The best things to do with kids in London in February half-term

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February half-term is on the horizon, which suggests now is an effective time to begin pondering of actions to maintain the little ones entertained.

London could be a magical metropolis to discover with youngsters if the place to go. You’ll discover galleries, museums and pop-up installations at virtually each nook, and wonderful transport choices additionally make exploring the capital a breeze.

On a price range? No drawback. There are loads of free and inexpensive family-friendly actions to get pleasure from, particularly in case you take your personal packed lunch, with most museums offering designated picnic areas to refuel.

Booking in advance on-line may even minimize the price of actions that do cost a charge; you could possibly save up to 20 per cent by planning forward moderately than shopping for tickets on the attraction on the day.

Whether you’ve gotten tots or teenagers, listed below are 11 of the best things to do with kids in London to make February half-term a memorable one.

B-Bakery Paddington afternoon tea bus

Catch a B-Bakery bus from Trafalgar Square and gawp at a few of London’s most iconic sights in the 90-minute trip. See all of the best bits of the capital from the consolation of your seat, whereas devouring a scrumptious afternoon tea. You can select from a Paddington themed bus, which might be loved by youngsters of all ages, or a Peppa Pig bus geared in direction of preschoolers and youthful tots.

On the Paddington bus, every desk comes with a particular built-in display offering friends with a bear-guided animation of the tour of London. Paddington and Mrs Bird will let you know all in regards to the metropolis’s most well-known landmarks, together with Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral, Borough Market and Piccadilly Circus. Freshly baked treats embody a marmalade finger sandwich, chocolate cupcake with bear paw prints, and a scrumptious vanilla rice pudding.

Price: From £50, b-bakery.com

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Cute, Somerset House

With Hello Kitty looming giant, in addition to cute creatures and cuddly monsters, Somerset House has created the final word child-friendly day trip. From emojis to web memes, video video games to plushie toys, this highly-anticipated new exhibition explores “the irresistible force of cuteness in contemporary culture”. Alongside a number of photographs and installations to amuse and coo over, the exhibit additionally contains toys and memorabilia that adults might keep in mind enjoying with as youngsters, comparable to Sylvanian Families and My Little Pony. With items that can make you go “awwww”, that is pure feel-good enjoyable.

Price: Kids £11, adults £18.50, somersethouse.org

Revolting Romans, British Museum

The British Museum is internet hosting 5 days value of thrilling, playful and exploratory actions as a part of their Revolting Romans occasion. Here, kids can get caught into some hands-on actions, comparable to dealing with duplicate Roman objects, enjoying Roman video games and making particular legionnaire figures to take residence. Whether your kids are followers of the BBC present Horrible Histories, or just get pleasure from listening to just a few grotesque info, this exhibition is bound to enlighten and amuse younger minds.

Free to attend, Rotten Romans is predicted to be in style, so it’s value reserving a timed entry slot in advance on the British Museum web site.

Price: Free, britishmuseum.org

Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross station

Harry Potter themed days out could be costly, however there’s one exercise you possibly can get pleasure from free of charge. Station authorities at King’s Cross Station erected a Platform 9 ¾ signal in honour of JK Rowling’s hit sequence between platforms 9 and 10 in the station. Since then, Harry Potter followers from everywhere in the world have ventured to King’s Cross Station to pose and take an image in entrance of the well-known platform signal. It’s utterly free to go to and to take a photograph, however you may want to get there early in the morning to keep away from the queues.

Once you’ve bagged a photograph, you could possibly make the enjoyable last more by visiting a Harry Potter merchandise store contained in the station. Alternatively, burn off some vitality with a stroll down the canal and a play on the swings and slides in Handyside Gardens, simply off Granary Square.

Price: Free

Bubble Planet

Indulge your kids’ love of splashing round with bubbles at this immersive 11-room exhibition in Wembley. Children will adore this distinctive exercise, which takes the best components of a bubble tub with out the effort; the bubbles are dry, so that you received’t want to carry a change of garments. It comprises some epic ball pits, so you possibly can throw your self and the little ones right into a smaller one with greater balls, and a humongous one the scale of a swimming pool that comprises smaller balls. There’s additionally a VR expertise, the place you sit in bubble chairs suspended from the ceiling and placed on the headsets to encompass your self with bubbles from all angles.

