A look at KidosDay: when free play makes its way into the workplaces

For the past few months, inöuqa has been spending more and more time at the office. Not as an intern, but as part of KidosDay’s Kids Days: events organized for employees’ children inside the companies, while their parents work right next door.

KidosDay sets up the space, provides the facilitators, and organizes the workshops. Among the small selection of games and activities offered, inöuqa is available: to keep kids and adults alike entertained, to play on a life-size scale, to imagine structures, to invent stories, to share adventures...

This is precisely where our visions align: free, active, and collaborative play. We set things up, guide the children, and watch with enthusiasm as they create. A boat for some, a castle for others.

Here are a few questions for KidosDay about these events and what they mean for the children, the parents, and the company.

Can you describe KidosDay in a few words?

KidosDay organizes events for employees’ children right on company premises. These include Kids Days, Family Days, Christmas parties, and childcare days during school breaks. We set up a dedicated space on the premises, staffed by our activity leaders and featuring our workshops, while parents work a few floors above.

We work with companies such as Uber, Orange, Qonto, L’Oréal, and AXA, as well as much smaller organizations. An event can accommodate anywhere from six to 200 children. We welcome children ages 3 to 15.

In practical terms, what does a child experience during a Kids Day?

They enter the place where their father or mother works, often for the first time. They see the office, the cafeteria, and the coworkers whose first names they’ve heard at home for years.

Then they spend the day with children they don’t know, participating in age-appropriate workshops. For 3- to 6-year-olds, the focus is on sensory and motor skills: obstacle courses, play mats, storytelling, and musical exploration. For 6- to 10-year-olds, the activities involve building - huts, a fair, and creative workshops. For children 10 and older, we offer workshops with specific themes: their parents’ jobs, money management, emotions, and digital creation.

Many children leave with a craft they’ve made and a clearer idea of what their parents do all day.

What does this mean for working parents?

First, it means one less day of childcare to arrange on days when regular childcare options are closed: school breaks, long weekends, and strike days.

Second, parents tell us they’ve finally been able to show their children where they work. A child who’s seen the open-plan office, the team, and the coffee machine asks different questions that evening. They know what we’re talking about.

There’s also what happens within the team. Colleagues without children see other people’s kids come in, and the conversations the next day don’t feel like those at a seminar. We also plan parallel activities for adults - parenting workshops, discussions on sexism, gender equality, and company culture - so the day isn’t all about the kids.

And from the company’s perspective?

An event like this costs less than a seminar and leaves a bigger impression. Employees talk about it for a long time, photos get shared, and the topic comes up in internal surveys.

For companies working on their parental leave policies, this is a visible, date-specific initiative - more concrete than a policy statement. Many of our clients incorporate it into their "QVCT" (Quality of Life and Working Conditions) initiatives or their workplace equality agreements.

The rest is a matter of organization: a dedicated space, set slightly apart from work areas, a water source, and accessible restrooms. We handle the program, the equipment, and the supervision, with one facilitator for every eight children at most.

You also organize emergency childcare days during heat waves or strikes. How does that work?

In June 2026, several schools closed during the heat wave. We set up emergency daycare centers at the Qonto and 2CGroup offices in just a few days - the one at 2CGroup was even featured on TF1’s 8 p.m. news. Strike days highlight the same problem: schools close, along with cafeterias and after-school programs, and parents often find out about it just 48 hours in advance.

The concept is the same as a Kids Day, but with a shorter notice period. The company provides a room, we arrive with the activity leaders and supplies, and the children are cared for throughout the day.

What makes a difference is the burden it takes off parents’ shoulders. When a school closes on a workday, dozens of employees have to take an emergency day off or struggle to work from home with a child nearby.

What drew you to inöuqa?

First, the materials. We were looking for building sets that were large enough to fill a real space, sturdy enough to last an entire day with forty children, and flexible enough for everyone to use them however they want. inöuqa’s modules check all three boxes.

The way they’re made matters, too. A French brand, locally produced, modules that are recycled and recyclable, and play sets designed without gender distinctions.

Our clients are asking this question more and more often: where do the products we install in their offices come from, and what happens to them afterward? Companies with a documented CSR commitment expect precise answers on this point.

And the approach to play, which aligns with our own: free play and giving children autonomy. We don’t arrive with a rigid, timed workshop that produces the same result for everyone.

We set out the materials and support whatever the children do with them. When one group of six builds a fort and another decides to turn theirs into a tunnel, the day is a success.

If an employee thinks it is a good one idea, how should they bring it up with their employer?

The right person to talk to is the human resources representative, the office manager, or a representative from the social and economic committee, if there is one.

One sentence is all it takes to bring up the topic: “Could we organize a day for the kids during the All Saints’ Day break or at Christmas?”

Two factors help ensure the request is successful.

The first is the timeline: Christmas events are scheduled in September, and a custom program takes about two and a half months to organize.

The second is collaboration: a request supported by several parents goes over much better than an isolated request.

We then prepare the internal communication materials - a launch email, a poster, a registration form, and FAQs for families. The employee who came up with the idea doesn’t have to handle the organization.

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Learn More

• Website: kidosday.fr
• Contact and quotes: here
• Catalog of murals / lectures / events: here