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.
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 and Vatican | Sightseeing | Medium/ 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 | Park | Low |
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Visit the Colosseum and the Vatican in a kid-friendly way
The Colosseum and the Vatican are the top two attractions in Rome all visitors want to at least get a glimpse of, including families with young children.
There are several ways to go about them, with a six year old, and the choice of one over the other depends on personal style (if you like a tour or prefer self-guided) and budget.
I have great options for all, with pros and cons of each!
If you like guided tours, I recommend you book Mariaclaudia Tours for both attractions. These tours are specifically designed for kids, yet manage to be engaging and informative for parents as well.
The child is at the center of the experience, the information given is tailored to their age, and the tours have a game approach, which means children stay engaged and have fun during the whole length of it.
Six is the perfect age for them.
Mariaclaudia tours are excellent and well priced: tell her Marta from MamaLovesRome sent you! Find them on Facebook >>> Mariaclaudia Tours Facebook Page
If you prefer to visit attractions in your own time, you can do so by booking tickets directly with the Colosseum and the Vatican Museums.
Buying tickets directly from the attractions the most budget friendly option to visit them, it just takes a bit of planning as both sell out quickly.
Read here >>> how to book tickets to the Colosseum
And here >>> how to book tickets to the Vatican Museum
Good to know! The Vatican Museums are very tiring for kids. The crowds and the type of art make a visit very intense even for adults. If you are not set on seeing the museums, you can consider sticking with the other Vatican City attractions (piazza and basilica – both free)
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 – if you want a simple and free prop to visit the city centre, you can use my free Rome statue scavenger hunt for kids. It is a printable sheet with Rome’s top animal statues in the centre and a fact card that helps kids (and adults) learn about each. You can download it here >>> Rome’s Statues Scavenger hunt for kids
Low Budget – you have a few euro to invest in an ebook, several scavenger hunts in Rome city center’s main areas are in my Ebook ‘best of Rome with kids’. They are organized as trails, so you can use them to keep your kids motivated when walking between Rome’s top sites. I call my hunts ‘walking prompts’ for this very reason! You can get it here >> Rome with kids ebook with scavenger hunts
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 by Mariaclaudia Tours. 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. You can read here our review. Make sure you tell her Marta from MamaLovesRome sent you!
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 the reason why I recommend 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!
