Free holiday programmes in Oslo

📍 Hele Oslo

The Red Cross holiday programme for families, with accommodation, food and activities covered, run in several of the school holidays. The scheme is intended for families who have had a weak financial situation over time. How a family gets a place, by applying directly or by referral from NAV, the school health service or child welfare services, is explained on the Red Cross website. Check there well before the holiday.

📍 Bydel Grorud

Bydel Grorud's own holiday club for children and young people from year 5 to age 18, with trips to water parks, an amusement park, a climbing park and paintball, plus a music workshop and overnight stays at the district's own holiday house Kinsbakken near Stavern.

📍 Ellingsrud, Bydel Alna

Six consecutive weeks of multi-sport, football school, martial arts, floorball, handball and open hall, entirely free and open to everyone from age 6, not only the club's own members. A simple lunch is included every day. Registration goes through Spond, and the programme covers most of the common summer holiday.

📍 Veitvetveien 8

A circus camp at Kulturhuset Veitvet with aerial acrobatics, juggling, dance and music production, running both as a shorter mini-camp and a full week in summer, with its own programme in the autumn break. It is free but reserved for children in Bydel Bjerke, and registration goes through a form or the district's own app. The camp suits children who would rather climb a rope than kick a ball.

📍 Furuset aktivitetspark, Furuset

Furuset sports club and Alnaskolen have run free summer camps for children and youth at Furuset since 2009, with activities at Sletta between Furuset school and Furuset Forum through large parts of the summer holidays, typically in the afternoon. The programme offers football, basketball, dance, parkour, frisbee and much more, all free, and equipment can be borrowed through BUA Furuset. In 2025 the camp ran every weekday from 1pm to 5pm, moving indoors to Furuset Forum when it rained. There is also a dedicated adapted camp for children with disabilities.

📍 Tokeruddalen 105

A music house with free holiday programmes in the school holidays, open to the whole city and not only the district. All activities are free and require no prior experience; the summer opening is pure drop-in, while some courses have their own registration. Studio time is booked by text message or email.

📍 Linderud, Bydel Bjerke

Linderud IL's free holiday programme runs for four weeks in the middle of the common summer holiday, on weekdays from morning to afternoon, with lunch served every day. The days follow roughly the same rhythm as a school day, with drop-off in the morning and pick-up in the afternoon, which makes the week workable for parents who are at work. Registration is done online in advance.

📍 Tjernveien 12

Two consecutive weeks of free basketball in Apalløkka sports hall, from late morning to afternoon every weekday, supported by Oslo Idrettskrets. The hall is a few minutes' walk from Ammerud metro station, so children can get there on their own. The club has also run a free open hall over Easter, though that programme is only announced shortly in advance.

📍 Semsvannet, Asker

An outdoor camp for children in grades 3-7 in week 32, in the Semsvannet area of Asker. The day starts at 9am and ends at 2.30pm at the greenhouse in the NaKuHel garden, and the children are divided into groups of six to eight with plenty of adults.

📍 Gamle Oslo (og Husbergøya i Oslofjorden)

FRIGO, the outdoor activity centre in Gamle Oslo, is the district's own free holiday programme for children and youth: a summer club with day trips, swimming, canoeing and football in several summer weeks, stays with overnighting at FRIGO's own colony site on the island of Husbergøya in the Oslofjord, and activities in both the autumn and winter breaks.

📍 Midtoddveien 12

The culture house at Kjelsås stays open for much of the summer for young people from year 8, with outings and activities in the building, all free and with no registration. Younger children get their own weeks of theatre courses, gaming and music production with ordinary sign-up, and the house also runs a winter camp in February and opens over Easter.

📍 Lofsrudveien 6

A free activity week in Klemetsrud sports hall through the whole Easter holiday, with lunch served every day. Registration is done online in advance, and the club also runs a free open hall for girls and women every Monday through the year.

