Half-term activities for kids in London

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Half-term is on the horizon and if you’re not planning a well-deserved escape, there’s absolutely loads for kids to do here in London, most of which is free, educational and sounds like a riot. All of the major museums have half-term programmes with events ranging from the National Gallery’s first family festival, to a Samba workshop at the Horniman Museum. These are my top picks:

1) This year’s Imagine Children’s Festival at the Southbank Centre starts the week before half-term and is all about the kids taking over - the Centre will be transformed by children for children, as well as hosting the top names in children’s literature, dance, theatre and art.

   

2) A cheaper alternative  to the Shard is climbing the Monument in the City of London. It’s a bargain £3 per adult rather than the Shard’s £25 – the catch? You have to climb the 311 steps to the top yourself, but once at the top you will find yourself standing in the open air on a balcony with views across London.

3) At the Museum of London budding archeologists can match real excavated objects from London Parks to their homes using maps, floorplans and other records and explore all things parks from games to songs during half-term. At its sister Museum of London Docklands, you can hear the story of spring-heeled Jack, a weird and wonderful legend that had the whole of Victorian London gripped. Was he a man or beast? Real or imaginary? Only you can decide.  

4) If your child is a young friend of the British Museum, it’s holding its next sleepover during half-term. This one is ice-age themed to go with their latest exhibition and children get to experience a night of story-telling and adventures, before bedding down in the Egyptian or Mesopotamian Hall surrounded by thousands of years of history.

 5) If you have more of an intergalactic explorer on your hands then let them blast off at the Discover Story Centre’s new interactive exhibition for families, Journey to Space. Children and their families are given a vital mission to find missing astronaut Major Tom. Take off in the giant rocket to explore red hot, icy blue and mysterious green planets.

6) For a real treat and if you’re feeling particularly flush with cash then the Mad Hatters Tea Party at The Sanderson Hotel sounds superb. Menus are hidden inside vintage books, napkins wrapped with riddles, teapots are adorned with kings and queens and sandwich plates feature zebras, birdcages, carousels and ticking clocks.

7) And finally there’s loads to do just outside of London: spring is on its way and Bockett’s Farm is expecting 90 new-born lambs; you can perfect circus skills at Leeds Castle in Kent or explore Woburn Abbey in Bedforshire by candlelight – enjoy!

Click here to return to the Capital tots website for more adventures with kids in London...