Picture it: you are a young parent, fresh through the doors of the Louvre with a small child in tow. For your little one, it is torture. Don’t touch. Don’t run. Don’t, don’t, don’t. And as any parent knows, once the torture starts for your child, it very quickly becomes yours. Instead of a slow, dreamy wander past the masterpieces of the world, you are deflated, your child is despondent, and the Mona Lisa is a blur you will never quite remember.

So what is a culture-loving parent to do? Shelve the whole thing until your child turns ten?

Abu Dhabi has a better idea. This year, the city is launching a Children’s Biennale in Umm Al Emarat Park as part of Abu Dhabi Festival, and the rules are refreshingly short: there aren’t any. Nothing intimidating, nothing behind a rope.

Everything can be touched, played with, rearranged and answered back to. And for adults, you may ask? A lovely chance to discover how local artists strike that wonderful balance between art for grown-ups and little ones, while getting to play with the artworks yourself. I know, you are already intrigued. So, when is it happening, who is taking part, and what is there to see?

Let's find out.

So, what exactly is the Children’s Biennale? Brace yourself, because the headline is a good one. It is the Middle East’s first outdoor art exhibition of its kind, built around a simple idea: let kids meet art on their own terms. They can touch it, listen to it, move through it, play with it and, now and then, make a little mess of it.

Called How the World Feels, the Biennale takes over Abu Dhabi’s Umm Al Emarat Park from November 6 to December 6, with eight interactive installations spread across its gardens and open spaces. Seven are newly commissioned works by UAE-based artists, while the eighth comes from Indonesian artist Eko Nugroho. And since this is the very first edition, you haven't missed anything yet! It is presented by Abu Dhabi Festival, the flagship initiative of the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF), in partnership with National Gallery Singapore, Umm Al Emarat Park and Salayel Hospitality.

Steering the whole adventure is curator Dana Almazrouei, who has a PhD in museum education and has already curated two editions of the Sharjah Children’s Biennial. Her philosophy fits perfectly with the spirit of this exhibition: children shouldn’t just look at art; they should become part of it.

Now the practicalities. The Biennale is open daily from 8 am to midnight, and entry is the standard park admission of 10 AED. Alongside the installations, there are artist-led workshops, family activities and guided school tours.

Now, it is time to give some credit to the amazing artists, because I imagine their task wasn't exactly easy. Follow your own artistic style, but make it appealing to children. Create something that can survive the outdoor heat and the eager little hands of visitors aged two to ten (although there are no age limits, so really, anyone). And, of course, make it intriguing and cool. Oh, wow.

But somehow, they managed. And the results are so wonderfully different that I feel they deserve a little introduction.

1. Aya Afaneh, Cosmo Conste

What if the fountains of Umm Al Emarat Park were home to creatures nobody had ever seen? That is the question Palestinian artist Aya Afaneh puts to children with Cosmo Conste. Inspired by the fish swimming in the park’s fountains, she invites little visitors to dream up entirely new animals, complete with their own looks, personalities and stories.

With Aya’s own fascination with mythology and alternative histories, it is hardly surprising that she wants children to become storytellers too, inventing characters who might just live in a world beneath the water.

2. Alia AlShamsi, Where Wonder Hides

One park wonder is never enough, so there is another hiding nearby. This time it is a jerboa, a tiny desert rodent with long hind legs and a rather impressive talent for jumping. Not quite the creature you would expect to bump into in the middle of a city park.

Created by Emirati-Italian artist Alia AlShamsi, Where Wonder Hides is about noticing what we usually overlook. As the surrounding bushes grow, the jerboa will become harder to spot, which gives children a reason to slow down and play detective.

3. Nada Almosa x UT-R Studio, Where Wishes Grow

Some artworks are meant to be admired. Others are meant to grow, and this one needs a little help from its visitors. Where Wishes Grow, by Palestinian artist Nada Almosa and UT-R Studio, is all about the past, present and future, with plenty of room for imagination. Children can turn their favourite memories into little creations, dream up flowers that don't exist, borrow textures from plants and surfaces around the park to make their own stamps, and leave a wish or two hanging from a tree. Who knows, perhaps one of them will come true.

4. Hana El-Sagini, Common Thread, Common Ground

Egyptian artist Hana El-Sagini has created a little guessing game, only she isn't planning to reveal the answer. Her sculptures have strange, organic shapes that might remind you of something familiar, or perhaps something you have never seen before. Either way, you are free to decide.

And looking is only half the fun. The sculptures are made from fibreglass and resin, so they are sturdy enough to sit on, while the ropes attached to them can be braided and twisted. What starts as a few separate threads can become something much stronger when woven together. A rather lovely lesson in what happens when we work together.

5. Moza Almazrouei and Meera Almazrouei, Telephone

Remember the tin-can telephones you may have made as a child? Two cans, a piece of string and the thrilling discovery that your friend’s voice could travel between them. Artists Moza Almazrouei and Meera Almazrouei have taken that idea and given it a rather curious upgrade.

Only here, you never quite know what you are going to hear. Speak into one pipe, and someone on the other end hears you straight away. Try another, and your own voice takes a few seconds to catch up. And then there are the pipes that invite you to listen to the sky and the soil. What might be happening up there, or beneath your feet? I was a little too shy to find out myself, so I’ll leave that bit of exploring to you.

6. Moza Almatrooshi, The Agriculture School: The Pollinators Play Museum

I have admired Moza’s work for quite a while, so I was particularly curious to see what she had prepared for this one. And who would have thought it would be about… bees? Most of us have spent a fair amount of time trying to keep our distance from them. Emirati artist and chef Moza Almatrooshi would like us to reconsider, and she has built an entire little museum to make her case.

Inside, children will find traditional beehives, abandoned wild honeycombs collected from the mountains, plants that attract pollinators and colourful hexagonal tunnels to crawl through. The colours are inspired by scientific attempts to understand how bees perceive the world, so for a moment children can imagine their surroundings through a bee’s eyes. There is another story hiding behind the installation. Some of the objects came from beekeepers in the Hajar Mountains, and earning their trust took the artist years. She also made sure that almost everything used could be recycled, returned to nature or given back to its original owners.

7. Sarah Afaneh, The Patient Land, The Gracious Sun and The Enchanted Sea

What would the sun look like if it had a personality? And what about the land, or the sea? Palestinian artist Sarah Afaneh gives these three elements of nature a character of their own through colourful threads and different weaving techniques.

And the lovely thing is that Sarah herself only learnt to weave last year. Having spent years working with words, she discovered that weaving allowed her to stop overthinking and simply follow her intuition. That same freedom is exactly what she wants children to experience. Around her three textile installations, interactive weaving nets invite little visitors to experiment with colours and textures, add something of their own and perhaps discover a story that even the artist hadn't imagined.

8. Eko Nugroho, Kenangan Kunang-Kunang (Memories of Fireflies)

And finally, a little trip to Indonesia. Artist Eko Nugroho brings Kenangan Kunang-Kunang (Memories of Fireflies) to Abu Dhabi, a world of illuminated lanterns inspired by traditional East Javanese designs. And unlike the other works at the Biennale, this one has already done some travelling.

Originally created for National Gallery Singapore’s Children’s Biennale in 2019, it has now found a new home outdoors in Abu Dhabi. Here, visitors can wander among the lanterns, discover the values they represent and play with light and sound. And if you ask me, this is one to save for after sunset, when the lanterns really get their moment to shine.