🐸 42 things to do in London this weekend with the kids (7–8 November)

DILFs!

Kricket, the Indian restaurant group that started life in a Brixton shipping container and has since earned the approval of Michelin's restaurant critics, is throwing a big Diwali celebration at its Canary Wharf branch this Saturday.

There'll be screen printing, henna, face painting, traditional Indian games and a dhol drummer to welcome everyone, plus bottomless biryani, chai and fresh lime soda to eat and drink. The event runs between 12 and 4pm and costs a very reasonable £30 per adult and £15 per child – so arrive hungry and understimulated to make the most of it.

Unfortunately, it's completely sold out.

Golden Ticket subscribers heard about it when tickets first went on sale, and I know several who managed to book and are now able to look forward to an entire afternoon of food and entertainment.

If you'd rather hear about events like this while you can still book them, that's precisely what the Golden Ticket is for. For £36 a year (that's £3 a month), you get a weekly email flagging up the best things to book ahead; access to my constantly updated database of future events; organised holiday guides; and How to do (almost) anything with children, my interactive guide to making family outings a bit less of a logistical nightmare.

And don’t worry: there’s still tons of stuff you can be getting on with this weekend, albeit with considerably less rice involved.

Enjoy!

Jeff xx

Mini Genius Lab

📍 Where: Monopoly Lifesized, 213–215 Tottenham Court Road, W1T 7PS
📅 When: Various dates and timeslots until 3 January (including this weekend at 11:00, 13:30 and 16:00 on Saturday and Sunday)
🎟️ Price: Adults (11+) £24.15, 3–10s £30.45, family pack (3 or more people) £24.15 per person
👶 Age: 3–12

Do you remember the news about that disastrous “Willy’s Chocolate Experience” from a couple of years ago? Families turned up at an almost-empty warehouse in Glasgow to find a few plastic props and some hastily taped-up decorations, plus a single jelly bean each instead of the chocolate extravaganza they'd been promised. The actors were made to work from a deranged AI-generated script featuring newly invented characters who terrified the children, and they had to mime using a vacuum cleaner because a real one didn't exist. (Let's not delve into why a vacuum cleaner existed in the script at all.) Furious parents demanded refunds, the police were called, and the whole thing shut down within hours.

Well, when you arrive at Mini Genius Lab, a basement venue beneath the Monopoly Lifesized experience on Tottenham Court Road, you might find yourself wondering how long it'll be before the police turn up here too.

The booking website describes the venue as having a “distinctive industrial feel” and “blending historic London charm with contemporary urban energy”, but that's a spectacular feat of estate-agenty euphemism. The promo images, too, have taken some considerable liberties with reality. What you actually find is a basic room with a bunch of trestle tables – kind of like a kids' birthday party, but before anyone has put up any decorations, laid out any Mini Cheddars or blown up the balloons.

But don't worry! It might look like a hastily assembled village hall fundraiser, but Mini Genius Lab is actually bloody brilliant.

It's a one-hour science workshop where an instructor guides the children through a series of experiments, all carried out at their own table. A small army of staff swoops in between experiments to set everything up and clear away the mess, and they keep it all running like clockwork. I've been to plenty of children's activities where everyone seems to be making things up as they go along, but here, every piece of equipment appeared exactly when it was needed, and every mess disappeared before you had time to wonder who was going to clean it up. I don't think we even had to put a lid back on a bottle.

My boys are still talking about the bouncing bubbles and the bubbles inside bubbles, which is quite something considering how many bubbles they've encountered in their lives. They also got to launch balloon rockets into space (well, the ceiling) and make their own slime to bring home, among other things. The explanations were pitched just right, and the whole thing ended with a tremendously exciting cloud of dry ice. Sadly, nobody emerged dressed as Tina Turner. That's my only note on the dry ice portion of the event.

One small gripe: parents pay almost full price for the privilege of being unpaid lab assistants. We don't even get our own slime to take home.

It's advertised for ages 3–12, although I'd say 4–9 is probably the sweet spot. And do arrive on time: this isn't one of those gallery workshops where you can wander in whenever you fancy. Everyone starts together, and latecomers won't be admitted.

