There will have soon a family with 2 girls-10 and 13 years old- who will visit me and stay in istanbul during 1 week- except Buyuk Ada, which can be great for them, ı dont know where to bring them in istanbul- ım sure some of yu can give me some tips- thanks in advance

Minia Turk ??

The Rahmi Koç museum on the Golden Horn is pretty educational and interactive.

They'd love taking the ferry and throwing simit out to the hordes of seagulls which follow. Or better yet, if the weather is nice think of taking a trip on a sultan caique: http://www.sultankayiklari.com/sultan_kayiklari.html

Kids seem to dig the various fortresses and dungeons around: Rumeli Hısarı or Yediküle, for instance.

Have fun!

There's a small ice rink at Galleria in Bakirkoy. You could take them out skating

They may find Minia Turk a drag, although it does have a reasonable playground

Koc Muse, may be OK, as may the modern art muse

Take them to Maslak and see if they can get a lesson in Horse riding. Just past the BP / shell garage, as the road seperates to Istinye. There mostly ponies there so I dont know whether they'll be too big but they may enjoy petting the horses.

Unfortunately it's really the wrong age for me to advise on a 3 yo no problem!

Thank you so much everybody for the tips- very usefull cause in may an other family with 3 children will come too...Now I have a list and will try to follow it !!
I will let you know it can be usefull-Thks again

Parkorman in Maslak has an ice-skating ring, a very nice and big swimming pool (well in summer anyway), you can rent bikes and scooters for a ride in the forest. In weekends they have various children activities.



http://www.parkorman.com.tr/new/page.as ... urumsal_po

I'd completely forgotten about Park Orman; good call. During the Summer they usually have lots of bouncy castles for the kids, some of which become climbing walls!

I have nieces and nephews coming to visit and was told to try Cevahir Shopping Center. There's a whole part of the mall just for children (rides, video games, cinema, bowling alley, etc).

Good luck with the visit!

(:
Kiki

there is but some height restrictions apply and it's a bit of a rip off. You pay an amount (can't remember 2/3 TL) and the kids get 10 minutes on each thing.

I would also say that a lot of it wouldn't appeal to the age range that Vincent is talking about, but there is also a bowling alley there. Doesn't serve beer though!

I thought I'd update my comments about the amusement park in Cevahir. I'd agree that it's expensive enough (we went through 60 ytl pretty fast with the two kids!) but I thought it was excellent! The two kids couldn't have been happier if they'd been treated to a private tour of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

We went twice and both times it was almost empty- so no long queues for ANY of the rides. The rides were fun! (if the kids are small, they have to go with an adult- so I was "forced" to ride the roller coaster and the one that drops you from an unbelievable height- superb!). Most of the attendees are great with children. My 2 year old niece spent an extra 5-10 "free" minutes in the bouncy castle with one of the enthusiastic helpers.

Height restriction is a bit of an issue (my small 5 year old niece was in tears when she wasn't allowed on the roller coaster), but I think the restrictions are reasonable. Not worth the risk of having a little one slip through bars/seat belts.

Anyway, it was a nice way to entertain the kids on a couple of rainy days.

Cheers,
Kiki

Thanks again everyboy for the tips- Today my last visitors are leaving (I had first a family with 2 girls and after a family with 3 boys)- they have done the classical things in which Egyptian bazar, yerebatan, dolmabahce,bosphorus tour, vapour, cay in front of kıs kulesi, restaurants with "strange and new" food, and buyukada- the girls have been in cevahir and had fun too- I have suggested Park Orman and Koç museum (for boys because of the cars) but the timing was already hard- When I asked to them= what did you prefer, they all have answered= your cat !!!

Um..............

Rosie is available to rent out for visiting family. YTL100 a week. Quite cheap really considering. Fully house trained. Unlike Vincent.