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Hit Nineties Highschool Movie Has Way Cool West End Makeover Clueless has had a way cool West End makeover, so we head to Trafalgar Theatre to review the new musical. Marking 30 years since the hit movie was released, and 250 years since the birth of Jane Austen (whose novel Emma inspired it) the latest Clueless incarnation has been adapted to the stage by the movie’s writer and director, Amy Heckerling. And it’s a gloriously nostalgic romp through the Nineties, with a catchy score by KT Tunstall, who has successfully captured the tone of the film’s genre-jumping soundtrack - which features tracks from Coolio and Supergrass to the Beastie Boys and Radiohead - into the musical. The production is forensically faithful to the film, and the amazing Emma Flynn is more like Alicia Silverstone than Silverstone herself, as Beverly Hills High’s most popular student, Cher, with vocals which hit every crevice of the theatre. It tells the story of a shallow LA rich girl, who rules the school with her best friend Dionne, played with designer bags of attitude by Chyna-Rose Frederick. Cher gets high on power from playing god, matchmaking teachers or students, and making over the “hopeless” into popular girls, ignoring judgment from her step-brother, Josh (Keenan McCauley). Her hopeless case becomes more popular than her, making her reevaluate her priorities and feelings, leading her to realise her true feelings for nemesis, Josh. The chemistry between Cher and Josh is electric, and the arc of their romance from squabbling brat and nerd, to lovers is moving. McCauley (Josh) is another standout in this excellent cast, who performs some of the show’s catchiest tracks, like the Green Day-esque Human Barbies, admonishing Cher for playing with people like dolls (“Barbies only bend so far before they break”) while the cast dance around like Mattel toys. His Reasonable Doubts number is another highlight, which sees him backflipping around Cher's lawyer father's sweeping, chandelier-lit LA mansion, while professing his mistrust of her love interest, Christian. The sets are impressive, effortlessly transforming from high school basketball court, to school room, house party and Cher’s garish, Barbie doll bedroom, complete with vast wardrobes bulging with designer bags and Nineties classics. And there are clever touches, like the transformation of the sofa into a car for her disastrous driving lesson scenes, leading to the famous “you’re a virgin who can’t drive” line. Paloma Young’s costume design is also pleasingly true to the film - which filtered into every Nineties teen wardrobe - from Cher’s impossibly short, yellow D&G number and the red Calvin Klein dress - which she goes to amusing lengths to preserve while being mugged - to Dionne’s fabulously extra red and black suit. Clueless the Musical is a high energy, fun and catchy trip back to the Nineties, following the success of high school musicals like Mean Girls and Heathers, but unlike other teen romantic comedies of its era, this one has a card of platinum, but a heart of gold. Clueless the Musical, Trafalgar Theatre, 14 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2DY. Running until 14 June 2025 Like what you've read? Please keep in touch!

OSCAR at the Crown Finds a New London Home After Success in America Theatreland is getting bigger and more sparkly thanks to a new venue, custom-built to bring acclaimed musical, OSCAR at the Crown to life this May, following its success Stateside.  Expect smashed TV screens, burnt out tube carriages, music and dancing, when you head behind an unassuming door on Tottenham Court Road, and into a secret bunker far in the fascist future, where the only things to survive are reality TV, glitter balls and the complete works of Oscar Wilde.   The dystopian musical invites guests to drink, party and join the throng of colourful outcasts as they ignite the fiery embers of a cultural revolution in an Orwellian future, propelled by the dramatic rise and fall of the flamboyant literary icon. The subterranean theatrical experience will make its London premiere with an ambitious reworking, featuring brand new songs, after show parties, and a programme of events, following its hit performances at Brooklyn’s 3 Dollar Bill, where New York Times branded it “a party-inducing Rocky Horror transplanted to a 1990s Madonna video.”​​ We're in. ​ After its success in New York, the show delighted audiences at Edinburgh Festival, where The Sun called it "a high-energy show that could be the best musical since SIX" and To Do List branded it "dopamine for the soul." It's also got some impressive names working their magic on it, including the genius director/producers behind Punchdrunk's triumph Sleep No More - multi Tony Award-winning producer Rebecca Gold and director/producer Shira Milikowsky - the creator of the biggest RuPaul's Drag Race hits, Andrew Barret Cox and it's being brought to London by ROYO, whose popular productions include The Steps musical, Here & Now and Kinky Boots. Sign up for  exclusive access to limited £25 preview seats for London's hotly anticipated new show in May.   Tickets go on sale on 13 March ahead of the show's official launch in June 2025.​​​​ ​​ The revolution has never sounded so fun. Oscar at the Crown , The Crown, 213 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7PP​. Preview performances 19-31 May (£25pp). Opening on 2 June - standard tickets from £40 - £50pp. Like what you've read? Please keep in touch! ​

London's Best Family Experiences in or near London this March 2025 Finally, the start of SPRING - longer days, fewer thermals, and fizzier children. So we have dispatched our crack team of boredom-banishers to find the top 50 things to do with kids this March in (or near) London. From rainbow powder fights, mini circuses. robot zoos, two major Egyptian adventures, stranded aliens, magic, slime, wizards, monsters and space adventures, our top  picks include a gaggle of free  events and there’s something to entertain (and wear out) every flavour of child. ______________________ Tutankhamun: The Immersive Exhibition   Tutankhamun: The Immersive Exhibition makes its UK premiere this March for a limited 14-week run. Created to wow all ages, visitors are invited to discover the legend of the Boy King, by stepping into ancient Egypt with stunning 8 metre high video mapping, a 360º VR journey, an interactive Metaverse, authentic artefacts from Cairo, and a world-first hologram, unveiling the secrets of the Pharoah’s mummification. Guests will also be able to discover a selection of original ancient Egyptian artefacts from as far back as 4000 B.C, as well as high quality replicas and facsimiles from Egypt. T utankhamun: The Immersive Exhibition , Immerse LDN, Excel Waterfront, ExCel, London E16 1XL. 28 March - 29 June Little Angel Theatre’s Miniature Travelling Circus Roll up! Roll up! Take your seats for the smallest circus in town. George the ringmaster is rounding up the acts to razzle-dazzle - where on earth is Flop? And why is Smelly Dog making all that fuss? The show features beautiful puppets, nostalgic magic tricks and acts so tiny you may wonder how you can possibly see them, from performing mice to acrobatic fleas. Little Angel Theatre ,14 Dagmar Passage, London N1 2DN. 21 Feb - 19 April. 40 mins duration. £15 per adult. 13 per child. All tickets are £10 for 4.45pm performances. Hobbycraft Spring & Easter workshops The Crafting Mecca is offering a gaggle of arty kids’ workshops for as little as £6 throughout March and April. From clay creatures workshops to Easter Bug Bonnet workshops, slime and Easter Egg character classes, children can join a host of classes at Hobbycraft stores in and around London. Book here . Hobbycraft stores in and around London. 1 March - 30 April. £6-£10 Little Night Little Night is a multi-sensory interactive show for toddlers, using engaging projections and soundscapes for a playful and imaginative experience, allowing children to explore a fairytale world, stimulating their senses and creativity. The show lasts approximately 30 minutes and encourages interactive exploration. Unicorn Theatre, 147 Tooley St, London SE1 2HZ. 29 March – 19 April.   Suitable for 18 months - 4 years House of Holi at Cinnamon Kitchen Cinnamon Kitchen’s House of Holi paint-pelting pop-up returns to Devonshire Square for its eighth year from  8-16 March  in celebration of the festival of colour, love and positivity,  Holi. Step inside the luminous, paint-throwing pod and immerse yourself in colourful chaos as you shower your family and friends in a 30-minute, powder-paint rainbow fight. Known for its carnival of colours and paint fights, Holi aims to bring family and friends together to laugh, play, and celebrate love and friendship.  House of Holi  at Cinnamon Kitchen, 9, Devonshire Square, EC2M 4YL 8-16 March. From £10pp Beegu Based on the hit book by Alexis Deacon, this heart-warming stage adaptation tells the story of Beegu, a friendly alien who finds herself stranded on Earth, trying to make friends. With its themes of friendship and inclusion, Beegu is a modern children’s classic with a running time of approximately 50 minutes. Unicorn Theatre , 147 Tooley St, London SE1 2HZ. 22 March – 4 May. Suitable for ages: 3-7 years   The Robot Zoo How do chameleons change colour? What makes grasshoppers leap so high? How do bats see at night? Enter the fascinating world of The Robot Zoo and discover the mechanisms that give animals their amazing abilities. This family-friendly exhibition features larger-than-life animals that have been cleverly recreated using a variety of familiar machine parts and gadgets to reveal how their real life counterparts see, eat, hunt and hide. Interactive exhibits also give you the chance to try jet-propelled squid racing, and shoot a chameleon’s ‘tongue-gun’. Horniman Museum,  Lower Ground Floor, 100 London Rd, London SE23 3PQ. 14 February-2 November. Child ticket £6.50. Adult ticket £9.75 YOUNG V&A - Making Egypt Following the success of its first exhibition, Japan: Myth to Manga, Young V&A invites you on a fascinating journey through the ancient past to modern day, exploring ancient Egypt's creativity and how it continues to influence art, design and popular culture today, via more than 200 fascinating pieces - the oldest is a stonking 5,500 years old. Young V&A,  Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, London, E2 9PA. Tickets £10pp. The Exhibition Pass gives unlimited visits to Making Egypt.  Kedi Studio Our review This unique, splatter paint experience is the perfect way to entertain and inspire Jackson Pollock Jrs. The innovative art studio welcomes all ages and skill levels to enjoy the thrill and freedom of creative expression in their colourful Splat Room. They provide the protective smock and shoes, stretched canvas and paints and kids provide the creativity - splashing, splattering, spraying, and throwing paint - in exactly the way they’re not allowed at home - to create their masterpiece, ready to take home in a custom box. Kedi Studio , Arch 91 Tiverton St, London SE1 6FX. Every Thursday-Monday. From £45. Ride the UK’s Longest Toboggan Run Our review Take on the country’s epic, 740 metre toboggan run through pretty scenery for under a tenner. Chatham Snowboard Centre’s toboggan run invites everybody aged four up to whizz around its metal course, for an adrenaline-packed experience with low skills and big thrills. And the cheeky bonus is that if your child is under 7, you get two rides together for £9. Chatham Snowsports Centre,  John Nike Leisuresport Alpine Park, Capstone Rd, Chatham ME7 3JH. £9 for two toboggan rides (adults ride free with kids under 7) £17.50 for five rides. NEW Science Museum Afternoon Tea The Science Museum has launched a new afternoon tea, mixing science, art and food. The experience is curated by Benugo chefs, featuring fun treats like petri dish jelly, their signature pink lemonade which invites kids to use chemistry to create their own fizzy drink, cupcakes with ‘blood’ syringes and test tubes filled with popping candy, moon rocks and edible soil. Science Museum, Gallery Café, Level 2, Exhibition Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD. Kids’ Afternoon Tea, £22. Every Wed-Sun from 24 January Bella the Tower Bridge Cat Trail Our review Two and four legged guests can go on a feline trail at the London landmark, meeting character from the popular Bella the Tower Bridge Cat books and tottering across its astonishing glass walkways, 42 metres above the Thames. The cat trail is open all year, for people (as well as pets) and is a fabulous adventure for little ones, filled with fascinating history, as they get their Apprenticeship Records stamped by characters along the way. And keep your eyes peeled for the famous feline's birthday celebrations, when they turn up the meowsic and get the pawty started. Tower Bridge,  Tower Bridge Rd, London SE1 2UP. Daily, 9.30am - 6pm. Included with your ticket - £6.70 kids, £13.40 adults. A Squash and a Squeeze Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s hit book goes from page to stage in this funny and heartwarming musical puppet adventure, adapted by Oliver-nominated duo Barb Jungr and Samantha Lane.  The world premiere adaptation of this popular book tells the story of an old lady who is unhappy with the size of her cost cottage, so follows a wise old man’s advice, and fills it with a gaggle of noisy, smelly farmyard animals, and begins its nationwide tour at our favourite puppet theatre, Little Angel. Little Angel Studios,  Sebbon St, London N1 2EH. 1 February-27 April. Kids £13pp. Adults £15pp. Ages 3-8 Neon Brush For Kids This brilliantly original event invites kids to experience the magic of neon painting, using fluorescent paints which glow in UV light. Stencils, brushes, paints and tools for snazzy effects are all provided for the family event, enjoyed to a soundtrack of kid-pleasing tunes. And they can leave with their finished masterpiece. Neon Brush Kids Edition , Glazier’s Hall SE1 22 Feb - 22 March From £21 Replay: A Limitless Recycled Playground Part installation, part adventure playground, REPLAY is a space built entirely out of waste materials repurposed for fun by The Herd Theatre, which children can transform in any way their imaginations lead them. Everything here can be moved, changed, combined, worn and reimagined, for kids to build their own worlds, invent games and leave ideas for players to come. It’s designed for all ages, with designated sessions grouped by age. Replay . The Royal Festival Hall. 21 Jan – 1 June Tickets from £7.50 Magic of Afternoon Tea at Vintry & Mercer Read our review Five star boutique hotel,  Vintry & Mercer  launched a brand new candlelit Magic of Afternoon Tea, for little (and big) wizards, which is full of delicious surprises. Our menu comes to life with a UV torch, there are chocolate soil-filled coffins to excavate, magical elixirs to mix, dramatic smoking tiers brimming with edible spell books, chocolate wands, owls and a chocolate and mango Excalibur dessert stabbed with a chocolate sword. And that's before we discuss the savouries and other surprises, which you can read about in our review. Hint: It's one of our favourite new family afternoon tea experiences. Vintry & Mercer,  19-20 Garlick Hill, London EC4V 2AU. Adult's Magic of Afternoon Tea - from £49.50 pp. Kid's Wizard's Afternoon Tea - £37.50 F1 Driving, Skywalks and Tours at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Little adrenaline junkies can get their kicks at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with a hat trick of high octane tours, from The Dare Skywalk - climbing to the top of the stadium, 46.8m above the pitch - to the UK’s first controlled descent from a stadium, once at the top. Plus a Stadium Tour for those who want to keep their feet on the ground. They can also experience a high tech Formula 1 driving experience, with an exciting track layout and LED steering wheels. