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  • 🧶 30 things to do in London this weekend with the kids (25–26 April)

🧶 30 things to do in London this weekend with the kids (25–26 April)

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Jeff – Dads in London
April 22, 2026

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Hey DILFs!

Random recommendation for you: Horizon 22. I’ve been with the family a few times, and it really does have the best view in London. The viewing gallery is 254 metres high, has a 300-degree panorama, and is completely free to visit. And everyone who works there is a patient gem of a creature.

The viewing gallery at the Shard, by comparison, is a mere 244 metres high and yeah OK provides an extra 60 degrees of view. But those 60 degrees will set you back TWENTY-FOUR POUNDS PER PERSON (including children over 4). And I’m sure the staff are nice, but so they bloody well should be for that money.

The only drawback with Horizon 22 is the booking process. Tickets are released every Monday for the following 14 days, and they get snapped up faster than you can say “When you think about it, no wonder these tickets go so quickly.” But I have a workaround of sorts for you…

There’s a QR code at the building’s entrance, which allows you to get on-the-day tickets if you haven’t booked in advance. If you turn up when the building opens (10am), just scan the QR code and chances are you’ll be able to get tickets to head up immediately.

This isn’t fail-safe, but it hasn’t failed me yet. And if it doesn’t work out so well for you, you can always head down the road for a cuppa in the Duck & Waffle waiting area/cafe – which doesn’t require a ticket and is still a decent height. Or go the whole hog and get brunch at the Duck & Waffle restaurant — it’ll still come in cheaper than the Shard.

Or maybe do neither of those things, and remain firmly at street level for a whole load of other things to do this weekend.

Enjoy!

Jeff xx

David Bowie: You're Not Alone
Until 10 September (most days), 10:30–16:30 or 17:30 depending on the day
Lightroom, 12 Lewis Cubitt Square, N1C 4DY
Adults £29.50, 3–18s £19.50, under-3s free (family discounts available at certain times of day)
Age guidance: suitable for all

I went to Frameless with my three-year-old on a Friday morning a few weeks ago, and I promise this is relevant to the David Bowie thing. It cost us (well, me) £20 for a “parent and toddler” ticket, which is valid on weekday mornings during term time and TWENTY FIVE POUNDS AND EIGHTY PENCE cheaper than if I were to go with a normal adult and child ticket.

Unsurprisingly, this means the place is a great way for you and your offspring to mix with other parents who’ve decided nursery needs to be supplemented with a touch of culture. Not so great if you’re an adult without children who came to step into the world of Canaletto’s Italy or Van Gogh’s cherry blossoms but ended up tripping over hordes of overstimulated children.

This is the problem with child-friendly-but-also-aimed-at-adult venues in London, and it’s something Lightroom has also had to grapple with since it opened in 2023. It’s a huge, darkened space where enormous projected visuals fill the walls and floor while a voiceover talks you through the subject. And even when the subject matter clearly leans “adult” – as with the recent David Hockney, Vogue and The Moonwalkers exhibitions at the venue – it’s so easy to bring kids that plenty of people do exactly that.

The David Bowie exhibition will be no different, especially when you consider how appealing his costumes, make-up and music will be to any child with a modicum of taste.

At Lightroom, you’re dropped into a huge room where Bowie is everywhere you look, with big screens showing live performances, interviews, and bits from his notebooks and recordings. The performances promise to be excellent, with music blasting through the space so you feel like you're in the middle of the crowd at one of his gigs.

It’s the sort of thing kids tend to find very enjoyable, even if they don’t fully understand what they’re looking at. Which is great for you, but not so much for child-free visitors: “enjoyable” sometimes looks more like running laps and shouting than quiet appreciation.

So if you’re wanting to take your kids, aim for the weekend or school holidays. If you want to go without, go as late at night as you possibly can.

While you’re there…

👍️ Camley Street Natural Park used to be a much-loved but slightly worn-around-the-edges spot for kids to explore and learn about wildlife and the natural environment. Since the whole King’s Cross regeneration project, it’s still very much treasured, but its impressive facelift means it's now a hit with everyone – including the well-heeled parents who’ve moved in more recently.

Early Netherlandish drawings
Daily until 20 September, 10:00–17:00 (until 20:30 on Fridays)
British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG
FREE

Do you hate it when people say “Holland” when they mean “the Netherlands”? If, like me, you’re not even from that part of the world, I hope you realise how much of a niche bugbear this is. It’s like being from Antarctica and tutting when people say “Barcelona” without the lisp. Like, why do you care?

