a small science centre with 28 interactive exhibits in the mine's carpentry workshop
For children
workshops on farming, water and herbs, and animals that can be fed
Things to do with kids in Silesia: the Silesian Zoo, Legendia, Kolejkowo, play centres and rope parks. Over fifty places for families.
The list covers zoos and animal farms, amusement parks, scale models, trampoline parks, play centres, rope parks, toboggan runs and open-air museums. There are places for one afternoon in town and others for a whole day in the mountains. They are spread across the voivodeship, from Cieszyn to Częstochowa.
Start with Chorzów: the Silesian Zoo, Legendia and the Upper Silesian Ethnographic Park lie in the same Silesian Park. A second good choice is Gliwice with Kolejkowo and trampolines, and a third is Ustroń with lifts, runs and an animal park.
The Silesian Zoological Garden covers 47.5 ha in the Silesian Park in Chorzów and has operated since 1958. It has the Dinosaur Valley and pavilions for the exotarium, the aquarium and the elephant house. Legendia is an amusement park in the same park, operating since 1959 as the Silesian Funfair and since 2017 as a theme park. The third site is the Upper Silesian Ethnographic Park, an open-air museum with about 78 historic buildings.
In Gliwice Kolejkowo is an interactive miniature layout in a shopping centre: over 700 square metres, over 500 buildings, 12 railway vehicles and over 5,000 figurines. A calmer option is building with bricks together at Bricks 4 Kidz, an education centre with LEGO brick workshops that also organises birthday parties and day camps. For a longer stay in Gliwice it is a good addition to visiting the layout.
Gliwice is a good choice for a rainy day, because Kolejkowo, Bricks 4 Kidz, House of Air and Dżungla on Świętojańska Street all lie in one town. Each has a different character: a layout, brick workshops, trampolines and a classic play hall, so they do not repeat within one weekend. All the Gliwice ideas are collected on the page for children in Gliwice.
You can see animals at the Silesian Zoo in Chorzów, the Forest Park of Surprises in Ustroń, the bison enclosure in Pszczyna, the Exotarium in Sosnowiec and the small zoo in Zabrze. Each has a different character and scale.
The Forest Park of Surprises in Ustroń is a 15 ha zoo on the slope of Równica. Bison and deer live there, and the programme includes flight shows by birds of prey and owls. The Bison Show Reserve in Pszczyna is a herd in the historic Pszczyna Park, open to visitors since 2008.
Under a roof you can wait out the weather at the Exotarium in Sosnowiec, a palm house with aquariums and terrariums in a new building opened in December 2023. In Zabrze, in Makoszowy, AnimalWorld Mini ZOO is a small private zoo with lessons about animals and workshops for children, opened in 2020. Dream Park in Ochaby Wielkie also has a mini zoo, with dinosaurs and rope parks nearby.
Choose amusement parks with dinosaurs and scale models when you want to spend a whole day. In the conurbation lies Legendia, and further out Dream Park in Ochaby Wielkie, the Adventure Park in Wilkowice near Zbrosławice and the Railway Park in Ogrodzieniec.
Dream Park Ochaby is a family amusement park with dinosaurs, a mini zoo, a hydropark and rope parks. The Adventure and Attractions Park in Wilkowice, in the Zbrosławice commune, is seasonal and combines a rope park with a menagerie and ponds; do not confuse it with Wilkowice near Bielsko-Biała. In Ogrodzieniec the Railway Park on the Jura offers a park railway with a tunnel and a viaduct and a few amusement rides.
Fans of castles and miniatures have two miniature parks. The Miniature Park in Ogrodzieniec stands at the foot of the castle ruins and shows, at a scale of one to twenty-five, models of the castles of the Trail of the Eagles' Nests and replicas of siege machines. The Miniature Park in Żywiec lies in the castle park next to the palace and presents models of monuments of the Podbeskidzie region, opened in 2012. For learning through play there is also GEOsfera in Jaworzno, an education centre in a former quarry with a geological trail, a dinosaur park and a graduation tower.
Play centres and trampoline halls operate indoors, often in shopping centres, and have separate zones for toddlers. The region has a dozen or so, from Rybnik to Częstochowa and from Tychy to Cieszyn. The age they are designed for differs from place to place.
Gliwice and Rybnik each have a place called Dżungla, but they are two separate venues. Dżungla in Gliwice is at 57 Świętojańska Street and has slides, an obstacle course and a small room for toddlers. Dżungla in Rybnik at 6 Chrobrego Street has slides, an obstacle course, trampolines, a zone for the youngest and a café. Gliwice also has House of Air, an indoor trampoline park of over 3,000 m² with a separate zone for children up to 4.
In Katowice JUMPCITY offers 3,000 m² with jumping and climbing zones and a space for the youngest. Fit4Kids in the Katowice Gallery is an indoor playground with classes and birthday parties, and Bajka Pana Kleksa in Zawodzie is a play hall with lands inspired by the book. In Tychy the Hip-Hop play centre in Gemini Park is for children up to 12.
