the Play town Mini-Munich opens its doors again in August. For three weeks, children and young people between the ages of seven and 15 can do everything that is part of everyday life for adults in a city: they work and study, open shops, consume and engage in politics. Mini-Munich has been around for over 40 years and is the city’s largest holiday offering.
“At Mini-München, children experience in a playful way how a city works and how the world of the grown-ups is connected inside,” says Mayor Verena Dietl.
From Monday, August 1st, up to 2,000 children can shape their own lives in the play town every day from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Parents are allowed on the site, but must have their children issue a temporary parent visa at the Spielstadt residents’ registration office. Nevertheless, strictly parent-free zones exist.
The holiday offer takes place on the Showpalast site in Fröttmaning, Hans-Jensen-Weg 3. Actually, the small town should have pitched its tents and huts there in 2020, but because of Corona, Mini-Munich was distributed to 40 locations throughout Munich at the time. Some downtown venues will be retained as locations.
Weddings take place at Marienplatz and weekly court hearings are held in the large courtroom.
The focus this year is on the digitization of the play town. Citizens can now make transfers online, read news on the web or learn to program. Mini-Munich is a role model: over 300 play towns in Germany and abroad are based on the idea of the small town in the big one. And this year, too, there are a few visitors who want to see Mini-Munich. Embassy children from Vienna, Salzburg and Regensburg and adult guests from North Rhine-Westphalia, Lithuania, Italy and a research group from Japan have already announced their attendance.
The play town is organized by the “Culture & Playroom” association on behalf of the social department and the city youth welfare office in cooperation with cooperation partners and sponsors. The holiday offer is free of charge – registration is not necessary. According to the organizers, the children should decide for themselves whether they want to take part and how long they want to stay.