🌈 8 things to do in London this weekend with the kids (31 May–1 June)

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Hey DILFs!

Huuuuge news: the Barbican Centre is getting a £240m revamp! It comes on the heels of a public consultation in which “more than 90 per cent of respondents” supported the proposed ideas to improve it. I’ve got a real soft spot for the Barbican, but even I’m wondering: who didn’t support those initial, extremely vague plans that basically just said, “Let’s make it nicer”? At this stage of the centre’s slow slide into brutalist shabbiness, aren’t we all just screaming, “YES! IT NEEDS TO BE BETTER! HURRY UP AND DESIGN STUFF”?

Excitingly, we’re now at the “next stage of Renewal designs”, which are much more detailed and require another round of public consultation. And you can participate! Just take a look at the design proposals for the foyer, conservatory and lakeside area, then share your thoughts via this short online survey. For the record, I’m in strong agreement that we need more damn toilets. I’m less convinced about replacing the horrible foyer carpet with one that looks almost identical.

Housekeeping over; let’s move onto the far more pressing issue of what to do this weekend. 

Enjoy!

Jeff xx

1: Join a live demo of Georgian-era cookery

A Georgian Cookery Experience
Saturday 31 May, 10:00–17:00
Handel Hendrix House, 25 Brook Street, W1K 4HB
Included in general admission price: adults £14.50, 13–17s £5, under-13s free)

Did you know that royal court composer George Frideric Handel and psychedelic rock dude Jimi Hendrix lived in adjoining buildings on Brook Street? Handel was at #25, Hendrix in a flat at #23 – and if you immediately wondered “At the same time???”, I’m so glad I’m not the only one with a shaky grip on history.

The buildings were combined in 2016 to form Handel Hendrix House – and I’m convinced the alliteration helped seal the deal.

The Handel section has been restored to look as it did in the 18th century, with rooms including his rehearsal space (complete with a playable harpsichord), the bedroom where he died, and the kitchen and dining room. There are also original manuscripts, personal items, and early editions of his work throughout.

My favourite room is the composition room, where he wrote Messiah. At certain times you hear footsteps pacing, like Handel’s just walked in. Then music begins, and it sounds like he’s playing Messiah in the next room. It’s bonkersley effective at making you feel like you’re eavesdropping on his day.

Hendrix’s flat has also been recreated to match how it looked during his time there (1968–69) – and according to his former girlfriend, it’s spot on. Alongside his giant record collection and some great audio and video clips, there’s also an excellent exhibition on Hendrix’s place in the music and culture of 1960s London.

You can visit and experience all this at any time, but the reason you should go THIS weekend is because you can watch the Georgian-era equivalent of Saturday Kitchen – but with dishes like “rice soup with mutton in” and “eel pye” instead of pan-fried seabass and sticky toffee pudding. Out of curiosity, I just looked up how to skin an eel. Let’s just say I’ll be skipping that portion of the demo. 

Two food historians will be decked out in period costume, and will be using replica Georgian cookware to prepare recipes from a 1747 cookbook throughout the day. After each dish has been prepared, you’ll get to taste it – even the hare that’s been stewed in its own blood for a while, and the soup consisting of brains and organ meats. 

Oh wait, what’s that? Ohhhh! No one’s allowed to eat the dishes, for some reason. Such a shame. 

Find out more: https://handelhendrix.org/events/georgian-cookery 

2: Meet Bluey and solve rainbow-related mysteries

CBeebies Rainbow Adventure Live
Saturday and Sunday, time slots between 10:00 and 16:30
Level 0, near Next, Westfield London (Shepherd's Bush), Ariel Way, W12 7GF
£19.50 per person
Age guidance: 0–6

When CBeebies Rainbow Adventure opened for spring/summer 2024, I saw the price and immediately decided that joy is overrated. “Back in our day, we had a twig and our imaginations, and we turned out fine,” is something I may have said. But this year, I looked at my youngest son’s lovely little face while he watched Bluey in his Hey Duggee pyjamas, and I wussed out. I bought the tickets. And I don’t regret it for a second: my little boy loved it, and I loved watching him love it.

The premise is simple: you’re in CBeebies Land, where the Rainbow Gardener explains that all the colours of the rainbow have vanished. Together with a few other families who’ve sucked it up and paid, you visit places like Mr Tumble’s living room, JoJo and Gran Gran’s kitchen, Duggee’s Clubhouse and Bluey and Bingo’s bedroom, completing a few loosely connected tasks along the way.

