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- 🚡 9 things to do in London this weekend with the kids (9–10 August)
🚡 9 things to do in London this weekend with the kids (9–10 August)
Jeff – Dads in London
August 06, 2025
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Hey DILFs!
The Powers That Be at St Paul’s Cathedral have finally realised that sometimes, people just want to climb the damn building and check out the nice view – they don’t want to pay for the entire cathedral visit (£26 for adults, £10 for kids) too.
So for the next two months – peak season for panoramic views – they’re letting you buy tickets to visit just the dome.
Tickets for Dome Sundays (I would have gone with Dome Alone, if anyone’s asking) are £13.50 for adults and £5 for 6–17s – which means they’re still £13.50/£5 more expensive than the free views from Horizon 22, The Garden at 120, Sky Garden, 8 Bishopsgate and The Post Building Rooftop Garden. And you don’t even get a lift to take you to the top. But the stairs give a greater sense of accomplishment, and will finally justify owning that smartwatch you bought yourself in the Boxing Day sales.
Oh also: Dome Sundays only run every Sunday between 12:30 and 14:00. But, as Orson Welles once said, “The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.” So instead of feeling constrained by the time slot, you’ll discover (maybe) that a Pret picnic on Millennium Bridge beats a gastropub roast by miles – and comes with a better view.
And now for everything else you can do this weekend…
Enjoy!
Jeff xx
IFS Cloud Cable Car – Face Painting
Saturday 9 August, 10:00–17:00 (and every Saturday until 30 August)
IFS Cloud Royal Docks terminal, 27 Western Gateway, London E16 1FA
£3–£6 plus cable car tickets (one way/round-trip: adults £7/£13, children £3.50/£6.50)
This summer has been chock-a-block with unexpected couplings, and we’re not even halfway through August. Ana de Armas will be brushing up on Dianetics for Starlets now she’s dating Tom Cruise. Billy Ray Cyrus and Elizabeth Hurley are probably still trying to decode each other’s accents and haven’t progressed past pleasantries yet. Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau are two names you never thought you’d see together – in any context – and we’re all not-so-quietly convinced it’s some kind of experimental publicity stunt. And Pamela Anderson with Liam Neeson is just the loveliest thing ever that we’re all desperately hoping is for real.
The most unexpected coupling of all, however? Cable cars and face painting. In what I assume is a bold new strategy to lure families skyward, the folks behind the IFS Cloud Cable Car are throwing in animal-faced children and a level of glitter adhesive that could outlast a nuclear winter.
To give you more of an indication of how underused the cable car is, it had an average of “just four contactless and Oyster journeys in each direction during its first hour of operation each day in the past year, prompting Transport for London (TfL) to propose reducing its opening hours”. And you can understand why it’s not London’s equivalent of Grand Central or Shibuya Crossing: the stations are in the world’s most non-useful areas, so you have to treat it as an event in itself rather than a method of commute (which is how it was initially positioned).
Still, if you haven’t ever been on the cable car, it really is quite marvellous. The views are spectacular, and there’s the added bonus of that fleeting panic when the pod slows down mid-air and you briefly assume you’re going to be adopted by a passing barge.
Add a child with a freshly painted unicorn face, and the whole thing starts to feel like a genuinely good day out. And in a season of wild, improbable pairings, this one might just be the only one that makes sense.
While you’re there…
👍️ I was tempted to write “Ha ha haaaaa!” in response to the idea that there’s anything to do in this area, but it turns out there is something to do this weekend: Royal Docks Summer Splash! See below.
Royal Docks Summer Splash
Saturday and Sunday, 11:00–17:00 (and daily until 17 August)
Royal Victoria Dock (next to City Hall), Kamal Chunchie Way, E16 1ZE
FREE
Your kids would rather clean the loo with their toothbrush than participate in another sports day, right? And I bet they’re sick to the back teeth of designing their own tote bags and t-shirts? I mean… how many times do they need to do the egg and spoon race or dunk a bit of beetroot onto calico before we call it character-building and move on?
You agree? OK, phew. Because those were the activities going on last weekend at the Royal Docks Summer Splash – and I totally forgot to tell you about them. But no big deal, yeah? Because you wouldn’t have gone anyway? Great.
Royal Docks Summer Splash is a weeks-long festival at Royal Victoria Dock. It has a programme of free family activities (e.g. tote bags) each day, in addition to lifeguard-supervised swimming, sandpits, deckchairs and sunsafe areas for relaxing. And it’s all completely free.
This weekend’s activities sound superb. On Saturday there’s an African drumming workshop run by a theatre company called IROKO. Don’t go searching online for more information about IROKO: you’ll end up on a website so garish and chaotic you'll wonder if it's ever been updated. (And I think the answer is “no”.) Instead, here’s a short video I found from a school workshop they held, and it looks lovely.
On Sunday, you can watch Laika the Space Dog – a lively puppet show that (very loosely) retells the story of the first dog in space. You’ll see Laika zooming through the asteroid belt, meeting space apes, and returning to Earth in a shower of glory. There are also Space Dog–adjacent workshops after a couple of the performances.
