Paris with an 8 year old

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DS has chosen Paris as his preferred destination for an "adventure" this summer.
I'm a single parent so it will just be the two of us. He definitely wants to go up the Eiffel Tower and on the Metro.
I don't think he knows what else there is to do there!
I have been before, about 15 years ago, with a boyfriend and we did typical touristy things, Arc de Triomph, Notre Dame, the Louvre.
Has anyone been there with a young child/children before? What did they like best? Is anywhere particularly family unfriendly?
And lastly, does anyone have any tips for accommodation?

The Science Museum (can't remember what it's called) looked good. We visited Paris without kids so we didn't go in, but I think it'd be somewhere to try.

River boat trip?

The batobus!!!

It's the regular commuter boat, fraction of the price of the river cruises and an awesome way to approach the Eiffle tower for the first time. If you do the complete loop you can see notre dame too.

Book the Eiffle tower tickets early from the website. As soon they come out, there's only a few and the queues otherwise are horrendous.

Personally I'd only go to the second floor of the tower, view is phenomenal and a fraction of the price of going to the top

We meant to do the batobus and missed it, instead we walked from the eiffel tower to the musee d'orsay and it was a beautiful walk!! There are random things along the river like a climbing wall (perfect for an 8 year old).

My 7 year old loved the musee d'orsay as we had been reading the "Katie and.." books, ie Katie and the Impressionists etc so they really enjoyed finding the famous pictures.

That filled a whole day, otherwise we'd meant to find the Mona Lisa etc.

Definitely eat crepes somewhere - theres some family friendly and reasonably priced ones near the eiffel tower, but they're everywhere.

Similarly buy a baguette and some cheese to have for lunch somewhere :)

Are you going to have a day trip to .....says in a quiet voice Disneyland?

Are you going to have a day trip to .....says in a quiet voice Disneyland?

had to jump in on this an admit when we did paris we did a holiday to disney and a day trip to Paris!!!

Another tip watch where you put your purse and empty out everything none essentially. Being pickpocketted with you entry tickets to disney in the purse is not fun

Thanks for so many quick replies!

I will definitely check out the batobus and be sure to order our Eiffel Tower tickets in advance.
I am sure he will want to go all the way to the top of the tower though!
Am I right in thinking I can buy our metro tickets before we travel as well?
I will also look up the Musee d'orsay.
Is the science museum very similar to the one in London? I think he really wants to experience things that are quite exclusively "French" if you see what I mean!
We went to Disneyland last year. This is the main reason he wants to go. He feels like he went to France last year bit didn't actually do anything "French." Love him.

We stayed in a fab Airbnb in Versailles with DS 7,9,12 - did boat trip, 2nd floor Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur and looked at all artists - had portrait drawn, walked down Champs Elysees and looked in the cool car shops, fed the sparrows and pigeons in the park by Notre Dame. They liked Versailles - we didn't go in the house, but went on mini train round grounds, then hired boat and rowed on the lake, then hired bikes and cycled round it.

Lived in Paris for many years, returned there a couple of summers ago with my kids aged 5 and 9 at the time:
Sail boats on the pond in the Jardin de Luxembourg.
Visit the huge Monet waterlilies in the Orangerie
There's often a funfair at the Tuilleries
Visit the sewers ("egouts") or the catacombes if he's not on the cautious side (most boys seem to love it)
You can climb the sacre coeur, it's about 300 steps but so worth the view
Drink diabolo menthe (lemonade with mint syrup)
Pop into Deyrolle if you're in the 7th, its an ancient taxidermy shop, my kids adored it.
Musee Grevin is the Paris equivalent of Madame Tussauds, good fun
Drink hot chocolate at Angelinas and eat ice cream at Berthillon on Ile Saint Louis.
Stay in town if possible, we were close to metro Mabillon in 6th but would have also looked at 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 15th (Montparnasse)
Take buses not metro as you'll see a whole lot more. We joyrode for a day on buses as many go past the big monuments (through the Louvre courtyard, past Eiffel tower, over bridges, up to Sacre Coeur etc)
Didn't go to the Louvre as I've only ever seen the Mona Lisa (which is tiny) from the back of the room, you walk miles and it's always rammed (Paris is a nightmare in summer). Kids loved the Musee d'Orsay though.
Get to wherever you are going early! Starting lining up 20 minutes before anything opens or you might be in a line for hours. Book the Eiffel Tower now if you can.
Re Eiffel Tower, my kids loved the exhibition at the top about how it was built and used for communications, def worth a trip to the top.

Go to sacre coeur - there's a funicular railway you can take from near the metro station to the top. Saves legs. Then at the top there's a lovely square lined with restaurants and lots of pavement artists and stalls - lovely.

Have a drink and snack at a tropical brasserie and soak up the atmosphere.

We went to Paris when our kids were about 4-10 - we seemed to spend most of our time going up high buildings and looking at the view! And then spotting all the other buildings we'd been up Eiffel Tower (we waited about two hours but it was fine - paid for the lift up to the first stage and walked up the stairs to the second), Arc de Triomphe, La Grand Arche (which had an exhibition of old computers at the top when we went - I enjoyed the nostalgia!), Pompidou centre ... Did the boats in Jardin Luxembourg (and think it was there that has a fab playground too - you have to pay to go in), did the funicular by the Sacre Coeur, did the batobus, ate ice cream, had a lovely time

There are some brilliant ideas here, so thank you all so much!
I can now start a bit more online research and decide how many days/nights to go for.
At massive risk of outing myself here, DS is totally obsessed with trains so the metro is a must. The funicular railway at the Sacre Coeur has also gone straight to the top of the list.

The Pompidou Centre (or pumpy poo ad it wad renamed) was a huge hit with our 6 year old. She also enthused about the
Louvre, especially the Egyptian areas and the royal apartments. She preferred a painting of 2 manky looking next to the Mona Lisa to the painting itself!

Eat lots of crepes and macarons. Eiffel Tower trip to the top was also hit but we booked several months in advance. Sacre Coeur was not successful and she seemed quite unnerved by the crowds around it too. Boat trip a huge success.

Have a great time!