iGrand PalaisChamps-Élysées
Inaugural show of the new Palais des enfants: a playful, sensory journey where artworks and science experiments play with light to spark the curiosity and wonder of very young visitors.
Stand on one side of a big convergent lens with your child on the other, and you each see the other upside down and shrunk. That's the tone of the Palais des enfants' first show, built for ages 2 to 10 under the Palais de la découverte's Rotonde.
The route runs freely through five sets: a hall of mirrors with a glass maze, a forest, a crystal cave, a sky and an ocean. A talking soap bubble narrates each, and real art sits among the hands-on stations, including Patrick Neu's samurai armour moulded in crystal. In the sky, kids pile up clouds until the sun disappears, a trick Paris manages unaided most of November.
Adults only get in with a child aged 2 to 10. IDBOOX found it better from about age 5, and a Citizenkid parent called it quick and light on activities. Allow about an hour. Tickets are 13 euros from age 2, adults included; the entrance is on Square Jean Perrin.
Tatiana (Soap Bubble)
At the entrance, Hans Op de Beeck's sculpture of a girl blowing a soap bubble; that bubble then reappears in every room as the illustrated, talking guide.
Real spider webs
In the forest, look for actual webs spun by nephila spiders, shown so you can see how translucent the silk is.
Cache-cache nuages
In the sky, a station where kids raise clouds until they hide the sun, showing how piled-up transparency turns opaque.
Dan Graham's Passage intime
In the sky section, a walk-through pavilion of semi-reflective glass and stainless steel, over five metres long.
Unwoven Light
Soo Sunny Park's canopy of welded wire and plexiglass at the end of the route, a calm spot where children can sit and read.
About 60 min
You're coming without a child: entry needs at least one child aged 2 to 10.
Built for ages 2 to 10 (12 with a disability); texts are short and illustrated for non-readers. Pushchairs for over-2s can be refused on busy Wednesdays, weekends and school holidays.