As it happens, I don’t think the British Museum cared all that much either – because, in calling it “Netherlandish”, they conveniently forgot that a bunch of the artists featured weren’t even from the Netherlands. They were from the Low Countries – which includes present-day Belgium and Luxembourg in addition the the Netherlands. It was in this region that, until the 17th century, artists used drawings purely for utilitarian purposes – as aids for creating tapestries, stained glass, prints and paintings – rather than as artworks in their own right. As no one really cared about the drawings, not many of them survived (unlike in Italy and German-speaking countries of the same period, where there was a huge market for drawings among collectors).

The few drawings that did survive are basically all here. There are about 120 of them in total, and they include works by famous Netherlandishers such as Rogier van der Weyden, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Lucas van Leyden, Hendrick Goltzius and many other names that sound like they’ve emerged from the Dutch Name Generator.

What’s cool is that you see the art that was made to be used, not displayed. It’s the work in progress rather than the finished result – which means you can then look at these artists’ final work with a new kind of understanding and appreciation. I imagine it’s similar to how I see the outtakes that led up to a friend’s beautifully serene family photo: huge appreciation for the work and effort that went into the end result.

You won’t get to see any of the finished art beside these preparatory drawings, but I guess that’s by design. Given how drawings like this were valued elsewhere, it’s nice to see them treated the same way here rather than as a “before” shot taken under bad lighting.

While you’re there…

👍️ You’re close to two historical and beautiful squares in London. The Bloomsbury Squares website provides lots of background (and information relating to cafes, events, etc.) about Bloomsbury Square and Russell Square.

👍️ The Post Building was once a Royal Mail sorting office, but it’s been redesigned into a mixed-use development with offices, shops, cafes and a surprisingly under-the-radar (and free-to-access) roof garden. You need ID and a bag check to get to the roof garden, but that’s about it – and once you’re up there, you get a fantastic view of the London skyline. It’s just a few minutes’ walk from the British Museum.

Paint! Pattern! Print! The Textiles of Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell
Tuesday–Saturday until 13 September, 11:00–18:00
Fashion and Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3XF
Adults £11.50, 12–17s £9.50, under-12s free

I can’t imagine why anyone would want to work with a sibling. You’re just as likely to fall out over cash flow and payroll as with anyone else, but you have the added risk of them shouting “I’m Dad’s favourite and he said I’ll get more in the inheritance than you, so nuuuuuuh” during an argument over stationery supplies.

Yet somehow, against the odds, sisters Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell made it work for FIFTY years. In the 1960s they created a textile design studio called Collier Campbell, and it lasted until Collier died in 2011.

Collier Campbell was known for its hand-painted geometric patterns and bold colours, and its designs appeared on scarves, bags and accessories in all the finest shops – from Liberty and Habitat to Jaeger and Conran. In 1971, Yves Saint Laurent started paying attention, and he used their designs as the inspiration for his first ever ready-to-wear collection.

The sisters didn’t just paint pretty patterns and then head home to prepare dinner and sit quietly while their husbands explained the news. They were also crafty businesspeople who took a radical new approach to the design process. You see, in the mid-20th century textile world (especially in Britain), designers were usually one small part of a much bigger chain: they’d create a design, sell it to a manufacturer, and that was more or less the end of their involvement. The manufacturer would handle the fabric, the colours and the production, and then keep the rights to the design.

Collier Campbell, on the other hand, held a tight grip on the whole thing. They designed the patterns, chose the materials, controlled the colours and oversaw the printing – which meant they could retain the rights and decide how their work was used.

And this exhibition is a kind of homage to their idiosyncratic approach. You’ll see a lot of their beautifully eccentric and colourful designs, of course, but you’ll also see a recreation of their busy design studio – with fabric swatches piled on top of each other, sketches, paintings, and hand-written notes for the printers.

You can then check out some of their most famous patterns up close – like the iconic Bauhaus design, which may require a double dose of Migraleve and a lie-down after, but tbh that’s what most of the designs here will do to you. Maybe that was how they dealt with being siblings: rather than arguing, they channelled it into colour and pattern. Probably cheaper than therapy, and significantly more successful.

While you’re there…

👍️ A ten-minute walk away, on Tabard Street, you’ll find estate railings made from old WWII stretchers. During the war, much of London's original fencing was melted down for weapons – so after it ended, someone had the idea to weld surplus stretchers into railings instead. The two kinks in the metal? Designed to make them easier to pick up off the ground.