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium , 782 High Rd, London N17 0BX The Paddington Bear Immersive Experience Read Review Everybody’s favourite, Peruvian bear has had the immersive treatment, with The Paddington Bear™ Experience. The marmalade-addled, interactive adventure across more than 26,000 square feet of Southbank’s London County Hall  invites guests into a series of themed rooms, inspired by iconic locations from the Paddington stories. Fittingly, it kicks off at Paddington Station, where guests will be greeted by a friendly Station Master and taken on a colourful train journey through London’s most famous landmarks, to the Browns’ charming, No. 32 Windsor Gardens home. Once inside the famous, tree-adorned hallway, guests will embark on a multi-sensory adventure to help the Brown family and Paddington prepare for the all-important Marmalade Day Festival. The Paddington Bear™ Experience , London County Hall, Westminster Bridge Road, SE1 7PB. Adult tickets £34pp. Children (2-15) £24. Under 2s go FREE Mrs Doubtfire Dining Experience Hellooo poppets! Hit West End musical Mrs Doubtfire has put the eat into theatre for a delicious new partnership with luxury London restaurant, Colonel Saab . The award-winning Indian dining concept gives fans a multi-sensory, pre-theatre dining experience, featuring cocktails and dishes inspired by famous scenes, which transform before your eyes and are not what they seem - just like the title character of Shaftesbury Theatre’s comedy show. Expect a "Run-By Fruiting" and a grand finale involving liquid nitrogen, in a cheeky nod to the famous kitchen fire scene, before heading around the corner to watch the show itself at Shaftesbury Theatre. Colonel Saab, 193-197 High Holborn, London WC1V 7BD. £60 course five course meal and cocktail or £35 Mrs Doubtfire Set Lunch plus theatre tickets. Shaftesbury Theatre, 210 Shaftesbury Ave, London WC2H 8DP Science Museum Astronights Sleepover  Read our review Budding scientists (aged 7-11) can spend the night at The Science Museum,  exploring the museum out-of-hours,  sleeping among space rockets, a Moon rock or in the world’s largest medical galleries. Young campers will experience the ultimate sleepover, with an evening full of activities, including science shows and interactive workshops.  This year’s Astronights programme is supported by official sponsor TEMPUR®, who will gift all campers a travel pillow to help budding scientists get some rest during this exciting night.The following morning, campers can refuel at breakfast, before exploring Wonderlab , their interactive gallery, with hands-on exhibits and immersive experiences, and catch a 3D documentary on their giant IMAX screen. Science Museum,  Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 2DD. Dates vary, £70pp standard, £100 VIP. Monster Funfair at Discover Children's Story Centre Stratford's immersive, sprog-storytelling Mecca has launched its new family adventure, taking visitors through a fantastical circus tent and into the woods. In amongst the trees you’ll find an amazing, marvellous, EXTRAORDINARY… Monster Funfair!   Created with the award-winning Nadia Shireen, this magical world also has a fairground mystery to solve – just who has stolen ALL the candyfloss?  Discover Children's Story Centre is brimming with entertainment across three floors, plus a wonderfully imaginative Story Garden. Creep through caves, find fairy worlds within magical trees, explore hidden ships, perform in a puppet castle, leap over alligators and man your own spaceships and rockets across two floors. Discover Children's Story Centre  383-387 High St, London E15 4QZ.  Ages 0-8 Art in the Docks - FREE There are FREE art classes every Saturday morning at Art in the Docks, which can be booked online, with 30 spots for each class. Children are encouraged to use their imagination and gain confidence in a nurturing environment, hosted by ceramic artist Mariana Alemany. The classes are suitable for all ages, and all materials and equipment will be provided. Art in the Docks , 25 Shackleton Way, London, E16 2XJ. Every Saturday. 10am-12pm. FREE. Navrtar VR Arctic Expedition Take the family on an Arctic expedition, without leaving London. They’ll learn about global warming in a whole, new way during the 60-minute experience, exploring the abyss of the Arctic; its icy tundras, hidden caverns and unique wildlife hidden in an extraordinary, underwater world. Guests in teams of six can teleport 100 years into the future to compare the effects of global warming. The sessions begin with a range of multi-player mini games to enhance the senses and test skills, before embarking on the Arctic expedition, exploring marine life and shipwrecks. Navrtar , Dickens Yard, Longfield Ave W5 2UQ. Prices from £32pp. iFly Childrens’ Skydive Read our review here Anybody from the age of 3 to 103 can experience the superpower of flight at iFly , as long as they can comfortably wear a helmet. The instructors allow children to safely feel the sensation of an  exhilarating, 12,000 ft free-fall and flight,  without  jumping out of a plane. Along with watching the instructor perform a mesmerising  dance on air inside the vertical wind tunnel, your family can enjoy the extraordinary sensation of weightlessness, soaring around the glass tube and unlocking a core memory of their newfound super powers. iFLY London at The O2, Peninsula Square, London SE10 0DX. Tickets and vouchers to fly can be purchased by clicking here  and are available from £69.99 per person Wizard Exploratorium Check out our review here.   Soho's magic-themed Wizard Exploratorium is a five-storey, geek wonderland, offering a 4D wand-making workshop, immersive trick shop and suitably magical afternoon tea encompassing tea brewing, molecular gastronomy, and technology. Wizard Exploratorium , 26 Greek St, London W1D 5DE Slimy Gootopia Sessions Slime is a gloopy rite of passage for every child - parents quickly learn the art of removing it from hair and unwitting pets and it’s up there with ice cream in the kiddie delight department. Enter stage left: Gootopia , which brings its gloopy joy to Brixton and Lewisham. The venues have shelves of ready-made slime, slime ingredients, activator, and their ‘goo-to-go’ slime vending machine. They also offer a range of activities and experiences for kids of all ages, including slime workshops, birthday parties, school science workshops, drop-in slime-making sessions and live slime-making demonstrations by goo alchemists Gootopia . Brixton and Lewisham locations. Pampering for all the family at Pan Pacific London Family activities that involve lying down and being pampered? Count us massively IN. Pan Pacific London  has partnered with luxury children’s brand Bonpoint , to create a unique offering for the hotel’s dedicated Wellbeing Floor. The first partnership of its kind in the UK, the duo have created a range of unisex skincare treatments and packages for children aged 6 – 16 years old, that provide an opportunity for parents to spend quality time with their children and teens and enjoy a spot of pampering. Pan Pacific Family Pampering , 80 Houndsditch, London, EC3A 7AB. Treatments start from £100. Power Up at the Science Museum Following five successful runs, Power Up will make its permanent home at the Science Museum from July, allowing visitors to try over 160 consoles and hundreds of the very best video games, all year long. With the new Power Up annual passes, visitors can return whenever they fancy, to journey through the world of gaming. Experience the evolution of gaming – from classics such as Pong and Street Fighter to the latest PlayStation and Xbox – while discovering the science and history behind gaming’s most iconic developments. Power Up  Ticketed, daily passes: £10, annual passes: £15   . Age: 5+. Science Museum, Exhibition Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD Get the Kids Climbing the Walls Get the kids climbing the walls at London’s Parthian Climbing centre in Wandsworth. The 25,000 square foot beast combines climbing with lifestyle, thanks to its café, bar, gym, retail and co-working space. And it is the first indoor climbing facility in the UK to feature an exact replica of  The Titan  Olympic bouldering wall, which will be used at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. They offer a range of kids’ sessions and courses for ages 3 and up. There are instructors for little ones taking on their first climbing experience, as well as the National Indoor Climbing Award Scheme (NICAS) for a progressive syllabus. They also host kids’ parties, for 1.5 hours of climbing activities and games which are the perfect antidote to ‘Fun Freddie’ wrestling a balloon into a drooping sausage dog. Parthian Climbing Centre , 52 - 58 Garratt Ln, Wandsworth, London SW18 4TF Avora Family Experience Read our review Up an unassuming, Shoreditch street is a secret portal to another planet. And on school holidays and Sundays, you can take your kids for a well-deserved break from Earth, on planet Avora. This  otherworldly adventure will see you encounter scientists, mocktails, aliens, army villains and closes with a child-pleasing, farty finale. Avora: Family Immersive Adventure  5C, 127 Hackney Road, London, E2 8GY. Sundays, 12pm – 3:30pm. School Holiday weekdays. £24.50 per child (6-13) £29.50 per adult. The Gunpowder Plot at Tower of London Vaults Older children (12+) will be catapulted into the most exciting history lesson of their lives, in this explosive new, immersive experience, starring Harry Potter’s Tom Felton. Your mission is to go undercover and unmask the mysterious figures behind history’s most infamous plot. But when you’re surrounded by traitors, who can you trust? With surprises around every turn, descend into the vaults and experience a combination of live and digital actors, virtual reality and fancy pants technology like motion simulators and special effects, transporting you back to London 1605 in the heart of the Gunpowder plot. The Gunpowder Plot , 8-12 Tower Hill Vaults, London, EC3N 4EE Play Captain on a GoBoat River Picnic Read our review If you’re looking for somewhere to spend a genuinely relaxing few hours for parents and  children (plus dogs, if you have one) we recommend a GoBoat  trip. You can enjoy a picnic as captain of your own, electric boat through Canary Wharf, Paddington, Kingston, Thames Ditton or Birmingham. GoBoat UK , Open 7 days a week from 9am - dusk. Prices start from  £85 for 1 hour and  £125 for two hours on the  8-person boats. GoBoat Canary Wharf, 22 Churchill Place, London, E14 5RE Paddington Afternoon Tea Bus Tour Read our review Brigit's Bakery  launched the first, official Paddington Bear afternoon tea bus tour , celebrating the capital.The double-decker has built-in screens, so that Paddington and Mrs Bird can provide an animated guide to the tour, which includes some of Paddington's favourite landmarks, like Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Hyde Park, Nelson’s Column, Downing Street, St. Paul's Cathedral, Borough Market, Green Park and Piccadilly Circus. The tour takes just under two hours, while you scoff treats including glittering shortbreads, designed to look like nibbled marmalade sandwiches, mini pizzas, smoked salmon and cucumber pretzels, turkey ham and cheddar or cream cheese and cucumber finger sandwiches and naturally, marmalade sandwiches. And for those who share the bear’s sweet tooth, the homemade sweet treats included a rice pudding studded with chocolate honeycomb, chocolate cupcakes crowned with Paddington’s chocolate paws, lemon meringue tarts, chocolate macarons and freshly baked scones with cream and jam. Brigit’s Bakery also provide vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and halal afternoon teas. Paddington Afternoon Tea Bus tour  Departs from Trafalgar Square, Wednesdays to Sundays. Prices from £45 adult, £35 child. Whizz Down The ArcelorMittal Orbit How about hurling your children down the world’s tallest slide? The 178m long ArcelorMittal Orbit  was the iconic landmark of the 2012 London Olympics and is now an attraction with three adventure experiences. Families can speed down the winding slide, abseil, or walk around the glass orbit at the top. You can also pretend it's a high-brow, cultural experience, because the orbit is also a sculpture by Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond. And it beats the usual views of grubby swings and bins, because here you can check out the stunning views of Queen Elizabeth Park. To ride the slide, children must be at least eight years old and over 1.3m.   ArcelorMittal Orbit , Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, 5 Thornton St, London E20 2AD. From £10.75. Cutty Sark Rig Climb Experience Originally climbed when the ship first arrived to Greenwich in 1954, visitors can now recreate this, by clambering up the famous masts of the Cutty Sark.The Rig Climb Experience invites kids and brave parents to step up from the main deck onto the ship’s ratlines and climb up its top mast, as hundreds of sailors did during the Cutty Sark’s heyday. Once at the top, climbers will experience a controlled descent from the rigging. Participants will be rewarded with some of the best views in London, overlooking St Paul’s Cathedral, The Shard and Tower Bridge. Cutty Sark King William Walk, London SE10 9H Snot, Sick and Scabs at the Centre of the Cell Deliciously disgusting and sneakily educational centre in a futuristic, light-studded pod suspended above the laboratories of the Blizard Institute in Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. Children can learn about the heart, teeth or senses, see scientists at work and enjoy their delightfully vile ‘Snot, Sick and Scabs’ session. Centre of the Cell,  4 Newark St, London E1 2AT Out-of-Hours at the British Museum Your little ones can walk in the footsteps of the ancient Greeks, Pharoahs or journey through the cultures of China at The British Museum's family-friendly, out-of-hours tours. Taking place between 8.50 – 10am, before the galleries are open to the public, you can beat the unsavoury crowds. And from 4 - 25 March, children can explore Roman history through Minecraft, create a Japan-themed family photo (11 March) and make mosaic masks inspired by the Aztec gods on 18 March. The British Museum , Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DG. Under fives go free.  £16.50 for 5-15 year olds. £33 Adults Monopoly Lifesized Go big or go home… or straight to jail at Monopoly Lifesized,  an immersive, on-your-feet version of the classic, family game, played on a 15m x 15m lifesized Monopoly board. Enter the 4D experience and compete in challenges for your chance to buy properties. Stage a heist in Mayfair, compete against a clock to build some of London’s iconic buildings, solve a baffling murder mystery or step into the world of codebreakers. The 80-minute experience is suitable for kids from 9 and older and is open every day except Mondays. Monopoly Lifesized , 213-215 Tottenham Court Road, W1T 7PS. Tickets £49 pp Crystal Maze LIVE Experience Older children (from 8 onwards) can take on this immersive adventure, which brings the hit 90s TV show to life.Run around like mentalists, yell, complete a host of difficult challenges and end the game in a fetching, satin bomber jacket. Crystal Maze Live Experience , 22 - 32 Shaftesbury Avenue W1D 7EU Holiday to Space at Royal Observatory Greenwich Join Ted and Plant as they explore the Solar System in search of the best place to take a holiday in an intergalactic morning adventure, including a planetarium show and interactive workshop. Recommended Age: 3 - 6 yrs. Open 10am-5pm daily Royal Observator y Greenwich Park, Blackheath Avenue SE10 8XJ Like what you've read? Why not follow us on Insta?

