What’s On: London Best Free and Affordable Family Events April 15th-22nd
Southbank, The Composer is Dead: An orchestral Whodunnit! Bring the kids to see the London premiere of a diabolically fun-filled murder mystery with text Lemony Snicket and score by Tchaikovsky, presented by Nicholas Parsons and performed by the Orpheaus Sinfonia. Ticket from £10, Saturday noon.
Keats Family Day, Is There Life on Mars? Family STEM event
Keats House Family Day: Is there life on Mars? How high can you jump on the moon? Find the inserts to these and other questions and do the Space Walk to some extra-terrestrial music. Free, drop-in.
St. Martin in the Field, LMA Mini Maestro: Saturday, 4:30. Mozart Symphony No 40. Bring the kids for an interactive, family concert. Tickets are £8.50 adults, £6.50 children.
Airside Andy STEM tablet games for kids
Airside Andy: Check out this brilliant new game for children age 4-8; its safe, social and STEM. Great fun combining problem solving. Check out my Airside Andy review here.
Southbank, Udderbelly Festival: Udderbelly is back, an eight week extravaganza of comedy, circus, music, dance and food inside the iconic upside down purple cow. This weekend you catch some fabulous performances including The Amazing Bubble Man and Friday Night Freaks.
Royal Academy of Art, Family Studio, Print Mania: Sunday 17th, 11am-3pm. A free screen-printing workshop for the family (have fun explaining negative space to the little ones). Free, drop in.
Le Institue Francais, Digital Club, 6+: Head over to South Kensington and bring the kids to the Game Lab for video games. Free, French and English, Saturday 2:30.
Looking for holiday idea? Read about our trip to Athens with the kids.
National Gallery, Drawing Sunday Come and explore the paintings in the National Gallery and then have a very special artist-led drawing session. Free, ages 5-12, tickets allocated on arrival, 11-1pm and then 2-4pm.
Book Now for Villa Pia, Italy’s finest baby-friendly, all-inclusive, fabulously valued family holiday destination – fabulous savings for off-peak stays, perfect for families with children not yet in school. Read my review of Villa Pia
Camden Arts Centre, Make and Do. Come join artists Betsy Dadd and Sam Winston to take a look at the current exhibit and have a go at making your own art. 2-4:30pm, free, drop-in, all ages.
National Portrait Gallery Drop-in Family Sessions: Explore the hidden stories of the collection in an interactive learning and making session. Ages 3+ f1-2:30; ages 7+ 3-4:30.
Family Performance This Weekend:
Half Moon Theatre, The Girl and the Giraffe Tuesday 19th, 10:30am and 1:30pm, ages 3-6. One day a girl is playing gin her garden and she spots something peculiar on the other side of the fence … tickets just £6 each.
Puppet Theatre Barge, Town Mouse and Country Mouse : Head over to London’s most enchanting theatre for a beautiful tale filled with humour. Saturday 11am and 3pm; Sunday 3pm. Adults £10, children £8.50. Check out my review and pub recommendation here
Unicorn Theatre, The Polar Bears Go Up: There are not many balloons in the Arctic, so when you find one, it’s precious. If it gets lost, you have to find it. How are they going to find their balloon in this cold and strange world? For ages 2-5
Little Angel Theatre, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt : My kids LOVED this production, read my review in Huffington Post from a few years back - great music and adaptation. Saturday 11am, 2pm. Sunday 11am (all age performance) and 2pm. Suitable for age 5-8; £10 adults, £8 children.
Babies and Toddlers
Monkey Music’s classes are structured, themed and action packed with beautiful puppets, hand crafted props, specialist percussion, dance, movement and magical bubbles. There’s lots of fun when summertime arrives in class too, finding buckets and spades and swimming under huge, wonderful sea themed parachutes.
Classes are divided by age and offer innovative curriculums for each stage of your little one’s development, beginning with specialist baby classes from 3 months up to 4 yrs old. It’s great for making grown up friends too!
Weekly classes are held in Chelsea, South Kensington Gloucester Road,
Belgravia & Pimlico
Click on the link below for full timetable and venue details.
http://www.monkeymusic.co.uk/area/chelsea-belgravia-knightsbridge-gloucesterroad-westminster
To book your complimentary class email us at
Little Diggers, Vauxhall City Farm: A gardening club for parents and toddlers with a range of activities that get children digging in soil and growing food. Thursdays 10-11:30, children ages 2-4, £4 per adult.
National Gallery, Welcome Wednesdays: Bring the paintings to life with music, storytelling, art and messy play for the littlest ones. Wednesdays, 10:30-11:10am.
Wild Club at Spitalfields City Farm
Spitalfields City Farm, Wild Club: This is a fabulous opportunity for children to help groom animals, take part in gardening, build campfires and more. Saturdays, mornings 10:30-noon children 4-7; afternoons 1:30-3pm children 8-12.
Royal Albert Hall, Storytelling and Music Sessions: Could you think of a more stately venue to introduce 0-4 year olds to music, movement and storytelling? Join seasoned storytellers Paul Rubinstein, Olivia Armstrong and Becky Dixon to this fabulous, hands-on, musical storytelling session. Wednesdays, 10 am and 11:30, tickets just £5.
Pimlico Toy Library: Pimlico Toy Library has a new web site showcasing all their wonderful children’s workshops and baby playtimes. This is a fantastic resource for any parent or carer, the toys are fastidiously cleaned and the art workshops are brilliantly planned with high quality materials.
Electric Cinema, Electric Scream: Mondays, 11:00. This week’s feature: Jungle Book 2D. Bring babies under 12 months to this amazingly plush cinema, relax with some coffee and catch a flick.
Clapham Picturehouse, Big Scream: Head to Clapham and see Midnight Special on Thursday, Eye in the Sky on Sunday, both screenings at 10:30, £7.50.
Ritzy, Brixton, Big Scream: Fridays, 11am, £7.50. This week’s features: The Jungle Book or Dheepan.
Family Cinema
Regent Street Cinema, Maya the Bee: A young bee is banished from her hive and makes new friends in the outside work who help her save the hive from a takeover. Saturday, 10:30am, just £1.75.
BFI Families: The Secret Garden, Saturday, 1:30. £4 for kids, – £11.75 for grown-ups.
Framed Film Club: Head to the Barbican for the Framed Film Club, this week’s feature: Azure and Asmar, The Princes’ Quest. Saturday 11am.
Curzon Cinema, Victoria: This week’s programme, Goosebumps. Saturday and Sunday, 10:30. £3.50 per person.
Gate Picturehouse, Kids Club: This week’s programme: The Muppets, tickets just £1 with £4 membership, popcorn and juice £2. (best £3 you will ever spend on a rainy Saturday)
Bloomsbury Curzon: 10:30 Saturday, this week’s screening is Goosebumps, £3.00 per person.
Ritzy, Brixton, Kids’ Club: Saturdays, 10:30am. £1.50. This week’s feature: Toot the Tiny Tugboat.
Electric Cinema, Kid’s Club: This week’s feature, Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown, 9:30am. Check out the Electric Cinema with its plush, red velvet beds, sofas and armchairs. Looks like a great way for Dad to occupy the kids on a Saturday morning.