Find out more: https://fever.pxf.io/yZA1QN

Mr Sleepybum’s Dream Machine

📍 Where: Woolwich Works, The Fireworks Factory, 11 No. 1 Street, SE18 6HD
📅 When: Sunday 8 November, 11:00 and 14:00
🎟️ Price: £13.50 per person
👶 Age: 3–8

I'm always honest with you about whether I've actually been to the things I recommend, and right now I feel like a murderer who had the foresight to confess before the body was discovered. Because if you go and see Mr Sleepybum's Dream Machine after reading my attempt to explain the plot, you'll realise within about 30 seconds that I've never been anywhere near the eponymous Mr Sleepybum or his equally eponymous Dream Machine.

I've read every synopsis, review and promotional blurb I can find about this bloody show, and I'm still none the wiser. Half of them contradict each other, and the other half seem to have been written by someone who's also never seen it.

Here's what I've managed to establish. Mr Sleepybum's Dream Machine is a sequel to Mr Sleepybum, in which a man called Mr Sleepybum had lots of peculiar dreams. In this one, he can't dream any more. So he invents a machine that brings his dreams to life – but I'm stuck on how that's supposed to work, given that he isn't actually having any dreams right now. Some descriptions suggest the machine actually creates the dreams, which makes more sense, but I've given up trying to establish the finer points.

Other words like “dinosaurs”, “donkeys” and “underwear being thrown around” come up a lot in online descriptions and reviews, so I'm pretty sure they all feature in the performance. And to be honest, that ought to be enough information for any child who can overcome the most egregious of narrative inconsistencies provided there's a prehistoric reptile on the loose and a bit of airborne hosiery.

Whatever on earth takes place on stage, the reviews are glowing and it's picked up a bunch of awards (including “Top Kids Show” at the Edinburgh Fringe). So I'm happy to recommend it. I just couldn't tell you what I'm recommending.

Find out more: https://www.woolwich.works/events/mr-sleepybums-dream-machine

The Wind in the Willows

📍 Where: artsdepot, 5 Nether Street, Tally Ho Corner, N12 0GA
📅 When: Sunday 8 November, 10:30 and 13:30
🎟️ Price: £13.75 per person
👶 Age: 5+

Ever since I became a dad, I've been waging a depressingly unsuccessful campaign to get my children interested in the TV programmes I grew up with. So far I've tried: Postman Pat, Henry's Cat, Power Rangers, Captain Planet, Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles (Ninja Turtles these days, apparently), Button Moon, SuperTed and Fun House (most memorable theme tune ever). Eight attempts, eight rejections. My one triumph was discovering some ancient Care Bears episodes on YouTube, which my four-year-old became obsessed with for approximately a week. Then he went off them too.

But now I've had an idea – and it has nothing to do with accepting our generational divide and embracing their tastes. Mikey & JJ can bite me as far as I'm concerned.

No, instead I'm thinking I can force-feed them my childhood favourites through the medium of theatre – where they'll have no distractions, nowhere to wander off to and no excuses like “But the loo won't clean itself; now where's that Domestos gone?” when I suggest a quick episode of Hartbeat. We're not quite at that stage yet, but I can see it coming.

In a promising start to this new campaign, I've chosen a show I never actually watched myself. The Wind in the Willows began life as a children's novel by Kenneth Grahame in 1908, before spawning numerous films, plays and a stop-motion TV series in the 1980s, made by the same people who gave us Danger Mouse – which my kids also refused to watch.

This stage version, from Box Tale Soup, goes back to the original book. It follows Mole, who gets fed up with spring cleaning and heads outdoors, where he meets Ratty and discovers the pleasures of life on the riverbank. Unfortunately, their friend Mr Toad is a wealthy idiot with an expensive motorcar habit, and his increasingly disastrous behaviour causes no end of trouble.

Box Tale Soup make all their puppets by hand, including their gargantuan-for-a-puppet-at-least Mr Toad, who's five feet tall. The rest of the production involves live actors, an original score and random props on random body parts to represent Toad's various modes of transport. (Don't worry: it'll make sense when you see it.)

