Cultural activities for families: cultivating curiosity, sensitivity and bonding

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At a time when screens are attracting increasing attention, family cultural activities offer a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with what's essential. Reading a story, visiting a museum, discovering an exhibition or listening to a concert: these shared experiences nourish children's natural curiosity, awaken their senses, and weave lasting memories.

Contrary to popular belief, culture is not just for adults. An increasing number of heritage sites, museums and festivals now offer formats designed for the very young, from kindergarten onwards.

Offering your child cultural activities means opening the doors to the world:

• transmit a taste for beauty;
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• develop your sensitivity;
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• enrich your understanding of yourself and others.

Family outings aren't just about going to the park or the movies. It's also about experiencing a moment of wonder, discovery and connection together - precious seeds, sown for a lifetime.
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Why offer your children cultural activities as a family?

Children are explorers of the world. From an early age, they learn by observing, listening, touching and questioning. Every outing, every shared discovery becomes a source of wonder, emotion and inner construction.

Offering cultural activities for the whole family means nurturing this natural curiosity. But it's much more than that.

As Sylvie d'Esclaibes points out, culture enables children:

• to express themselves;
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• develop your imagination;
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• to assert its identity;
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• to understand its place in the world.
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By opening up to the diversity of works, stories and heritages, they also discover the wealth of viewpoints and learn to live better with others.
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"Good cultural knowledge helps children to develop and master their lives"
- Sylvie d'Esclaibes , What to do with your child around culture - podcast Les Adultes de Demain
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Culture, experienced from childhood onwards, is therefore a powerful lever for personal development, self-confidence, self-expression and social ties.
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And when shared as a family, it becomes a precious bond:

• We spend time together.
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• We exchange feelings.
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• We discover what makes everyone tick.
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• And we build shared, meaningful memories.
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Catherine L'Ecuyer, author of the bestseller Cultivating our children's sense of wonderstresses the importance of developing children's natural curiosity. In her view, it's by cultivating beauty, silence, slowness and contemplation that true curiosity is nurtured. A curiosity that is free, not solicited by artificial stimuli, but nourished by deep experience. This sense of wonder is a wonderful starting point for all learning. Offering your child opportunities to marvel means nurturing a deep, free and lasting desire to learn.
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"Children are born in wonder; it's a natural, innate mechanism. As Aristotle says, it's by nature that they want to know. But for wonder to flourish in children, they need an environment that respects this faculty."

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André Stern speaks of the child's enthusiasm, a gift to be preserved. It's a driving force for acquisition. An enthusiastic child is a fully engaged child. And what he learns in this awakened state, he keeps with him forever.

Offering cultural activities as a family is a response to the fundamental need for beauty, connection and meaning, as described in the article How to get your child to love school. It's about awakening children to art, history and thought. It's also about giving them a foundation of shared emotions, precious for the rest of their lives.
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Family cultural activities: practical ideas

Cultural outings aren't just for adults. Many places today offer activities designed for children, from the earliest age. Here are a few ideas, classified by age group, for sharing discoveries as a family.
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For younger children (from age 2-3)
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• La Cité des Enfants (Paris, La Villette): a place specially designed for little ones, with interactive spaces. Sensory workshops, water games, simple experiments to discover the world with your hands and eyes.
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• Shows for young children: visual theater, musical theater, puppetry... Many theaters offer very short sessions, adapted to the rhythms of toddlers. Here you can discover the magic of sound, movement and image. Some media libraries offer cultural events. Check out their programs.
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For children aged 5 to 10
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• The Carnavalet museum (Paris): Paris as told to children
  Through antiques, portraits, settings and anecdotes, the Musée Carnavalet invites families to discover the history of Paris in a lively and accessible way. A child-friendly tour, interactive application, fun tours and workshops make every visit a fascinating immersion in the capital's past. Admission is free for under-18s.
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• Workshops at the Louvre workshops: children observe works of art, listen to stories, then create their own. There are also parent-child tours to discover the museum together, at a child's level.
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• The Palais de Tokyo The Palais de Tokyo invites young and old to discover its exhibitions together. On the program: shared visits, creative workshops and moments of complicity around contemporary art. A playful and sensitive exploration to awaken children's imaginations.
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• Cité de l'Économie (Citéco): From the age of 6, families can discover the workings of the economy thanks to fun tours, interactive trails and workshops designed to make learning fun. A joyful introduction to the major issues facing the world today.
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Although the examples given here are based in Paris, you should know that every city and every département has a treasure trove of cultural activities for children. To find them, today's Internet is a formidable ally. For Marseille, you can consult the Tourist Office website and thechildren's agenda or family activities in Marseille.

