THE DUBAI EDIT

Free family days out in Dubai

Discover free Dubai experiences with published age ranges that include children and adults. Check the exact ages and registration conditions for your family.

20 current free things · dates and times use UAE time.

Golden textured cones in a public interactive sculpture garden.

Art & culture

A Seat at the Table — explore the UAE through five senses

Discover an interactive table built around five UAE-inspired atmospheres: desert dawn, a majlis, a souk, an oasis and Ramadan evening. Co-created with People of Determination artists and university students, the layered artwork invites visitors to explore sound, scent, touch and different ways of perceiving familiar places.

3 Nov · 3–8 November 2026, 10:00–22:00 daily (UAE time).

Dubai Design District · Check visit details

All ages

Orange Halloween pumpkin carved into a smiling jack-o’-lantern.

Shows & events

A Spooktacular Halloween — monsters, games and Thriller in the park

Step through a smoky Halloween arch into a family evening of roaming monsters, a haunted maze, games and face painting at JLT Park Amphitheatre. Catch the Thriller flashmob at 18:00 or 19:00, with costumes encouraged and younger visitors welcome to choose the gentler activities.

31 Oct · 31 October 2026, 16:00–21:00. Thriller flashmobs at 18:00 and 19:00.

Jumeirah Lakes Towers · Check visit details

All ages welcome

Representative installation of rolled paper notes projecting from a honeycomb wall

Art & culture

Abwab: In Other Words — five creative languages in one exhibition

Explore a curated indoor exhibition about communication beyond ordinary language. Five practices work with textiles, typography, paper, writing and material to reveal how meaning changes as visitors move around the space.

3 Nov · 3–8 November 2026, 10:00–22:00 daily (UAE time).

Dubai Design District · Check visit details

All ages — festival admission

Representative display of hand-modelled clay sculptures, masks and faces; not the Clay Vocabulary exhibition.

Art & culture

Clay Vocabulary — young Emirati pottery and local ceramics

Discover ceramics from young Emirati makers alongside local craft practice. The Al Jalila Cultural Centre for Children exhibition brings together creative work across generations and offers a close look at different approaches to clay.

3 Nov · 3–8 November 2026, 10:00–22:00 daily (UAE time).

Dubai Design District · Check visit details

All ages — festival admission

A blue, open-lattice three-dimensional design object on a white background.

Art & culture

Developing Ideas into Objects — a hands-on design masterclass

Work with Dr Ulrike Oberlack from Central Saint Martins to turn several design ideas into a three-dimensional object. This guided, hands-on masterclass explores generative design and creative blocks, with a finished design and a process to use in future projects.

5 Nov · 2026-11-05, 16:30–18:30 (Dubai time).

Dubai Design District · Check visit details

Ages 16+

Historical Dubai Design Week exhibition with graphic design posters

Shows & events

Dubai Design Week — installations, exhibitions and creative ideas

Explore ambitious installations, exhibitions and design-led public spaces across Dubai Design District during the six-day creative festival. General festival admission is free for all ages; individual workshops and the separate Downtown Design fair may require paid tickets.

3 Nov · 3–8 November 2026, 10:00–22:00 daily (UAE time).

Dubai Design District · Check visit details

All ages

Children assembling a large collage from colourful cut-out photographs at an art centre.

Art & culture

Family Sundays — Shapes, Stories and Memories

Create photo collages, clay keepsakes and cubist characters together, and contribute to a shared river mural. This family art-making day includes materials and sensory activities for toddlers.

1 Nov · Sunday 1 November 2026, 11am–3pm

Jaddaf Waterfront · Booking required

All ages; children and families

Representative decorated Gulf wooden chest at Bait al Zubair Museum in Oman

Art & culture

Mandoos Al Wulfa — Emirati traditions reimagined through design

Explore an immersive pavilion built around the Mandoos, the traditional chest associated with Emirati culture. Contemporary designers reinterpret its form and symbolism, showing how familiar rituals and cultural objects can inspire new design.

3 Nov · 3–8 November 2026, 10:00–22:00 daily (UAE time).

Dubai Design District · Check visit details

All ages — festival admission

Representative photography portfolio review with people discussing prints across tables

Art & culture

Photography Portfolio Review — share your work and sharpen your story

Bring your photography into a group review with experienced practitioners and peers. This two-hour session explores editing, sequencing and visual storytelling through practical feedback and discussion.

3 Nov · 3 November 2026, 14:00–16:00 (UAE time).

Dubai Design District · Check visit details

Ages 16+

Representative ancient Celtic gold torque with elaborate suspended decoration

Art & culture

Recreating Gesture — how an Iron Age gold necklace was made

Discover how researchers and craftspeople recreated a Celtic gold neck ornament more than 2,000 years old. L’ÉCOLE Middle East’s exhibition connects experimental archaeology, traditional techniques and jewellery craftsmanship, with context from the UAE’s Saruq Al Hadid discoveries.