Price: Kids £16.90, adults £21.90, bubble-planet.com

Family climbing and bouldering, Parthian climbing wall

This 25,000 sq ft climbing centre contained in the Southside buying centre in Wandsworth, south-west London, is the primary indoor climbing facility in the UK to embody a precise duplicate of The Titan bouldering wall, due to characteristic on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. And with introductory climbing classes for kids as younger as three, it’s a terrific alternative to get them flexing their bodily and psychological capabilities earlier than they’re sufficiently old to expertise an excessive amount of concern. Wild Climbers is an introductory session for kids aged three to six, whereas a Youth Taster session is geared toward kids aged seven to 10. There’s no strain to join a course after this one-off lesson both – and it’s a enjoyable approach to scale new heights and take a look at kids’ boundaries and braveness.

Price: £25, parthianclimbing.com

Turn it Up, The Science Museum

This family-friendly exhibition on the Science Museum makes music come alive. Kids can hear, work together with and even make their very own music, dance on an interactive mat that lights up a sample of their actions, and uncover strange devices, such because the pyrophone, an organ powered by flames. Journey inside this musical playground and meet Haile, the musical robotic that may play and improvise alongside human musicians. This is a good alternative to encourage your youngster’s creativity and uncover the enjoyment that music can carry.

Price: Kids £8, adults £10, sciencemusuem.org.uk

E-Karting, Gravity Wandsworth

The E-Karting observe in Gravity Wandsworth takes exhilaration to a complete new stage. It’s appropriate for kids from the age of three if an grownup is driving, whereas kids aged eight and over are allowed behind the wheel of their very own automobile. Each race takes eight minutes throughout which period they’ll go across the indoor observe as many instances as potential. Further enjoyable comes from the truth that it’s not a flat course and eight metres is downhill, so you possibly can all expertise excessive speeds and the adrenaline rush that comes with it. If all of the thrills and spills makes you hungry, Dirty Bones is an honest quick meals joint that serves up the very best in New York impressed burgers.

Price: From £13.95, gravity-global.com

Tidy play, Polka Theatre

Based in Wimbledon, the Polka Theatre creates world-class performs and reside leisure geared toward younger audiences. During half-term, youngsters aged three to eight can watch Tidy based mostly on the much-loved youngsters’s ebook by creator and illustrator Emily Gravett. It’s a delicate however cautionary story in regards to the worth of the world round us and what occurs if we don’t take care of it. With stunning puppets, authentic music and a contact of silliness, this 45-minute occasion is ideal for the smallest family members – and adults can anticipate just a few laughs, too.

Price: From £10, polkatheatre.com

Imagine pageant, The Southbank Centre

Imagine Children’s Festival takes place over 11 days at February half-term, with good theatre, comedy, music, literature, poetry, dance and flat-out household enjoyable on provide, designed for kids aged from zero to 11 years outdated.

Half-term highlights embody dance circus fusion from Motionhouse’s Starchitects: A Cosmic Adventure, talks by Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho and Michael Rosen, a brand new efficiency from YolanDa Brown, CBeebies Ocean Adventure with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, workshops in the Art Makes People Powerful inventive zone, plus hip-hop, comedy, singing, poetry, dance events and extra.

Price: Varies relying on occasion, southbankcentre.co.uk

When Forms Come Alive, Hayward Gallery

When Form Comes Alive is the proper first artwork exhibition for kids because it celebrates life and all its motion. There’s no standing nonetheless static work on a wall right here; as a substitute, the exhibit is impressed by sources starting from a dancer’s gesture to the breaking of a wave, from a circulation of molten metallic to the interlacing of a spider’s internet. As properly as an enormous neon rollercoaster-esque construction, highlights embody DRIFT’s kinetic Shylights that mimic the folding and unfolding of flowers that shut at evening. And Marguerite Humeau’s multimedia scultures echo the gills of mushrooms to conjure eventualities of natural metamorphosis and adaptation.

Price: £18 – £19, free for members and below 12s, southbankcentre.co.uk

Read extra: The best buying spots in London