Family Saturday at the French Institute Alliance Française

Whether you think of it as Family Saturday or Samedi en Famille, this program offers fun, with no mastery of French required. And the day’s theme is one that easily translates across cultures: toys. The toy historian Dorothée Charles will offer two workshops: one at 11:30 a.m., for ages 3 through 6, in which little ones will make their own Playmobil creations, and one at 3:30 p.m., for ages 6 through 9, in which participants will play with classic favorites, like Barbie and Etch A Sketch. The day will also include a 1:30 p.m. screening of what you might call the French version of “Toy Story”: “Panique au Village” (“A Town Called Panic”), a 2009 film, in French with English subtitles, that follows three playthings — a cowboy, an Indian and a horse — on a wild adventure.