My shortlist of the top things to do in Rome with a six year old, based on my experience of Rome with my children. Best Rome tours for kids and Rome attractions they’ll love at this age. [Updated March 2026]
Visiting Rome with a 6-year-old is fun and exciting.
At this age, you are able to join a large array of activities in the city, and while you will still need to factor in playtime and breaks from sightseeing, you can enjoy Rome’s main attractions with ease.
Kids’s tours in Rome are perfect for this age!
I am a Rome mama of 2 kids and have done many things with them. I wrote a list of over 70 things to do in Rome with kids, all based on our experiences.
Since I know a long list can be overwhelming, today, I distill the best on the best in this shorter, easier list, with the best things to do in Rome with a 6-year-old!
Good to know! All these ideas, plus practical tips for visiting Rome with kids are also on my ebook ‘Best of Rome with kids – a practical guide for parents’ available on Amazon!
Best things to do in Rome with a six year old: chart + list
| Activity | Type of Activity | Budget |
| Colosseum | Sightseeing | Medium/ Low |
| Vatican Piazza and Dome climb | Sightseeing | Low |
| Explora | Children Museum | Low |
| Scavenger Hunt City center | Tour / self guided | Medium / Low |
| Gladiator Class | Lesson/physical activity | High |
| Pizza / Pasta making class | Lesson | High / Medium |
| Golf Cart Tour | Sightseeing | High |
| Borghese Garden / Zoo | Park | Low |
| Mostra Mattoncini (lego) | Lego exhibition: yes, just what you think it is, no need for introductions for this one! | Low |
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Visit the Colosseum
The Colosseum is often the one thing kids really want to see in Rome and with good reason! It is massive, it is unique, it comes with stories of gladiators and an appearance that is just like that in the movies – except it is bigger and better!
Thankfully, visiting the Colosseum with kids is easy.
There are several ways, which I described in depth in my guide to visiting the Colosseum with kids, but in brief, we can summarise them as follows:
Go self guided – if you like to visit things in your own time, want to keep the budget low or have a child who doesn’t enjoy tours, this is a great way to go about it! You can get tickets directly from the Colosseum (timed, so you skip the line), kids are free and you can just explore at your own pace.
If you want some support to make it more enjoyable for them, I can help! I have:
A free guide to the Colosseum, which you can use to know what you are looking at as you walk around
Colosseum Printables for kids, so they can learn about it and be active while they explore. Find them here.
Go with a kids tour – if you have a child who does better with a tour, then I can recommend some excellent tours that are just for kids and make the place come to life for them with games and quizzes.
The two I recommend are:
LivTours Colosseum Tour for kids, which also has the Roman Forum that is incredible – kids experience it like a park but truly, they do so while walking in Ancient Rome!
Colosseum Tour with Mariaclaudia Tours, which is also super fun and interactive and approaches the Colosseum and Forum in a fun and engaging way. Tell her Marta from Mama Loves Rome sends you or, if you’re not already in my Italy with kids Facebook Group, you can join it here: it is free and we can chat and I can put you in touch with her!
Should these not be available for your dates, other good tours are:
Vatican City
Vatican City is a very special place and a must see in Rome. However, it is not a place of immediate appeal for a 6 year old and to tackle it with them, some tips are useful. I have my full guide to visiting the Vatican with kids here but this is a quick overview.
The Vatican is made of several attractions, the most famous of which are the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, St Peter’s Basilica and dome climb and St Peter’s Square.
With a six year old, I highly recommend seeing the square, the basilica and the piazza, while for the museums.. it’s a judgement call.
The Vatican Museums are wonderful and worth seeing but tend to be rather hard for kids as they are large, busy and traditional in style – if you have kids who are used to interactive museums, this is very much not one of them!
If you do want to brave them however, there are several ways to go about it.
Go self guided – ideal if you like to go at tour own pace or are on a budget. You can get timed tickets directly from the museum and you can also get a kids map and audioguide.
Go with a kids’ tour – this is, for me, THE one tour to invest in, if you are in Rome because everything else is easy without a guide, but the Vatican can really do with one! Kids’ tours of the Vatican are fun and interactive, the guides help manoeuvring around the crowds and my favourite one even include the Egyptian wing which is fabulous for kids! This is my favorite Vatican Tour for kids
Good to know! If you are not set on seeing the museums, you can consider sticking with the other Vatican City attractions (piazza and basilica – both free). If you have a child who can take about 500 steps up, the dome climb is spectacular!
Explora Children Museum
Explora is the children museum of Rome and while there is nothing ‘Roman’ about it, it is a fantastic place for kids age 6 and my own children’s very favourite place in the city.
Explora develops over two floors and it’s a hands on museum with installations for interactive play. Here, kids can role play house / supermarket / vegetable patch, they can operate machines and levels, run around, experiment with sound and color and have pure, unadulterated children fun.
The museum is a great rainy day activity for kids in Rome and an easy place for parents to relax too as it is safe and contained.
It has good facilities onsite and even a restaurant with pizza and kids’ meals.