The reviews from previous performances are excellent, with particular praise for the puppetry, music and the cast's ability to keep even the youngest audience members glued to the action. So perhaps this will finally be the breakthrough my campaign needs. If not, I suppose there's always Bodger & Badger.

Find out more: https://www.artsdepot.co.uk/event/the-wind-in-the-willows/

Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize 2026

📍 Where: National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, WC2H 0HE
📅 When: Daily until 17 January, 10:30–18:00 (until 21:00 on Friday and Saturday)
🎟️ Price: Adults £12, 12–18s £5, under-12s free

Later today, the winner of the Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize 2026 will be announced. Almost 4,000 photographs were submitted, 56 made the exhibition, and four are fighting it out for the £15,000 top prize.

Every year, my children and I insist on choosing our own winners before finding out what the judges decided. This means trying to look at the photographs without reading the labels, covering our eyes at anything that might give the game away, and trying to ignore the crowds gathered around certain photographs. It's bloody exhausting and we never pull it off, and I don't know why the NPG refuses to give people like us the joy of suspense.

In fact, I really think the exhibition is missing a trick here. Who'd sit through the Eurovision voting if they already knew which country had won? What heathen would read a ranking of all 270 Taylor Swift songs and scroll straight to number one? What's the bloody point of a competition if you can't spend half the time wondering who's going to win and the other half being annoyed about who did?

Unfortunately, the National Portrait Gallery doesn't seem terribly interested in running its photography prize like a competitive spectator sport. But I reckon a sufficiently aggressive Change.org petition might sort that out. Who's with me???

In the meantime, I thoroughly recommend visiting. I may have my complaints about this exhibition (well, one complaint, which I've now spent three paragraphs explaining), but you certainly can't accuse the judges of having a type. Unlike the Oscars, where someone's actually worked out a recipe for winning Best Picture (crime drama, forbidden love, Daniel Day-Lewis, 142 minutes), this lot seem happy to consider just about anything. Professionals and amateurs can enter, and previous prize-winners have included a wrestler hanging upside down, Shaun Ryder disappearing into a cloud of vape smoke, a mother wearing a false moustache and an elderly woman asleep beside her dog.

This year's shortlist includes Moroccan cowboys posing with a camel, four American football players wearing leather loafers, and a ten-year-old girl photographed in a Devon village after the photographer met her at a Halloween party.

And if you're wondering why it's suddenly called the Winston Taylor Prize rather than Taylor Wessing, it's because the lawyers who sponsor it have merged with some other lawyers.. I'd have preferred a shortlist of potential merger partners and a dramatic unveiling of the winner, of course.

Find out more: https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2026/winston-taylor-photo-portrait-prize-2026

Saturday Sessions: Drawing Futures with MATT+FIONA

📍 Where: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX
📅 When: Saturday 7 November, 13:30 (relaxed session at 11:00)
🎟️ Price: FREE – no ticket required
👶 Age: 5–11

Is it ever a good idea to let children loose on city design? My own sons tend to make decisions where the apparently unforeseen consequences become apparent within five minutes, so I'd rather not discover what happens when you apply that approach to a 40-storey office block or one-way system.

But let's think about this for a second. Our very own city has the Walkie Talkie building, which was designed by an adult human architect with degrees and awards and stuff. He somehow failed to anticipate that its enormous curved glass facade would concentrate sunlight so fiercely that it could melt parts of parked cars and allow people to fry eggs on the pavement. Fair enough: we've all had an off day. But it turns out he'd already designed a hotel in Vegas with exactly the same problem. And his residential building in Manhattan has caused numerous lawsuits and complaints regarding flooding, electrical problems and – terrifyingly for an EIGHTY-FOUR-STOREY building – “excess building sway”.

Lest you think London's architectural problems begin and end with one person, let's not forget the Millennium Bridge, which opened in 2000 and had to close two days later because it wobbled so much when people walked across it. The engineers hadn't anticipated the effect of pedestrians walking on a pedestrian bridge, which does rather raise the question of what they thought people were going to do on it.

And it turns out I'm not the first person to suggest this.

