden there is a cozy Garden Café to get a snack at but also games like Kubb to rent and use. At the Technological Museum the shop sells lots of fun toys you can bring outside, like kites, robots and soap bubbles. 

On a nice summer day you might find that a boat ride is one of the best activities to do! At Djurgårdsbron there is a rental for kajaks, pedal boats, canoes and row boats to use to explore the water ways. Strömma company also offer a lot of boat tours and rides around Stockholm, Mälaren and the archipelagoes. Maybe a trip to the viking village Birka or just a short trip around the Djurgården island? If you want more action then try the Ocean Bus, a one hour tour across both land and water in Stockholm. The amphibious bus drives down into the water at full speed with both music and a live guide so it’s a fun experience for the whole family. 

During the summer you can find plenty of shows and theatre performances at Galärparken as the Park Theatre builds their temporary stage and puts on free shows all summer long. All you need to do is show up, bring snacks and enjoy! Some handicap seats and general rehearsals might need pre-booked seats but those are still free. They also hold shows at other locations around Stockholm so there is always something for everyone.