Autumn colours, indian summer and the botanical garden in Prague

We are blessed to live in a place where there are so many things to do for home schoolers.. well this is why its hard to leave Prague. We had a bit of a struggle though with getting colds after colds after colds in more than a month almost constantly, with a few days here and there that we could actually do stuff, and those days were amazing.

We have had such warm weather its been summer until almost the end of September, then it was cold for a while and the summer came back so we could go to a lake and play at the beach. The water was freezing though!

The quarry Mlekojedy - half an hour north of Prague. The picture doesnt make justice for the bright autumn colours.

It was amazing that we could play in the water and get some sun like this in the middle of October in Central Europe!

There are small beaches all around it, you need to check its safe for the kids though. The water is crystal clear. Where we were at the east side it was shallow and it was just us there.

There is an island. And some people were windsurfing.

One of my favourite places in Prague is the Botanical garden, its stunning with the autumn colours and its still blossoming there. They have activities for kids and workshops - we went there with friends a few times and also on worldschooling excursions. I like the pumpkin exhibitions. Also there is a tropical glass house called Fata Morgana. Outside of it Banana trees grows. There are places for bbq and beautiful walks. And ponds with turtles and a bee house, and many strange and beautiful things.

The sunsets over the vineyards and Troja castle are truly stunning.

Edward in a giant spoon. He loved it!

They are so creative, here a witch with spiderweb and there was pumpkin snow white and other things.

Kids loved playing in the tipis.

The tower was a bit leaning but fun and a little scary for the kids to climb.

The same artist made these metal giraffes.

I was taking a photo of the pumpkin carving but Winston threw a ball at me!

Feeling exotic with banana trees planted outside the big green house.

Maddie with her pumpkin creation.

One favourite part for parents is the Vinotéka sv. Klára, on the vineyard slopes towards the Troja castle and mazes. You can drink wine from there and eat grapes in the sunset. It is too hot in the summer to do this, but the autumn and spring is just lovely. You can reach the botanical gardens with bus 112 from the metro stop Nádraží Holešovice, it only takes 10 minutes or so. If you are feeling more adventurous you can walk through Stromovka park and take the (free of charge) little boat to the other side of the river. 

The best is to start at the north of the botanicals and make your way down the hill. 

Map for the quarry Piskovna Mlekojedy

October and halloween activities for the worldschoolers

Programme the next week (15-19th october)

Monday 15th - 3 pm - join for a beautiful walk at the botanical gardens. We will have a look at the pumpkin exhibit. In the late afternoon the parents can enjoy a glass of wine overlooking the city by the vinoteka at the vineyard slopes. Its predicted to be 21c and sunny. More info


Tuesday 16th - 4.30 pm - Nursery rhymes and music. This is a group music workshop held EVERY TUESDAY  at Kino Pilotů, Vrsovice. Lessons are divided into two age groups; ages 1 - 3 y.o's (5.30 - 6.00 PM) and 4 - 7 y.o's (4.30 - 5.30 PM) More info


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We can recommend these activities for Halloween: Most likely at least some worldschoolers will go to these, let us know by messaging or writing on the facebook page if you are going and Ill make groups if many people are going to the same ones.

21st october - Pumpkin play at the botanical gardens. More info

22nd october - Forest walk and play at Divoka Sarka nature reserve. Its quite a cool place with ravines and fairly wild nature for being so close to a big city.

25th october - Pumpkin carving at 2 pm at vodnicek at areal vltavanu 229 in Prague 4. You can enjoy the huge spiderweb playground as well. More info

26th october - Legoween - a lego workshop with a halloween theme at Kiddum. More info

27th october - The language school Superb Learning traditionally organizes Halloween for children 5 to 13 years. A day full of activities in English (games, singing song, carving pumpkins, crafting) and our Halloween Witches Masquerade Ball . The evening will finish with a competition for the best mask and scariest pumpkin. More info

27th october - Zombie run for kids and adults. More info

29th october - Kiddum Legoween worldschooling day camp - only for worldschoolers! message me to sign up.

29th october - Muddum halloween art camp. More info

31st october - American trickntreat. More info

3rd november - Halloween with Classacts filled with games, crafts, spooky stories, costume party and lantern parade through magnificent Vyšehrad park. More info

3rd november - Dia de los muertos - The day of the dead. Try this latinamerican holiday, with workshops for kids amongst other things. More info

Or this one the same day with kids workshops at a museum. More info

At pumpkin season - Visit a pumpkin farm outside of Prague. They have some animals too. Do you have a car and would like to go on an excursion? Lets figure a date and ill ask them for a group visit. More info

Picture from Divoka Sarka on the walk along the stream.