3 Nov · 3–8 November 2026, 10:00–22:00 daily (UAE time).

Dubai Design District · Check visit details

All ages — festival admission

Curved row of outdoor metal musical keys with attached mallets.

Art & culture

Resonance — play a musical Ghaf tree

Make your own rhythms beneath a tree-shaped musical canopy. Colourful xylophone-inspired leaves and hanging mallets turn Kart Group’s Ghaf-inspired installation into a shared instrument that visitors can touch and play.

3 Nov · 3–8 November 2026, 10:00–22:00 daily (UAE time).

Dubai Design District · Check visit details

All ages

Four historic Iznik tiles with interlocking blue and orange ornamental motifs.

Art & culture

Rumi Ornamentation — build your own flowing decorative patterns

Explore the rhythm, repetition and balance of Rumi ornamentation in a two-hour hands-on workshop with SOCO. Learn to construct decorative motifs and bring them together into patterns inspired by traditional ornamental arts. The Dubai Culture session is taught in Arabic and English for ages 16 and above.

31 Oct · Saturday 31 October 2026, noon–2pm. Advance registration required.

Al Rashidiya · Booking required

Ages 16+ · Arabic and English

Representative architectural scale model of Beijing Daxing International Airport

Art & culture

Six Degrees Offsite — the next generation of architecture and design

Explore graduating work from the American University of Sharjah’s College of Architecture, Art and Design. The exhibition spans architecture, interiors, visual communication, multimedia and design management, showing emerging designers’ ideas and creative processes.

3 Nov · 3–8 November 2026, 10:00–22:00 daily (UAE time).

Dubai Design District · Check visit details

All ages — festival admission

Representative garden pavilion surrounded by planting; not the Three Gardens and a Room installation.

Art & culture

Three Gardens and a Room — walk through a living architectural installation

Move through three contrasting planted gardens arranged around a shared room. NAO Architects uses shade, thresholds, colour, material and filtered light to explore how architecture changes the way people gather and pause.

3 Nov · 3–8 November 2026, 10:00–22:00 daily (UAE time).

Dubai Design District · Check visit details

All ages — festival admission

Movable metal letterforms arranged in a traditional type case.

Art & culture

Type Has a Voice — make expressive typography

Turn words into visual art with designer Mira AlHalabi. Experiment with letterforms, scale, spacing and composition through analogue and digital approaches, then create a framed typographic piece during this two-hour making workshop.

3 Nov · 2026-11-03, 16:30–18:30 (Dubai time).

Dubai Design District · Check visit details

Ages 16+

A musician with a tanpura, an Indian classical music instrument.

Shows & events

Amritha Murali Live in Dubai

A Carnatic vocal concert presented by Musico Dubai, with violin and percussion accompaniment. Free reserved admission; any food or drink purchase is optional.

1 Nov · 19:00 GST

Al Karama · Booking required

All ages

Representative wool yarn photograph at Harrisville Designs

Art & culture

Herding the UNHEARD — sound, wool and unwritten languages

Explore pastoral calls and oral histories from India and the UAE through sound, wool artefacts and interactive prototypes. The programme describes listening, creating material samples and conversations about endangered knowledge.

3 Nov · 3–8 November 2026, 10:00–22:00 daily (UAE time).

Dubai Design District · Check visit details

All ages

A street photographer looking through a camera during a photowalk.

Art & culture

Leica photowalks — street stories, portraits and architecture

See Dubai Design District through a photographer’s eye on a guided festival photowalk. Choose Street Stories on 6 November, Portraiture on 7 November, or Monochrome and Architecture on 8 November. Each 90-minute session explores composition, light and visual storytelling around the district.

6 Nov · 2026-11-06, 2026-11-07, 2026-11-08, 16:00–17:30 (Dubai time).

Dubai Design District · Check visit details

Ages 16+

Representative photograph of a Ludo board

Art & culture

Playing Field — become a piece in giant Ludo

Join a full-scale Ludo installation where visitors become the playing pieces. Four teams of four use handmade cement tiles produced with stone-quarry waste.

3 Nov · 3–8 November 2026, 10:00–22:00 daily (UAE time).

Dubai Design District · Check visit details

All ages

Art & culture

Mohammed Bin Rashid Library

Visit the public reading collections at this library in Al Jaddaf.

Monday–Thursday and Saturday 09:00–21:00; Friday 14:00–21:00. Closed Sunday.

Al Jaddaf · Check visit details

Ages 5+

Each free thing links to its organiser and last successful source check. Opening hours and spaces can change; confirm before setting off.