👉 Brief interruption in a horrible colour: if this newsletter has earned its keep, you can buy me a coffee. (Completely optional, of course.)

Textile Art Redefined
Daily until 10 May, 10:00–18:00
Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Road, SW3 4RY
FREE

Credit: Ian Visits

My kids have a babysitter who’s really into crafts. She’ll often buy a pair of men’s trousers in a second-hand store (apparently this is now called “thrifting”?), then she’ll make them fit by taking in the waist, elasticating the ankles so they don’t drag across the floor and adding absurdly deep pockets to fit her journal and water bottle. She’s also making a messenger bag out of fabric from her friends’ old t-shirts. She taught my kids how to make salt dough – and then to turn that salt dough into characters from Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom. I am in awe. She’s about two decades younger than me and she’s so much more skilled, so much more useful, and so much more interesting. She’s also SO much more offline (and this is coming from someone who doesn’t even have social media for his own London newsletter – much to his London newsletter’s detriment).

And this is where I’ve realised I’ve only ever thought about textiles as something functional, even though it’s more than that. No one looks at paint and thinks “useful for covering up marks on the wall”, or at pencils and thinks “handy for drawing up some blueprints”. But if I were see a needle and thread, my brain would go straight to “I wish I could sew so I could fix that hole in my sock.”

This is an issue that Helen Adams, a Textile Curator who has indeed curated this textiles exhibition, recognises: “For a long time… it was dismissed as women’s work, created within the domestic setting, and categorised as craft rather than art.” But from the mid-20th century onwards, the role of textiles has broadened beyond “handy skill” to “a celebrated facet of contemporary art”. And the rise of social media has, according to Adams, “helped it bypass traditional gatekeepers” of fine art and be taken more seriously.

Textile Art Redefined presents the work of 15 contemporary textile artists from the UK and around the world. You’ll see how century-old techniques like embroidery, quilting, weaving, knitting and crochet can be used in artistic ways – which means no cushion covers or baby blankets but plenty of things that are very clearly art. There’s a giant blue-and-white tiled scene that looks like Delft ceramics but turns out to be made entirely from denim (see image above); a bright, crocheted rifle hanging on the wall; delicate portraits that appear to be printed but are actually made from folded fabric; and a large lump of material that looks like a cross-section of a tree trunk.

I haven’t been yet, but I’ve seen enough photos of the work to know I want to see it properly. It’s a single-room exhibition, but apparently packed full of items – and the fact it’s free makes it feel like a no-brainer.

While you’re there…

👍️ Chelsea Physic Garden is a short walk away (note: it’s not open on Saturdays). The four-acre space been around since 1673, and is home to over 4,500 medicinal, edible and useful plants.

Little Venice Film Festival – Kids Showcase 2026
Saturday 25 April, 15:00–19:00
Puppet Theatre Barge, Blomfield Road (opposite 35), W9 2PF
ÂŁ14.25 per person
Age guidance: suitable for all

A bear leaves the city to try and bring nature back. A child discovers his superpower is the effect his words have on people. A group of kids build an AI robot to do their homework.

These are three of the storylines that appear in the “Kids Showcase” category at the Little Venice Film Festival, which features work made by children aged 6–12. There’s also a manga-style animation about a girl slowly losing colour the more time she spends online, a ghost story about belonging, and a stop-motion retelling of a local legend involving a cobbler and a giant.

When did kids get so creative and cool? And why don’t we let them come up with more of this stuff more often?

That second question is pretty much the founding ethos of the wider festival. It gives space to voices that don’t usually get much of it – whether that’s young filmmakers, women, LGBTQ+ creators, or others who tend to be overlooked.

It’s on the Puppet Theatre Barge – a 50-seat boat you board via a gangplank, then head downstairs (below the water line) to watch the films while retired puppets from around the world hang above you. Even if the films are rubbish (they won’t be, but even if…), it’s worth visiting purely for the venue.

Other listings

This section now brings together both new events I don’t have room to expand on and selected older ones from past newsletters that are still running. If you see a “(see my write-up here)”, that’s your cue to click through and rediscover whatever Past Me felt strongly enough to write about.

