London Baby and Kids Half Term Family Guide
Events for the Entire Family:
Kings Cross, Green Man Courtyard Festival: Thursday 25th- Monday 29th. Head over to King’s Cross for a beer festival featuring over 140 Welsh beers and ciders from independent breweries. There will be really good music, puppet making, face painting, street dance workshops, puppet theatre, and a daily twmpath (Welsh ceilidh). Tickets £15
Southbank, Alchemy Festival and Adventures in Moominland: Head over to Southbank for food, workshops, performance, interactive displays, short films and more. Do take a look.
Feria De Londres: Celebrate Spain this bank holiday weekend. Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th in Potters Fields Park. Head to Tower ridge and enjoy tapas, beer, wine, music, dance, workshops, children’s activities and more. Looks like a great lineup for the entire family. Free, entry, all ages.
Book now for this practical and intimate workshop led by Mothers & Shakers, a boutique collective of top bloggers, influencers and creatives. Thursday 15 June, 10am-1:30 at Reform Social and Grill in Marylebone. Ticket price £39 (includes light refreshments and goodie bag) there is an early bird fee, £29 for May 15 - 22nd.
Workshops, Talks and Activities:
The Imagination Lab at The Workshop, Metropolis: Exploring the City: Thursday 1st - Saturday 3rd June. 10-4pm. As part of the London Festival of Architecture, children will explore the evolving shape of city through material, shape and function.
Parliament, Family Guided Tours: Saturday 27th, Wednesday 31st, Thursday 1st, Friday 2nd, and all Saturday through August. This is a really worthwhile event; you get to sit in the House of Commons and Lords, see the cupboard where Emily Davison hid during the 1911 census among other highlights. Tickets are £18.50 per adult, children are free, but the tour is absolutely engaging, for really young children through grown-ups.
Paternoster Square, The City Centre Youth Programme: As part of the London Festival of Architecture, explore Vlad Tenu, a flexible, adaptable, modular assembly system that anyone can quickly learn to use. Young people, professionals and the wider public will work together to create a new and innovative structure.
Birkbeck University, Bright Sparks: The Centre for Educational Neuroscience is running research activities where children will explore activities that measure creative thinking, analogies, spatial language and maths. When not testing, the kids are doing lots of fun puzzles and games. At the end of the session, kids get a small goody-bag. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 9:30-12:30 and 2-5pm. Ages 5-11, drop-off, free and great cause.
Westminster Abbey Half-Term Activities: Tuesday 30th-Thursday 1st June and Saturday 3rd. Westminster Abbey is hosting a variety of activities for children age 3+ including tours, making, doing and dressing up.
Chelsea Physic Garden Workshops: Tuesday 30th- Thursday 1st. Book your kids into a chocolate workshop, storytelling and the history of silk and lotions and potions. These workshops are special and enjoyable for all. Workshops cost around £10.
Monkey Music is Expanding: Due to the popularity of the baby classes in Pimlico and Chelsea, Monkey Music is opening two new baby classes so everyone can come and join in the fun. Pimlico classes will be on Fridays at 2:30 and Chelsea will be on Wednesdays at 10:50. Read a bit more about Monkey Music in Chelsea and Westminster or book now: call 020 8767 9827, email direct at [email protected]
BFI Holiday Workshops: Head to Southbank Tuesday 30th and Thursday 1st for animation workshops. For ages 8-12, 11:00-4:30, £30 per child, siblings £20.
National Theatre Half Term Workshops: Wednesday 31st - Friday 2nd. Book into fantastic theatre workshops focusing on improvisation, clowning and music and storytelling. For ages 6-12, £5 adults, £3 children.
Tate Modern, Digital Art Making for 8-14 year olds: Wednesday 31st 11am-4pm. Taking inspiration from Cerith Wyn Evans’ “Forms in Space” participants will use glitch art techniques to create animated gifts. Free with exhibition ticket.
Museum of Brands, Drawing and Discovery May Half Term: Monday 29th - Sunday 4th June. Get creative at the Museum of Brands and design a seed packet with inspiration form package design from Victorian times to present day. Activities free with admission.
National Portrait Gallery, Family Art Workshops: Monday 29th - Friday 2nd June. Bring the kids to Soho for a variety of workshops and activities including making friendship bags, stop frame animation, painting portraits and more. For ages 5+, workshops from 11:30-1pm and 2:30-4pm daily, free.
The Foundling Museum: Head over near Corum’s Fields to The Foundling Museum for a variety of activities and workshops based around Hetty Feather. Make dresses, miniature film set and dolls. Workshops are intended for ages 5+ and are free with museum entry.
National Gallery: Workshops for age 8-13, Tuesday 30th - Thursday 1st. Fabulous artist-led workshops where students will develop portfolio quality pieces. Tickets £15 per child and adult. Early years Messy Mondays and Talking Tuesdays, free, drop-in, under 5s. Workshops for ages 2+. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Education Centre, Hyde Park: Wednesday 31st and Thursday 1st, 11am-3pm. Come and enjoy one of London’s most beautiful and inspired nature venues, hidden deep inside Hyde Park on the north side of the Serpentine. Children can create various crafts and explore the grounds discovering flowery facts. Free, drop-in.
Somerset House Family Drop-in Workshop: Saturday 3rd June, noon-3pm. Create a communal memory map in this family workshop inspired by the London Festival of Architecture. Free, ages 6+.
British Museum: Saturday 27th - Sunday 4th June. Head to the British Museum any day during the break and take part in activities. The weekends will have Samsung Centre digital workshops and during the week, you can take part in Hokusai: making waves in the Great Court.
Le Institute Francais Digital Club: Saturday 27th and Tuesday: These workshops are brilliant, bilingual, gaming fun. Booking required, free, ages 5+.
Looking for something a bit different? Here are some really easy train day-trips out of London that are interesting and fun for young and old alike. Whitstable in Kent, sandy Broadstairs, Charles Darwin’s Down House Brockenhurst New Forest, Groombridge Place Tunbridge Wells, Knole Park Sevenoaks, Making of Harry Potter.
Also if you have not been to Oxygen, Go Ape or the Wonderlab at the Science museum, you may be interested in my reviews before you head out.
