The City of Helsinki will organise a wide range of activities for children, young people and families during the Children’s Rights Week. Helsinki promotes a happy and safe city for children and comprehensively strengthens the wellbeing of children and young people and the rights of children.
Every child and young person in Helsinki has the right to safe growth and development. Every child is precious, and children’s rights belong to all children. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is a human rights treaty applied to everyone under the age of 18. Work according to the Child-Friendly Cities initiative of UNICEF is based on this treaty, and it is one of the ways Helsinki will continue to promote the rights of children. In 2024, the Finnish Committee for UNICEF awarded Helsinki the Child Friendly City award.
Children's Rights Week is celebrated from 17 to 23 November. This year’s theme is ‘child’s right to be heard’. The Finnish theme title, ‘lapsen oikeus kuulua’, has two meanings: children have the right to belong and be connected to their community and society and the right not only to be seen but also to be heard.
During the theme week, Helsinki will offer varied programme especially for children, young people and families. Events and activities will be available at the City’s cultural centres, museums, libraries, playgrounds, youth centres and sports facilities. Most of the events are free of charge. The theme week will also be present in daycare centres and comprehensive schools.
Art and culture can make a big difference in your life if you can find a way to become involved in them. They can open whole new worlds to a child and their family.
On Thursday 20 November – the campaign day of ‘Children’s Culture for All!’ – city residents will have free access to various children’s cultural activities and service providers across Helsinki. A total of almost 40 organisations working in the field of children's culture are involved in the campaign.
The City of Helsinki has convened the campaign ‘Children’s Culture for All!’. The campaign aims to raise awareness of children's culture and promote children's right to art and culture.
On the campaign day on 20 November, residents can enjoy a range of activities, such as
Other activities available include experiments with different music instruments, open choir practices, various workshops and light art, among other things.
The campaign aims to raise awareness of children's culture and promote children's right to art and culture. There is still a significant number of children and young people in Helsinki who have no access to art and culture activities.
“Arts and culture as hobbies are still not as well-known as sports, for example. We want to show the wide range of opportunities available in arts and culture, and how easy it is to access them. Often, this does not even require a common language. I hope that this campaign will especially attract families that may believe that arts and culture would not interest them,” says Pirjetta Mulari, Director of Annantalo Arts Centre and Chief of Children’s Culture in Helsinki.
Art and culture have been proven to provide a wide range of benefits. One of the core duties of the City's culture services is to ensure that every Helsinki resident has access to art and culture throughout their lives.
“Art and culture can make a big difference in your life, if you can access them. They can open whole new worlds to a child and their family. The world today is very challenging in many ways, and an art discipline could offer a new way of processing it,” says Mulari.
The Helsinki City Museum invites the whole family to celebrate Children's Rights Day and the anniversary of Children's Town on Thursday 20 November, 15.00-18.00. At the museum, you can meet with Helsinki residents of past eras and craft decorations for the end-of-year festive season in the lobby.
The museum will celebrate Children’s Christmas on Sunday 23 November, 12.00–15.00. Museum visitors can meet Santa Claus and people dressed in historical costumes, marvel at sparkling magic shows, craft cards, dance at the disco and take part in a Christmas adventure track.
Annantalo Children and Youth Art Centre is the heart of children's culture in Helsinki, and it will celebrate a Children’s Day on 22 November, 11.00–14.00. The day offers a variety of workshops and activities that the children themselves have requested during last year's Children's Day event. The children asked for activities such as a Lego workshop, crafting roses, a tiger dance and candy buckets. The event is free of charge and designed for the whole family.
Cultural Centre Stoa's Children's Day on Saturday 22 November, 13.00–16.00, will feature captivating puppet theatre and lovely music for people of all ages. Tehdas Teatteri brings the wonders of the animal kingdom to the stage for the youngest in the family, and We Jazz invites people of all ages to jam out to great music. Uulu's non-verbal musical playschool lets the children make some music, and the Stoa lobby houses a fun ‘miniature family’ workshop. Face painters will bring the visitors’ inner animals to life.
The popular Liikuntahulinat sports sessions for the whole family will be free of charge during Children's Rights Week. On Saturday 22 November, Liikuntahulinat sports sessions will be available at Maunula Sports Hall 9.00-10.30 and on Sunday 23 November at Liikuntamylly in Myllypuro 9.00–10.45. Liikuntahulinat sports sessions offer families the chance to exercise in a variety of ways: jump around, do tricks, run, play and have fun together.
See the Liikuntahulinat sports sessions programme(Link leads to external service) .
Helsinki libraries will celebrate Children's Rights Week with a wide range of programmes across the city. The libraries will host storytelling sessions in the mornings and evenings, visits from the reading granny and library grandmother, story times for babies and young children, various clubs, visits from the reading dog, arts and crafts, puppet theatre and films.
Helsinki provides plenty of activities, facilities and events for children, young people and families also before and after the theme week. For example, the free Perhehulinat family sports sessions offer a space for unguided exercise for children under school age and their parents. Families can freely use all the equipment and no advance registration is required.
Check out the Perhehulinat family sports sessions programme(Link leads to external service) .
Playgrounds and family centres offer weekly a wide range of activities for families with infants or children and for schoolchildren.
The more than 50 youth centres and facilities in Helsinki offer a wide variety of activities for young people every week of the year. Young people also have the chance to propose their own ideas and contribute to the activities offered.
You can find the contact details and events of your nearest youth centre on the website Our Places(Link leads to external service) .
Information on events for children and young people in Helsinki is available on the Events page(Link leads to external service) .
For a wide range of free-of-charge hobbies, check out the website Hobbies(Link leads to external service) .