The bluetooth dongle that'll turn you into a mechanic As the old adage goes, “knowledge is power.” And yet, despite the proliferation of smart phones and the internet placing the entirety of human knowledge at our fingertips, there are still situations where most of us are as clued-up as a slow loris in a science lab. A visit to the vets; a meeting with the builder; a trip to the mechanics. We show up, nod sagely and accept anything they tell us without question. Car engine’s got the flu?  No problem! Add it to the bill. The wheels aren’t round enough? Charge me for the circle machine! The axellator isn’t pumping the engine’s fuzzbox enough?  Sounds legit! Thanks for sorting it. When we were offered the chance to write a Carly OBD Scanner review, they tapped us up at an opportune moment. Despite shelling out for a less-than six year old motor from one of Germany’s most respected auto-brands, it’s not proven to be the most reliable ride. A few pricey repairs over the first year of ownership paved the way for the exact same repairs a year later, and now my dashboard lights up like a Christmas tree to tell me I’m in the market for yet another visit to the mechanic. Just to keep things interesting, the battery is now showing its age, presumably under the strain of all those warning lights it’s been powering over the years. In short, I know there are problems under that bonnet, but I’m mildly terrified that a trip to the garage will open me up to a long list of repairs for hidden problems - and an eye-watering bill to accompany it. So, where does the Carly OBD Adapter enter the conversation? Well, you know that dreaded Diagnostics Report  that costs close to a hundred pounds before a mechanic has even laid eyes on the engine? Well, this nifty little machine does it for you at home. Essentially a bluetooth dongle, it plugs into the OBD socket in your car, which is usually hidden away in the driver’s footwell. Once we’ve located ours, it takes a few seconds to connect with the Carly app on our phone - where we’ve previously downloaded the data for our specific car model - and just a minute or so later, a full diagnostic report lands in our inbox. It’s impressive in its simplicity and begs the question why this would ever cost a hundred pounds at a garage, but such is the murky world of capitalism. We start out with the free version of the app, which still delivers an impressive amount of data. Our vehicle status is ‘moderate,’ with eight issues detected. Having expected my phone to explode under the pressure of hundreds of incoming warnings, that’s a good result already. The email gives us a little more info - a list of those eight faults with their respective codes, which are manufacturer specific. Frustratingly, seven of those are accompanied by the line ‘Internal generic fault code,’ while one states that the ‘Communication with control unit “Multifunction camera” has a malfunction.’ Confusingly, that one’s attributed to the left headlamp which, to my knowledge, doesn’t have a camera unless I inadvertently bought my car from MI5. With Google offering up very little in the way of easy explanations for these codes, I’m left none the wiser as to what’s actually wrong with the car, but crucially, I could stroll in to any garage with a diagnostics report in hand, saving myself £100 and letting them know that there’s no room for skullduggery when it comes to those repairs. I upgrade to the premium version of the app, which costs a smidge over £50 per year for a specific manufacturer, or less than £74 to cover all makes and models. It’s a small price to pay to unlock the wealth of information now available. For less than the price of a coffee every month, I’ve unlocked a whole range of new features and head back to my motor for another shot. This time, the same alerts appear (which is a good sign), but I’m treated to in-depth checks and advice to help find solutions. Although the information can still be a little overwhelming, as car manufacturers insist on providing codes rather than, y’know, actual information , Carly offers a ‘Smart Mechanic’ option, where somebody in the know has provided a beginner’s guide to what that number really means. There’s also access to a community of fellow Carly owners, who provide helpful updates on how they solved similar issues. It seems that most of my car’s problems are linked to the battery which, given my warning light has been on for a few weeks, isn’t a huge surprise. But Carly can deal with that, too, offering a specific Battery Monitoring function, whereby it spends 24 hours checking all aspects of its health, including how it stores charge over time, the remaining amount of charge left in the old dog, and its general condition. Perhaps the biggest complaint - if you can call it that - about the Carly is that is offers such a wealth of information and options that it’s difficult to know where to start. The website offers valuable help, too, including a brilliant ‘costs’ checker, which prompts me to input my car’s model and year before ticking all symptoms I’ve noticed, ranging from a smoking exhaust, to weak battery on startup (welp), flickering lights or issues with the air conditioning. It then identifies potential problems on the horizon, and offers a guide to the prices I should be paying to fix them. The prices are pretty firmly aligned with the quotes I receive from both my local Halfords and Kwik Fit, too. Added benefits of the Carly The benefits of knowing your own car are clear enough, but there’s a hidden bonus that comes with the full premium offer: No more tyre kicking or guessing at the health of a new motor before you buy it. Having read this far, it’s probably no surprise that I’m starting to search the market for a new car, which comes with its own problems - namely, unscrupulous dealers and sellers who don’t even know what’s underneath the bonnet of their own motor. As a fully paid up member of the tyre-kicking club, it’s reassuring to know I can access information without having to know a manifold from a gasket. Whether it’s a private sale or a dealership, you can simply plug in your Carly, wait for the report and then make an offer with full knowledge of the vehicle’s health, straight from its own system. Is it worth the cash? Whether you’re a car aficionado or a complete novice, the Carly Scanner is a no-brainer for anyone who owns - or wants to own - a vehicle. At under £65, it’s cheaper than a single diagnostics check at your local garage, and even with the added cost of a premium package, you’ll see savings as soon as you need to visit a mechanic for the first time. For the vast majority of car owners, it’s all about peace of mind: Knowing what’s wrong, knowing how to make minor repairs at home, and knowing what to expect when you do have to put your car in for repairs. No more cost anxiety and no more stressing about whether that little rattle is the start of catastrophic engine failure or just a Kinder-egg toy your kids have hidden in the footwell. While most major car brands are covered, it's worth checking the Carly website before purchasing - notable absences include newcomers to the market, such as BYD, Tesla, Jaecoo and the like, and features may vary depending on your car make and model. But as to the question: Is it worth the cash? We think it might go further than that - if you're even thinking about becoming a car owner, we think this the Carly OBD Scanner is a necessity. Carly OBD Scanner, £64.99 Buy Now Premium package from £53.89 per year, car-brand dependent. Like what you've read? Please keep in touch!

London's BEST Easter Holidays Family Events 2025 April is choc-full of Easter activities for the kids, with a fluffle of Easter bunnies vying for attention. We’ve saved you the egg-work and picked out t he top 40 things to do , from enchanted train rides to meet egg-bequeathing bunnies, to giant, mythical beasts and monsters; first ballets; lamb-bothering, chocolate workshops, the ultimate egg hunts, dinosaurs, bears and plenty of free  events to see them through the Easter holidays and the rest of April. We’ve gone the egg-stra mile with this round-up, so buckle in and read on. ______________________ Audley End Springtime Surprise Hop onto the miniature train - outside Saffron Walden, Essex - and ride deep into the enchanted Audley End woods to visit the Easter bunny in his woodland home.  Along the route through the magical forest, kids can use I Spy sheets to spot bunnies burrowing in the undergrowth, colourful eggs and spring chicks.The train stops at the Easter bunny’s burrow, where children will meet the full-sized rabbit and his furry friends, who will give each child a special gift. The next stop is the Easter Trail, where families can wander through pathways to spot springtime animals, nests and eggs. You can check out a village of tiny fairy homes and plant flowers with a life-sized fairy. The Easter entertainment continues in the picnic field, where children can explore the adventure play area and watch Violet the Fairy on the stage. Eggsellent food and drink will be available at the Woodland Cafe all day with seasonal treats.  Audley End Miniature Railway , Audley End Road, Audley End, Saffron Walden, Essex CB11 4JB. 29 March - 14 April. Adults and children over 92cm £17. Children under 92cm £8.50. Under ones go free. The Lindt Gold Bunny Hunt at Hampton Court Palace Seek out the Lindt Gold Bunny and discover the stories of fascinating people who visited, lived and worked at Hampton Court Palace on this 90 minute trail. Run free in the 60 acres of Henry VIII's gardens to find the hidden Lindt statues. Match the name of the trail's palace characters to the red ribbon on the bunny statue at each location and uncover a fascinating story.  Your rabbit rummaging will be rewarded with a 10g Lindy Gold Bunny, with non-choc rewards available on request. Tickets include entry to the palace, maze, magic gardens, courtyards Hampton Court Palace , Hampton Ct Way, Molesey, East Molesey KT8 9AU. 23 March -14 April. Adults from £26.30. Kids from £13.10. Under 5s go FREE.  Spring into Easter at Kent Life Heritage Park Turn the cute dial up to eleven with a visit to Cuddle Corner to find lambs and goat kids gulping bottles of milk and fluffles of bunnies. Then track down the Easter Bunny at the Maidstone farm, jump aboard its gloriously bumpy tractor, watch 'fun farmers’ performing in the Big Top, make Easter bonnets for a parade and create Easter pots in the Paint-a-Pot Studio.As well as the bunny, you can also discover an entire, Vintage Village from World War II, complete with 1930s and 1950s decor and an Anderson shelter. Kent Life Heritage Park . Lock Ln, Maidstone ME14 3AU 29 March -14 April. 10am - 5pm. Adults £12, Children (aged 2. -15) £12, Family £44, Members Free Tutankhamun: The Immersive Exhibition   Tutankhamun: The Immersive Exhibition makes its UK premiere this March for a limited 14-week run. Created to wow all ages, visitors are invited to discover the legend of the Boy King, by stepping into ancient Egypt with stunning 8 metre high video mapping, a 360º VR journey, an interactive Metaverse, authentic artefacts from Cairo, and a world-first hologram, unveiling the secrets of the Pharoah’s mummification. Guests will also be able to discover a selection of original ancient Egyptian artefacts from as far back as 4000 B.C, as well as high quality replicas and facsimiles from Egypt. T utankhamun: The Immersive Exhibition , Immerse LDN, Excel Waterfront, ExCel, London E16 1XL. 28 March - 29 June Little Angel Theatre’s Miniature Travelling Circus Roll up! Roll up! Take your seats for the smallest circus in town. George the ringmaster is rounding up the acts to razzle-dazzle - where on earth is Flop? And why is Smelly Dog making all that fuss? The show features beautiful puppets, nostalgic magic tricks and acts so tiny you may wonder how you can possibly see them, from performing mice to acrobatic fleas. Little Angel Theatre ,14 Dagmar Passage, London N1 2DN. 21 Feb - 19 April. 40 mins duration. £15 per adult. 13 per child. All tickets are £10 for 4.45pm performances. Hobbycraft Spring & Easter workshops The Crafting Mecca is offering a gaggle of arty kids’ workshops for as little as £6 throughout March and April. From clay creatures workshops to Easter Bug Bonnet workshops, slime and Easter Egg character classes, children can join a host of classes at Hobbycraft stores in and around London. Book here . Hobbycraft stores in and around London. 1 March - 30 April. £6-£10 Little Night Little Night is a multi-sensory interactive show for toddlers, using engaging projections and soundscapes for a playful and imaginative experience, allowing children to explore a fairytale world, stimulating their senses and creativity. The show lasts approximately 30 minutes and encourages interactive exploration. Unicorn Theatre,  147 Tooley St, London SE1 2HZ. 29 March – 19 April.   Suitable for 18 months - 4 years   The Robot Zoo How do chameleons change colour? What makes grasshoppers leap so high? How do bats see at night? Enter the fascinating world of The Robot Zoo and discover the mechanisms that give animals their amazing abilities. This family-friendly exhibition features larger-than-life animals that have been cleverly recreated using a variety of familiar machine parts and gadgets to reveal how their real life counterparts see, eat, hunt and hide. Interactive exhibits also give you the chance to try jet-propelled squid racing, and shoot a chameleon’s ‘tongue-gun’. Horniman Museum,  Lower Ground Floor, 100 London Rd, London SE23 3PQ. 14 February-2 November. Child ticket £6.50. Adult ticket £9.75 YOUNG V&A - Making Egypt Following the success of its first exhibition, Japan: Myth to Manga, Young V&A invites you on a fascinating journey through the ancient past to modern day, exploring ancient Egypt's creativity and how it continues to influence art, design and popular culture today, via more than 200 fascinating pieces - the oldest is a stonking 5,500 years old. Young V&A,  Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, London, E2 9PA. Tickets £10pp. The Exhibition Pass gives unlimited visits to Making Egypt.  