📍 Hovseterveien 74

Bydel Vestre Aker's youth house stays open through the school holidays for everyone from year 4 to the final year of upper secondary, and the outings are as free as the house itself: an amusement park, a trampoline park and a climbing park with nothing to pay along the way. Open house needs no registration, while the trips fill up and have their own deadlines. The club posts information about its holiday programmes on Instagram, and the house is a few minutes from Hovseter metro station.

📍 Oberst Rodes vei 79

A free day programme for two weeks in the middle of the common summer holiday, with football, handball, table tennis, dodgeball and games, Monday to Friday from 9am to 3pm. Note that the club also runs paid football and handball camps in the surrounding weeks at ordinary camp prices; it is the two weeks the club runs with Oslo Idrettskrets and with support from Oslo kommune that are free. Places are limited and registration opens in spring.

📍 Bydel Stovner

Stovner Sportsklubb runs free activity weeks through almost the entire summer holiday, spread across Vestli sports hall, Rommensletta and Stovnerhallen, with a new sport each week: dance, football, volleyball, badminton and basketball. There is no registration and no membership requirement, just turn up. The club also runs a free open hall on Fridays during the school year, though it closes for summer and restarts in September.

📍 Langbølgen 2A

Bydel Nordstrand's youth clubs run free trips through the summer, meeting at Lambertseter youth club and taking a bus onward to a summer park, mini golf, a climbing park, paintball or an amusement park. The district covers both the entry ticket and the travel; children bring a packed lunch or pocket money.

📍 Skullerudstua i Østmarka og badedammen ved Steinbruvannet på Grorud

Skiforeningen's free outdoor days in the autumn holiday, at two locations: by Skullerudstua in Østmarka and by the bathing pond at Grorud. Note that this is not a drop-off programme. Children aged 6 to 10 must bring an adult who stays with them throughout, and younger siblings can join if a parent takes responsibility for them.

📍 Hele Oslo

The City of Oslo's free summer school for all pupils in grades 1-10 living in Oslo, with around 15,000 places across nearly 80 different courses, from science and coding to outdoor life, sports and creative subjects. Each course runs for a full week. Registration opens in March and places go fast, so set up your wish list early.

📍 Økern, Nordtvet, Holmlia, Bøler og Lambertseter bad

A five-day swimming course paid for by the City of Oslo, spread across five pools around the city and split into groups for ages 6 to 9, 10 to 13 and 14 to 19. The swimming clubs provide the instruction, each session lasts 45 minutes, and there is one course per child so the places stretch further. Registration opens on 27 May at 12:00 at tryggivann.no and fills quickly, so this is one of those deadlines worth having in the calendar in advance.

📍 Bøler flerbrukshall

A free open hall for teenagers every Friday from 8pm to 10pm through the school year, from January to late April and from September to mid December. The hall is also open during the day in the winter break, in week 33 and in the autumn break. No registration, no membership, no cost, just turn up.

📍 Rudolf Nilsens plass

Sportsklubben Sterling fills Rudolf Nilsens plass with football, badminton, floorball, basketball, volleyball and relay races five afternoons a week for much of the summer. It costs nothing, requires no prior experience and no registration: you sign up on the spot on the day you turn up, and can just as easily come back the next day. Open to everyone, whatever their age or level.

📍 Vulkan 5, 0178 Oslo

Geitmyra food culture centre for children runs a free cooking school for teenagers aged 14 to 19 in the school holidays, at their kitchen in Mathallen at Vulkan. Participants learn knife skills, kitchen hygiene and cooking methods from frying to fermenting, make sustainable food and end each day with a shared meal. At the farm itself in Sagene they also offer a free after-school programme for ages 10 to 13 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

📍 Dr. Dedichens vei 23

Haugerud IF has activities almost every single day of the summer holidays, from badminton and basketball running throughout, to cricket, chess, judo, tennis, dance and football school, plus a camp with a night in a hammock in Haugerudparken. It is free and in principle open to everyone, not only members. The club also runs a BUA equipment library in Haugerudhallen where gear is lent out free all summer.