Hot and sunny weather is with us again this weekend and for the longest day of the year on Sunday.
The city will fill with music for the annual Fête de la Musique centred on the Cinquantenaire Park, where it should be cool under the trees in the children’s play area in between concerts. There are concerts taking place across the city, but we’ve focused on those intended for children below.
This weekend also has a free space festival, which will be indoors if the heat is unbearable, as well as circus shows and board games in the Vaux Hall park pop-up. Meanwhile, Ikea is trying to tempt you into Swedish midsummer (and buying furniture) by helping your kids to make a floral garland.
If you want to get out of town, you could check out a cycle race for small kids in Hoeilaart, a longest day party in Leuven or puppets in Tournai.
Fête de la Musique
Cinquantenaire Park, Etterbeek– Saturday, 11:00 to 00:00
The Brussels Music Festival takes over the park on Saturday. The first family concert, Mondéron, a musical based on the work of avant-garde author Gertrude Stein, will at the army museum at 11:00.
Credit: Fête de la Musique / Bernard Babette
A kids’ area opens at 12:00 with face-painting, balloon sculpture, t-shirt customisation and badge creation on offer all afternoon. Concerts – both outdoor and indoor in some of the museums – run from 11.00 until after midnight. There’ll be free earplugs for adults, while sound protection headphones for children can be borrowed.
Find more information here.
RTBF Media Square, boulevard Auguste Reyers 52, Schaerbeek – Sunday, 12:00 until late
French-speaking broadcaster RTBF is showing off its new headquarters with two days of concerts. Families are the focus for Sunday, with five performances by bear-and-girl duo Rocky & Lily, aimed at the 4 to 10 years age group and starting at 13:45.
Credit: RTBF
The high point of the day is a classical music concert of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, narrated in French, at 15.00. That’s followed by the opening of a mini-sports arena from 16:00 with a blow-up baseball court, a DJ set and TV personalities from the sports and news programmes. If you can last until 21:00, you can watch the Belgium v Iran World Cup match there too.
Find more information here.
Place Sainte-Croix, Ixelles – Sunday, 15.00 to 18.00
Ixelles will have music shows across the commune but the most child-friendly are two shows on Sunday on Place Sainte-Croix when Mamemo plays a concert at 15:00, followed by guitarist and multi-instrumentalist duo Monsieur Nicolas at 16:30.
Find more information here.
Family festival, Centre Culturel de Jette, Boulevard de Smet de Naeyer, Jette – Sunday, 14:30 to 19:00
Jette’s cultural centre opens up its garden to local play library Diabolo with giant games from 14:30 and a concert – or an improvised jazz creation performance – by Griboujazz II at 15:00.
Credit: Centre Culturel de Jette
Find more information here.
Le P’tit Bal des Originals, Plateau Avijl, Uccle – Sunday, 16:00 to 17:00
Performer Piwi Leman will be taking children on a musical tour of North American animals and landscapes, meeting a moose, a bear, a beaver, a whales, a bison, a falcon, an owl and a wolf.
Credit: Piwi Leman
The show forms part of the Saint-Job music festival, Montagne en Sons.
Find more information here.
Midsummer fun
Summer Space Festival, Gare Maritime, Tour & Taxis – Saturday, 10:00 to 18:30 and Sunday, 10:00 to 17:00
If you need to go indoors to escape the heat, Tour & Taxis is waiting to send you to outer space for a free two-day festival.
Credit: Summer Space Festival
There are serious talks about careers in the space industry and space rights but also lots of fun stuff to do, like learning how to build a rocket, drive a moon rover and try out a virtual reality as an astronaut.
Find more information here.
Midsummer floral garland workshop, Ikea Anderlecht – Saturday, 14:00 to 17:00
Heading into a furniture warehouse store might not be your first impulse to celebrate Swedish midsummer but Ikea hopes to change your mind with a family day and midsummer events at its two Brussels stores.
Credit: Ikea
Both Anderlecht and Zaventem will have flea markets in their car parks and offer special activities (and Swedish food) in-store. Anderlecht will also hold a floral garland workshop for children from 14:00 on Saturday and will be open on Sunday for shopping.
Find more information here.
Vaux Hall Summer, Rue de la Loi 3, 1000 Brussels – Sunday, 14:00 to 18:45
The city centre Parc Royale will be running family activities every weekend during the summer on top of a programme of evening music for adults.
Credit: Vaux Hall Summer Brussels
This Sunday, it has an aerial acrobatics show, Eclore, by Hopla! at 14:00 and a circus performance, Vimma, at 14:45. Board games will be set out at 15:15 to while away the rest of the afternoon.
Find more information here.
Getting out of town
Baloise Belgium Tour balance bike race, Gemeenteplein, Hoeilaart – Sunday, 13:00 to 14:30
The five-day Tour of Belgium cycle race passes through Hoeilaart, south of Brussels, on Sunday afternoon. So as not to exclude the youngest on wheels, there’ll be a balance bike race for children between 2 and 5 years of age from 13:00.
Credit: Vrije Tijd in Hoeilaart
They should hopefully done before the cycle race comes through at high speed at 15:00. The party continues all night with food trucks, drink stalls and screens for World Cup football.
Find more information here.
The longest day, Leuven – Sunday, 13:30 to 18:30
Leuven will have live music, Sunday shopping and activities for families to celebrate the longest day of the year.
Credit: Visit Leuven
There’ll be songs from the musical Droomreis performed by a children’s choir, living table football and football darts on the Martelarenplein and a bouncy castle on the Grote Markt which will also have a children’s disco from 17:00
Find more information here.
Centre de la Marionnette, Rue Saint-Martin, Tournai – Sunday, 14:30 to 18:00
The Puppet Museum in Tournai is running a special family day in its garden in the centre of Tournai to show off new twists on heritage shows from puppeteers from across Belgium and France.
Credit: Visit Tournai
A Ghent puppeteer tells the tale of a gentleman brigand and an abducted princess, a French performer will have jazz-style short stories without words and two Belgian artists will show their story of two sisters.
Find more information here.