Kedi Studio Our review This unique, splatter paint experience is the perfect way to entertain and inspire Jackson Pollock Jrs. The innovative art studio welcomes all ages and skill levels to enjoy the thrill and freedom of creative expression in their colourful Splat Room. They provide the protective smock and shoes, stretched canvas and paints and kids provide the creativity - splashing, splattering, spraying, and throwing paint - in exactly the way they’re not allowed at home - to create their masterpiece, ready to take home in a custom box. Kedi Studio , Arch 91 Tiverton St, London SE1 6FX. Every Thursday-Monday. From £45. Ride the UK’s Longest Toboggan Run Our review Take on the country’s epic, 740 metre toboggan run through pretty scenery for under a tenner. Chatham Snowboard Centre’s toboggan run invites everybody aged four up to whizz around its metal course, for an adrenaline-packed experience with low skills and big thrills. And the cheeky bonus is that if your child is under 7, you get two rides together for £9. Chatham Snowsports Centre,  John Nike Leisuresport Alpine Park, Capstone Rd, Chatham ME7 3JH. £9 for two toboggan rides (adults ride free with kids under 7) £17.50 for five rides. NEW Science Museum Afternoon Tea The Science Museum has launched a new afternoon tea, mixing science, art and food. The experience is curated by Benugo chefs, featuring fun treats like petri dish jelly, their signature pink lemonade which invites kids to use chemistry to create their own fizzy drink, cupcakes with ‘blood’ syringes and test tubes filled with popping candy, moon rocks and edible soil. Science Museum, Gallery Café, Level 2, Exhibition Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD. Kids’ Afternoon Tea, £22. Every Wed-Sun from 24 January Bella the Tower Bridge Cat Trail Our review Two and four legged guests can go on a feline trail at the London landmark, meeting character from the popular Bella the Tower Bridge Cat books and tottering across its astonishing glass walkways, 42 metres above the Thames. The cat trail is open all year, for people (as well as pets) and is a fabulous adventure for little ones, filled with fascinating history, as they get their Apprenticeship Records stamped by characters along the way. And keep your eyes peeled for the famous feline's birthday celebrations, when they turn up the meowsic and get the pawty started. Tower Bridge,  Tower Bridge Rd, London SE1 2UP. Daily, 9.30am - 6pm. Included with your ticket - £6.70 kids, £13.40 adults. A Squash and a Squeeze Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s hit book goes from page to stage in this funny and heartwarming musical puppet adventure, adapted by Oliver-nominated duo Barb Jungr and Samantha Lane.  The world premiere adaptation of this popular book tells the story of an old lady who is unhappy with the size of her cost cottage, so follows a wise old man’s advice, and fills it with a gaggle of noisy, smelly farmyard animals, and begins its nationwide tour at our favourite puppet theatre, Little Angel. Little Angel Studios,  Sebbon St, London N1 2EH. 1 February-27 April. Kids £13pp. Adults £15pp. Ages 3-8 Neon Brush For Kids This brilliantly original event invites kids to experience the magic of neon painting, using fluorescent paints which glow in UV light. Stencils, brushes, paints and tools for snazzy effects are all provided for the family event, enjoyed to a soundtrack of kid-pleasing tunes. And they can leave with their finished masterpiece. Neon Brush Kids Edition , Glazier’s Hall SE1 22 Feb - 22 March From £21 Replay: A Limitless Recycled Playground Part installation, part adventure playground, REPLAY is a space built entirely out of waste materials repurposed for fun by The Herd Theatre, which children can transform in any way their imaginations lead them. Everything here can be moved, changed, combined, worn and reimagined, for kids to build their own worlds, invent games and leave ideas for players to come. It’s designed for all ages, with designated sessions grouped by age. Replay . The Royal Festival Hall. 21 Jan – 1 June Tickets from £7.50 Magic of Afternoon Tea at Vintry & Mercer Read our review Five star boutique hotel,  Vintry & Mercer  launched a brand new candlelit Magic of Afternoon Tea, for little (and big) wizards, which is full of delicious surprises. Our menu comes to life with a UV torch, there are chocolate soil-filled coffins to excavate, magical elixirs to mix, dramatic smoking tiers brimming with edible spell books, chocolate wands, owls and a chocolate and mango Excalibur dessert stabbed with a chocolate sword. And that's before we discuss the savouries and other surprises, which you can read about in our review. Hint: It's one of our favourite new family afternoon tea experiences. Vintry & Mercer,  19-20 Garlick Hill, London EC4V 2AU. Adult's Magic of Afternoon Tea - from £49.50 pp. Kid's Wizard's Afternoon Tea - £37.50 F1 Driving, Skywalks and Tours at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Little adrenaline junkies can get their kicks at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with a hat trick of high octane tours, from The Dare Skywalk - climbing to the top of the stadium, 46.8m above the pitch - to the UK’s first controlled descent from a stadium, once at the top. Plus a Stadium Tour for those who want to keep their feet on the ground. They can also experience a high tech Formula 1 driving experience, with an exciting track layout and LED steering wheels. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium , 782 High Rd, London N17 0BX The Paddington Bear Immersive Experience Read Review Everybody’s favourite, Peruvian bear has had the immersive treatment, with The Paddington Bear™ Experience. The marmalade-addled, interactive adventure across more than 26,000 square feet of Southbank’s London County Hall  invites guests into a series of themed rooms, inspired by iconic locations from the Paddington stories. Fittingly, it kicks off at Paddington Station, where guests will be greeted by a friendly Station Master and taken on a colourful train journey through London’s most famous landmarks, to the Browns’ charming, No. 32 Windsor Gardens home. Once inside the famous, tree-adorned hallway, guests will embark on a multi-sensory adventure to help the Brown family and Paddington prepare for the all-important Marmalade Day Festival. The Paddington Bear™ Experience , London County Hall, Westminster Bridge Road, SE1 7PB. Adult tickets £34pp. Children (2-15) £24. Under 2s go FREE Mrs Doubtfire Dining Experience Hellooo poppets! Hit West End musical Mrs Doubtfire has put the eat into theatre for a delicious new partnership with luxury London restaurant, Colonel Saab . The award-winning Indian dining concept gives fans a multi-sensory, pre-theatre dining experience, featuring cocktails and dishes inspired by famous scenes, which transform before your eyes and are not what they seem - just like the title character of Shaftesbury Theatre’s comedy show. Expect a "Run-By Fruiting" and a grand finale involving liquid nitrogen, in a cheeky nod to the famous kitchen fire scene, before heading around the corner to watch the show itself at Shaftesbury Theatre. Colonel Saab, 193-197 High Holborn, London WC1V 7BD. £60 course five course meal and cocktail or £35 Mrs Doubtfire Set Lunch plus theatre tickets. Shaftesbury Theatre, 210 Shaftesbury Ave, London WC2H 8DP Science Museum Astronights Sleepover  Read our review Budding scientists (aged 7-11) can spend the night at The Science Museum,  exploring the museum out-of-hours,  sleeping among space rockets, a Moon rock or in the world’s largest medical galleries. Young campers will experience the ultimate sleepover, with an evening full of activities, including science shows and interactive workshops.  This year’s Astronights programme is supported by official sponsor TEMPUR®, who will gift all campers a travel pillow to help budding scientists get some rest during this exciting night.The following morning, campers can refuel at breakfast, before exploring Wonderlab , their interactive gallery, with hands-on exhibits and immersive experiences, and catch a 3D documentary on their giant IMAX screen. Science Museum,  Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 2DD. Dates vary, £70pp standard, £100 VIP. Monster Funfair at Discover Children's Story Centre Stratford's immersive, sprog-storytelling Mecca has launched its new family adventure, taking visitors through a fantastical circus tent and into the woods. In amongst the trees you’ll find an amazing, marvellous, EXTRAORDINARY… Monster Funfair!   Created with the award-winning Nadia Shireen, this magical world also has a fairground mystery to solve – just who has stolen ALL the candyfloss?  Discover Children's Story Centre is brimming with entertainment across three floors, plus a wonderfully imaginative Story Garden. Creep through caves, find fairy worlds within magical trees, explore hidden ships, perform in a puppet castle, leap over alligators and man your own spaceships and rockets across two floors. Discover Children's Story Centre  383-387 High St, London E15 4QZ.  Ages 0-8 Art in the Docks - FREE There are FREE art classes every Saturday morning at Art in the Docks, which can be booked online, with 30 spots for each class. Children are encouraged to use their imagination and gain confidence in a nurturing environment, hosted by ceramic artist Mariana Alemany. The classes are suitable for all ages, and all materials and equipment will be provided. Art in the Docks , 25 Shackleton Way, London, E16 2XJ. Every Saturday. 10am-12pm. FREE. Navrtar VR Arctic Expedition Take the family on an Arctic expedition, without leaving London. They’ll learn about global warming in a whole, new way during the 60-minute experience, exploring the abyss of the Arctic; its icy tundras, hidden caverns and unique wildlife hidden in an extraordinary, underwater world. Guests in teams of six can teleport 100 years into the future to compare the effects of global warming. The sessions begin with a range of multi-player mini games to enhance the senses and test skills, before embarking on the Arctic expedition, exploring marine life and shipwrecks. Navrtar , Dickens Yard, Longfield Ave W5 2UQ. Prices from £32pp. iFly Childrens’ Skydive Read our review here Anybody from the age of 3 to 103 can experience the superpower of flight at iFly , as long as they can comfortably wear a helmet. The instructors allow children to safely feel the sensation of an  exhilarating, 12,000 ft free-fall and flight,  without  jumping out of a plane. Along with watching the instructor perform a mesmerising  dance on air inside the vertical wind tunnel, your family can enjoy the extraordinary sensation of weightlessness, soaring around the glass tube and unlocking a core memory of their newfound super powers. iFLY London at The O2, Peninsula Square, London SE10 0DX. Tickets and vouchers to fly can be purchased by clicking here  and are available from £69.99 per person Wizard Exploratorium Check out our review here.   Soho's magic-themed Wizard Exploratorium is a five-storey, geek wonderland, offering a 4D wand-making workshop, immersive trick shop and suitably magical afternoon tea encompassing tea brewing, molecular gastronomy, and technology. Wizard Exploratorium , 26 Greek St, London W1D 5DE Slimy Gootopia Sessions Slime is a gloopy rite of passage for every child - parents quickly learn the art of removing it from hair and unwitting pets and it’s up there with ice cream in the kiddie delight department. Enter stage left: Gootopia , which brings its gloopy joy to Brixton and Lewisham. The venues have shelves of ready-made slime, slime ingredients, activator, and their ‘goo-to-go’ slime vending machine. They also offer a range of activities and experiences for kids of all ages, including slime workshops, birthday parties, school science workshops, drop-in slime-making sessions and live slime-making demonstrations by goo alchemists Gootopia . Brixton and Lewisham locations. Power Up at the Science Museum Following five successful runs, Power Up will make its permanent home at the Science Museum from July, allowing visitors to try over 160 consoles and hundreds of the very best video games, all year long. With the new Power Up annual passes, visitors can return whenever they fancy, to journey through the world of gaming. Experience the evolution of gaming – from classics such as Pong and Street Fighter to the latest PlayStation and Xbox – while discovering the science and history behind gaming’s most iconic developments. Power Up  Ticketed, daily passes: £10, annual passes: £15   . Age: 5+. Science Museum, Exhibition Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD Get the Kids Climbing the Walls Get the kids climbing the walls at London’s Parthian Climbing centre in Wandsworth. The 25,000 square foot beast combines climbing with lifestyle, thanks to its café, bar, gym, retail and co-working space. And it is the first indoor climbing facility in the UK to feature an exact replica of  The Titan  Olympic bouldering wall, which will be used at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. They offer a range of kids’ sessions and courses for ages 3 and up. There are instructors for little ones taking on their first climbing experience, as well as the National Indoor Climbing Award Scheme (NICAS) for a progressive syllabus. They also host kids’ parties, for 1.5 hours of climbing activities and games which are the perfect antidote to ‘Fun Freddie’ wrestling a balloon into a drooping sausage dog. Parthian Climbing Centre , 52 - 58 Garratt Ln, Wandsworth, London SW18 4TF Avora Family Experience Read our review Up an unassuming, Shoreditch street is a secret portal to another planet. And on school holidays and Sundays, you can take your kids for a well-deserved break from Earth, on planet Avora. This  otherworldly adventure will see you encounter scientists, mocktails, aliens, army villains and closes with a child-pleasing, farty finale. Avora: Family Immersive Adventure  5C, 127 Hackney Road, London, E2 8GY. Sundays, 12pm – 3:30pm. School Holiday weekdays. £24.50 per child (6-13) £29.50 per adult. The Gunpowder Plot at Tower of London Vaults Older children (12+) will be catapulted into the most exciting history lesson