Children’s Archstoyanie 3.0

Children’s Archstoyanie is an annual four-day festival for children held in a unique and inspiring place-Nikola-Lenivets, the mecca of forest avant-garde architecture, giant installations, and vast natural spaces.

Archstoyanie 2025 was the first one for my wife and daughters. I had previously attended this festival twice with my son. The main conclusion after going is simple: children really do need this. As my friend Igor says, it is a brick in their memory of a happy childhood. It is from such bricks that creative, well-developed personalities are built.

At the festival, children feel like the main characters, and adults like the support staff. But that is actually a good thing. In four days, children gain so many communication, survival, and self-entertainment skills that it is enough to last them the whole year.

Even the shyest and most unsociable children open up, start interacting with others, make new acquaintances easily, learn to take care of younger kids, live in Spartan conditions without gadgets, forage for food, and spend 100% of their time outdoors-just as we once did.

The weather, as usual, delighted us with its variety and unpredictability. Raincoats and rubber boots were the main gear for visitors 50% of the time. Cold evenings and nights alternated with sunny, hot mornings. The thick, powerful evening fog was especially delightful.

Leah was thrilled by the place and the festival-she interacted beautifully with other children. Sonya found her own path too: she started trading and organized her own “business.” In my opinion, Sonya quickly realized that commerce at a festival is a dull and inefficient pastime, and the next day she eagerly plunged into the many creative workshops instead.

The living conditions at Archstoyanie allow for a daily shower (if you go around 6 a.m., there is no line and sometimes even warm water), comfortable toilets, washing areas, lots of different food trucks, cafés, and even shops with souvenirs, clothing, and useful supplies. I should note that compared with previous years, there were significantly more people this time. Tents stood very close to one another, which caused discomfort for anyone determined to find some =)

To sum it up, I’ll tell myself this: gather strength over the course of the year, forget how difficult it was and how many nerves it took to make this celebration happen, buy tickets in advance to save money, and finally try to book a cabin :)