Children

Children appear in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. All children can be one of four human races - Nords, Imperials, Bretons, and Redguards. Elven and "beastial" children do not appear in Skyrim.

Regardless of a child's race or economic status, all boys wear a collared sweater with brown trousers, and all girls wear a simple belted dress. However, the color of the sweater or dress varies from child to child.

Some children may want to play with the Dragonborn. Games include Hide and Seek or Tag. Some even ask for some gold.

Hearthfire
As of the official Plug-in The Elder Scrolls V: Hearthfire, there is an option for the Dragonborn to adopt children and send them to his/her home. With this, the Dragonborn will be able to raise his/her kids and have a variety of activities available to them once they are adopted a child

Adoptable children
Existing NPCs (all Honorhall orphans):
 * Runa Fair-Shield
 * Francois Beaufort
 * Samuel
 * Hroar

Existing NPCs (through parent death/murder and being sent to Honorhall Orphange) New NPCs introduced with Hearthfire DLC:
 * Britte
 * Sissel
 * Gralnach
 * Hrefna
 * Dorthe
 * Frodnar
 * Etc. (note, not all children will be available, or it is unknown if the others do become adoptable when orphaned)
 * Lucia
 * Blaise
 * Sofie
 * Alesan

Invincible
Much like in Fallout 3, children cannot be killed, injured, or knocked unconscious, nor can they be pickpocketed. Dragon Shouts also do not affect children, no matter which shout is used; however they can still be hit, and the weapons skill can be increased from doing so.

Even though children cannot be harmed, attacking a child will incur assault charges in the same way as harming an adult. If a child sees the Dragonborn breaking the law, he or she will warn the nearest adult.

Notable children

 * Aventus Aretino: Initiates the Dark Brotherhood questline with his task to kill Grelod the Kind.
 * Babette: Alchemist assassin in the Dark Brotherhood. Although actually a 310-year-old vampire, she is considered a child because of her physical form.
 * Fjotra: The potential Sybil of Dibella in the Temple of Dibella in Markarth.
 * Helgi: The deceased daughter of Hroggar who was burned in a fire. She exists as a ghost.
 * Nelkir: The illegitimate son of Jarl Balgruuf of Whiterun. Key character in the Daedric Quest The Whispering Door.
 * Haming: One of the few survivors from Helgen. With his parents dead, he now lives with his Grandpa in his Shack

Trivia

 * Sometimes when performing spells while in the presence of a male child, he will ask to be made invisible. There is no way to make him invisible, but he can be lied to. He will then run around the town and try to scare people while thinking he is "invisible."
 * Some children can be given a coin. Sond and Bottar will reveal a map location if given a coin. Svari will also thank The Dragonborn greatly if given a coin.
 * Children in Skyrim tend to have similar inventories. Some items they tend to carry are: Quill, Charcoal, Roll of Paper, Broken Sword (Braith), Inkwell, Shoes, Kid's Clothes, Gold Coin, Iron Dagger (Males), Drum, Lute, Flute, Wooden Ladle, Various Ingots (Blacksmith Apprentices, generally), Leather Strips, Apple, Bucket, Leather, Sweet Roll, Long Taffy Treat, Honeynut Treat, Boiled Cream Treat, and empty Wine Bottles. There are most likely many others; these just appear to be the most common.
 * If attacked enough, a child (any of them), will draw an iron dagger. If attacked continually, they may even start attacking the Dragonborn.
 * All Children use the same face, despite gender.

Bugs

 * Some children may hire mercenaries or The Dark Brotherhood to kill the Dragonborn if they catch him/her committing a crime. This was intended to be done by adults only.
 * When items are dropped near children, they may tell the player that they dropped something and attempt to give it back. No items are added to the inventory, however.
 * Doing a charged Werewolf attack can sling back children like any other character; however, they will be unharmed as they get up.
 * Sometimes when using a Frenzy spell near a child, they will get the effect, and a quite humorous scene follows, as every guard in the city tries to kill the child, eventually chasing them out of town.
 * After downloading Hearthfire all Children will have their clothes unequipped (sometimes skyrim updating for newest version can fix this error).