of their lives, in this explosive new, immersive experience, starring Harry Potter’s Tom Felton. Your mission is to go undercover and unmask the mysterious figures behind history’s most infamous plot. But when you’re surrounded by traitors, who can you trust? With surprises around every turn, descend into the vaults and experience a combination of live and digital actors, virtual reality and fancy pants technology like motion simulators and special effects, transporting you back to London 1605 in the heart of the Gunpowder plot. The Gunpowder Plot , 8-12 Tower Hill Vaults, London, EC3N 4EE Play Captain on a GoBoat River Picnic Read our review If you’re looking for somewhere to spend a genuinely relaxing few hours for parents and  children (plus dogs, if you have one) we recommend a GoBoat  trip. You can enjoy a picnic as captain of your own, electric boat through Canary Wharf, Paddington, Kingston, Thames Ditton or Birmingham. GoBoat UK , Open 7 days a week from 9am - dusk. Prices start from  £85 for 1 hour and  £125 for two hours on the  8-person boats. GoBoat Canary Wharf, 22 Churchill Place, London, E14 5RE Paddington Afternoon Tea Bus Tour Read our review Brigit's Bakery official Paddington Bear afternoon tea bus tour has built-in screens, so that Paddington and Mrs Bird can provide an animated guide to the tour, which includes some of Paddington's favourite landmarks, like Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Hyde Park, Nelson’s Column, Downing Street, St. Paul's Cathedral, Borough Market, Green Park and Piccadilly Circus. The tour takes just under two hours, while you scoff treats including glittering shortbreads, designed to look like nibbled marmalade sandwiches, mini pizzas, smoked salmon and cucumber pretzels, turkey ham and cheddar or cream cheese and cucumber finger sandwiches and naturally, marmalade sandwiches. And for those who share the bear’s sweet tooth, the homemade sweet treats included a rice pudding studded with chocolate honeycomb, chocolate cupcakes crowned with Paddington’s chocolate paws, lemon meringue tarts, chocolate macarons and freshly baked scones with cream and jam. Brigit’s Bakery also provide vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and halal afternoon teas. Paddington Afternoon Tea Bus tour  Departs from Trafalgar Square, Wednesdays to Sundays. Prices from £45 adult, £35 child. Whizz Down The ArcelorMittal Orbit How about hurling your children down the world’s tallest slide? The 178m long ArcelorMittal Orbit  was the iconic landmark of the 2012 London Olympics and is now an attraction with three adventure experiences. Families can speed down the winding slide, abseil, or walk around the glass orbit at the top. You can also pretend it's a high-brow, cultural experience, because the orbit is also a sculpture by Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond. And it beats the usual views of grubby swings and bins, because here you can check out the stunning views of Queen Elizabeth Park. To ride the slide, children must be at least eight years old and over 1.3m.   ArcelorMittal Orbit , Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, 5 Thornton St, London E20 2AD. From £10.75. Cutty Sark Rig Climb Experience Originally climbed when the ship first arrived to Greenwich in 1954, visitors can now recreate this, by clambering up the famous masts of the Cutty Sark.The Rig Climb Experience invites kids and brave parents to step up from the main deck onto the ship’s ratlines and climb up its top mast, as hundreds of sailors did during the Cutty Sark’s heyday. Once at the top, climbers will experience a controlled descent from the rigging. Participants will be rewarded with some of the best views in London, overlooking St Paul’s Cathedral, The Shard and Tower Bridge. Cutty Sark King William Walk, London SE10 9H Snot, Sick and Scabs at the Centre of the Cell Deliciously disgusting and sneakily educational centre in a futuristic, light-studded pod suspended above the laboratories of the Blizard Institute in Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. Children can learn about the heart, teeth or senses, see scientists at work and enjoy their delightfully vile ‘Snot, Sick and Scabs’ session. Centre of the Cell,  4 Newark St, London E1 2AT Out-of-Hours at the British Museum Your little ones can walk in the footsteps of the ancient Greeks, Pharoahs or journey through the cultures of China at The British Museum's family-friendly, out-of-hours tours. Taking place between 8.50 – 10am, before the galleries are open to the public, you can beat the unsavoury crowds. And from 4 - 25 March, children can explore Roman history through Minecraft, create a Japan-themed family photo (11 March) and make mosaic masks inspired by the Aztec gods on 18 March. The British Museum , Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DG. Under fives go free.  £16.50 for 5-15 year olds. £33 Adults Monopoly Lifesized Go big or go home… or straight to jail at Monopoly Lifesized,  an immersive, on-your-feet version of the classic, family game, played on a 15m x 15m lifesized Monopoly board. Enter the 4D experience and compete in challenges for your chance to buy properties. Stage a heist in Mayfair, compete against a clock to build some of London’s iconic buildings, solve a baffling murder mystery or step into the world of codebreakers. The 80-minute experience is suitable for kids from 9 and older and is open every day except Mondays. Monopoly Lifesized , 213-215 Tottenham Court Road, W1T 7PS. Tickets £49 pp Crystal Maze LIVE Experience Older children (from 8 onwards) can take on this immersive adventure, which brings the hit 90s TV show to life.Run around like mentalists, yell, complete a host of difficult challenges and end the game in a fetching, satin bomber jacket. Crystal Maze Live Experience , 22 - 32 Shaftesbury Avenue W1D 7EU Holiday to Space at Royal Observatory Greenwich Join Ted and Plant as they explore the Solar System in search of the best place to take a holiday in an intergalactic morning adventure, including a planetarium show and interactive workshop. Recommended Age: 3 - 6 yrs. Open 10am-5pm daily Royal Observator y Greenwich Park, Blackheath Avenue SE10 8XJ Like what you've read? Why not follow us on Insta?

The Capital's Top 16 Tossers This Shrove Tuesday 2025 We are directing you to the finest tossers the capital has to offer this Shrove Tuesday, because flipping good pancakes are the law on 4 March 2025. The sacred celebration of batter in its many, delicious forms comes 47 days before Easter Sunday and nobody pans a cake like The Big Smoke. From Uttapam Indian pancakes and Aussie hotcakes, to Japanese soufflé pancakes, Chinese crepes, Vietnamese pancakes, savoury Korean pancakes, layered Sakurado cakes, crepes, healthy or exploding pancakes we’ve found London's best 16 pancake restaurants, so your decision is easy, peasy lemon squeezy. ___________________________ Sakurado This Japanese patisserie's pancakes would look as good on a necklace or framed on a wall as they do on a plate. The rainbow-coloured creations are carefully prepared by hand with 30, paper-thin, Mille crêpes, precisely layered between velvety rich cream. Sakurado only uses the finest ingredients, including the much-loved East Asian flavours of Matcha, Yuzu, Hojicha (Roast Tea) and Black Sesame Charcoal. Sakurado , Chinatown and Kensington locations Héfaure For custardy, fluffy clouds of joy, head to Hefaure for these Japanese-style soufflé dreams. Top your soufflé pancake with cream and brown sugar tapioca pearls, or try a matcha red bean soufflé crowned with green tea cream and thank us later. Hefaure , Shaftesbury Avenue, Dean Street, Kingsbury and Victoria locations. Colonel Saab Colonel Saab is offering guests a delicious alternative to the usual pancakes this Shrove Tuesday. Try their dosas, traditional South Indian crepes - made with fermented rice and lentil batter. It has crispy, golden edges and a pillowy soft centre topped with Chicken Chettinad, potato masala, tomato chutney and coconut chutney or prawn moilee, potato masala, tomato chutney and coconut chutney If this delicious take on a snack doesn't convince you, then you might be interested to know that dosas are naturally gluten-free, vegan-friendly and protein packed. They are also offering the equally delicious uttapam pancakes, a smaller, thicker dosa variation with an assortment of delicous toppings. Dosas are on the Holborn branch's lunch Tiffin Menu. Colonel Saab  Holborn Town Hall, 193-197 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7BD Chinese Tapas House Jianbing are one of China's most popular and versatile street food snacks, jam-packed with tasty fillings and served to eat on the move. Gorge on these delicious crepes at Chinese Tapas House. Chinese Tapas House , 15 Little Newport St, London WC2H 7JJ, UK Where the Pancakes Are Every day is Pancake Day for these guys, who have been making waves with their belting batter. From Dutch Babies pancakes, which look like Yorkshire Puddings, served with apples and almonds or cheeses and herbs; to banana, honeycomb and marshmallow cream pancakes, lemon and thyme poached pear and salted caramel buttermilk beasts and healthy, Recovery pancakes with banana, Pip & Nut almond butter, and hazelnut-apricot granola. Where the Pancakes Are , London Bridge, Fitzrovia and Battersea Power Station locations Scarlett Green TripAdvisor named them Number One Brunch Spot in the World , so you would have high hopes for the pancakes at Soho’s slice of beachy Australia. And you would not be disappointed - they are pure sex on a plate. Choose between the Golden Gaytime pancakes - milk chocolate ganache, malt crumble, whipped 12.8 mascarpone, salted caramel sauce, chocolate caramel tuile - or the Blueberry Buttermilk Pancake with fresh berries, whipped mascarpone cream, pure maple and optional back bacon. Or bloody live a little and go for both , every day for the rest of eternity. Scarlett Green , 4 Noel Street, Soho W1F 8GB Mallow This beautiful, Borough market restaurant is inspired by flavours from all over the world. with fresh, colourful dishes which are 100% plant-based, seasonal and sustainable. And their pancakes are the jewel in its delicious crown, with special mention to their newest, tiramisu stack - buttermilk pancakes, espresso syrup and white chocolate chantilly. Phwoar. Mallow 1 Cathedral Street, Borough Market, London, SE1 9DE Little Dessert Shop Home to some of Blighty's most Instagrammable desserts, this pudding behemoth is a batter Mecca on Pancake Day, serving up Crepes, American-style Pancakes and impossibly sweet waffle bites, with every conceivable topping combination. The Truly Yours Petit Pancakes are particularly sexy, loaded with Kinder Bueno®, chopped nuts, hazelnut & white hazelnut chocolate. Little Dessert Shop - stores across the UK, including Balham, Fulham and Battersea    Farm Girl Stop all the clocks - apparently you CAN eat pancakes and still be healthy. Aussie-born ‘farm girl’ Rose Mann proves this, at her colourful Notting Hill cafe, which serves buttermilk and buckwheat discs of joy, topped with raw cacao nibs, Greek yoghurt, sour cherry jam and coconut. Or perhaps you’d prefer apple and pear pancakes, baked in vanilla bean and rosemary, with toasted cinnamon oat crunch, maple syrup and coconut yoghurt. Farm Girl, 59a Portobello Rd, W11 3DB Crêpe Affaire at The Hippodrome Crepe Affaire is the perfect place to get battered in the heart of Leicester Square, with a modern take on this traditional, Breton fayre. It offers perfectly thin, sweet or savoury, hand-crafted crêpes, made with organic flour and natural ingredients to eat in or take-away With cocktails on tap, vegan and gluten-free options, plus accessible prices – savoury crêpes start from just £7 – Crêpeaffaire is proving to be a flipping good choice from breakfast through to lunch and dinner. Crêpeaffaire Cranbourn St, London, WC2H 7JH Tupi Boxpark This Boxpark Croydon pancake hotspot fuses the best of Europe and South America, making it a firm brunch favourite for locals. Popular Tupi combos include ‘mixed berries and banana pancake with Crème Fraîche and sweet jams’, ‘salted caramel and Oreo pancakes with berries and ice cream’, and the daddy - their ‘bacon, cheddar cheese, fried egg, maple syrup, and Crème Fraîche pancakes’. Ding and very much, dong. Tupi London , Unit 28, Boxpark, 99 George St, Croydon CR0 1LD Granger & Co The late, much loved chef, Bill Granger's global chain of relaxed and delicious restaurants bring Londoners his legendary, Aussie hotcakes on the breakfast and lunch menus. These thick and fluffy badboys are made with creamy ricotta and stacked with banana and illegally moreish honeycomb butter. Granger & Co Multiple locations Dobar The hangover cure does exist and can be found at this exceptional Finsbury Park cafe, in the shape of their famous pancakes. These include the Medi Clash - pancakes with grilled halloumi, spicy beef sujuk, fried eggs, portabello mushroom and grilled cherry tomatoes. Or for the sweet tooth, we hard recommend the Pancake tacos - four pancakes filled woth clotted cream and fruit and topped with biscoff sauce smashed biscuit. Dobar 324A Green Lanes, London, N4 1BX Viet Food Head to Viet Food for their Bánh xèo Việt Nam - otherwise known as a Vietnamese pancake with seafood. It’s a shimmering, golden treat as the pancake batter is made from a combination of rice flour, water and turmeric. It is cooked until crisp in a frying pan and served folded in half and loaded with fresh herbs, sprouts and seafood. Viet Food Soho and South Kensington locations Badiani Head to London’s iconic gelato shop, Badiani to build your own crepe, with more than 40 toppings to choose from including Paolo Pomposi’s famous sauces - we recommend the pistachio - merengue, coconut rapè, Chilenan walnut and caremalised salted peanuts. Badian i Multiple London locations from Chelsea and Mayfair to Covent Garden and Angel Pochawa Grill Tuck into Kimchi Jeon, a Korean savoury pancake made with kimchi, at Soho's popular, Korean barbecue restaurant. Or opt for the Cheese Kimchi Jeon, topped with mozzarella. Phwoar. Pochawa Grill 29 Wardour St, London W1D 6PS Like what you've read? Please keep in touch!