Each day you can also register your child for a Swim Safe Session, in which they’ll learn all about how to stay safe in the water.
And if none of that grabs you, just know there’s something happening every single day – not just weekends – so you can pop down midweek, dodge the tote bags, and reclaim a small pocket of summer calm without committing to half-dried swirls of turmeric or sports equipment.
While you’re there…
👍️ Get your face painted and go on a cable car! See the first event above.
Finger Talk
Saturday and Sunday, 10:00–18:00 (and Tuesday–Sunday until 17 October)
Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE
FREE
Credit: British Deaf Association
As with most seven-year-olds, my son can flit between life’s most ridiculous questions and its most profound ones in under eight seconds. The other day, it was “Do worms have toes?” followed almost immediately by “Does Grandpa know he died?” – all in the time it took me to scan a broccoli through the self-checkout.
I’m not sure what I’d do without the internet – but even Google, YouTube and ChatGPT have their limits. Case in point: the growing list of questions I’ve been asked about deafness that I’ve completely failed to answer with confidence. How do deaf people stay safe without hearing car engines or alarms? Do they know what music is? Can you be born deaf but still enjoy dancing?
This new exhibition about deaf experience might actually help. Created with deaf artists, it properly centres British Sign Language (BSL) as a language in its own right, with its own rhythm, culture and way of seeing the world.
At the heart of the exhibition is a circular room surrounded by video projection. On it, deaf performers act out a short story – entirely in BSL, with no voiceover or subtitles – using a kind of visual storytelling that blends sign language, movement and mime. You don’t need to know BSL to follow what’s happening: it’s full-body communication, and by all accounts, mesmerising to watch.
Behind them, animated lines swirl across the screen. They’re audiograms (hearing test results) donated by deaf people, transformed from clinical charts into something expressive.
If you want to go further, you can wear a vibrating vest that lets you feel the vibration of sound. The idea is to explore how sound moves through the body, not just the ears – especially if the ears aren’t doing much.
Elsewhere in the exhibition are old illustrations of finger-spelling alphabets, drawn and distributed by deaf people hundreds of years ago. And there’s historic footage of people signing at picnics and sports matches – a reminder that deaf communities have always existed, communicated and organised just fine without needing anyone else to validate it.
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.
👍️ Did you ever read Saturday by Ian McEwan? The entire novel takes place in Fitzrovia – and most of it in Fitzroy Square specifically. Fitzroy Square is the home or former home of tons of famous people and institutions – including Ian McEwan himself. Many other books are set there, and multiple movies and TV programmes have been filmed in the square too. It’s a lovely place to walk around and go blue plaque-spotting, and the garden in the middle is beautiful.
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HIP HOP – Living a Dream
Saturday and Sunday, 10:00–18:00 (and daily until 10 September)
Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Road, SW3 4RY
FREE
As has been firmly established in this newsletter, I am a man of pop music. I can just about appreciate other genres, but nothing beats the enjoyment I get from a Xenomania or Ryan Tedder tune.
My two boys have altogether different taste. Whenever I put on a bit of Britney or Girls Aloud as our “tidy up song”, I’m met with groans and “I am NOT putting away the train tracks to THIS music.”
Hip hop is a style of music they can and do get behind. Which is fine: I can handle a bit of Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent – and I’ll admit, some of the songwriting is absolutely genius. “I got a hand full of stacks, better grab an umbrella – I make it rain” is the clearest investment strategy I’ve heard in a while.
At some point, they’ll probably need a bit more context to fully appreciate where all this music comes from. Right now, they’re bouncing around the living room to Alright without realising what it’s really about. But if your kids are a bit older – or if you want a proper dive into hip hop yourself – this new exhibition is a great place to start.
It’s on at the Saatchi Gallery and traces how hip hop grew out of 1980s New York and became a global cultural movement, shaped by music, graffiti, breakdancing, fashion and photography. The focus here is on three photographers who’ve documented that rise from the start. Jamel Shabazz captured the early New York scene – all boom boxes, tracksuits and posing on stoops. In the 1990s, Joseph Rodriguez turned his lens on gang culture in East LA, with more of a raw documentary feel. And Gregory Bojorquez has spent decades photographing the big names – Snoop, Lil’ Kim, Jay-Z – but always without the gloss, catching them offstage and off guard.
There’s also a dedicated Spotify playlist if you want to swot up before you go – though it’s definitely not a tidy-up soundtrack. Unless your kids are more into Lil’ Kim than Mr Tumble, in which case: play it loud and throw some toys in a basket with attitude.
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.
👍️ The National Army Museum is the reason I last traipsed to this part of the world, and it was definitely worth it. The place is incredibly family-friendly, and the items have been curated in a really clever, thoughtful way.
Play Make Do: A Festival of Fun for All the Family
Saturday 9 August, various times (and different daily activities until 16 August)
Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS
Activities mentioned below:
Anansi and Matonkoni and the Palm Oil Roasted Catfish: free but ticketed
Play Space: free but ticketed
Family Illustration Workshop with Suhayla Ibrahim: ÂŁ10 (running out fast!)