MATT+FIONA is an architecture and education organisation brought in by councils, schools and developers to involve children in designing real buildings and public spaces – such as playgrounds, outdoor performance spaces and pavilions. And on some projects, the children help with the actual construction, working alongside architects, builders and other professionals.

It's a jolly clever arrangement. The children learn how buildings are made, get some practical experience and see their ideas turned into something they can actually use. Meanwhile, the architects and developers get to hear from the people who'll be using these spaces, including what they want, what annoys them and what the adults haven't even thought to ask about.

For example, 20 primary-school children in Brixton helped design an outdoor performance space beside Brixton House theatre, then spent five days building it with the help of professionals and volunteers. They learnt to measure and saw timber, assemble frames and make sure the whole thing stayed standing. Meanwhile, at Phoenix School in Bow, pupils designed a wooden shelter to take with them when their school moved, so they'd have something familiar waiting for them at the new site.

This Saturday, MATT+FIONA are running a free workshop at the Southbank Centre, giving children a little taste of their approach through games, design exercises and collaborative 3D drawing. They'll be imagining what the buildings and landscapes of the future might look like, although nobody will be building anything full-size this time.

Find out more: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/saturday-sessions-drawing-futures-with-mattfiona/

This section 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.

📍 Where: Half Moon Theatre, 43 White Horse Road, E1 0ND
📅 When: Saturday 7 November, 11:00 and 14:00
🎟️ Price: £9 per person
👶 Age: 3–7

📍 Where: Barbican Cinema 2, Beech Street, EC2Y 8DS
📅 When: Saturday 7 November, 11:00
🎟️ Price: Adults £5, under-18s £2.50, plus £1.50 transaction fee per booking (minimum booking of one adult and one child)
👶 Age: 6+ (PG)

📍 Where: Merton Arts Space, Wimbledon Library, Wimbledon Hill Road, SW19 7QA
📅 When: Sunday 8 November, 12:00–13:00 and 15:00–16:00
🎟️ Price: Adults £15, children £10
👶 Age: 3+

📍 Where: Polka Theatre, 240 The Broadway, SW19 1SB
📅 When: Until Sunday 8 November, 10:30 and/or 13:00
🎟️ Price: £14 per person, under-12-months £1, plus £2.50 booking fee per order
👶 Age: 3–6

📍 Where: Jacksons Lane, 269a Archway Road, N6 5AA
📅 When: Sunday 8 November, 11:00 and 14:00
🎟️ Price: £12.50 per person
👶 Age: 3–7

📍 Where: British Library, 96 Euston Road, NW1 2DB
📅 When: Daily until 20 June, various opening times (see website)
🎟️ Price: Adults £25, under-16s £6

📍 Where: Lightroom, 12 Lewis Cubitt Square, N1C 4DY
📅 When: Daily until 4 January, entry timeslots throughout the day
🎟️ Price: Adults £25, 3–18s £15 (families of 3+ get 15% off at checkout on selected timeslots)
👶 Age: “Younger children need to be supervised in the space and we ask that parents are considerate of the experience for all our guests.”

📍 Where: Guildhall Art Gallery, Guildhall Yard, EC2V 5AE
📅 When: Daily until 21 March, timeslots between 10:00 and 16:30
🎟️ Price: Pay what you can (including “free”) – booking required
👶 Age: suitable for all

📍 Where: Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1P 4RG
📅 When: Daily until 14 February, 10:00–18:00
🎟️ Price: Adults £22, 12–18s £5, under-12s free

📍 Where: Handel Hendrix House, 25 Brook Street, W1K 4HB
📅 When: Wednesday–Sunday until 11 April, 10:00–17:00
🎟️ Price: Free with general admission (adults £14.50, 13–17s £5, under-13s free as part of a family group)

📍 Where: Puppet Theatre Barge, Blomfield Road, Little Venice, W9 2PF
📅 When: Various dates until 15 November, various performance times (see website)
🎟️ Price: Adults £15, 2–16s £12, under-2s free
👶 Age: 3–7

📍 Where: Museum of Youth Culture, 51 St Pancras Way, NW1 0PZ
📅 When: Wednesday–Sunday until 22 November, 12:00–18:00
🎟️ Price: FREE – advance booking recommended