London's BEST Family Events this March 2025 Finally, the start of SPRING - longer days, fewer thermals, rounder chocolates and fizzier children. So we have dispatched our crack team of boredom-banishers to find the top 33 things to do with kids this March in (or near) London. From Lego, rainbow powder fights, moon trips, ocean sized ball pits and dinosaurs to bears, Spring festivals, chocolate and a fluffle of bunnies heralding the start of Easter... and yet another school holiday. We’ve gone the egg-stra mile with this round-up, so buckle in and read on. ______________________ Immersive Lego Exhibition Aptly opening on Brick Lane, The Art of Brick brings its Lego masterpieces to London, following tours of more than 100 cities in 24 countries. The exhibition features artist Nathan Sawaya's Lego recreations of some of the world’s most famous artworks, from Michelangelo’s David to Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Among the wonders, visitors will also find a 6-metre-long reproduction of a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton Kids (and big kids) can also make their own masterpieces at the play and build area. The Boiler House, 152 Brick Lane, London, E1 6RU. From 6 March to 12 May House of Holi at Cinnamon Kitchen Cinnamon Kitchen’s  #HouseofHoli paint-pelting pop-up returns to Devonshire Square from  15 March  in celebration of the festival of colour, love and positivity,  Holi. Step inside the luminous, paint-throwing pod and immerse yourself in colourful chaos as you shower your family and friends in a 30-minute, powder-paint rainbow fight. Known for its carnival of colours and paint fights, Holi aims to bring family and friends together to laugh, play, and celebrate love and friendship.  Adult pod play sessions are priced at £25pp inclusive of a cocktail or mocktail. Children 15 and over play for £15pp whilst children 14 and under play for just £10pp and must be accompanied by an adult. House of Holi  at Cinnamon Kitchen, 9, Devonshire Square, EC2M 4YL Various dates from 15 March The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks Lightroom leapt inside David Hockney’s art for his jugggernaut of retrospective and now turns its immersive technology to space, with added Tom Hanks. The Apollo 13 star narrates the audio-visual experience, which offers a unique new perspective on humankind’s past and future voyages to the moon. Telling the stories of the Apollo missions in intimate detail, The Moonwalkers also provides an insight into the impending return of crewed surface missions by going behind-the-scenes of the Artemis programme, including interviews between Hanks and Artemis astronauts. If your own trip to the moon is unlikely, the immersive gallery promises the next big thing, with its tech-wizardy taking visitors on a voyage to our closest celestial neighbour. Lightroom , 12, Lewis Cubitt Square, London N1C 4DY. Until 21 April 2023. Tickets from £25 The Everywhere Bear Read our review Our favourite puppet alchemists, Little Angel Theatre bring Julia Donaldson’s best-selling book about a lost, school teddy to life in a beautiful, musical exploration of loss, mistakes and friendship. Expect beautiful puppetry, animation, a magic hat of a set, songs your kids will be screeching for months, and a heartwarming tale about how nothing loved is ever really lost. The Everywhere Bear . Little Angel Theatre, 14 Dagmar Passage, London N1 2DN. Until 14 April. Tickets £14 adult / £12 child. Audley End Springtime Surprise Hop onto the miniature train - outside Saffron Walden, Essex - and ride deep into the enchanted Audley End woods to visit the Easter bunny in his woodland home.  Along the route through the magical forest, kids can use I Spy sheets to spot bunnies burrowing in the undergrowth, colourful eggs and spring chicks.The train stops at the Easter bunny’s burrow, where children will meet the full-sized rabbit and his furry friends, who will give each child a special gift. The next stop is the Easter Trail, where families can wander through pathways to spot springtime animals, nests and eggs. You can check out a village of tiny fairy homes and plant flowers with a life-sized fairy. The Easter entertainment continues in the picnic field, where children can explore the adventure play area and watch Violet the Fairy on the stage. Eggsellent food and drink will be available at the Woodland Cafe all day with seasonal treats.  Audley End Miniature Railway, Audley End Road, Audley End, Saffron Walden, Essex CB11 4JB. 29 March - 14 April. Adults and children over 92cm £17. Children under 92cm £8.50. Under ones go free. Kids 'N' Sushi Masterclass Sticks 'N' Sushi launches its Kids’n’Sushi masterclasses at its shiny, new Shoreditch restaurant from 30 March. Each bidding sushi master will be taught to make Kappa Hosomaki rolls (Cucumber), Pink Alaska Uramaki rolls (Salmon, avocado, cream cheese, and lumpfish roe) and Shake Nigiri (Salmon) during the 90-minute, hands-on class. As well as learning a new skill and creating sushi masterpieces, each ticket includes soft drinks during the class and a goody bag at the end with a certificate, bandana, rolling mat, chopsticks, chocolate fish and Japanese number and phrase sheet. Sticks 'N' Sushi, 100 Shoreditch High St, London E1 6JQ. £40 pp. The Lindt Gold Bunny Hunt at Hampton Court Palace Seek out the Lindt Gold Bunny and discover the stories of fascinating people who visited, lived and worked at Hampton Court Palace on this 90 minute trail. Run free in the 60 acres of Henry VIII's gardens to find the hidden Lindt statues. Match the name of the trail's palace characters to the red ribbon on the bunny statue at each location and uncover a fascinating story.  Your rabbit rummaging will be rewarded with a 10g Lindy Gold Bunny, with non-choc rewards available on request. Tickets include entry to the palace, maze, magic gardens, courtyards Hampton Court Palace , Hampton Ct Way, Molesey, East Molesey KT8 9AU. 23 March -14 April. Adults from £26.30. Kids from £13.10. Under 5s go FREE.  Horniman Spring Fair Read our review One of our favourite hidden gems launches its Spring Fair this April, compered by comedian Jasmin Gleeson. The event includes a free Easter bonnet workshop and parade, Easter badge making, stilt walking bubble performers, live music, a Lindihop like a Bunny dance workshop, face painting, giant games, crazy golf, car rides, and bouncy castles. Plus, you can get involved in everything else Horniman has to offer, like the Butterfly House, Aquarium, alpacas, rabbits and goats on the Animal Walk and of course, the beloved walrus at the free museum.  Horniman Museum & Gardens.  100 London Road, Forest Hill, London SE23 3PQ  30 March. 10.30 - 4.30pm. Adults £5. Children £2.50 Spring into Easter at Kent Life Heritage Park Turn the cute dial up to eleven with a visit to Cuddle Corner to find lambs and goat kids gulping bottles of milk and fluffles of bunnies. Then track down the Easter Bunny at the Maidstone farm, jump aboard its gloriously bumpy tractor, watch 'fun farmers’ performing in the Big Top, make Easter bonnets for a parade and create Easter pots in the Paint-a-Pot Studio.As well as the bunny, you can also discover an entire, Vintage Village from World War II, complete with 1930s and 1950s decor and an Anderson shelter. Kent Life Heritage Park. Lock Ln, Maidstone ME14 3AU 29 March -14 April. 10am - 5pm. Adults £12, Children (aged 2. -15) £12, Family £44, Members Free The Amazing Bubble Man Louis Pearl is one of the world’s leading bubble-ologists - Yes, that's a thing. And it's quite something. He's been wowing the world for 30 years with the art, magic, science and fun of bubbles. From square bubbles, bubbles inside bubbles, fog-filled bubbles, giant bubbles, bubble volcanoes, tornadoes and trampolines to people inside bubbles. And he's coming to London this month. The Amazing Bubble Man . Leicester Square Theatre, 6 Leicester Pl, London WC2H 7BX . 29 March - 1 April Dinosaur rEvolution South East London’s hidden gem, The Horniman Museum launches its roarsome new dinosaur exhibition for February half-term. The show invites us to rethink everything we thought we knew about dinosaurs, exploring the relationship between dinosaurs and birds. It includes five large, animatronic models, a gaggle of fossil skeletons and skull casts, as well as touchable, detailed graphics by the acclaimed artist Luis V Rey, dress up, games, and more. It will also be your last chance to see its beloved, overstuffed, taxidermy walrus until 2026, when the Natural History Gallery will reopen after a two-year refurbishment. Horniman Museum and Gardens , 100 London Road, Forest Hill, London SE23 3PQ 10 February - 3 November. Tickets from £9 per adult and £7 per child. Balloon Museum: EmotionAir Read our review here The world’s first inflatable art museum has opened in East London, after attracting two million visitors on its stops in Paris, Rome, Milan and Madrid. The Balloon Museum launched with huge fanfare and giant queues for the EmotionAir  exhibition, featuring works by 20 artists, in which air is a distinctive element. Expect sound trapped in floating bubbles, giant pink rabbits, huge, otherworldly ball pits, psychedelic balls you can swing and monstrous weebles in a show big and little visitors are invited to immerse themselves in through play and touch. 1 Old Billingsgate Walk , London EC3R 6DX. Until 14 April. Tickets from £28.10 per person Cute exhibition Read our review A major new exhibition exploring the irresistible force of cuteness opens at Somerset House from 25 January, featuring a games arcade for all ages and celebrating the 50th anniversary of Hello Kitty. The show brings together contemporary artworks and cultural phenomena from emojis to internet memes, video games to plushie toys, food to loveable robotic design, exploring how cuteness has take over the world. Somerset House , Embankment Galleries, South Wing. 25 January - 14 April. £18.50pp. Concessions from £11.  iFly Childrens’ Skydive Read our review here Anybody from the age of 3 to 103 can experience the superpower of flight at iFly , as long as they can comfortably wear a helmet. The instructors allow children to safely feel the sensation of an  exhilarating, 12,000 ft free-fall and flight,  without  jumping out of a plane. Along with watching the instructor perform a mesmerising  dance on air inside the vertical wind tunnel, your family can enjoy the extraordinary sensation of weightlessness, soaring around the glass tube and unlocking a core memory of their newfound super powers. iFLY London at The O2, Peninsula Square, London SE10 0DX. Tickets and vouchers to fly can be purchased by clicking here  and are available from £69.99 per person Wizard Exploratorium Check out our review here.   Soho's magic-themed Wizard Exploratorium is a five-storey, geek wonderland, offering a 4D wand-making workshop, immersive trick shop and suitably magical afternoon tea encompassing tea brewing, molecular gastronomy, and technology. Wizard Exploratorium , 26 Greek St, London W1D 5DE Slimy Gootopia Sessions Slime is a gloopy rite of passage for every child - parents quickly learn the art of removing it from hair and unwitting pets and it’s up there with ice cream in the kiddie delight department. Enter stage left: Gootopia , which brings its gloopy joy to Brixton and Lewisham. The venues have shelves of ready-made slime, slime ingredients, activator, and their ‘goo-to-go’ slime vending machine. They also offer a range of activities and experiences for kids of all ages, including slime workshops, birthday parties, school science workshops, drop-in slime-making sessions and live slime-making demonstrations by goo alchemists Gootopia . Brixton and Lewisham locations. Pampering for all the family at Pan Pacific London Family activities that involve lying down and being pampered? Count us massively IN. Pan Pacific London has partnered with luxury children’s brand Bonpoint , to create a unique offering for the hotel’s dedicated Wellbeing Floor. The first partnership of its kind in the UK, the duo have created a range of unisex skincare treatments and packages for children aged 6 – 16 years old, that provide an opportunity for parents to spend quality time with their children and teens and enjoy a spot of pampering. Pan Pacific Family Pampering , 80 Houndsditch, London, EC3A 7AB. Treatments start from £100. Power Up at the Science Museum Following five successful runs, Power Up will make its permanent home at the Science Museum from July, allowing visitors to try over 160 consoles and hundreds of the very best video games, all year long. With the new Power Up annual passes, visitors can return whenever they fancy, to journey through the world of gaming. Experience the evolution of gaming – from classics such as Pong and Street Fighter to the latest PlayStation and Xbox – while discovering the science and history behind gaming’s most iconic developments. Power Up Ticketed, daily passes: £10, annual passes: £15   . Age: 5+. Science Museum, Exhibition Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD The Young V&A The former Museum of Childhood has had a three-year transformation - the biggest in its 150-year history - into the UK’s first museum designed by and for 0-14 year olds. The Bethnal Green cultural destination is FREE (woo) and packed with interactive and hands-on activities for kids and families. Highlights of the £13m revamp will include colourful, sensory playscapes, including a finger skateboard park, an ‘Imagination Playground’ construction zone, a performance and storytelling stage and sandpit. The museum has been shaped around childrens' interests to encourage playful learning and spark their imaginations. Three galleries, Play, Imagine and Design, will help children build the skills and creative confidence they need to thrive. Young V&A. Bethnal Green, Tower Hamlets, Cambridge Heath Rd, Bethnal Green, London E2 9PA. General Museum Access: FREE Get the Kids Climbing the Walls Get the kids climbing the walls at London’s Parthian Climbing centre in Wandsworth. The 25,000 square foot beast combines climbing with lifestyle, thanks to its café, bar, gym, retail and co-working space. And it is the first indoor climbing facility in the UK to feature an exact replica of The Titan Olympic bouldering wall, which will be used at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. They offer a range of kids’ sessions and courses for ages 3 and up. There are instructors for little ones taking on their first climbing experience, as well as the National Indoor Climbing Award Scheme (NICAS) for a progressive syllabus. They also host kids’ parties, for 1.5 hours of climbing activities and games which are the perfect antidote to ‘Fun Freddie’ wrestling a balloon into a drooping sausage dog. Parthian Climbing Centre , 52 - 58 Garratt Ln, Wandsworth, London SW18 4TF Titanosaur: Life as the Biggest Dinosaur For the first time ever, the colossal Patagotitan mayorum titanosaur - one of the largest known creatures to have ever walked our planet - will go on display at Natural History Museum. Four times heavier than Dippy the Diplodocus and 12 metres longer than Hope, the museum’s legendary blue whale, this gigantic creature is a spectacular sight. You can view this gargantuan dinosaur skeleton up close at this fun, interactive family exhibition. You'll follow the life of a titanosaur, from a football-sized egg plucked from its nest to a fully