Tai Chi on Lakeside Terrace: adults ÂŁ10, under-16s ÂŁ5
[FYI: DILF Club members knew about – and could book – these events aaaages ago!]
Did you know that the water in the Barbican Centre lake is dyed??? I had no idea until – desperate for a unique and attention-grabbing introductory paragraph for this event – I read an interview with Jon Astbury, the assistant curator in architecture and design at the Barbican Estate.
He said it’s because the water is very shallow: “... if it wasn’t dyed, you’d be able to see reflections of the grey buildings surrounding it, which could give away the illusion of depth”. And why is it so shallow? Because the Circle Line is directly underneath, so it couldn’t be dug any deeper.
Fascinating! The interview also revealed that the little castle that appears around the estate is a depiction of the Roman watchtower (or “Barbican”) on the site that inspired the area’s name and design.
You can see all this for yourself when you visit the Barbican Centre this weekend for some of the events at Play Make Do – Barbican’s programme of summer fun. There are activities every day until 16 August, but Saturday’s roster looks particularly interesting.
For starters, you can get your brain out of sleep mode by attempting to say “Anansi and Matonkoni and the Palm Oil Roasted Catfish” (free but ticketed) while searching for the “FreeStage” venue where the performance takes place. (Helpful hint: FreeStage isn’t on any of the maps because it’s a temporary stage on the ground floor in the foyer.)
In Anansi and Matonkoni and the Palm Oil Roasted Catfish (come on! Try to say it!), the legendary Anansi transforms into a superhero, and uses “wit, creativity and a bag of tricks to outsmart Matonkoni the Leopard and his pesky ninkinonkors”. I can already tell I won’t understand a moment from this show, but no matter: there’s “energetic drumming, joyful dancing and infectious songs”. I believe every word, because the Barbican never half-arses a performance.
There’s also Play Space (free but ticketed), which is less of a mouthful, but more physically and strategically demanding. Play Space houses a collection of classic games, including playground staples like hopscotch, space hoppers, long rope and hula hoop, and giant versions of well-loved family favourites like dominoes, Connect 4 and Jenga.
You could also join the Family Illustration Workshop with Suhayla Ibrahim (£10), where you’ll contribute to a “collaborative artwork celebrating family, community and creativity”. It doesn’t sound all that different from lots of other art-based family activities, but I have high hopes for this one because Suhayla Ibrahim’s art is pure joy.
If you’re an early riser (or you’re forced into being an early riser – which is the same thing), there’s an introductory session to Tai Chi on Lakeside Terrace (adults £10, under-16s £5) at 08:30. You don’t need any previous experience, but they recommend being at least 12 years old.
In short, if you’ve ever wanted to spend a Saturday moving between puppet space dogs, oversized dominoes and dyed architectural lakes, now’s your chance. Just remember to leave enough time for navigating your way between them: this is the Barbican Centre, after all.
Find out more: https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/series/play-make-do-a-festival-of-fun-for-all-the-family
While you’re there…
👍️ Postman’s Park is a beautiful little pocket park nearby, which opened in 1880 and was a popular lunchtime garden with workers from the nearby Old General Post Office. It’s also home to the Watts Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice, which commemorates “ordinary people who died saving the lives of others and who might otherwise have been forgotten”. The history of the memorial is super interesting, if you’re up for a quick read.
👍️ Guildhall has a genuine Roman amphitheatre in the basement (discovered in 1988 while digging in preparation for re-building the gallery). It’s open every day for you to stand where crowds would have gathered to watch animal fights, public executions and gladiatorial combats.
6–9: More, more, more, more!
Summer by the River: London Soul Choirs
Saturday 9 August, 14:00–15:00
The Scoop at More, SE1 2AA
FREE
“Soul Choirs will be bringing their repertoire of fantastic soul and pop mash-ups, guaranteed to get your toes tapping.”
Fitzrovia Fete 2025!
Sunday 10 August, 13:00–17:00
Fitzrovia Community Centre, 2 Foley Street, W1W 6DL
FREE
“Enjoy street performances, music and art workshops, play, dance, enjoy delicious food, relax and have a lovely afternoon out!”
Skate Up Space
Saturday 9 August, 14:00
Riverside Terrace at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX
Age guidance: 12+
FREE
“Rollerskaters: assemble on the Riverside Terrace for a day of workshops, live music and DJs guiding us to move together to the beat on wheels.”
Shoe Baby
Saturday and Sunday, 10:30, 13:30 and 15:30 (some tickets are selling out fast)
Little Angel Theatre, 14 Dagmar Passage, N1 2DN
Adults £15, 1–17s £13
Age guidance: 2–5
“Shoe Baby is a magical puppet show! A fantastical sing-a-long adventure with a baby who takes to the sea, the air, the zoo all in a shoe! Come and spot an octopus, some greedy giraffes and a pink cockatoo!”