DADS IN LONDON

Plans worth leaving the house for.

🔮 51 things to do in London this weekend with the kids (27–28 June)

Jeff – Dads in London

Hey DILFs!

If you’ve ever found yourself on Flitcroft Street, just off Charing Cross Road… how did that even happen? No matter: let’s just assume there’s a good reason.

Anyway! On Flitcroft Street, you’ll have no doubt noticed the tallest doors you’ve ever seen – partly because there’s nothing much else on that street (other than drug dealers, apparently), but mainly because the doors are legitimately HUGE.

They’re attached to a building that was built in 1904 for Elms Lester Painting Rooms – a theatrical scenery workshop. These enormous painted backdrops could be tens of feet high, so they were hung vertically inside the building while artists worked on them. The super-tall doors doors meant the finished canvases could be taken out while still mostly upright.

And that's why there are giant green doors in the middle of central London. I realise this information is unlikely to improve your life in any meaningful way, but I found it fascinating.

Have a look if you’re in the area this weekend, or do some of the many other activities and events on offer instead…

Happy weekend!

Jeff xx

1: Visit six possible futures and complain about them all

In Other Worlds: Liam Young

📍 Where: Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS
📅 When: Tuesday–Sunday until Sunday 6 September, 10:00–17:45 (until 19:45 on Fridays and Saturdays)
🎟️ Price: Adults £19, 5–15s £6, under-5s free

“But daddy,” said my eight-year-old as we walked through a series of dark rooms filled with huge projections, strange props and serious lighting, “I thought the future was meant to be better than the present. I don’t think ANY of this looks better than today.”

The main source of his concern was Planet City – one of six futures proposed by architect Liam Young, in which all 10 billion people on Earth are squeezed into a single mega-city so the rest of the planet can be handed back to nature. It’s meant to be a potential solution to the way we’ve taken nature for granted until now, and it looks like hell – so I’m keeping my fingers crossed the world planning committee goes with another option.

Another of Young’s ideas imagines a future where artificial intelligence has become so important that humanity effectively turns the entire planet into a giant computer. There’s an accompanying film showing workers building the tech, with endless refineries, solar farms and industrial complexes stretching out in the distance. Again: not a fan.

Then there’s the world that explores what it might take to remove the carbon dioxide we've pumped into the atmosphere. Giant projections show enormous machines extracting it from the air and repurposing it for other uses. My son said, “Good idea, but not realistic”. I was feeling too much existential dread by this point to have an opinion.

FYI the exhibition is intended to be a hopeful-ish vision of the future, with plenty of ambitious solutions to humanity’s problems. Evidently my son and me didn’t quite see things that way – and that's probably because all the options are so different from what we have now. (It also might be because neither of us has met a change we couldn't complain about.) Young has spent years imagining what comes next for humanity, so yeah: ignore us, listen to him, and be open to the fact that a different type of future might be fine once our descendents are in it.

And to prove how much Young knows (and I don't), the exhibition finishes with a series of documentaries showing that many of these seemingly far-fetched ideas already exist in some form today. Giant carbon-capture projects, automated agriculture and other ideas that sound like they belong in a futuristic novel are already being tested or used around the world (in smaller and less dramatic forms... for now).

I remain firmly in favour of carrying on much as we are and hoping for the best. Unfortunately, the exhibition makes a fairly convincing case that this may not be a complete solution – so it's probably just as well that people like Young exist.

Find out more: https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2026/event/in-other-worlds

2: Investigate London's newest pastel wonderland

House of Dreamers

📍 Where: Immerse LDN, Excel Waterfront, ExCel, E16 1XL
📅 When: Daily until 30 September, timeslots throughout the day
🎟️ Price: Adults £28.90, 3–12s £23.90, under-3s free
👶 Age: Suitable for all

House of Dreamers is a sprawling collection of what I believe the youths would describe as "pastel-forward" installations. They're linked together by a loose message about following your dreams, and you'll wander between giant pink ball pits, enchanted forests, upside-down rooms, cloud swings and various interactive exhibits designed to encourage both wonder and copious Instagrammable moments.

It doesn't officially open until Friday, but it's already appeared in other European cities – so I looked at those reviews to see what London can expect.

Interestingly (but less usefully for you), I seem to have accidentally conducted a study into what different European nations want from a day out.

For the Parisians, it's all about how sincere the experience feels. The disappointed customers called it "superficial", "fake", "meaningless" and "uninspiring" – and were clearly hoping for something a little deeper than an elaborate selfie factory. The happy ones said it was "creative" and "magical" – and were delighted by the countless opportunities to make photographic memories with loved ones.