The plot isn’t exactly Inception. The activities are random and the colour-recovery logic is very much “don’t think about it”. But who cares? The children in our group ADORED stepping into their favourite characters’ homes, and enjoyed every single one of the activities – one of which is a dance party. (Like I said: random activities.)

My son’s highlight was meeting “real-life Bluey” (a man in a Bluey costume who couldn’t see and had to be gently guided around by another man). Mine was the smile on his face every time he talked about it afterwards.

A couple of tips if you go:

✏️ Some reviews say time slots can get chaotic. We only had two other families in ours (one adult, one child each), so I’d recommend booking an early morning slot while it’s still quiet.

✏️ I’d also say it’s probably best for under-sixes. Older kids might be more bored than buzzing – and this isn’t cheap, so maybe save it for a day when your big one’s got a playdate or is shouting “bruh” across a trampoline park or whatever it is they do now.

Find out more: https://fever.pxf.io/e1JRxj 

3: Pose like a plonker for your child’s artistic vision

I See You Like This
Saturday and Sunday, 10:00–17:00
Unicorn Theatre, 147 Tooley Street, SE1 2HZ
FREE (drop in)
Age guidance: 3+

My partner and I travelled abroad a LOT between 2012 BC and 2017 BC. Before Children, our lives were spent flitting from country to country for about nine months of each year – where we’d gather experiences, minor stomach issues, and strong opinions about airport layouts. Tragically, due to our pretentious desire to “live life in the moment rather than witness everything from behind the camera lens”, we have approximately four photos from that time. Which means I have no choice but to believe that I really did dance the Macarena on a broken fridge in a Budapest ruin bar, because I sure as heck don’t have any evidence for it happening. 

Between 2018 (when my eldest was born) and now, I’ve taken forty-four thousand, seven hundred and seventy-nine photos. One of those is a picture of a terrible tube advert that I wanted to send to a friend, one is a of a man on Gray’s Inn Road who I thought was either Elon Musk or Tom Cruise (it was neither), and the other forty-four thousand, seven hundred and seventy-seven photos are of my children. So I can understand why they might want to turn the tables occasionally. 

This event at Unicorn Theatre is every child’s opportunity to do just that. Your offspring gets to plonk you in a chair, adorn you with props, dictate your facial expression and hurl any conceivable instruction in your direction while a professional photographer takes the shot. No word on whether you get a printout of the photo at the end, but if not, your child can just take a few pics on your phone (and finally break up the unbroken wall of half-blinks and yoghurt faces). 

Find out more: https://www.unicorntheatre.com/events/i-see-you-like-this 

While you’re there… 

👍️ Collaborate with other families at Unicorn Theatre and build a cardboard car at Ready Steady Go! – an interactive art show that “combines live performance, music, storytelling and painting”. There’s also the chance to “stop at the bubbly car wash, zoom through tricky road works and down slippery roads”, all while learning about road safety. I have no idea how they’ll pull all this off in 50 minutes, but it sounds amazing. 

👍️ Go up Tower Bridge, lie down on the transparent floor and take a photo using the mirrored ceiling above you. When we went, it was UNBELIEVABLE how many visitors wouldn’t even set foot on the glass floor – and they squealed in shock when we did it. Wusses. There’s much more to do as part of the Tower Bridge experience, but the glass floor is the highlight – even if you just watch others “bravely risking their lives” when stepping on it. 

👍️ Borough Market is there. If you haven’t been a million times already and don’t mind crowds, you’ll probably enjoy it. 

👍️ Southwark Cathedral is free to enter and beautifully understated (as far as cathedrals can ever be understated). Fyi the cathedral often hosts evening events – such as candlelit concerts and expert talks – which you can find out about on their website/newsletter. 

4: Witness the most significant birth since Blue Ivy Carter

Peppa Meets the Baby: Cinema Experience
Saturday and Sunday, various times (plus other dates and times until August)
Various locations and prices – see website
Age guidance: rated U

PEPPA PIG SEASON 10 SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SCROLL DOWN IF YOU DON’T WANT ANY SPOILERS ABOUT PEPPA PIG SEASON 10!!!

