This is my last week of maternity leave. Yes, next Tuesday, it is back into the world of work for me and two months of pappa time for Baby O.

As Husband has not had to spend many whole days with Baby O on his own and since Baby O is now very used to going out and about and meeting people in new places, I have been writing up a list of things to see and do in Stockholm, which I thought I’d share with you too.

Junibacken – the Astrid Lindgren museum on Djurgården, just behind Nordiska Museet. We went here this weekend and Baby O just loved it. The first room is called Storybook Square and is filled with little houses for the children to play in and chairs and airplanes for them to sit in. Even thought Baby O is not yet walking, he loved sitting on the motorbike and in the airplane and coming down the slide in our arms. After that, you get on the Storybook Train (remember to ask for the stories in English if you don’t understand Swedish!) and travel through the land of Astrid Lindgren’s stories. At the end of the train is Villa Villekulla, Pippi Longstocking’s home and then the cafe downstairs. Well worth the 95kr entrance fee for adults (children under 2 are free).

Rum För Barn – on the fourth floor of Kulturhuset on Sergels Torg is Rum För Barn, where the little ones can play, read books, listen to music, paint or hear a story being told. It can get very busy, but you can see from the outside whether there is space by the clever traffic light in the window (red = full, yellow = busy but some space and green = space).

Baby Revolution – a baby store and cafe on Kungsholmen, with seminars and discussion groups for parents. Great cafe underneath the shop (there is a lift) with a large area for the little ones to play, a huge range of toys for them and quite a few highchairs.

Dansmuseet – On Thursday mornings there are two sessions of Barnrytmik at the Dance museum in the city centre – one session for those up to 8 months and another for those aged 8-18 months (in other words, those who can crawl). Baby O and I went to the session for very little ones some months ago and he seemed to enjoy it. You sing some songs and play with rattles and then have a little dance around the museum. I think that he might enjoy it even more now that he’s a little older. It costs 70kr for babies and adults are free. There is a cafe that you can visit afterwards but it can get pretty full!

Stadsbibliotek – Story time (in Swedish) at the main library (corner of Odengatan and Sveavägen). Every Saturday in Sagorummet in the children’s library. We have been to the song time during the week, which used to be twice a week for free. However, it seems that that has now been cancelled and replaced with this. I would recommend booking in advance for this as the song time used to get booked up weeks in advance.

Babysim – The pool at Babysim on Kungsholmen has free sessions outside of lesson time when you can come and swim (and the pool is so deliciously warm, it’s like taking a bath). It costs 90kr for an adult and 40kr for a child but you can save money by buying a 10-ticket card (and the card is interchangeable between people, so a group of you can go together on one card). However, they don’t take credit cards.

Moderna Museet – For those with a little older ones (2 years and up), you can go along to Moderna to Family Sunday to look at the sculptures and do some painting of your own. An option for those with babies up to 15 months is the Baby viewing time. Both of these are on a first come, first served basis with no pre-booking and are incredibly popular.

These are just a very few of the things on offer in the city. I used Barn i Stan to find out what’s on. You can pick up the booklet every month in a number of places (I know that Polarn o Pyret has them on the counter!) or just look on the website. And there is also Barnguiden, a similar listings site.

Enjoy!