Keeping the kids busy and happy during the Vacances de la Toussaint
- Oct 13, 2025
- 5 min read
by Meg Gerner and Imelda The
Just as you’re settled into the school routine and the dust has settled from the whirlwind that was the Rentrée in September, it’s time to take a break. Every October, the kids have a two-week break called the Vacances de la Toussaint. Now for families who spend the break in Paris, it can be a challenge finding fun activities and ways to occupy the kids. So we thought, we’d do a short roundup of some activities we’ve tried and tested over the years.
Of course, your first port of call is as always, your Message calendar. This year, we are celebrating Diwali, the Indian festival on October 25 and it is the perfect occasion to learn all about this festival that celebrates the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness and joy over sadness. This year’s line-up includes Storytime for the kiddos, a Bollywood dance workshop and of course delicious Indian snacks! Simply click on the link to secure your tickets to this wonderful cultural event.
Our fabulous Trick or Treat event is likewise always during the vacation and that is one of our favorite events of the year!! This year, we have a new location. Wanna join and find out where we will be?
If you are looking for more organized activities during the week, it’s a good idea to look for Vacation camps. Here are a few places to check out:
Vacation Camps
Many schools will offer vacation “stages” or camps during the school break. The stages generally will focus on a theme but will have a range of different activities during the day. Some stages can start as young as 3 which makes this a great option for our preschoolers (or maternelle kids). Additionally, some of the programs’ times are equivalent to a full day of school. This is a great help to parents who still need to work during school vacation. Some school camps we’ve tried include:
- First Steps Vacation Camps (https://www.firststeps.fr/) – First Steps is a bilingual maternelle that offers a full day and half day bilingual camps for children from ages 3 to 9 years old. During the camp, they propose baking/cooking, outside sports, arts and theme related activities. The teachers are super sweet and kind and a great space for young children.
- Ecole Koenig Vacation Camp (https://www.ecolekoenig.com/vacation-camps) – Koenig is a music conservatory and a bilingual maternelle and primaire. They offer a music oriented program which also includes activities in theatre and visual arts. The camp is also bilingual and is for children ages 3 to 10 years old.
- Public Centre de Loisirs (https://www.paris.fr/pages/centres-de-loisirs-2084) – Paris’ public school system opens up during vacations and allows students that are not registered in public schools to register for their vacation camps. You can inquire and register at centres that will be open over the break (for the list check out the link above for more information). These camps are open to kids from ages 3 to 14 years old and is only in French.
It is also a good idea to check out your local private preschools for their vacation camp schedules.
Activity Workshops
Besides the camps organized by the schools, there are many other organizations that offer vacation camps around a specific theme (for example Disney musicals), sports (tennis is super popular) or activity (art or theatre). For many of these camps, the age requirement tends to be for 5 years old and older. As such it is always best to check each activity to see what the minimum age requirement is for the stage. Here are some specific activity stages that we have tried:
- Paris University Club (PUC) (https://puc.paris/stages-paris-universite-club) – For those sporty kids or tons of energy to get out, you may want to consider PUC. PUC is a sports club that offers stages in different sports including basketball, fencing, tennis, football, handball, and multisport just to name a few. Some of the stages are offered for children as young as 4 years old. Please refer to each sport to get the correct applicable age of the child. The stages are conducted in French.
- Play-Well Teknologies (https://play-well.fr/stages-lego-vacances-paris/) - For the kids passionate about Lego this stage is for them! Play-well provides the lego, including motorized pieces, for them to create different themes each day. For example, one day the theme is magical creatures and they use the lego pieces to create their animals (my daughter created a dragon which could flap their wings using a motorized piece). The animators help them to bring their creation to another level. They can’t take their work home but the animators usually take a photo of it each day which they share with the parents. The stage is French and is for children ages 6 to 12 years old.
- Les Petits Atomes (https://lespetitsatomes.com/ ) – For kids who love science, this stage helps them to explore. Their stage program is based on experiment based learning where the kids will do different science experiments during the week. Their stages are open for children ages 3 to 12 years old and have locations in Paris and Versailles. The stage is done all in French.
- TechKids Academy (https://www.techkidsacademy.com/stages-coding-enfants/) – For those kids obsessed with all things coding, TechKids is for them. They offer coding classes in both English and French. The type of classes offered include coding in Scratch, Python and Stencyl, as well as 2D and 3D art. They have locations in Paris 15eme, in St-Germain-en-Laye and in Levallois.
- American Children’s Theatre (ACT) (https://www.actparis.com/) – Now if your kids are passionate about singing, theatre and dance, ACT could be just for them. They offer full day stages or half day stages all in English. At the end of the week, the parents are invited to a show that highlights all the hard work the kids did during the vacation. It is always great to see the kids blossom and perform confidently at the end of the week.
- Petite Foret Café- (https://www.petiteforet.com/pages/stages-de-vacances ) has a great range of fun activities for the little ones during the break. Their camps are for kids aged 3-8. And parents have the option to do half-day, whole day or weekly.
Museums
It might not be the most obvious thing to do, but the school vacations are a great time to visit the city’s different museums. Very often, they will organize a lot more kid friendly activities and even set up specific activities for them. There are also more family oriented guided visits as well. We have tried and loved the workshops at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs (https://madparis.fr/ateliers-du-carrousel-vacances-scolaires) and the Musee D’Orsay (https://www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/agenda/visites-et-ateliers/vacances-orsay-automne-2025) also offers a great line-up of fun activities inspired by the art on display at the museum, all throughout the break.
These are just some of the activities that we have tried over the years but there are tons of other options out there. The October break can be a great time for the family to travel. However, if you are staying put, Paris remains a great city to explore and find new and interesting activities for the whole family.
Do you have other ideas to share? Comment on the post below and share with us your experiences and ideas!!
My children always enjoyed Musee en Herbe https://www.musee-en-herbe.com/