Winter holidays in Helsinki

This week schools are closed for Hiihtoloma (skiing holidays) in Helsinki. Many went up to the North for a few days of winter activities. But for those families that stayed in the city there are luckily also quite a few things to do.

VisitHelsinki has put together a list of special activities happening around town during the school free time. Among them are interesting workshops, cool spots events and other exciting events for kids and families.

Check them out on visithelsinki.fi and enjoy the hiihtoloma!

Stockmann's Christmas windows

Did you already see this year's Christmas window at Stockmann? It has a long tradition. For the Christmas season Stockmann dedicates its corner windows at Keskuskatu/Aleksanterinkatu completely to the children. They create a magic winter wonderland with teddy bears and other stuffed animals baking, skiing, wrapping presents and more.

No matter if you have children or not you should drop by on your next walk through the city. It really gets you into the Christmas mood.

Have a nice week!

Free outdoor pool

You would like to go somewhere swimming with the kids during those warm summer days? But the sea is still too cold?

Then head to Tapiola. Next to the Tapiola swimming hall you find two outdoor pools. And the best thing is that there is no entrance fee. The first, deeper pool has a diving platform, the second one is just for paddling.

There is also a life guard on duty to make sure everything is ok. Take a look!

Creating the Future

Arkki, the School of Architecture for Children and Youth, is celebrating its 20th anniversary with an exhibition on architectural education. The exhibition at Laituri is open free of charge for everyone interested.

Till the end of May several different projects that the kids at Arkki have worked on are on display ranging from drawings to scale models. Works from all age groups (4 -19) are displayed.

Take a look yourself!

Welcome back to Linnanmäki!

The long winter break is over. Today at 13:00 Linnanmäki, Helsinki’s big amusement park finally opens its gate again for the new season.

And as every year there is of course a new attraction is awaiting Linnanmäki’s visitors. The haunted house has been completely renovated and is now the Kyöpelinvuoren Hotelli which was planned by the English designer Nick Farmer.

But the rides are not the only thing that makes Linnanmäki worth a visit. The amusement park again invited lots of artists for this season to play on Linnanmäki’s Estradi stage. The opening show tonight features the boy band Satin Circus, Krista Siegfrids, who will represent Finland at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö and the kids heavy metal band Hevisaurus playing on Saturday and Haloo Helsinki on Sunday. Both concerts start at 18:00 and are for free.

Have a great time at Linnanmäki!

For young city planners

Until February 16^th Laituri invites especially children to come and learn more about city planning. Together with the red elephant they will plan Fairy Tale City and learn lots of interesting new things about city planning.

And since city planning involves lots of good ideas the children are asked to get creative themselves and paint their dream houses.

Tomorrow's football heroes

The Euro Cup in Ukraine and Poland might be over. But for the smaller ones the important competition is just on. For the 37^th time the Helsinki Cup takes place in the city. Every Finnish kid that played or plays football will most likely have participated in this competition at some point. But it’s also an international event. Young football teams from all over the world come to Finland for this event and give everything to win the much wanted cup.

800 teams compete in 2 500 matches to show how good and passionate they are about football. And that’s what it’s all about: Passion for sports and being part of the game.  Every team can join the Helsinki cup and everyone is welcome. The participants just have to be between 8 and 17 years old.

The competition started already on Monday and is still going on till Saturday. So if the weather is not too bad, walk down to the next football pitch and support the footballs stars of tomorrow.

Coffee break at the fish pond

The bad weather is limiting down the options for what to do on this Saturday. That is especially unfortunate for the students having their high school graduation today. Nice restaurant or café terraces are out of question.

But maybe you will leave the house anyway to do some shopping in the center and are also planning to pay a visit to Stockmann. In that case and especially if you have kids with you go up to the 4^th floor and head for café 4. Next to it is Stockmann’s indoor fish pond. It’s a great place for kids to watch the fish while you can enjoy a cappuccino.

The highlight is the feeding time on weekdays at 15.30 and on Saturday at 12.00.

Flowers at Forum

Ihana Helsinki is the name of the exhibition you can see at the moment at Forum Shopping Center. It shows flowers in all kinds of different shapes and colors. But those are not normal flowers. They are all unique. Made by children of the schools of Helsinki with paper, glue and colors they want to bring smiles on people’s faces.

 

You should come and see for yourself what nice ideas the kids had. The exhibition is for free of course. It is still on display till May 23^rd.

Art on the bus

Bus rides can be quite boring. You just want to get from one place to another. On some busses though you can now enjoy art while you wait to arrive at your destination. In cooperation with HSL the Espoo School of Art exhibits children’s art on busses between Espoo and Helsinki. As part of the World Design Capital the students were asked to make painting which were later put up in the busses. Hanna Koskimies, who organized the project explains: “We wanted to show the people something to make them happy. That is why we chose the theme ‘color’.” Over 200 pictures came together. The oldest artists are in their 20s, the youngest just turned 5. Till the end of May their works are visible on bus lines 11, 13, 132, 143, 145, 147, 150, 154 and 156.

So next time you travel with the bus, look up. You might be lucky and get to see some fine colorful paintings. 

Season starts at Linnanmäki

Today Linnanmäki opens its gates again. The amusement park in the city welcomes its small and big guests to lots of rides and shows. Furthermore several restaurants and bistros offer snacks and meals for those who need a break from all the roller coasters and other attractions. With the new Kattila there is even more variety in food at Linnanmäki now. Six Finnish top chefs with a total of four Michelin stars created new dishes from around the world that, according to Linnanmäki’s website, should fit every taste and budget.

Well, Linnanmäki is not really a place for a small budget. As soon as you want to use any of the rides it quickly gets quite expensive. Think about if you just want to go on one or two rides or if you rather want to spend the whole day on the roller coasters. You can either buy single tickets or get a wristband for the whole day and unlimited use (all rides for 37 €). The nice thing about Lintsi, how the locals call it, is that the entrance is free. So if you want to inhale some amusement park atmosphere, just go there and wander around a bit. 

Tip: Check out the look-out tower. It is for free and provides you one of the best views over the city.

You get to Linnanmäki either by car, with tram 3B or 3T or check here. The park will be open till October 21^st.