The Milanese, by contrast, seem obsessed with how long the whole thing takes. It's properly weird: EVERYONE mentions it. Also, there's no correlation between how long it took a reviewer to get through it and how much they enjoyed it. Some people were in and out within 20 minutes, others took an hour and a half. They all commented, regardless of whether the duration was good, bad or neutral.

And in Madrid, it's all about the price. Some considered it fabulous value, others said "not worth it". (A lot of people also commented on the size of the venue: most said it was small, but at least one said "huge", so goodness knows.)

London may end up talking about something entirely different – especially as this latest iteration of House of Dreamers has a few extra bells and whistles. Visitors are given an AI-powered DreamBand that personalises parts of the experience, while various installations can imagine you in your dream career and bring your animal drawings to life.

It all sounds completely bonkers when written down like that, and maybe that's what the reviews will focus on. Or perhaps Londoners will prove no different from their fellow Europeans and simply find one oddly specific thing to obsess over.

Find out more: https://feverup.com/m/628172

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3: Experience gaming with significantly more cardio

Immersive Gamebox London

📍 Where: Various locations: Southbank, Shoreditch, Westfield Stratford City, Wandsworth and more
📅 When: Open daily, with various timeslots throughout each day
🎟️ Price: Prices vary depending on the type of game you play and how many games, but they start at £21 for a 30-minute game (£18 for 3–11s)
👶 Age: Most games are most suitable for 8+, but there are some games suitable for 5+ and 3+; the website has more information

Unless you've been living under a volcano, you'll no doubt have heard of Immersive Gamebox – the latest "immersive experience" that kids are begging their parents to try out.

Immersive Gamebox is essentially a giant interactive video game room. You and your teammates enter a private box, put on some motion-tracking visors and spend the next 30 minutes running around, waving your arms in the air and enthusiastically slapping walls in pursuit of points. There are various games to choose from, including Ghostbusters, Squid Game and the two we chose: Angry Birds and Floor is Lava.

Let’s start with the very very good. Most importantly, the three kids with us LOVED this experience so much that it was pure joy watching them play. They adored every aspect – the futuristic feel of it all, the cuteness of some of the avatars we played with, the actual games, and the frantic point-scoring. Credit also to the little extras – like being able to customise our outfits for the avatars, and the fun gifs we created before and after the games (which were then emailed to us).

Another plus point: the staff were fabulous. There was one guy on the desk and another doing I’m not sure what, and both were absolutely lovely: friendly, cheerful and genuinely keen to make sure everyone had a good time.

Even ordering drinks has been funned-up in this place. A giant menu appears on the walls around you, and you tap your choices before they're delivered directly to your box. There's a little shelf for your drinks so you don't have to worry about accidentally kicking your Smirnoff Red Vodka & Cranberry (£5.50) or Fruit Shoot Blackcurrant (£2) across the room.

Oh! And a special mention for the audio commentary in Floor is Lava, which seems to have been written by someone with very little sympathy for struggling players. Every time we fell into the lava, the game responded with a level of mockery that went right over the kids' heads but had the parents in stitches.

The only real downside concerns the games themselves. To re-emphasise, the children ADORED these games. The adults in our group, however, weren't quite as sold.

Angry Birds is clearly designed with younger players in mind, so its simplicity makes sense. Floor is Lava was harder for us to get on board with. Rather than hopping between imaginary safe zones while the floor gradually disappears beneath you, you're controlling a character on the walls around the room and trying to stop it falling into lava that isn't actually on the floor at all. It felt more like a traditional video game. It wasn't bad; it just wasn't quite what we'd expected.

The other downside is the price. The Immersive Gamebox team generously comped all six of our tickets. Had they not done so, the visit would have cost nearly £230, which is a heckuva lot of money for an hour's entertainment.

I don't think I'd have paid that myself. Then again, I spend a large chunk of my life comparing family attractions and working out what offers good value for money, so perhaps I'm not the most representative customer. For a birthday treat or special occasion, I can completely understand why many families would.

One tip, though: you don't actually have to play. If you'd rather save a bit of money, the children can go into the box while you supervise from the other side of the glass. Judging by our experience, they'll be having far too much fun to notice – and you'll love watching them.

Find out more: https://www.immersivegamebox.com/en-GB

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4: Watch free films beside the canal all summer

Everyman on the Canal

📍 Where: Regent's Canal Towpath, N1C 4PQ
📅 When: Daily until 16 August, films at 12:00, 14:30, 17:00 and 19:30
🎟️ Price: FREE
👶 Age: Depends on the movie!