Laaaunch!
Saturday and Sunday, 10:30 and 13:30
Polka Theatre, 240 The Broadway, SW19 1SB
ÂŁ26 per person
Age guidance: 0–12 months

Welcome to the World
Saturday 25 April, 10:00, 11:30 and 13:30
Grand Junction, Rowington Close, W2 5TF
Pay what you can (ÂŁ4, ÂŁ7 or ÂŁ10 per person)
Age guidance: 0–5

Last Unicorn Airways
Saturday 25 April, 12:00 and 15:00
The Albany, Douglas Way, SE8 4AG
ÂŁ9.50 per person
Age guidance: 4–9

The Wallace Collection at War
Daily until 25 October, 10:00–17:00
The Wallace Collection, Hertford House, Manchester Square, W1U 3BN
FREE

Konrad Mägi
Tuesday–Sunday until 12 July, 10:00–17:00
Dulwich Picture Gallery, College Road, SE21 7AD
Adults ÂŁ18, under-18s free

Ty Locke: Hand Me Downs (see my write-up here)
Wednesday–Saturday until 16 May, 12:00–18:00
Copperfield Gallery, 6 Copperfield Street, SE1 0EP
FREE

The Music Is Black: A British Story at V&A East Museum (see my write-up here)
Daily until 3 January 2027, from 10:00
V&A East Museum, 107 Carpenters Road, E20 2AR
Adults £22, 12–17s £10, under-12s free

The Coming of Age
Tuesday–Sunday until 29 November
Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE
FREE

The Last Princess of Punjab
Daily until 8 November, 10:00–18:00
Kensington Palace, Kensington Gardens, W8 4PX
Free with admission (adults £24.70, 5–17s £12.40, under-5s free)

Mundo Pixar Experience (see my write-up here)
Until 28 June, 09:00/10:00–20:00 (earlier start time on weekends)
Fulton Road, Wembley, HA9 0TF
Adults £34–£36, 2–15s £22–£24, under-2s free
Age guidance: suitable for all

Fairy Tales (see my write-up here)
Until 23 August, various timeslots throughout each day (usually 09:30–16:30)
The British Library, 96 Euston Road, NW1 2DB
Adults £13.50, 5–16s £13.50, 1–5s £6.75, under-1s free
Age guidance: 3–10

The Elephant Trail (see my write-up here)
Until 26 April
Battersea Power Station, Circus Road West, SW11 8DD
FREE

Seurat and the Sea
Daily until 17 May, 10:00–18:00
Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 0RN
Adults ÂŁ18, under-19s free

Cleopatra: The Experience (see my write-up here)
Daily until 12 July, timeslots from 10:00
Immerse LDN, Excel Waterfront, ExCel, E16 1XL
Adults £27, 4–15s £22, under-4s free
Age guidance: suitable for all

Beauty and Destruction: Wartime London in Art (see my write-up here)
Daily until 1 November, 10:00–18:00
Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, SE1 6HZ
FREE
Age guidance: suitable for all

The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse (see my write-up here)
Various dates and times until 26 April)
Puppet Theatre Barge, Blomfield Road (opposite 35), W9 2PF
Adults £15, 2–16s £12, under-2s free
Age guidance: 3–7

Museum of Edible Earth
Daily until 26 April (Sunday–Wednesday 10:00–18:00, Thursday and Friday 12:00–20:00, and Saturday 10:00–20:00)
Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA
Pay what you can
Age guidance: suitable for all, but guided earth-tasting sessions (arguably the most “fun” part for kids?) is 16+ only

David Hockney: A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting (see my write-up here)
Tuesday–Sunday until 23 August, 10:00–18:00
Serpentine North, West Carriage Drive, W2 2AR
FREE, but booking required

Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends (see my write-up here)
Daily until 15 November, 10:00–17:45
Young V&A, Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9PA
ÂŁ11 per person (under-4s free)

Ramses and the Pharaohs' Gold: The Exhibition (see my write-up here)
Daily until 31 May (various timeslots)
Adults £32.05, 5–15s £28.05, under-5s free
Battersea Power Station, 2 Circus Road East, SW11 8DQ
Age guidance: 5+

Voyage to the Deep – Underwater Adventures
Daily until 1 November, 10:30–17:30
Horniman Museum & Gardens, 100 London Road, SE23 3PQ
Adults ÂŁ9.80, children ÂŁ7, under-3s free
Age guidance: 2+

Octonauts: Adventure at the Horniman
Daily until 1 November, 10:00–17:30
Horniman Museum & Gardens, 100 London Road, SE23 3PQ
FREE

Tracey Emin: A Second Life (see my write-up here)
Daily until 31 August, 10:00–18:00
Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG
Adults £14, 12–18s £5, under-12s free

Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style (see my write-up here)
Daily until 18 October, 10:00–17:00
The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, SW1A 1AA
Adults £22, 5–17s £11, under-5s free