Parks with animals in Stockholm

Feeling adventurous and your kids love animals?

Here is the list of the Parks with animals you can visit!

There will be 2 main categories in this list: 4H-gård & Parkleks and stand-alone - Skansen, of course.

4H-gård

Whilst Stroll In has already a blog post about Parkleks, 4H farms sparked my curiosity, so what is it?

4H is an international non-profit youth organization with broad activities in everything from farming and animals to sports and theatre with the main focus on children and young people aged 6-25.

The organization's name comes from the four H's that begin the organization's motto, "head, heart, hand, health". 4H exists in over 80 countries and the organization and management vary between countries.

Sweden's 4H's vision is that all children and young people should develop into committed, well-being and responsible people with respect for the world around them. The vision is to be achieved by discovering their rich values ​​and diversity in interaction with people and nature. In this, each species and individual is an important part of the whole without being more valuable than any other.

Sweden's 4H's motto is "Learn by doing" (source: Wikipedia).

Stockholm county has 11 4H farms (4H-gård).

Here I will do small highlights for each of these farms.

To save you time going through I will mention that almost all of these farms have horses, goats, sheep, hens and cats. Some have cows and guinea pigs. Almost, if not all organise Animal Courses for children of different ages. For example, the courses for the youngest children (4-6 yo) help participants to learn how to take care of animals and practice understanding what animals feel. They also sometimes ride horses, pet rabbits and brush sheep. There are also courses for older kids as well. 4H Farms also organise day camps - just for a day, weekend or a school break. Some organise horse or pony riding. Many organise events, such as Halloween witch hunts or egg hunts during Easter and other. Some offer Rabbit Hotels if someone needs their rabbits to be taken care of during vacations. Almost all of the farms offer the possibility to celebrate a birthday party with a special package. Whatever activity you might want your children to participate in, it has to be pre-booked. Most of the farms have cafes, and some have farm shops, where one can buy honey, berries or even animals.

Akalla 4H farm

SOURCE: 4h.se/akalla

This farm has horses, goats, pigs, cats and rabbits. Here young visitors (from 4 yo) can subscribe to the animal courses or day camps. It is possible to book a children's party, place your rabbit in a rabbit hotel, when required or book a horse riding session.

This farm offers a Ghost Hunting on October 29th, which has to be pre-booked.

The farm also has a cafe, mini golf course, ceramics workshop, playground, BBQ area and a splashing pond.

Augustendal's 4H farm

SOURCE: augustendals4h.se

This farm has horses, cats, goats, rabbits and hens. Young visitors can participate in the animal care courses (from 4 yo). It is possible to book children's parties as well.

There is a cafe with high chairs and changing table in the bathroom. There are toys available to play with. The stroller must be parked outside. This farm organises Egg Hunts during Easter and the Farm days (see more details on the website).

Björklund's Hage 4H farm

SOURCE: www.4h.se/bjorklundshage

This farm has sheep, goats, pigs, hens, rabbits, guinea pigs and even bees. Young visitors can participate in the animal care courses (from 4 yo). It is possible to book children's parties as well.

This farm organises Halloween, Easter celebrations and Farm Day (see more details on the website).

Eolshäll's 4H farm

SOURCE: 4h.se/eolshall

This farm has horses, cows, goats, hens, rabbits and cats. This farm offers a wide variety of courses for young visitors, as well as day camps. It is also possible to do horse riding. There is a rabbit hotel for those who wish their rabbits to be taken care of during vacation time.

The farm hosts various events, such as Farm day, Fall&Christmas markets, Halloween, Easter Hunt and more. It is possible to book a Birthday party as well.

Ersboda 4H farm

SOURCE: www.4h.se/ersboda

This farm has sheep, goats, rabbits, hens and cats. This farm offers as well Animal courses for various ages and day camps. It organises Halloween parties and Easter celebrations. It is possible to book the venue for a birthday celebration.

Färsna 4H farm

SOURCE: 4h.se/farsna

This farm has goats, pigs, horses, hens, rabbits and cats (it also has animals for sale). It offers various camps (easter, summer, fall etc), horse&pony riding and more. Throughout the year it organises and hosts 9 events, including Halloween, Christmas market and more.

Hågelby 4H farm

SOURCE: 4h.se/hagelby

The farm has goats, pigs, horses, hens, rabbits and cats. This farm offers animal courses and day camps. Hågelby farm organises Easter hunts, Witch and Ghost hunts during Halloween and Santa Adventure during Christmas. It is possible to organise a birthday party on the premises.