Let’s now turn our attention to something considerably more free than the options above: Everyman on the Canal transforms a stretch of King's Cross canal-side into a giant outdoor screening space, with a programme that mixes Wimbledon coverage and an enormous number of films throughout the summer. The fact that Everyman on the Canal is free is particularly gratifying because Everyman prices are normally many, many pounds beyond free.

Admittedly, things won't be as comfy or convenient as those squishy Everyman sofas and table-service snacks. The astroturf steps along the Regent's Canal can feel a bit arse-scratchy, and you won't be able to order popcorn to your patch of grass. But it's a small sacrifice to make, because you'll be able to watch the tennis and what appears to be every film ever made in a gloriously summery location, surrounded by fellow Londoners who seem just as delighted by the whole setup as you are.

There'll also be frozen margaritas, ice cream sundaes, popcorn and chocolate strawberries. (Wimbledon: you're going to need to up your strawberry game.) PLUUUUUS, huge news: according to the website, there's a "bold new artistic identity for the event"!!! Somehow, even the design of the sweet boxes will help to "create a fully immersive visual experience". Let's all just nod excitedly and move on.

For the first couple of weeks, the programme follows a simple formula: Wimbledon, film, film. Then, once Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka have received their respective trophies, congratulated their opponents and explained that they've been dreaming of this moment since childhood, the programme will start to pack in four films a day – at 12:00, 14:30, 17:00 and 19:30.

The child-friendly films include Lilo & Stitch, Aladdin, A Minecraft Movie, Mary Poppins, Coco, Zootropolis, Dr Dolittle, Peter Pan (1953), Monsters, Inc., Babe, Madagascar, Lady and the Tramp, Encanto, Hoppers, The Wizard of Oz, Matilda, Paddington, Cheaper by the Dozen, The Jungle Book, Ratatouille, Pocahontas, The Parent Trap and about a million others.

Then for tweens/teens, we have options like Wicked, Jurassic Park, High School Musical, Hannah Montana: The Movie, Twilight and Grease. And if you have children who can handle a proper grown-up film, there are plenty of those in the early evening too.

In other words: pick a day, turn up and see what's on. The odds are pretty good it'll be something decent.

Find out more: https://www.kingscross.co.uk/event/everyman-on-the-canal

5: Turn art appreciation into a contact sport

Julio Le Parc: Light. Colour. Action.

📍 Where: Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG
📅 When: Daily until 3 May 2027, 10:00–18:00 (until 21:00 on Fridays and Saturdays)
🎟️ Price: Adults £15, 12–18s £5, under-12s free

The bad news (for me) is that I didn’t get to visit this exhibition: a friend took my kids instead. The good news (for me and for them) is that they loved it so much they’ll happily go again.

I have thirty-seven videos and umpteen photos of my boys RIVETED by the art on offer. Want to know when I last used the word “riveted” in this newsletter? Never. And I may never again. Use that information as you will.

I’m not saying this is objectively the best exhibition ever – the sort of thing that will fundamentally alter your understanding of art and humanity. I’m just saying this is an art exhibition you can attend with the most museum-phobic of children, and there will be plenty of “Whoa!” and zero complaints or yawns. If you want an easy, cultural excursion, basically, do this.

Julio Le Parc gives you explicit permission to behave in ways that would normally get you thrown out of a gallery. Instead of standing quietly and appreciating art, you're encouraged to meddle. Spin a painted disc and watch its pattern disappear; press a button and see a shelf full of strange objects start to rattle and sway; and stand in front of a wall of moving reflections and try to work out what on earth is happening.

Other rooms involve fewer button-pushes but just as much intrigue and excitement. In fact, some of the most impressive pieces simply fill entire rooms with shifting light and reflections, and the spaces seem to change as you walk through them. It's difficult to describe them without sounding a bit wankerish, but they kept two normally fidgety boys completely absorbed. (What the hell: let's go with "riveted" a second time.)

There's a good reason you're encouraged to poke, prod and play with everything, by the way. After moving to Paris from Argentina in the late 1950s, Le Parc became convinced that galleries had become too serious for their own good. Together with a group of fellow artists known collectively as GRAV (Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel), he spent the 1960s creating work that people could interact with rather than simply admire from a respectful distance.

Judging by the contents of my phone, Le Parc got what he wanted. Sixty years later, people are still enthusiastically interacting with his work rather than shuffling past it. If you've ever wished your children would show the slightest interest in an art exhibition, this is a very good place to start.

Find out more: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/julio-le-parc

Other listings

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.