📍 Where: V&A South Kensington, Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL
📅 When: Daily until 17 January, 10:00–17:45 (until 22:00 on Fridays)
🎟️ Price: FREE – no booking required

📍 Where: Barbican Theatre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS
📅 When: Until Saturday 23 January, various performance times (see website)
🎟️ Price: From £34 per person (including transaction fee)
👶 Age: 14+

📍 Where: Southbank Centre, The Undercroft, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX
📅 When: Tuesday–Sunday until 29 November, 12:00–20:00
🎟️ Price: FREE – no booking required

📍 Where: Dulwich Picture Gallery, Gallery Road, SE21 7AD
📅 When: Tuesday–Sunday until 17 January, 10:00–17:00
🎟️ Price: Adults £19, under-18s free

📍 Where: Royal Academy, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W1J 0BD
📅 When: Tuesday–Sunday until 31 January, 10:00–18:00 (Friday and Saturday until 21:00)
🎟️ Price: Adults £26, under-16s free

📍 Where: Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG
📅 When: Daily until 21 February, 10:00–18:00 (Friday and Saturday until 21:00)
🎟️ Price: Adults £20, 12–18s £5, under-12s free

📍 Where: Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 0RN
📅 When: Daily until 10 January, 10:00–18:00
🎟️ Price: Adults £16, under-19s free (includes the permanent collection)

📍 Where: National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, WC2N 5DN
📅 When: Daily until 31 January, 10:00–18:00 (Friday until 21:00)
🎟️ Price: Adults £25, under-18s free

📍 Where: Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, 3 Fulton Road, Wembley, HA9 0SP
📅 When: Until 3 January, various performance times
🎟️ Price: £35–£199 (!) per person
👶 Age: 6+; under-3s not admitted

📍 Where: Design Museum, 224–238 Kensington High Street, W8 6AG
📅 When: Until 10 January, 10:00–17:00 Monday–Thursday and 10:00–18:00 Friday–Sunday
🎟️ Price: Adults £17.09, 6–15s £8.55, under-6s free

📍 Where: Design Museum, 224–238 Kensington High Street, W8 6AG
📅 When: Until 4 April, 10:00–18:00 (until 17:00 Monday–Thursday)
🎟️ Price: Adults £21, 6–15s £11, under-6s free

📍 Where: Science Museum, Exhibition Road, SW7 2DD
📅 When: Daily until 3 January, 10:00–18:00
🎟️ Price: FREE – but you need to book a free admission ticket to enter

📍 Where: Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS
📅 When: Tuesday–Sunday until 28 February, 10:00–17:00 (until 19:00 on Thursdays and Fridays)
🎟️ Price: Adults £20.50, under-16s free

📍 Where: Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 1LA
📅 When: Tuesday–Sunday until 29 November, various timeslots each day
🎟️ Price: FREE – booking required
👶 Age: 13+

📍 Where: Eclipso Immersive Entertainment, 213–219 Camden High Street, NW1 7BT
📅 When: Wednesday–Sunday (and daily during half term) until 31 December, 10:00 or 11:00–19:00
🎟️ Price: Adults £27.50, 8–17s £21.50 (family bundles and London resident pricing also available)
👶 Age: children must be 8+

📍 Where: British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG
📅 When: Daily until 31 January, 10:00–17:00 (Fridays until 20:30)
🎟️ Price: Adults £20, under-16s free

📍 Where: Sussex Mansions, 79–85 Old Brompton Road, SW7 3LD
📅 When: Until 21 March, various timeslots each day
🎟️ Price: Adults £24.61, 6–17s £16.05 (family bundles also available)
👶 Age: suitable for all (“Note that some exhibits and installations contain mature content, so parental discretion is advised.)

📍 Where: Serpentine North, West Carriage Drive, W2 2AR
📅 When: Until 31 January, Tuesday–Sunday 10:00–17:00
🎟️ Price: FREE, but booking required

📍 Where: Little Angel Theatre, 14 Dagmar Passage, N1 2DN
📅 When: Until 22 November, various start times (see website)
🎟️ Price: Adults £16, 1–17s £14
👶 Age: 2–5