Programs for kids in Europe

Wow.. tell your boss the best experience for his kids will be spending time with them , not trying to find a daycare to farm them out to ( and I don't care what he says ,, that's what hes trying to do.. ).

Ok sorry realize you can't do that..

Tell boss the children in Europe go to school in March so there are not going to be day programs available. .and even if there were do his children speak the languages , if they are for local kids they would be in local languages.

I suggest you consider looking at private guides for some sites. I took my 11 yr old to the Louvre and we had a private guide from ParisWalks .. her name was Iris ( she is still there I think) and she specializes in giving a childrens tour of Louvre.. very good. However I doubt she will be interested in babysitting so sending the 7 yr old without a parent may not be accepted. Tell boss you will have to go with family ! lol

Sounds like the plot of"Au Pair"...

Here is Iris' direct contact. She gets very booked up, particularly with families. She is a certified guide, having passed all the French government rigorous exams. She still does some work for Paris Walks but freelances and is booked up a lot. BTW, she researched and created the original Chocolate Tour in Paris. That's one for the kiddies.
[email protected]

As Pat said, school is in session so you'd have to devise your own program. Iris would be able to do that for you.

Most European countries have spring break in April so you might want to factor that in. A simple Google on country, school spring break should bring up exact dates.

Hello rmack. At Paris, children like being in the big museum of science located in the big park that is at the north side of Paris. It is the museum of science and industry. One part of that science museum is for children. And it has a planetarium, etc. I think children could be entertained at that park for two whole days, including one whole day at the museum of science.

Children, at age seven, like seeing living things : plants, animals. I guess the children would like being in an indoor botanical gardens, in the month March. And a zoo. Will they be at England ? I liked the Kew Gardens located south of the southwest corner of London. It has big buildings (glass walls) containing very very many living plants. I think children would not enjoy seeing very many paintings (in an art gallery) in one day, but they would like seeing some oil paintings in the British National Gallery (of art) located at Trafalgar square in London.
And I guess they would like seeing and hearing the Queen's Horse Guards Parade : it starts at a place near Whitehall Street, near Trafalgar square, at 11:00 a.m. every day. (I do not know the schedule in the month March). And I think children like walking through an old mansion (big house) that has been preserved, having furniture made in the 1800s. I am not thinking of a huge royal palace. I am thinking of a big house that looks like a family's home. I know of that kind of mansion located in Paris in France, and in Stockholm in Sweden. If you want information about those mansions, send a Private Message to me at this website. And, I think hiring a private guide in Paris for two or three days is a good idea. And the children's father should be with them when they are with the private guide in Paris.

Here is a suggestion since the Boss wants his children occupied but not by him. He could hire a university student to shepherd them here and there, offer ideas of what to do and where to go, and generally be nanny and tutor and good buddy. Expensive? Yup. But that appears not to be a concern with this daddy.

Can you let us know what specific cities the trip will be planned for. Where are they going? If you give the cities, perhaps some locals would have some ideas.

You will probably find some fun activities/festivals on the weekends, but as noted, regular week activities will probably be limited since school is in session and they are not preschoolers. Even with those weekend stuff, I bet the parent would still need to be responsible if it's not a class of some sort. However, if the kids do not speak the local language, then this will a lot tougher even with the weekend stuff if you do not specifically look for English speaking activities (unless you are going to an English speaking country!).
Maybe you can contact a cooking school to see if they can manage a kid friendly class, or contact a museum to see if they have mid-week painting classes.

I am assuming cost is not a big factor? Also, what are the kids' interests? For example, does the fifteen-year-old have a hobby that could be tapped into?

Summer camps look pretty plentiful in Europe, but spring break camps are not. Any major city has plenty of activities for families to enjoy together.

Dream job, huh?

Google European travel with children or something similar, Lonely Planet guidebooks always have sections on travel with kids.

It could be worse, your boss could take you as the babysitter.

I think that you're all being a little hard on the boss. If his business is sending him to Europe for a trip, his alternatives are to leave the kids at home or bring them with him. We really don't know what's behind this request. We are making assumptions that he's a bad father. He may have been making trips for years, and just had it with leaving his family behind. So, maybe a little charity???

Pam

I don't know if your boss has decided on the city yet, but here is the link to great kids' travel guides for Paris, London and Rome, http://www.amazon.com/FlyingKids/e/B00LRFW0VE
He might want to take a look, or even discuss it with his kids, so they decide together where to go.
Best of luck!