Kallhäll's 4H farm

SOURCE: 4h.se/kallhall

This farm has sheep, pigs, horses, hens, rabbits and cats. This farm offers, like others, animal care courses, horse riding, and the rabbit hotel. The farm organises Halloween, egg hunt during Easter and various activities during Farm Day. There is a cafe and a farm shop.

Stora Skuggans 4H farm

SOURCE: storaskuggans4hgard.se

This farm has horses, cows, sheep, pigs, rabbits, hens and cats. This farm offers, like others, animal care courses, horse riding, even overnight stays and much more.

Riddersvik 4H farm

SOURCE: 4h.se/riddersvik

This farm has horses, goats, pigs, hens, rabbits and cats. It offers day camps and animal courses or horse riding sessions. It is possible to book a birthday party celebration. This farm organises a Ghost walk on Halloween.

Vallentuna 4H farm

SOURCE: 4h.se/vallentuna

This farm has horses, goats, pigs, rabbits and cats. This farm offers as well Animal courses for various ages and day camps. You can also book birthday party celebrations. The farm organises Halloween parties. This year there will be 2 events: on 28.10 & 29.10 (pre-reservation is required).

---

Parklek

Parklek offers indoor and oudoor play. It usually has a big playground area where some toys are taken outside during the opening hours. There is an indoor play area as well. Personnel might organise some activities during the opening hours, like painting, crafting etc. You can read more about what are parkleks in another blog post I published earlier. Here I list Parkleks that have animal farms.

Bandängens parklek

SOURCE: https://parker.stockholm/hitta-lekplatser-parklekar-plaskdammar/parklek/bandangens-parklek/

Bandängens Game park has a farm with goats, sheep, pigs, rabbits and hens. Animals are outside 8:30-16:30 during the workdays and 8:30-15:30 during the weekends.

Parkleken Starrmyran

SOURCE: https://parker.stockholm/hitta-lekplatser-parklekar-plaskdammar/parklek/parkleken-starrmyran/

Starrmyran Game park has a farm with two ponies, two goats, two rabbits and chickens. This park offers pony riding with or without booking depending on the day. The best is to call stables to make a reservation. There are also animal courses for children from 6 years old, call for more information.

Aspuddsparken

SOURCE: https://www.aspuddsparken.se/

Aspudden Park has a farm with goats, pigs, horses, hens, rabbits, cats and guinea pigs.

This park offers activities that require advance reservation, such as animal courses and horse riding. One can also order a birthday celebration package.

Thanks to its location and the variety of activities available, this park is very popular among families because it has a big playground, splash pond, BBQ, picnic area, and animal farm. Therefore activities are booked very fast. Consider booking well in advance, if you want to make a reservation for pony riding for example.

Parkleken Gulsippan

SOURCE: https://parker.stockholm/hitta-lekplatser-parklekar-plaskdammar/parklek/parkleken-gulsippan/

Gulsippan Game Park has a farm with sheep, hens and rabbits. The animals are outside every day from 10:00-17:00.

Parkleken Stora Blecktornsparken

Stora Blecktornsparken Game park has a farm with pigs, rabbits, guinea pigs, sheep and goats.

Every Tuesday the park offers animal viewing from 14:00-16:30. This park also offers animal courses for 5-9 year olds. The places for these courses, like everywhere are sold out pretty fast, so consider booking well in advance, if you wish your little one to participate (for example, all the courses for this fall are sold out).

Rådsparken

SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/radsparken

Rådsparken is a playground (for some reason not part of the Stockholm Stad list) where visitors can do a BBQ, picnic and also get to see the animals.

This park has donkeys, goats, sheep, rabbits, ducks, chickens, cats and guinea pigs. Visitors can book in advance the rabbit feeding activity - give breakfast and hang out with the rabbits. This meeting is planned for 16.10; 23.10; 29.10; 30.10; 5.11 and 6.11 at 10:00-10:30 (it is free, but has to be booked in advance).

The park also offers animal courses for kids from 2 years old.

---

Skansen

SOURCE: https://www.skansen.se/uploads-aws/PDF/Skansenkarta-f%C3%B6r-utskrift.pdf

Skansen is an open-air museum with a zoo on Djurgården in Stockholm. It is certainly a landmark of Stockholm and offers such a wide variety of activities and experiences that I still have not managed to make a review of it, despite many attempts.

This museum has a zoo with mainly Nordic wild animals and Swedish land breeds. It also has an aquarium and a monkey house.

There are various activities offered related to the animals. For example, talks about various animals, including sometimes in English; shows of the various animals at Lill-Skansen and more.

Have a missed any hidden gems?

Let me know in the comments below!