Parks and gardens
Children are well catered for by the parks and gardens within the city. There's even a park designed especially for kids, the Jardin d'Acclimatation , in the Bois de Boulogne, with an impressive array of activities and attractions. On the other side of the city in the Bois de Vincennes, the Parc Floral also offers a host of treats, and the high-tech Parc de la Villette , in the northeast of the city, will keep children entertained for hours. Most of the city's other parks have some activities for children, usually an enclosed playground with swings, climbing frames and often a sandpit. Many also have guignol (puppet) shows, the French equivalent of Punch and Judy.

Funfairs
Three big funfairs ( fête foraines ) take place in Paris each year. The season kicks off in late March with the Fête du Trône in the Bois de Vincennes (running until late May), followed by the funfair in the Tuileries gardens in mid-June to late August, with more than forty rides including a giant ferris wheel, and ending up with the Fête à Neu Neu, held nearthe Bois de Boulogne from early September to the beginning of October. Look up "Fêtes Populaires" under "Agendas" in Pariscope for details if you're in town at these times.

Out of season, rue de Rivoli around St-Paul métro stop occasionally hosts a mini-fairground, and there's usually a merry-go-round at the Forum des Halles and beneath Tour St-Jacques at Châtelet. Merry-go-rounds for smaller children are to be found on place de la République, at the Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées by avenue Matignon, at place de la Nation, and at the base of the Montmartre funicular in place St-Pierre. The going rate for a ride is ¬1.53

Circuses
Circuses ( cirques ) are taken seriously in France and come under the heading of culture as performance art (and there are no qualms about performing animals). As circuses tend to travel, you'll find details of the seasonal ones under "Cirques" in the "Jeunes" section of L'Officiel des Spectacles and under the same heading in the "Enfants" section of Pariscope . The Cirque Diana Moreno Bormann, Grands Sablons, at the Jardin d'Acclimatation, 16e\up6 (tel 01.45.00.23.01; Mº Sablons) is a perennial favorite; admission prices start at ¬10.67.

Museums
One of the city's best treats for children of every age from three upwards is the Cité des Sciences in the Parc de la Villette. A number of other museums may also appeal to children, for example the under-touristed Musée des Arts Africains et Océaniens , with its masks, tropical fish and live crocodiles; the Grande Galerie de l'Évolution offers a children's discovery room on the first floor with child-level microscopes, glass cases with live caterpillars and moths and a burrow of Mongolian rodents. Doll-lovers should enjoy the Musée de la Poupée . The Pompidou Centre has a children's espace , consisting of a room filled with hands-on exhibits. Paris has two excellent planetariums , in the Palais de la Découverte and the Cité des Sciences.

For a more earthy experience, you could visit les égouts - the sewers - at place de la Résistance, in the 7e. Dank, damp, dripping, claustrophobic and filled with echoes, this is just the sort of place pre-teens love. Another underground experience popular with youngsters is the catacombs at 1 place Denfert-Rochereau, 14e.

Shops
The fact that Paris is filled with beautiful, enticing, delicious and expensive things all artfully displayed is not lost on most modern youngsters. Toys, gadgets and clothing are all bright, colourful and very appealing, while the sheer amount of ice cream, chocolate, candy, and sweets of all shapes and sizes is almost overwhelming

Theme parks
Disneyland Paris has put all Paris's other theme parks in the shade and is one of the country's top visitor attractions. The enchanted kingdom certainly works its magic on most children, though if you're prepared to make the effort to get there, Parc Astérix theme park, north of Paris, is better mind-fodder and cheaper than Disney.