
© Canva Images
If you live in the Luxembourg City Commune you can take advantage of this classic program, running the first four weeks of public school summer holidays.
Aimed at children in cycles 1.2 to 4.2 (from the age of 5 through to the final year of primary school), Aktioun Bambësch offers a range of activities, games, and workshops in the forest. This year's session will run from 22 July to 16 August
The programme is organised by Creative Learning Centre - CAPEL - of the City of Luxembourg's Service Foyers scolaires. As part of this project, the City organises a range of free leisure activities in the afternoon not just in the summer, but also during various other school holidays.
Activities begin at around 14:00 and end at 18:00. If your child is already in a local school’s foyer/maison relais, the staff will normally bring them to the local Aktioun Bambësch bus stop where they will be picked up, and where you can later pick them up at the designated time (exact return times will depend on the bus stop). Otherwise, you will need to organise their transport to and from your local Aktioun Bambësch bus stop.
During these forest activities, the children are closely supervised by specially trained youth coordinators, who are overseen by educational staff from CAPEL. Participation in Aktioun Bambësch is free but places are limited. Registration is open until 23 May but if you’re interested, I suggest you don’t wait!
Please heed my cautionary tale: I put my daughter in foyer/maison relais for the summer last year and had no idea that our foyer would be unavailable in the afternoons for four whole weeks. We were not given any advance notice of this policy and by the time I found out, there were no places left in Aktioun Bambësch. Don’t let this happen to you!

© Canva Images
I had a similar panic this year when I discovered that only children from Cycle 1.2 are accepted; I now have a son in précoce (preschool) and had flashbacks to my predicament last year. I found out in the meantime, however, that the foyer is indeed open for those four weeks, but only for the children who are too young to participate in Aktioun Bambësch. And yet: what if your older children don’t get a place, I hear you ask? In that case, I’m afraid it seems you’re out of luck.
For more information, you can visit this website (also available in English!) Once registration officially opens, a 'sign-up form' will be available through this same link.