grown adult, bearing the marks of an encounter with a ferocious predator that took a bite out of its tail. As you weave your way around the gallery, you'll handle specimens, stare into its gigantic sauropod skull and even smell its poo. Natural History Museum , Waterhouse Gallery, South Kensington, London. Under 3s are free. 4-16 are £9. Adults £16. Avora Family Experience Up an unassuming, Shoreditch street is a secret portal to another planet. And on school holidays and Sundays, you can take your kids for a well-deserved break from Earth, on planet Avora. Head here for our full review of this worthy and otherworldly adventure, encountering scientists, mocktails, aliens, army villains and closing with a child-pleasing, farty finale. Avora: Family Immersive Adventure 5C, 127 Hackney Road, London, E2 8GY. Sundays, 12pm – 3:30pm . School Holiday weekdays. £24.50 per child (6-13) £29.50 per adult. The Gunpowder Plot at Tower of London Vaults Older children (12+) will be catapulted into the most exciting history lesson of their lives, in this explosive new, immersive experience, starring Harry Potter’s Tom Felton. Your mission is to go undercover and unmask the mysterious figures behind history’s most infamous plot. But when you’re surrounded by traitors, who can you trust? With surprises around every turn, descend into the vaults and experience a combination of live and digital actors, virtual reality and fancy pants technology like motion simulators and special effects, transporting you back to London 1605 in the heart of the Gunpowder plot. The Gunpowder Plot , 8-12 Tower Hill Vaults, London, EC3N 4EE Play Captain on a GoBoat River Picnic If you’re looking for somewhere to spend a genuinely relaxing few hours for parents and children (plus dogs, if you have one) we recommend a GoBoat trip. You can enjoy a picnic as captain of your own, electric boat through Canary Wharf, Paddington, Kingston, Thames Ditton or Birmingham. Check out our review of the GoBoat Canary Wharf experience HERE GoBoat UK , Open 7 days a week from 9am - dusk. Prices start from £85 for 1 hour and £125 for two hours on the 8-person boats. GoBoat Canary Wharf, 22 Churchill Place, London, E14 5RE Paddington Afternoon Tea Bus Tour Brigit's Bakery launched the first, official Paddington Bear afternoon tea bus tour , celebrating the capital.The double-decker has built-in screens, so that Paddington and Mrs Bird can provide an animated guide to the tour, which includes some of Paddington's favourite landmarks, like Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Hyde Park, Nelson’s Column, Downing Street, St. Paul's Cathedral, Borough Market, Green Park and Piccadilly Circus. The tour takes just under two hours, while you scoff treats including glittering shortbreads, designed to look like nibbled marmalade sandwiches, mini pizzas, smoked salmon and cucumber pretzels, turkey ham and cheddar or cream cheese and cucumber finger sandwiches and naturally, marmalade sandwiches. And for those who share the bear’s sweet tooth, the homemade sweet treats included a rice pudding studded with chocolate honeycomb, chocolate cupcakes crowned with Paddington’s chocolate paws, lemon meringue tarts, chocolate macarons and freshly baked scones with cream and jam. Brigit’s Bakery also provide vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and halal afternoon teas. Check out our review, HERE Paddington Afternoon Tea Bus tour Departs from Trafalgar Square, Wednesdays to Sundays. Prices from £45 adult, £35 child. Discover Children’s Story Centre Stratford's immersive, sprog-storytelling Mecca is brimming with entertainment across three floors, plus a wonderfully imaginative Story Garden. Creep through caves, find fairy worlds within magical trees, explore hidden ships, perform in a puppet castle, leap over alligators and man your own spaceships and rockets across two floors, which also host art and craft stations, beautiful reading corners, storytelling sessions, immersive events and installations. Or head outside to the magical new play area to discover Baba Yaga’s hut held up by chicken legs, climb Hootah’s castle and slide out of the Stratford Sputnik. Check out our review here Discover Children's Story Centre 383-387 High St, London E15 4QZ Whizz Down The ArcelorMittal Orbit How about hurling your children down the world’s tallest slide? The 178m long ArcelorMittal Orbit was the iconic landmark of the 2012 London Olympics and is now an attraction with three adventure experiences. Families can speed down the winding slide, abseil, or walk around the glass orbit at the top. You can also pretend it's a high-brow, cultural experience, because the orbit is also a sculpture by Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond. And it beats the usual views of grubby swings and bins, because here you can check out the stunning views of Queen Elizabeth Park. To ride the slide, children must be at least eight years old and over 1.3m. ArcelorMittal Orbit , Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, 5 Thornton St, London E20 2AD. From £10.75. Cutty Sark Rig Climb Experience Originally climbed when the ship first arrived to Greenwich in 1954, visitors can now recreate this, by clambering up the famous masts of the Cutty Sark.The Rig Climb Experience invites kids and brave parents to step up from the main deck onto the ship’s ratlines and climb up its top mast, as hundreds of sailors did during the Cutty Sark’s heyday. Once at the top, climbers will experience a controlled descent from the rigging. Participants will be rewarded with some of the best views in London, overlooking St Paul’s Cathedral, The Shard and Tower Bridge. Cutty Sark King William Walk, London SE10 9H Snot, Sick and Scabs at the Centre of the Cell Deliciously disgusting and sneakily educational centre in a futuristic, light-studded pod suspended above the laboratories of the Blizard Institute in Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. Children can learn about the heart, teeth or senses, see scientists at work and enjoy their delightfully vile ‘Snot, Sick and Scabs’ session. Centre of the Cell, 4 Newark St, London E1 2AT Out-of-Hours at the British Museum Your little ones can walk in the footsteps of the ancient Greeks, Pharoahs or journey through the cultures of China at The British Museum's family-friendly, out-of-hours tours. Taking place between 8.50 – 10am, before the galleries are open to the public, you can beat the unsavoury crowds. And from 4 - 25 March, children can explore Roman history through Minecraft, create a Japan-themed family photo (11 March) and make mosaic masks inspired by the Aztec gods on 18 March. The British Museum , Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DG. Under fives go free. £16.50 for 5-15 year olds. £33 Adults Monopoly Lifesized Go big or go home… or straight to jail at Monopoly Lifesized, an immersive, on-your-feet version of the classic, family game, played on a 15m x 15m lifesized Monopoly board. Enter the 4D experience and compete in challenges for your chance to buy properties. Stage a heist in Mayfair, compete against a clock to build some of London’s iconic buildings, solve a baffling murder mystery or step into the world of codebreakers. The 80-minute experience is suitable for kids from 9 and older and is open every day except Mondays. Monopoly Lifesized , 213-215 Tottenham Court Road, W1T 7PS. Tickets £49 pp Crystal Maze LIVE Experience Older children (from 8 onwards) can take on this immersive adventure, which brings the hit 90s TV show to life.Run around like mentalists, yell, complete a host of difficult challenges and end the game in a fetching, satin bomber jacket. Crystal Maze Live Experience , 22 - 32 Shaftesbury Avenue W1D 7EU Holiday to Space at Royal Observatory Greenwich Join Ted and Plant as they explore the Solar System in search of the best place to take a holiday in an intergalactic morning adventure, including a planetarium show and interactive workshop. Recommended Age: 3 - 6 yrs. Open 10am-5pm daily Royal Observator y Greenwich Park, Blackheath Avenue SE10 8XJ Like what you've read? Why not subscribe to our free, monthly newsletter?

We Test the Capital’s Most Weird and Wonderful Treatments From being whacked with branches and plunged into icy water, to salmon sperm injections and having blood extracted, spruced and replaced, London is not shy with its weird and wonderful treatments. Gone are the days of plonking cucumber slices on your eyes, as the capital seeks increasingly extreme and exciting ways to feel good. We test some of the most quirky treatments to give you the lowdown, below. ________________________ Parenie Treatment - extreme heat, ice and being whacked with branches Read Full Review Being whacked with branches, braving hot and cold extremes, and being scrubbed with honey, salt and leaves isn’t your typical spa experience. But Banya No.1 isn’t your typical spa, as we find out. Everybody from Kate Moss and Justin Bieber to Emilia Clarke and Liv Tyler have been flocking to the London bathhouse and wellness spa to experience its authentic, Russian Banya, Perenie and wellness treatments. And after our exhilarating, three-hour experience, we can see why. We bounce between our private booth - glugging back litres of water we’ve sweated out - to the 700°C steam room, freezing bucket showers, icy plunge pool and therapists occasionally take us off to hit us with eucalyptus, scrub us or bring us delicious, healthy dishes. The experience is based on the thermal cycle of Hot-Cold-Rest-Repeat and we will be back - we left feeling supercharged, full of stories, and drunk from all of the sensory extremes. Banya No.1,  404-406 Chiswick High Road, Chiswick, London W4 5TF. We had the Full Experience Spa Offer, which is £157 pp off-peak and £185 pp regular price. 24K Gold Facial Read Full Review We head to a luxury, Chiswick oasis to be turned into a living Klimt painting, by having our faces covered in 24K gold. Everybody from Naomi Campbell to Bella Hadid have embraced this opulent new beauty trend. Gold has been used in Chinese, Indian and Arabic medicine as far back as 2500 BC and fancy, Egyptian skin-pamperer, Cleopatra was a fan of sleeping with a gold-coated mush. After an Extreme Youth cleanser, we have Diamond Dust Microdermabrasion, and a Dermophoretic System is applied to help our skin absorb The Gold Concentrated Youth Treatment, to optimise the gold’s effect. Finally, the 24K Gold Leaf sheets are carefully applied - I look and feel like an Egyptian Queen. The tiny nanoparticles of gold in my skin give me a glorious, shimmery glow for around two weeks, as they reflect in the light, which immediately makes skin look brighter. The pure gold also boosts my skin’s metabolism, deeply nourishing, tightening and strengthening it. Gold is also thought to have powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. It’s a perfect alternative to invasive, anti-ageing treatments and is quite literally, alchemy. The Door W4 , The Hogarth Group, Airedale Ave, London W4 2NW. 24-Karat Gold Leaf Facial by DIBI Milano - £140 for 60 minutes. £350 for a course of three The £200 Glowdry Read Full Review Geologists will tell you the Atacama Desert is the driest thing in the world, but I know that the world’s driest matter is, in fact, my hair. Luckily for me, celebrity hair stylist Gustav Fouche is a follicle alchemist, and he’s about to treat my desiccated mane to the hot new £200 Glowdry treatment at his eponymous, Notting Hill salon. It’s the secret behind many of the glossy manes, billowing along the red carpet. He begins to carefully coat my long hair with the bespoke Hair and Recovery Elixir treatment he has mixed for my hair’s thirsty needs. Then he places my head beneath the futuristic looking Micro Mist machine and over the next 20 minutes, I'm surrounded by sci-fi swirls of dramatic vapour, as if I'm about to be transformed into a Cyborg with great hair.  There are only a handful of these machines across the world, and this groundbreaking technology is the magic key to the treatment. It repairs, hydrates and rejuvenates hair, giving strength, suppleness and a longer lasting shine.  The heat provides the perfect osmosis, opening the hair cuticle for the light mist particles to penetrate the hair, pushing the product deeper into the locks. After the heat treatment, there is a burst of “cold fog” to close the cuticle, locking in the product for stronger, longer lasting results which had me flipping my mane like a deranged horse. Gustav Fouch e , 82 Westbourne Grove, London W2 5RT. Glowdry £200 Salmon Sperm Injections Full disclaimer: while we love fish, we haven’t yet had a romantic experience with them on our faces. So this one isn’t a tried and tested, but needed to be included. Known more palatably as Polynucleotide Treatments, everybody from Jennifer Aniston to Kim Kardashian have been getting salmon sperm injected into their mushes. The small fragments of DNA and RNA from salmon balls are rich in proteins, amino acids, and omega-3s, apparently boosting collagen, accelerating healing and providing powerful hydration for firmer, brighter, younger-looking skin. The treatment is touted as showing results after just one session, although results may vary. Simply Clinics, Harley Street, 39 Harley Street, Floor 2, London, W1G 8QH. £290 for one session. Ozone Therapy I think we can all agree that oxygen is pretty high on our list of essentials. Every cell in our body needs it to function; our ability to think, feel and act relies on it as does 90% of our body’s energy production. We’d also be pretty dead, without it. Enter stage left: Wimpole Street’s IVBOOST Clinic, which has taken this thinking to the next level, offering optimum health via complete cellular oxygenation. The treatment delivers oxygen directly into the blood stream. Blood is gently extracted, passed through an oxidation chamber, where it is combined with an equal volume of ozone at high concentration, and then passed back into the body.  This process is known as ‘one pass’.  Ten passes is considered the optimum and most powerful therapy. The therapy oxygenates the blood, which they say restores optimum cellular oxygenation to defy ageing, boost energy, raise immunity, fight infectious diseases and calm inflammation in the body.  It takes 90 to 120 minutes to fulfil a 10-pass treatment which includes passing the blood through the machine 10 times.  IVBOOST Clinic , 48 Wimpole StreetMarylebone, London, W1G 8SF. One session is £750; five sessions is £2,750; 10 sessions £4,500 and 20 sessions £7,000 Like what you've read? 