We have gone out of our way once again to collate the best London events for families, children and visitors to our amazing city. Beat the January blues with some immersive exhibitions, family discos, shows and cooking classes. We’ve also included plenty of outdoor fun (we need that vitamin D), music classes and arty fun with toddlers and children.
Family Disco
Welcome the New Year in style with this family disco at Stanley Halls where as well as moving and grooving on the dance floor with your little people you can take part in games and activities, win prizes and enjoy alcoholic beverages.
When: 2 Jan 2020 at 4pm-7pm
Where: Stanley Halls
How Much: £2 for adults and £4 for kids more info here.
Woodland Wonders
Get close to nature and explore Kew’s wintry landscape and have some fun along the way with tree-mendous tales, ensonglopedia of plants (a sing song dedicated to the activities of trees and plants during winter) and discover have a play in the Children’s Garden. Stroll along the woodland trails, spot seasonal highlights, and immerse yourself in nature.
When: 1 – 5 Jan 2020
Where: Kew Gardens
How much: £12.50 for an adult and £3.50 for a child aged 4-15 more info and booking here. If you have an annual pass the activity is free.
Are you a Wolf, a Duck or a Mouse?
Get the whole family onstage after the Wolf, Duck and Mouse to talk about the themes of the show and make your own moves. Get your duck dancing and mouse moving. Suitable for ages 3 upwards.
When: Fri 3 Jan 2020 at 3.45
Where: Unicorn Theatre
How much: £12 for one adult and one child in addition to the cost of the show ticket. More info and booking here.
Woolly Jumpers
Boing and bounce a fluffy sheep made with wool just like the stuff Cutty Sark used to carry all the way from Australia.
When: 4 & 5 Jan 2020 11:30-13:30 and 14:00-16:00
Where: Cutty Sark
How much: free with admission to the ship which is £13.50 for adults and £6.75 for a child. More info and booking here.
Wetland Centre winter family fun
Make seed bombs, build a den and enjoy a story in the great outdoors. Help feed the ducks, discover the otters and go wild at the indoor and outdoor play areas.
When: 1-5 Jan daily from 10:30 til 2:30
Where: London Wetland Centre
How much: £11.70 for adults and £7.11 for children over 4 years of age. More info and booking here.
Snow Play
A highly interactive showdown between Winter and Spring about who gets to stay and who has to go away. You get to make a giant snowman, cover a whole house in snow and have a super snowball fight! Suitable for ages 3 and above.
When: 4 Jan 2020
Where: Lyric Theatre
How much: £9 more info and booking here.
Art Explorers
Explore drawing, painting and sculpture in a series of fun and playful family workshops alongside international artist and art educator Kulwinder Bajar. Engage with art ideas, explore materials and styles to create fun projects for the whole family.
When: 4 Jan 2020 11am
Where: Poplar Union
How much: £5 per adult and £3 per child, more info and booking here.
Body as protest
Explore how our bodies occupy space as a means of protest through body mapping, casting and documenting with artist Davinia-ann Robinson. Suitable for all ages. More info here.
When: 5 Jan 2020 11- 4pm
Where: Tate Modern
How much: free
Family Chocolate Making workshop
Join Rococo Chocolates in their Belgravia Chocolate Kitchen for a special afternoon of family-friendly chocolate making, led by one of their Chocolatiers. Get your hands dirty with chocolate, taste plenty of treats and take home everything you make. Recommended for children aged 5 and over. More info and booking here.
When: 5 Jan 2020 11-12pm
Where: Rococo Chocolates Belgravia
How much: £45
Art: Metamorphosis
J/M Gallery is hosting the first art exhibition curated by Saisai Liu and Claudia Bargagli-Petrucci. A new immersive environment that plays with different forms, colors and movement, a multi sensory experience including a live performance on the private view evening, 10th of Jan at 6pm.
When: 10 Jan – 12 Jan 2020
Where: J/M Gallery
How much: free
Thumbelina
Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of a girl no bigger than a thumb and her encounters with a frog, mouse, mole and a swallow, is played gently amongst gardening tools, leading her to find ultimate happiness in the kingdom of flowers.
When: Sat 11 Jan 11am and 2pm
Where: Half Moon Theatre
How much: £7 each with babes in arms (under 12 months) free. More info and bookings here.
Palace Explorers: Bricks
Celebrate William Butterfield and the joy of colour in bricks. This week the children will be making their own bricks.
When: 13 Jan 2020
Where: Fulham Palace
How much: £5.50 per child per session or £30 for a term. More info and booking here.
Water Babies
After a harsh beginning of child labour in an unforgiving adult world, a little chimney sweep’s suffering ends when he is transformed into a water baby. As he plunges into an underwater realm of fish and caterpillars as we are drawn into his adventures in the colourful depths, swept along with his dreams and get to enjoy his new freedom. With specially commissioned music, beautiful long-string marionettes and ghostly shadows, this gorgeous new production inspired by Charles Kingsley’s famous novel explores the themes of loss, friendship and transformation.
When: 15 Jan until Sun 2 Feb 2020
Where: The Puppet Barge
How much: £13 for adults and £9 for children more info and booking here.