Huge news: Mummy Pig has had the baby! She announced the pregnancy a couple of months ago on Good Morning Britain, and a month later there was a high-profile gender reveal party at Battersea Power Station. Then last week, GMB secured another scoop and announced that Baby Evie was born at 05:34 at the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington. The first interview with the proud parents went to Hello! Magazine, and now I’m beginning to wonder if everyone has lost the plot. 

… Because it’s not just the media that’s taking this all a bit too literally: it’s regular people too. Comments on the Peppa Pig Facebook post announcing the birth include: 

• “You have caught us unprepared, you announced the due date was in June 🤓 My daughter was told to wait until June 🐷”

• “Oh she’s beautiful! I bet the house will be filled with families and friends coming to visit 😊”

• “What was her birth weight? She looks very healthy”

• “I think she was due in June.. let's hope she's a healthy piggy coming so early!”

• “Mummy pig: remember to sleep when she sleeps.”

• And my favourite: “daddy pig not the father. mummy pig bin foolin round.”

To drag out the excitement further, you can watch a ten-episode special at the cinema this weekend, which culminates in the birth of baby Evie. These are all brand new instalments that focus on preparing for “their biggest adventure yet” by embarking on a full house renovation, shopping for a new car and “making special memories together”. There are also six new songs – so you might finally get to replace the earworm of Big Balloon with something less intensely annoying. 

Both my kids are huge Peppa fans, so we’ll be at the Leicester Square VUE to witness the biggest event in their (and the rest of the UK’s, it seems) lives so far. 

Find out more: https://www.peppapigcinemaexperience.com/ 

5: Design a house that can sail, float or fly

Family fun day: Architecture on the Move
Saturday 31 May, 11:00–16:00
RIBA, 66 Portland Place, W1B 1AD
FREE (but please register)
Age guidance: suitable for all

Have you ever tried to move home with children around? I’m a top-tier apartment-mover (six times in six years), but even I send the kids off to my parents when it’s time to start wrapping plates and accidentally boxing up scissors.

So I consider it a minor miracle that the Royal Institute of British Architects – about to move out for a 2.5-year refurb – is hosting a fully fledged Family Fun Day in the middle of it all.

The day is themed around moving – buildings, people, entire cities – and it’s full of creative activities that explore what architecture looks like when it gets up and goes. There’s “Mobile Cities”, where kids (age 6+) can design a futuristic building and animate it using iPads. “Floaty Boaty Buildings” is all about constructing a house on water using recycled materials. An architect will be on board (ha) to help, and once it’s ready, you’ll test your creation to see if it can survive a career as a houseboat.

You can also dive into “Temporary Town”, where kids are handed a bunch of paraphernalia (plus the sacred knowledge of den-making) and told: “Quick! Build us somewhere to live!”

There are loads more activities – including sign-making with a professional signwriter, designing a portable tower, decorating a paper canal boat, and songs and dancing for babies – and it’s all completely free.

It’s the very last day the RIBA building is open to the public before it disappears behind hoardings until 2027 – so if your kids like building things (and knocking them down), this is a good one to catch before it moves on.

Find out more: https://www.architecture.com/whats-on/family-fun-day-architecture-on-the-move

While you’re there… 

👍️ You’re right next to the south-east bit of The Regent’s Park – home to Marylebone Green Playground (which has some of the most unique playground equipment in London) and the beautiful English Gardens. Walk a bit further and you’ll find yourself in the world-famous (or at least I think it’s world-famous?) Queen Mary’s Rose Gardens and my son’s favourite: the Japanese Garden Island.

👍️ The Wellcome Collection is a completely free museum on Euston Road that focuses on health, medicine and human experience. They have an interesting-sounding exhibition on at the moment, called “1880 THAT: Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader”, which explores “sign language and the right to communicate”, as well as “the idea of language as a home – an essential place of belonging – and what it means to live with the threat of losing one's language”. 

6–8: MORE MORE MORE!

Dog Man (U): Family Film Club
Saturday 31 May, 11:00
Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS
Adults £3, under-18s £2.50
Age guidance: rated U

Beyond Victory Family Activity: Spread your wings
Saturday 31 May, 10:00–13:00
The Chapter Office, Westminster Abbey, 20 Dean’s Yard, SW1P 3PA
FREE (booking required)
Age guidance: 3+

Hands on Armour: Saturday Knight Live
Saturday 31 May, 13:30–16:00
The Wallace Collection, Hertford House, Manchester Square, W1U 3BN
FREE (first come, first served)
Age guidance: 5+