Les Petits Débrouillards is a community-based organization dedicated to promoting scientific and technical literacy.

Les Petits Débrouillards is a community-based organization dedicated to promoting scientific and technical literacy. It has branches in many countries around the world. It was first established in Canada.

The Les Petits Débrouillards Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur Association,  founded in 1999 in Marseille, does not host the public at its premises but conducts outreach in various organizations throughout the region to demonstrate that science is not reserved solely for specialists and that it is omnipresent in our daily lives.  In 2002, the association opened a branch in the Vaucluse department, now located in Avignon, a branch in the Var department in Toulon in 2003,  followed by a branch in Nice in the Alpes-Maritimes in 2012 and in Manosque in 2016.
These five branches enable the association to operate throughout the region, promoting the dissemination of scientific and technical culture everywhere and for everyone.

HYPOTHESIS: When thinking about a problem, we can propose possible answers and ideas that aren’t necessarily correct and that will need to be verified.  Each hypothesis should contain only one idea at a time!
Thanks to the active learning approach implemented by our facilitators, participants are active participants in the process. They progress at their own pace and grasp scientific concepts more quickly.

EXPERIMENTATION: We explore all the sciences using methods drawn from the scientific method and popular education, with everyday materials.  This way, everyone can replicate the methods and experiments at home or at school. 

DEBATE: Learning to reach agreement and collectively build knowledge requires debating and comparing ideas and arguments. 

Just like researchers at a conference, everyone presents their ideas, and together we reach an agreement.

All year round, throughout France, in elementary and middle schools or in public spaces, our 12 mobile science labs crisscross the country to introduce science to audiences who are most removed from cultural offerings.

All year round, we are present in more than 50 neighborhoods across the region with free street activities, requiring no registration and open to everyone. 
These science workshops take place during the spring and fall breaks, but mainly in the summer as part of the Cités Débrouillardes program.

Sponsored by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, the Fête de la Science is a unique event during which the scientific community comes together to engage with the public.

A must-attend event for the curious, the Fête de la Science offers ten days of free events that invite you, every year,  to discover science and learn about the latest scientific developments in numerous locations, through a variety of interactive and even playful formats.

All over France and, above all, near you!

La Seyne-sur-Mer is set to host a groundbreaking project: an educational, scientific, and digital third place, housed in the former train station, scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2026.  Led by the association Les Petits Débrouillards PACA, this hybrid space aims to be a place for meeting, innovation, and sharing, designed with and for the residents