Super-Powering Girls and their Grannies
The Gramophones Theatre Company are making a new aerial theatre show called Aidy the Awesome about a grandmother and granddaughter superhero duo, and they need you to help create it! There will be drama games, creation of super hero characters and creative time spent with your granny. Suitable for girls aged 5 and above and their grandmothers (of whatever age).
When: 15 Jan 2020
Where: Arts Depot London
How much: free but booking required here.
Winter Lights
Bring some light into January with the very popular Winter Lights at Canary Wharf where over 25 spectacular installations will glow bright into the dreary January nights. Some are interactive, others very instagram friendly and all are created by some of the most innovative artists across the globe working in light art today. Grab a map (or save the trees and download one online) and enjoy an hour or more walking around this lit up emporium. There will also be food stalls should you get peckish.
When: 16 Jan – 25 Jan 2020 4pm – 10pm
Where: Canary Wharf
How much: free more info here.
Academy Tots
Musical workshops aimed at children aged 2 to 4 and their parents and carers. Hear live music performed by Academy musicians and join in with percussion-based play. A different theme each time.
When: 17 Jan 2020 10:30am
Where: Royal Academy of Music
How much: £5 for adults and £4 for kids more info and booking here
Mimi and the Mountain Dragon
Adapted from the book by Michael Morpurgo, this heart-warming tale springs to life in an epic mountain adventure about friendship and courage that’s packed full of snow, dragons, lively songs and captivating puppetry.
When: 18 Jan 2020 11am and 2pm & 26 Jan 2020 11am & 2pm
Where: 18 Jan 2020 at Half Moon Theatre and 26 Jan 2020 at Arts Depot
How much: £7 each, with babes in arms (under 12 months) free at Half Moon Theatre. More info and bookings here. Or from £9 at Arts Depot with more info and booking here.
Family Studio: Climate Champions
Join in this workshop led by the Climate Museum UK with team of eco-visionaries where you can help create a habitat where human, animals, plants and environment can thrive. Inspired by the Eco Visionaries exhibition currently on at the Royal Academy, families can design and create a sustainable public space for the future with Black Females in Architecture. Or, take time to reflect in the quiet zone with the Climate Museum’s mobile library of books and resources.
When: 19 Jan 2020 11am until 3pm
Where: Royal Academy of Arts
How much: free more info here.
Raven
A fresh, forceful, feminist new work that breaks down the crippling self-doubt and social expectations of modern mothers – whether to return to work or stay at home, whether to sacrifice or preserve themselves. In this 2019 Edinburgh ‘Fringe First’ winner from Germany, Berlin circus collective Still Hungry reveal the uncomfortable dark sides of their own motherhood in this mix of aerial circus and physical theatre. Suitable for ages 8 and above.
When: 21-23 January 2020
Where: Jacksons Lane
How much: £18 and £16 for concessions. More info and booking here.
Lightopia
Lightopia is an artistic expression of raw emotion through a variety of light installations. The designs are interactive and focus on nature as well as the interaction between space and form. Sounds like twinkly fun for the whole family.
When: 22 Jan 2020 – 1 March 2020
Where: Chiswick House & Gardens
How much: from £13 more info and booking here
Portraying Pregnancy
This major exhibition explores the representations of the pregnant female body through portraits, over 500 years, from Holbein through to social media. Portraying Pregnancy, is curated by Karen Hearn and brings together, for the first time, rare examples of these portraits provide an exceptional opportunity to showcase and articulate contemporary issues of women’s identity, emotions, empowerment and autonomy over a 500-year context.
When: 24 Jan 2020 – 26 April 2020
Where: Foundling Museum
How much: £13.20 and concessions are £9.90 more info and booking here.
Chinese New Year
Celebrate the Year of the Rat at the museum in a family friendly day that will feature workshops, stories, performances and a traditional lion dance. Suitable for all ages.
When: 25 Jan 2020 11am – 4pm
Where: National Maritime Museum
How much: free more info here.
Kids Sushi Making Class
Embrace this Japanese culinary class with young Londoners in tow. The kids are greeted into the world of Sticks’n’Sushi and get a taster of making their own sushi rolls and nigiri, all followed by taking home some of their hand made treats and a little goody bag.
When: 25 Jan 2020
Where: Sticks & Sushi Kings Road
How much: £30 booking here.
Tiny Groovers
Let loose and stomp your feet with your little Londoners. Dance away the January blues and enjoy a DJ set from Mr Manic of Lucky Dip Disco and the surreal and spectacular storytelling from The No-Shamen, one of the alter egos of artist Arkem Mark Walton, who will interact with your ‘inner vegetable’ and craft stories. There will also be interactive opportunities to make and create at the museum, a movement session with a contemporary dancer, Linzy Na Nakorn (bring out your inner animal!) plus arts activities and sensory experiences for babies.
When: 25 Jan 2020 1pm-3pm
Where: V&A Museum of Childhood
How much: £10 for adults and £8 for children more info and booking here.
Mushrooms: The art, design and future of fungi
Ever since we saw Fiona the Fungi at Kew Gardens Science Festival in the summer we are totally into mushrooms so this new exhibition celebrating the remarkable mushroom, and all the progressive, poetic and psychedelic wonder it evokes, is totally up our street.
When: 31 Jan 2020 until 26 April 2020
Where: Somerset House
How much: free