London Baby and Kids Weekend Guide December 9th and 10th
Family Events This Weekend:
Westminster Abbey Christmas Family Day: Saturday 9th, 10am-2pm. Celebrate Christmas with a day of events for children and families. Make candles, sing carols and listen to Christmas stories. Ages 3+, free!
Portobello Winter Festival: Saturday and Sunday, 10am-6pm. Live music, Santa’s grotto, market stalls, children’s activities and more. Free, all ages.
St. Katherine Docks Christmas Floating Film Festival: Bring the kids to this family-friendly cinema complete with bean bags (but not pushchair friendly). Saturday 2pm Arthur Christmas and Sunday 2pm Polar Express. Tickets from £13.25
Elizabeth Street, Father Christmas in Residence: Head over to Belgravia from now until 20th December for a magical visit with Father Christmas and support the Beanstalk charity. Tickets £5
Learning, Making and Doing Events:
Upcoming: If you are in town, Coding Camp with Fuze is AMAZING. The kids spend the day ta the Institute of Imagination in Lambeth with a team of teachers in a coding lab. My youngest programmed a robot arm while my oldest programmed a light show, created an alarm and coded her own Harry Potter Quiz … (plus, its drop-off so you can head out and get Christmas finished)
Saatchi Gallery, Crafty Christmas Cards: Saturday, 9th 2:30-3:30. Join artist Zoe Scammell and learn printmaking techniques while making your own Christmas cards and wrapping paper. £5 per person.
Geffreye Museum, Family Workshop: Saturday, 10:30-4:30pm. Bring the kids and view the Geffreye Museum decorated for Christmas; after, children can make their own ornaments to take home. Free, all ages.
Institute Francais, Game Lab: Saturday, 2:30. Bring the kids to a bilingual digital session where you explore Unravel and Old Man’s Journey. Free, booking required.
Royal Academy Family Studio: Sunday, 11am-3pm. As part of the Dali/Duchamp exhibition, create sculptures using bouncy balls, found objects and painting their sculptures with spray painting machines. Free, drop-in, all ages.
Foundling Museum, Hetty Feather’s Christmas: Sunday, 11am-4:45pm. Come and make your own Christmas tree decorations inspired by the Hetty Feather books. Ages 3+, free with museum admission.
Performance and Theatre:
The Golden Hinde, The Night Pirates: Saturday and Sunday, various times. Bring the kids aboard the Golden Hinde in Borough for a pirate shadow puppet show. Tickets £5
Chelsea Theatre, Once Upon a Snowflake: Head to the World’s End for this very sweet, festive play using shadow puppets, storytelling and original songs. Ages 3+, tickets £12 adults, £9 for under 12s.
The Puppet Theatre Barge, The Little Christmas Tree: Head to Little Venice and experience the wonder of the Puppet Theatre Barge. This season you can enjoy the beautiful puppetry and stagecraft making The Little Christmas Tree. Age 3+, adults £12, children £8.50.
Babies and Toddlers:
Monkey Music at The National Army Museum: Starting Thursday 16th, Monkey Music will be holding afternoon classes in the beautifully refurbished National Army Museum. You can book into the amazing Playbase before or after your lessons and make a full day of it. Classes are filling up quickly, so do get in touch with Monkey Music to register your interest.
National Gallery, Baby Jazz: Wednesday, 13th. Take the kids to The National Gallery for a Jazz concert. Tickets just £5
British Museum, Little Feet: Thursday 11:00-noon. Bring the baby or little one and crawl through a Persian palace, transform into an animal and be dazzled by lights and shadows. Free, drop-in, under 5s.
Baby Broadway: Baby Broadway are brilliantly fun monthly concerts where babies, toddlers, kids and grown ups can dance and sing favourite pop songs. Its great fun, great value and worth the effort to go!! Upcoming concerts in Putney, Sydenham, Balham, Highgate, Barnes, West Hampstead, Watford, Bromley, Chiswick, Covent Garden, Highgate and Islington.
Chelsea Swim Spa – head over to the most baby-friendly pool in London … The Chelsea Swim Spa. Find out more about this luxuriously warm, innovative pool for mothers and small children. Read my review here.
Royal Albert Hall, Storytelling and Music Sessions: bring children ages 0-4 to Royal Albert Hall on Wednesdays for a magical experience with storytellers Paul Rubinstein, Becky Dixton and Samantha Sutherland where singing, storytelling and musical instruments are woven into one story session. £4, 11:30am
National Gallery, Welcome Wednesdays: Wednesdays 10:30-11:15. Bring children 16 months to 5 years to the National Gallery for Dance Adventures with Olivia Armstrong. Age 16 months – 5 years, tickets £5 per child.
Pimlico Toy Library: Bring the kids to the Toy Library for play sessions and toy lending. Fantastic resource for anyone in the area.
Electric Cinema, Electric Scream: Mondays 11am. This week’s feature: Death of Stalin. Bring babies under 12 months to this amazingly plush cinema, relax with some coffee and catch a flick.
Big Scream, Ritzy Brixton: Mondays, 11am. This week Battle of the Sexes and The Death of Stalin are showing.
Family Cinema
Regent Street Cinema, Kino Club Films : You can now bring your children to London’s beautifully restored, sumptuous cinema for screenings of better than average children’s films on Saturdays. This week’s screening: The Nightmare Before Christmas, 11:30am, just £1.75.
Institut Francais, Paddington 2. Saturday 2pm. Best children’s film in years, tickets just £5 in English.
BFI Southbank, Family Film Sundays: Sunday 26th, 1:00pm with activities starting beforehand at 11am. Great value and great family cinema. £4 per child, £11.75 adults, 1 child 1 adult £10. This week’s screening The Muppet Christmas Carol.
Barbican Framed Film Club: Saturday 11am. This week’s programme: London International Animation Festival, Tootletubs & Jyro. Tickets just £3.50
Gate Picturehouse, Kids Club: This week’s programme: Shrek,10:30 am. Tickets just £1 with £4 membership, popcorn and juice £2. (best £3 you will ever spend on a rainy Saturday)
Ritzy Picturehouse, Kids Club: Sunday 10:30. This Week’s screening: Shrek.
Electric Cinema, Kid’s Club: This week’s feature Ballerina. Saturday 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.