Le Petit Moutard will also be able to guide you.
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Cultural activities for the whole family
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• Storytelling walks: in town or in the countryside, some associations organize walks punctuated by stories. A great way to discover a place in a different way.
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• Fun guided tours or "investigations" in museums: some museums offer trails in the form of treasure hunts or missions to be solved as a family.
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• Cultural highlights: think Museum Night, Heritage Days, or French Language Week. These events often feature free, child-friendly activities.
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Ideas for cultural outings from classe découverte
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Elementary students from our Paris 15ᵉ international school went on a discovery class in March 2025. During their journey, they visited the Château d'Azay-le-Rideau and took part in pottery workshops. They also became budding investigators. The château offers special activities for families.

Similarly, they visited the Château de Clos Luce, Leonardo da Vinci's home and its magnificent garden. Here too, special tours for families are available.
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Creating an environment conducive to culture... in everyday life
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Culture isn't limited to museums and major outings. It can also be experienced in the simple gestures of everyday life, at home, in the family:
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• read a story, discover a non-fiction book about art, whether painting, music, dance, etc. ;
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• listen to a piece of classical or jazz music;
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• cook a recipe from another country;
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• watch a wildlife documentary or a video about a painter;
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• play an art-based memory game;
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• make a puzzle, reproduce a painting;
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• painting, photography, drawing, dance, music...
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There are a growing number of audio formats suitable for children: tales from around the world, true stories, scientific discoveries, an introduction to classical music or philosophy. Listening stimulates imagination and attention. It can be part of a calm evening routine or accompany a journey. For example, France Musique invites children to discover classical music through a selection of 10 works.

So many ways to nurture a child's natural curiosity without leaving home.

These ordinary moments, shared in a calm and attentive atmosphere, are treasures for cultural awakening. They offer the child a bath of sensitive, varied and enriching experiences.

In Cultivating wonder and natural curiosity in our children, Catherine L'Ecuyer reminds us how decisive the everyday environment is. To build an environment conducive to wonder, she suggests several avenues:
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• encourage free play;
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• give nature pride of place: touch the earth, smell a plant, observe the seasons... nature is a direct gateway to the culture of sensitivity;
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• respecting the rhythm of children and childhood: the children's album, Allez, on y va by Amélie Graux, published by Les Arènes, is very enlightening on this subject;
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• reacquainting ourselves with silence, because it's precious for making room for contemplation and wonder: this can involve times of meditation, quiet time, as a family;
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• create routines with meaning: read every night, watch the sky, listen to a new sound, name what you feel;
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• offering beauty: a beautiful picture, a flower, soft music are sometimes enough to awaken a new outlook, etc.
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So culture begins at home, in connection, in rhythm, in attention to the small details of the world.
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At Esclaibes International Schools: a focus on cultural awareness

In all Esclaibes network schools, cultural awareness plays a central role. From kindergarten onwards, children take part in weekly artistic activities and cultural outings on a regular basis. These activities are conceived as living extensions of classroom learning.

Museums, heritage sites, shows, exhibitions: there's something for everyone, and it's always adapted to the age of the pupils. The aim is to help children discover the richness of the world around them, in all its forms.

These outings are part of an active pedagogy, in line with the children's projects and Montessori's great stories. They nurture their inner culture, their sensitivity and their outlook.

It's also a way of instilling in them a taste for beauty, a respect for heritage and a desire to continue exploring. Because every encounter with a work, a place, a story... is a door that opens.
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Family cultural activities are a wonderful opportunity to share time, emotions and discoveries. They nurture children's natural curiosity. They awaken their sensibilities, enrich their knowledge and help them better understand the world. A museum, a show, a stroll through a place steeped in history or simply a story told in a low voice: every moment shared can become an inner adventure.

Cultivating wonder means offering children much more than just knowledge. It means enabling them to grow up with enthusiasm, openness and confidence.

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