In Dąbrowa Górnicza Fikołki in the Pogoria shopping centre has a multi-level structure, slides and a climbing wall. Another place with the same name, Fikołki in Jastrzębie-Zdrój in the Zdrój Gallery, covers almost 300 m2 with a maze, a zip line and a toddler zone. In Będzin Freak Park combines trampolines with a Monkey Grove, climbing walls and a zip line.
In Częstochowa Fabryka Uśmiechu takes children aged 2-11, and in nearby Blachownia Lemon has trampolines and a café. In Wodzisław Śląski Xtreme Kids is meant for children aged 0 to 12, and in Cieszyn KIDDY Park takes two floors and 350 m2. In Lubliniec Lubisfera combines trampolines and bouncy castles with fitness and courts.
There are also Happy Jumper in Tarnowskie Góry, one of three venues of the chain, and Parabola Trampoline Park in Czechowice-Dziedzice with a foam pit, obstacle courses and a climbing wall.
Rope parks and toboggan runs are concentrated in the Beskids, mainly in Ustroń and Szczyrk, with others in Sosnowiec and Bielsko-Biała. They are good targets for fine weather, because most routes are in the open air.
In Ustroń, on Równica, you will find Równica Mountain Park, a complex with a year-round toboggan run, cinemas, an inn and a playground, and next to it the Rope Park on Równica with high routes and a large course for children. The summer toboggan run on Czantoria is a gravity slide below the upper chairlift station.
In Szczyrk Base Camp has a Mini Park route for children from 3, two Adventure routes and an Adventure Extreme route. In Międzybrodzie Żywieckie Trollandia stands in the forest by the lower station of the cable car to Góra Żar and takes children from 3, and in Sosnowiec Lina Adrena in the city park has routes at a height of 4 to 10 metres. In Bielsko-Biała the toboggan run on the Dębowiec slope is a dry run 410 m long with three tunnels.
Yes, if the children like walking and looking at old houses. The two open-air museums in the region, in Chorzów and Ślemień, show villages of Upper Silesia and of the Żywiec Beskids.
The Upper Silesian Ethnographic Park in Chorzów has about 78 historic buildings from Upper Silesia and the Dąbrowa Basin. The Żywiec Ethnographic Park in Ślemień recreates the layout of a village of the Żywiec Beskids and has 17 historic buildings; it opened in 2012.
For a whole day it is easiest to go to one town that has several sites close together. Ustroń and Chorzów have the most, and in each it is easy to adjust the order to the weather and the children's age.
In Ustroń you can begin the day at the Forest Park of Surprises on the slope of Równica, then climb the mountain and spend time in Równica Mountain Park, adding the rope park in fine weather. On Czantoria there is the summer toboggan run, so a day with the chairlift and a descent is a second plan of its own. In Chorzów everything lies in the Silesian Park: the zoo, Legendia and the open-air museum, so you only choose what to do first and what to leave for a second visit.
The youngest children fit best in play centres with a toddler zone, for example in Gliwice, Rybnik, Jastrzębie-Zdrój and Cieszyn. Older children will like rope parks, obstacle courses and climbing walls.
Some places state age limits: Fabryka Uśmiechu for children aged 2 to 11, Hip-Hop up to 12, Xtreme Kids from 0 to 12, House of Air has a zone for children up to 4, and the routes for the youngest at Base Camp and Trollandia begin at 3. A child of any age can come to the zoo and the open-air museum.
More ideas for families in particular towns are on the pages for children in Chorzów, in Gliwice, in Ustroń and in Katowice. For other kinds of fun see the categories entertainment and aquaparks and swimming pools.
Choose play centres, trampoline parks, the Exotarium in Sosnowiec or Kolejkowo in Gliwice. All of them operate indoors. Rope parks and toboggan runs are better left for fine weather.
The largest is the Silesian Zoo in Chorzów, 47.5 ha. Smaller ones are the Forest Park of Surprises in Ustroń, the bison enclosure in Pszczyna, the Exotarium in Sosnowiec and the mini zoo in Zabrze.
Look for play centres with a toddler zone: Dżungla in Gliwice and Rybnik, Fikołki in Jastrzębie-Zdrój, KIDDY Park in Cieszyn, Fabryka Uśmiechu in Częstochowa, and House of Air with a separate zone for children up to 4. Check the venue's rules before you visit.
Chorzów with the zoo, Legendia and the open-air museum in one park, Ustroń with Równica and the Forest Park of Surprises, or Dream Park in Ochaby Wielkie with dinosaurs, a mini zoo and a hydropark.
In Ustroń on Równica, in Szczyrk, in Międzybrodzie Żywieckie, in Sosnowiec, in Wilkowice near Zbrosławice and in Ochaby Wielkie. In some parks the routes for the youngest start at the age of 3.
