Things to do with young children in Belin - Berlin

Hi!

Mu husband is going to attend a conference in Berlin at the end of this month. My son (aged 3 and a half) and I are tagging along. We have been to Berlin before and have enjoyed it immensely. However, I will spending a couple days alone with my very active toddler and was wondering if any of you folks 'out there' have any suggestions as how we can amuse oursleves. I am looking for ideas for indoor places in case it rains; great playgrounds to let him expend his engery. We will be staying in Tiergarten area; about 15 mins walk from the zoo.

My plans thus far, is to take him to Zoo, prehaps to Sea Life and the Reichstag. The latter destination because I love the building. The last time we went there, we didn't have to queue because we had the stroller. When we got there, he ran all the way up to the top and all the way down. Not long afterwards, he fell asleep and slept for more that his customary 1 hour naps. I am really hoping that he will do the same thing this time round (he rarely naps these days) so that I can have a few hours to shop/ sightsee/ have coffee in peace.

I have searched for suggestions on the Web but was hoping to get some personal recoomendations from people in this forum.

Thank you all in advance!

Bring your stroller again this time to avoid the queues!

I have been to sea life it is good, however I prefer the Aquarium by the zoo.

There is some indoor Logoland Discover centre at Potzdammer Platz.

Legoland Discovery Centre

I have had a great time with my neices and nephews running through the Holocaust memorial it was snowing and there was very few people there.

We went to the Holocast Museum the last time we were in Berlin. I had to rein in the kid because he was about to run amok there too. Must admit it was a great place for him because he couldn't break anything but I felt a little bit disrespectful. Given the time of the year, I doubt we will be alone this time.

Legoland sounds great - we will be heading out there. I love the Sony building.

If it rains during your visit, here are some indoor play places below. Prater, Cafe am Neuen See & Schleusenkrug biergartens are all kid friendly. There's lots of space for running and playing outside of schloss charlottenburg (in the gardens) and there's a kick ass playground near it called Klausnerplatz. Bring swim wear/sandlas for the water spigots.

"charlottchen"
www.mosaik-services.de/666.0.html
its a cafe and play area for children and adults in charlottenburg. they also have puppet theatre.

"kids planet"
in charlottenburg, off of kudam
http://www.kidsplanet-berlin.de

Pinocchio's Indoor Spielplatz
Düsseldorfer Straße 40, Berlin-Wilmersdorf.
Transportation: U-7 to Adenauer Platz
*an english playgroup meets here on tuesdays I think, beg. at 11am

KaDeVa - the large dept store on the Ku'damm has a supervised, secure kinder room full of toys free for any kid over age 2 (up to age?). It's basically free babysitting whilst you shop or just enjoy the wonderful 6th floor food area which I think is a must when visiting Berlin - this floor really has a "wow" factor because it has every food under the sun and it dozens of little cafe stations where you sit and watch the chefs cook for you or just have an espresso at one of the coffee stations. Every visitor we take there just loves it. The kinder room is open I think to 7pm most days and I know until 9pm on Fridays. My husband and I meet about 1x a week and enjoy a lovely quiet dinner on the 6th floor and our child is happily playing in the kinder room for 1-2 hours. It's located on the 3rd floor, in the children's area, next to the haircutting place.

Wannsee lake - if it's hot the Wannsee lake is nice because it's shallow (1 foot deep) for a long stretch, maybe 500 feet or more and the water is clear with a clean sandy bottom so for little children this is really perfect. Plus the water is warm, last summer it was warmer than a bathtub but this summer it's colder. To get there you take the S7 and get off at the Nikolassee Station. There you follow the crowds along a concrete path through the forest to the lake. It's a 10-15 minute walk so you need the stroller. Then you wait in line usually to pay to get in (usually 5-20 minutes) I think you pay about 5 euros but not sure. Once in you have to manage about 3 flights of stairs or if you want to continue with the stroller, you'll end up walking about another 1/3 mile through the forest following the stroller signs/wheel chair. At the beach on the far left there are some trees providing shade down by the water where you can spread your blanket. Boy writing that I realize it sounds like a hassle and it is, but once you are there it's nice because it's such a perfect water setting for young children. Maybe someone has a better a lake area they can recommend. You can also take a car and park but the parking fills up early.

First of all is Berlin a great city in the summer because it is such a green city.
Zoo will be great. You can spend a whole day there. They also have huge a playground and don't miss the petting zoo area.
When you go to Legoland Discovery (what it always fun) on Potsdamer Platz check out Filmmuseum for Kids. There is exhibition about detectives like Sherlock Holmes or Kim Possible. The whole exhibition is a detective game and the kids receive at the end a detective passport. Pretty cool.
The Tiergarten itself is a huge park and especially in summer full of people (sometimes full of naked people). Playgrounds you will find everywhere.
The Cafe Charlottchen is well known as a Cafe with indoor play area, but it is not big or loud. It is right near by the train station Charlottenburg.
We love to go the Buga (Bundesgartenausstellung) parks. There is one in Potsdam, one in Marzahn and one in Mariendorf. The one in Mariendorf is called Britzer Garten and on nice days you can spend the whole day there. They playground area is huge beautiful and very has a lot of variety. Almost everything in Berlin you can reach without a car. The Britzer Garten can be reached by U-Bahn and Bus.
If you checked www.berlin.de you will find under http://www.berlin.de/english/entertainment/index.html stuff to do.
Have great time in my beloved city.

Hi there

This was a nice thread to read - I too am looking for things to do with my 1 year old boy, he loves other kids if anyone else is looking for something to do??

I would love to know how a stroller gets you out of queing though?? We went to the TV tower last week and the Q was so long, we had a stroller, but there was no Q skipping. that I noticed.