You an read here >>> our review of Explora Rome
Explore Rome city center with a scavenger hunt
The thing that makes Rome such a fun and exciting place for kids is that the city center has stories, curiosities and fun things to discover literally at every corner.
These stories however are hidden: you won’t find a sign telling you the funny reason why the elephant statues by Bernini shows its derrière to the nearby Dominicans College!
To discover them you need a guide and you can choose between the following:
Free – I love scavenger hunt for small kids and I have some free ones on this site you can use! I have a Rome Bingo and an animal statues scavenger hunt you can print at home and use as you go. Simple but I promise, they are fun! Find them here.
Low Budget – A very small investment of few euro can give you more in depth scavenger hunts made by me again, by area. They come with fact cards and they are intended for use during leisurely walks – so you can get the kids motivated as you explore, without tying you to a specific itinerary. Find them here.
Medium budget – another fun way to explore the city center with a scavenger hunt is by booking a self guided one with Museo Mostra di Leonardo. This museum is located in the city center and makes the most of its location giving the option of going on a self guided scavenger hunt around the neighbourhood.
This is a fantastic hunt with tons of options and perfect for kids age 6 and up and parents: it requires operating an iPad (easy) and some help from the parents as you are negotiating a busy part of the city.
It is however a fantastic medium budget option to explore the city centre and the museum, in which you finish, is kid friendly and fun.
>>> Get tickets here <<<
Medium/Higher Budget – last but not least, you want a really fun guided experience, you can explore the city center with a fun scavenger hunt tour led by a local guide. These tours are perfect for kids age 6 as they mix facts and information with a game approach and an upbeat, warm vibe.
The tour makes you see many of Rome’s top city center sites and will showcase some things your child will be able to keep spotting around town in the following days.
Gladiator class
A class to learn the art of gladiators is one of the most fun things you can do in Rome with a six year old.
It took me ages to agree to going to one as I’ll be honest, I though it would be a silly and touristy thing to do. However, I was wrong!
The class is really fun, really well done and a fantastic way to learn about the Roman Army and Gladiators with an active and hands-on approach.
The class is suitable for kids age 6 and up and I recommend you do it with them: it’s great fun to do it as a family activity!
The lesson is by Gruppo Storico Romano. You can read our review here >>> Taking the Gladiator class with kids.
>>> You can get tickets here <<<
Pizza /Pasta making class
if you have a child who likes to cook or you want a different way to spend dinnertime one day, I highly recommend taking a pasta making class or a pizza making class.
The pizza making class is a fun and easy activity for kids to do and it is worth it in Rome since pizza is from Rome (and from Naples). So, learning to make pizza in Rome is a quintessential Rome thing to do, as well as a fun one! >>> You can book it here <<<
A pasta making class is a great way to spend an afternoon/evening in Rome and I have two I highly recommend!
One is in a cooking school in Trastevere, which is lovely as it is also a great opportunity to explore this lovely neighbourhood. It is in a group setting but kids area really welcome and well catered for. You can find info and prices here
Another one I love is this one in particular is because it brings you into the home of a Rome mama!
So, as well as learning to make pasta and having a great meal, you’ll have an authentic experience and tap into a side of the city you’d otherwise miss. The class I recommend is by @LucillaCookingClass Find her on instagram and tell her Marta from MamaLovesRome sends you to get a special family price!
Gold Cart Tour/ Hop on Hop Off Bus Tour
A Golf Cart Tour and Bus Hop on Hop Off tours is a great idea to explore a lot of Rome in a limited amount of time and with a six year old who may get tired of walking all the time.
The two options are different from one another but both have merits:
The Golf Cart Tour is fun because of smaller, electric vehicle is able to bring you along small streets and piazzas that are impossible for a bus tour reach.
My favorite golf cart tours are:
The hop on – hop off bus is cheaper than the golf cart and allows for more independence, as you can explore in your own time, during the validity of your ticket. You can check prices here
Borghese Gardens
The Borghese Gardens (Villa Borghese) is a wonderful park in Rome city center: it is one of the biggest in the city and a great place for kids since it offers playgrounds, carousels, tons of free and safe space to run and kick a ball around and even the option to rent family bikes and pedal go karts!
My kids adore it: it is a fabulous place to explore and relax in for a day and it also offers some fabulous views over Rome form the Pincio Terrace, so parents will like it too, you definitely feel like you are in Rome here!
The park is free to access but it is so big, having an idea of what’s in there and where is useful. Find here >>> My guide to the Borghese Gardens in Rome.
Where to stay in Rome with a 6 year old
If you are looking for family accommodation in Rome, I recommend you focus your search in the city center. My favorite areas for services, vibe, and location are the Pantheon/Navona area and Monti district.
Find here >>> my top family hotels in Rome city center.
Where to eat in Rome with a six year old
Rome is very relaxed when it comes to dining out and you can bring your six your old with you no matter where you go. If you want some suggestions of nice addresses, however
You can find here >>> My selection of the best family restaurants in Rome
Rome with a six year old – pin this!