This week between two conferences

We had an exhausting and exciting weekend with the decentralisation-conference Hackers congress. Luckily the grandparents came to look after the kids so that we can go to lectures. So we have been busy and i havent planned much worldschooling. But here are a few options for the rest of this week:

Thursday  10.15–11.30   - kids arts workshop at Narodni Galerie. We will meet at 10 am at the entrance. Although it says 1-5 years i think its ok for slightly older kids, i just guess they count on those being in school, so you can bring older kids and for much older kids there is art exhibitions worth going to. Depending on how many come we can make a group for older kids and those with younger kids can go to the arts workshop. After that we can have something at the child friendly cafe there and then go to Stromovka for a walk and play, We will go both this and next thursday. More info https://www.ngprague.cz/herny

Friday We are grateful for the lovely weather. We will make the most out of it and the beautiful weather, join us for a walk along the river and hang out it kampa gardens, we will bring a ball. Bring a picnic. 

Saturday/Sunday. For all peaceful parents and people interested in philosophy, bitcoin and freedom we welcome you to the European Philosophy Convention. Its held at Skautsky institut in old town. Entrance fee is voluntary. My boys will cater for some snacks and we will attend as much as we can, there will be some play area for the kids. More info HERE

For next week I would like your suggestions, we havent planned anything but will attend the arts workshop again on thursday.

Worldschoolers "DATA MAZE" workshop at DOX arts museum 2/11

The worldschoolers have a unique opportunity to participate in DOX workshop which is only available for us through Prague worldschooling. Its a customized event that is normally available for much older children and for schools. Ive arranged similar workshops before which have been enjoyed by the worldschoolers. It is in english, but we welcome czech speakers that are not fluent in english also. This event is for homeschoolers of all kinds and those that support homeschooling.

So when is it?

It is only held on Friday the 2nd of November at 11 o clock.

The cost:

Babies and toddlers up to 4 - 0 czk (the parents must look after them though)

Small kids from 5 - 50 czk

Adults that come also - 60 czk

The programme is originally for kids from 11 years and older but they are adapting this for us so its for kids from 7 and up. Kids that are older than 5 can participate as well but the parents have to help them if they need it. 

Its not for younger kids than that, but they are welcome too since I have made clear that we all have kids between 0 up to teens. They can watch or play by the side as long as the parents look after them. 

The modern art museum DOX is a pretty cool museum as you can read about here and here which you should visit at least once when in Prague. We have done workshops for worldschoolers twice before. See the video from the last DOX workshop at the bottom of this post.

Last time I arranged an event like this it filled up quickly. We were 50 worldschoolers including parents and children at the Planetarium excursion and I had to turn away 25 people that wanted to join us after the places were filled unfortunately. It was difficult to arrange that workshop with getting the list and the fee together so I will simplify it for all of us this time. There is limited spaces so it will be at "first come first served" basis. The group will be around 15 participants in the age asked for (7-11) plus all the family members from those same families.

How to secure your place:

You need to fill in this form with how many adults and kids you will pay for, and how many younger than 5s that you will bring. You are guaranteed a place when you have paid. You need to pay before filling in the form at least 7 days in advance so I will have everything prepared in time.

You can pay like this:

- Pay by bitcoin by scanning this QR code. This is my preferred method of payment. Its so easy and no fuss once you know how to use it. If not join one of our bitcoin meet ups.

- Pay by Paypal (ask me for the account by sending a message here or PM in Facebook.

- Come to one of our worldschooling meet ups and pay me (Caroline King) in person.
- I dont accept bank transfers.

Details of the meet up:

We will meet at the entrance of DOX at 10.45 am. Dont be late! But if you are ask in the reception for the Datamaze worldschooling workshop.

Information from DOX about the workshop:

How does my digital content get created? What all can be done with it? Who can access it? The objective of the DATA SHADOW programme is to talk with participants and reflect on what data they are creating, for example through social networks, messenger applications, or video streaming services, and whether they realize who can find it and what they can use it for. We live in an era of remixing, post-production, an open universe of networking – data is omnipresent and easily used.

In one of its projects the Tactical Tech organization works with the concept of a “digital shadow” – data that we create as we move through and participate in the internet without realizing it. These are various types of data (called metadata) that often is created with our agreement but without our awareness. One could say that we create it unintentionally. From thinking about this data that one does not directly generate oneself, one is only a few small steps away from thinking about the data that is the result of our activity in the digital world (called content).

The accompanying programme is adapted to the age of the group and contains discussions, activities within the exhibition, and a final workshop.

From one of our previous workshops based on Gullivers travels

After the workshop we will most likely go out for lunch in one of the really good (and affordable) places around here and after that probably head on to a nearby play ground for those that wants to join us.

Welcome!