FEZ Wuhlheide Centre for Children, Youth and Family

The FEZ-Berlin is Europe’s largest non-profit centre for children, young people and families. It offers creative play, fun and relaxation, and its programme combines education, adventure and culture. With 100,000 m² of outdoor space and 13,000 m² of indoor space, the FEZ is the ideal venue for events – or simply for letting off steam.

From A for Astrid Lindgren to W for the universe

The Astrid Lindgren Stage, with its 588 seats, offers an entertaining theatre programme for children and families. The Children’s Museum at the FEZ presents interactive, hands-on temporary exhibitions covering a range of topics across 450 m². The Orbitall Space Centre stands out with its unusual architecture. It is modelled on the International Space Station (ISS). Here, visitors can experience space travel, its fascination and its benefits to society. The swimming and sports hall, concert halls, cinema and playgrounds invite visitors to have a go and get involved. Around 30 clubs round off the programme, particularly in the afternoons and evenings.

A weekend with the family? Off to the FEZ! Whether it’s a children’s cookery school, a music festival, the German-Turkish Cultural Festival or the Puppet Theatre Festival – on 50 weekends a year, a different theme sets the agenda at the centre. The school holidays are a particular highlight at the FEZ. Holiday attractions such as ‘FEZITTY – the Children’s Capital’ or ‘Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’ have been named ‘the big hits’ by the children. Nurseries and school classes use the FEZ as an extracurricular learning venue or as a destination for school trips.

From the Pioneer Republic to a family paradise

The FEZ traces its origins back to the ‘Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Republic’, built in the GDR in 1951. Even back then, the park railway was laid out here, and it is still run by children and young people today. Later, in the 1970s, the ‘Pionierpalast’ was built, which today, as the ‘Freizeitpalast’, forms the centrepiece of the FEZ. Every year, 850,000 people visit the FEZ. The FEZ-Berlin is run by the Children’s and Youth Leisure Centre and the State Music Academy through a non-profit operating company of the State of Berlin.

Family cinema, theatre and children’s museum

There’s nothing you won’t find at the FEZ. If you fancy a bit of exercise, you can go for a swim in the indoor pool or have a gentle splash about in the non-swimmers’ area. The Orbitall Space Centre awaits all explorers and budding researchers. Here you can examine original artefacts from the Russian space station MIR. In the control centre, you can find out whether you have what it takes to be an astronaut through reaction time and dexterity tests. The Alice Children’s Museum offers even more interactive experiences and hands-on learning with its changing exhibitions on topics such as international encounters. Those who prefer to spend the day relaxing in an armchair can watch a film at Fezino, the FEZ’s family cinema, or attend a theatre performance. The Astrid Lindgren Stage regularly presents fairy-tale and fantasy plays for all age groups.

Woodland, model park, open-air stage – the Wuhlheide

The urban woodland area in Wuhlheide is the perfect place for a day out: for children, the FEZ (Leisure and Recreation Centre) offers countless adventures. Take the park railway to the swimming lake or visit the model park to see miniature replicas of Berlin’s most famous buildings. In the summer in particular, the evenings here are full of rock ’n’ roll: the open-air stage in Wuhlheide can accommodate 17,000 concert-goers and welcomes numerous international stars every year.

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