Rome recommendations with 5yro

[Jon_Jen]

We’ll be spending a couple of nights pre cruise in Rome and wondered if anyone could make any recommendations to keep our 5yo entertained in Rome, we are looking at activities but wondered if you had any must dos/ must avoids to give us a head start 

[SimplyMarvie]

Our absolute favorite family vacation was in Rome when our son was four. He LOVED the Coliseum, and when we went to "Gladiator School"  with some historical re-enactors out by the via appia antica. He also loved eating pizza and chasing pigeons while mom and dad had coffee. 🙂

 

There's a great scavenger hunt app we found for the kids iPads that he really liked, and there was a book that was available in all the souvenir shops with overlays to see how all the ruins looked originally that made the trip so much more accessible for him. I'd definitely suggest looking for something like that to help him engage.

[CruiseDigits]

Too funny, our kids loved chasing pigeons too, specifically ours pigeon adventure was in St. Peter's Square!  Gelato.  Pantheon (we all loved it).  Trevi Fountains.  Running around any of the piazzas.  We always always always take our kids to local grocery stores and let them peruse and pick out local snack foods and drinks (fun for us too).  May also be controversial but the nicest McDonald's I've ever seen was near the Spanish Steps, even if you go just to look at the desserts in the cafe.

 

We always had our kids read stories about the places we were going to visit (for example I think there is a Magic Treehouse story for Rome).  Also take a look at the book, "Mission Rome: A Scavenger Hunt Adventure". 

 

Also buy tickets in advance to avoid waiting in any lines.

[Kerry's Girls]

I would avoid the Vatican unless you have Friday night tickets, which are wonderful.   The Vatican has narrow corridors and one-way traffic and gets very crowded/uncomfortable for little ones.  

[Benthayer Gonbak]

As an eight year old I got quite tired of the broken, naked statues in Italy!  I definitely remember the colosseum though.  For dessert I liked watching the waiters peal fruit at the table too.  Watching a cook put my pizza in a dirty oven was confusing.  And ashes on the bottom seemed strange.  Yes, these were the old fire ovens and mostly in Naples that I remember.  The Italians loved children so I was always seemingly entertained by the waitstaff.  My brother is a couple of years younger. 

 

Have a a great time!