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The Ultimate Guide to the Top Valentine's Gifts of 2025 That They'll Really Want Our Cupids have been busily aiming arrows at this year's most original and exciting Valentine's gifts, to show your other half some big love with gifts they'll really want. From stunning, chocolate books of love, to luxury buttock candles, romantic LEGO art and floral cookies to the world's first contactless wine aerator, a game-changing car gadget and saucy toys and Libido boosting goodies to put some fire into February 14th - read on to for our tried and tested guide. ___________________________ The Book of Love - Melt Chocolates A stunning, luxury book of love that you can eat, made by Melt Chocolate artisans and featuring the greatest paintings on love? Marry me now! The Ancient Greeks had eight words for the different flavours of love, Eros, Philia, Ludos, Agape, Philautia, Pragma, Storge and Xenia - and these are all represented in 12 beautiful artworks, containing luxury chocolate bars. It is too beautiful to eat, but when you do, you will be rewarded with treats like their gourmet Amazonia dark chocolate, Madagascan red berry, an orgasmic blonde pistachio plus a range of smooth milk chocolates like their sea salt or Love crunchy bar. BUY FROM MELT CHOCOLATES . £69.99 Callipygian Container Candle A cheeky and elegant gift which smells as good as it looks. Each Unwritten candle is handmade to order for a beautiful statement piece in the home. They are hand-poured using 100% natural wax, with a gorgeous scent (even unlit) and come in a gorgeous gift box. This is the ultimate candle to get into the mood with and we can't stop admiring these shapely, milky buttocks. BUY FROM UNWRITTEN . £50 LELO SONA 2 Cruise Vibrator Speaking of gifts she'll really want... the SONA™ 2 Cruise is clitorally amazing . This discrete and ingenious gadget is designed to give bigger, longer and more intense fun times. Made from premium, body-safe, soft silicone and completely waterproof, it features twelve sonic wave settings - instead of conventional vibrations - each with more intensity. The Cruise Control™ feature reserves extra power for the grand finale, unleashing additional oomph when pressed hard against the body. Handily, it has extra long-lasting charge, so you won't be let down at the crucial moment, and it's cleverly sculpted with a large surface area for maximum pleasure. BUY FROM LELO. £96.98 Playmate Aphrodisiac Chocolates These aren’t any Valentine’s chocolates - these badboys contain FIVE natural aphrodisiac ingredients clinically proven to enhance sexual desire. Presented in beautiful, luxury packaging, each box contains glossy artisanal heart treats, designed to break in two and share with your lover. They contain a specially blended mix of natural ingredients including Ashwagandha, Arjuna, Maca root, Tribulus and Catuaba, to support relaxation, boost your libido and deepen connection and intimacy. The ethical Colombian chocolates come in three sexy flavours - Sicilian Blood Orange, Raspberry and Champagne or Spiced Toffee Caramel - and no more than one per couple a day is recommended - their delicious chemistry really works... BUY FROM PLAYMATELABS £29.99 for one box and £49.99 for two Greenpan Padova Reserve Pink Frying Pan Set Know what's really sexy? These blush pink frying pans. Phwoar. They come as a romantic duo in two sizes (20cm and 19cm) and feature the latest PFAS-free Thermolon™ ceramic non-stick coating on high quality reinforced aluminium in a range of delicate pastels including Blush Pink, Mint Green, Light or Sky Blue and Sunshine Yellow.  Complemented by elegant stainless steel riveted handles with a hard-wearing, matt gold protective coating, the range has a gaggle of different pans and pots with tight fitting lids, in various sizes and prices. And they're even dishwasher proof, although ours are so pretty, it took a while for us to brave soiling them with food. BUY FROM GREENPAN . £95 for two piece frying pan set Miller Harris Rose Candle This luxury candle ticks every Valentine’s gifting box. Sophisticated, toxin-free with a long burn and a stunning, romantic scent of roses which fills the room. Because it’s paraffin free and soy/rapeseed based, it burns at a cooler temperature and lasts much longer. The candles are available in assorted, glass colours and fragrances. But for Valentine’s, it has to be Rose. And this candle has been developed with fresh rose petals, picked between May and June for their scent - the serene, floral fragrance, with gentle fruity accents of mandarin and blackcurrant is beyond delicious, reaching every corner of the room. BUY FROM MILLER HARRIS . £55 Portofino Dry Gin Mamma Mia! This might be the most beautiful gin bottle this side of the moon, and luckily its style is matched by its substance. The glamorous bottle is emblazoned with the vibrant colours and romance of the Portofino Italian Riviera, and looks like a luxurious perfume bottle - definitely one for the bar trolley. Inside the bottle, they have meticulously selected 21 botanicals which fill the fragrant streets of the Riviera, from juniper, lemon and rosemary, to lavender. The bright and crisp flavour took us straight to the cobbles and pastel houses of the Mediterranean coast. We also loved its versatility - it makes a zingy and rich G&T and even works brilliantly in a Negroni. BUY FROM BOUTIQUE BRANDS . £42.50 Yvonne Ellen - Bee Wine Glasses & Bee Drinks Tray This stunning drinks tray and glasses are the perfect way to show your honey that she's the bee's knees. Yvonne Ellen is famed for her quirky and opulent homeware, encapsulated by this beautiful, blush pink wooden tray, emblazoned with her bee design, with blue and shimmering gold detailing. Topped with her beautiful, matching wine glasses, you can present a tipple fit for a Queen Bee. They're made from fabulously luxurious soda lime glass, in delicate green and pink, and decorated with her trademark, gold bees and elegant patterns. They are exquisite - super light, with colours which catch the light and the perfect pair to toast your lover with, this Valentine's. BUY FROM YVONNE ELLEN . Bee Wine Glasses, £25 (set of 2) Bee Drinks Tray £20 Bellamie Apéritif Pop your Bellamie’s cherry, with this elegant new French apéritif, crafted exclusively from cherry tree blossom, fruit and stones and natural ingredients. It’s a wonderfully original alternative to the traditional citrus or bitter aperitifs, with a bold combination of sour, jammy cherries and sweet spice. We loved it simply sipped over ice, but it also elevates a glass of bubbly, or a summer Spritz and makes a perfect, sour cherry Negroni - its ruby red colour looks great in a glass, too. It’s a modern take on the French Guignolet liqueur, which originated in the 17th century and might just be our new favourite tipple this summer. BUY FROM DISTILLERS DIRECT . £34 Italicus Rosolio dI Bergamotto This premium Italian apéritif is wonderfully versatile, perfect for Valentine's cocktails, vegan and comes in a beautiful bottle, ticking all the boxes for gifting your tipple-loving lover. It has a refeshing citrus flavour, with delicate bergamot orange and floral notes. And we loved it in a Spritz, topped with bubbly and salty green olives. It also makes a fabulous Margarita twist, served with tonic and grapefruit soda. It's an impressive looking gift, with design nods to ancient Roman columns, while its base is shaped like a Bergamot fruit, and the marbled cap is inspired by Northern Italian gothic architecture. BUY FROM WAITROSE . £31.50 CANYON True Wireless Headset If music be the food of love, feed your partner’s ears with these nifty wireless headphones. These clever, lilac numbers are designed for listening to high quality playback on the move. It boasts up to 7.5 hours of playing time, so you won’t have to hear yourself panting, mid-jog. Its TWS function allows you to pair it with a second BT TWS speaker for an immersive stereo sound experience, as well as receiving phone calls and using voice assistant without touching your phone. It charges in its headphone box with a range of silicone ear tips to ensure a comfortable and snug fit. BUY FROM RYMAN . £24.99 The Wade Fish Jug These iconic jugs have been loved for 150 years and The Wade Fish Jug is the OG, from Wade Ceramics, whose original design inspired a gaggle of imitations. These unique gluggle jugs are named after the pleasing gurgling noise they make when pouring from them, due to the cunning design in the fish tail, which doubles as a handle. These are beautiful statement pieces, wonderfully crafted and make the perfect gift for pouring water, wine or even as a stylish vase. Wade has been a juggernaut in the ceramics world for over 200 years and their wonderful craftsmanship is clear on our jug, alongside some top-notch Koi gurgles. BUY FROM WADE CERAMICS . From £34.99 Personalised Floral Bouquet Cookie If you can't decide whether to send them beautiful flowers or a sweet treat, send both, in the shape of Baked by Steph's beautiful, bouquet cookies. These personalised treats are hand-iced and arrive through your letterbox in a gorgeous, lilac gift box. And you can show you've put the thought in, by having their name iced onto the edible gift tag. They are too pretty to eat, but luckily they have a three month shelf life, so you can admire them for a while, before devouring these delicious, vanilla treats. We managed to hold off for a day, before gobbling its moreish petals. BUY FROM BAKED BY STEPH. £11.50 Well Heeled 2 Pedicure System - Magnitone London Show her you worship her feet, by giving her the perfect pedicure companion. The Well Heeled 2 system gently buffs away dry, hard skin for beautifully conditioned, salon-soft feet. With dome-shaped micro-crystal rollers, you'll get better results under-toes and along the curves of the feet. And its ergonomically designed handle and light help to reach tricky places with ease. Lightweight, splash-proof and fully rechargeable via USB, it never slows down or loses power. We were thrilled with our baby soft new trotters and look forward to showing them off, when the perpetual winter finally ends. BUY FROM MAGNITONE . £30 The Awesome Hamper Company - Bath Bomb Gift Box Love bomb your Valentine, with this luxurious hamper of eight, decadent bath bombs. Fittingly, it includes two love heart bombs in Ylang & Rose and French Lavender, along with six excellent sized bombs in a gaggle of varieties, from Coconut Dream to Chamomile & Grapefruit. There's also the option of personalising it, with your chosen card, and it comes in a pretty box, so no pesky wrapping dramas. The fragrances are strong and glorious - our favourite being the Lemongrass & Mandarin - and are ideal for a romantic soak in the tub with your other half, this Valentine's. BUY FROM THE AWESOME HAMPER COMPANY . £36.50 Gather Gourmet Cocktails This collection of gourmet cocktails is a delicious gift to toast Cupid’s big day. The five ready-to-drink cans offer excellent twists on classics, like our personal favourite, the Spicy Mango Margarita, or the dreamy Chocolate Honeycomb Espresso Martini, the Salted Caramel Banana, Raspberry Ripple or Caramelised Pineapple. Perfect for a boozy date night from the comfort of your own home. BUY FROM GOOD TIME IN . £17.50 Equilabo Anti-Ageing Nourishing Bakuchiol Serum Give the gift of beautiful skin this Valentine’s with this game-changing oil serum, developed and tested by the world’s leading dermatologists.   We were stunned by its effects on wrinkles, lines, and hyperpigmentation, thanks to its secret weapon - Bakuchiol, from the Indian Babchi plant. It’s known as the “natural Retinol”, to help boost cell turnover and stimulate collagen production without the skin irritation and dryness often associated with retinol. Our skin glugged down this hydrating formula, which is rich in vitamins, natural fatty acids, antioxidants and minerals and we had an immediate, healthy glow afterwards, which friends commented on. BUY FROM EQUILABO LONDON . £195 Kairos Contactless Wine Aerator This extraordinary gadget is the world's first contactless wine aerator and gave us the perfect reason to break Dry January. In three, elegant colours - Mallard green, Charcoal and Burgundy - and small enough to fit in your pocket for restaurant trips, this gift is a game-changer for wine lovers, shortening the aerating time from minutes to seconds. We simply placed the aerator near our wine glasses - it works on up to four glasses - selected the desired aeration time, and in under a minute, it had transformed our glass from a basic Malbec, to a soft, fruity and fragrant treat. We specifically chose a high tannin Malbec to test it with, and were blown away by its advanced electromagnetic wave technology, which mimics a traditional decanter by accelerating oxygen molecules on the surface of red wine. It's the must-have gift for the wine lover in your life, and means you don't have to wait to toast each other, on your romantic Valentine's dinner. BUY FROM KAIROS . £199 Love LEGO Adult's Art Sculpture Set Give your LEGO loving lover a beautiful, Love-themed set to build, which double's as an arty piece of home decor when finished. This fabulous art building set for adults allows you to create a brick-built version of Robert Indiana’s famous LOVE sculpture, in a really impressive size and a satisfying - but not too tricky - skill level for us. Pleasingly, just like the original, it has curved bricks in blue and green for the sides of the letters and we enjoyed the snap, when fitting the letters together. Adorably, it comes with two sets of instructions, so you can make the iconic piece with you partner, and the finished masterpiece is all the more special, knowing you built it together. BUY FROM LEGO . £69.99 CARLY OBD II Scanner This game-changing gadget is the Valentine's gift that keeps on giving - and saving money - letting petrol heads take control of car maintenence and performance. This advanced tool gives users the power to decode hidden data from their cars, offering full diagnostics, live data analysis, and coding options, all through one user-friendly mobile app. Save your partner unnecessary trips to the mechanic, by diagnosing issues from the palm of their hand. The scanner and app give comprehensive vehicle diagnostics, live data tracking and advanced coding options. Simply plug it into your car's port, turn on ignition and voila, the app will identify any issues to keep on top of your car's health. BUY FROM MY CARLY . RRP £74.80 (currently on sale for £59.89) Burnt Faith Brandy It's brandy Jim, but not as we know it. And the UK's first brandy brand is the perfect Valentine's surprise for your boozy bed fellow. Move over, dusty old Cognac and Armagnac, this modern, new Walthamstow brandy is leading the way with exciting new wines, barrels and techniques. The result is a genuinenly exciting liquid, with a fresh cherry and ginger nose; buttery caramel and orange flavours and a velvety, dark chocolate finish. It's distilled with Trebbiano, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat Blanc grape varieties; aged in barrels used for drinks like bourbon and cherry liquer, to develop its distinct flavour and the result is a winning Valentine's prezzie. BUY FROM BURNT FAITH . £36 SANNOX Eau De Parfum by ARRAN Sense of Scotland This luxury men's fragrance is pure sexiness in a bottle and will have you sniffing his neck like a truffle pig, this Valentine's. We were amazed by how far a little goes - it's a rich and powerful scent, marrying earthy and floral tones like leather, amber, oud, pink pepper and saffron. And it lasted a whole day, garnering compliments from strangers, who followed the scent like Bisto kids. It is Scotland’s first, premium men’s fragrance collection and is crafted with Scottish ingredients native to the Isle of Arran, and blended with unfiltered, mineral-rich local water. Your nose and your other half with thank you for this sensual Valentine's purchase. BUY FROM ARRAN . £58 Mylas Moss Libido Blend This is a gift you can both enjoy, with the all natural supplement formulated to ignite passion and improve sexual performance and stamina, for men and women. The potent herbal blend is all natural and plant-based, using the perfect ratio of sexy herbs to create a powerful blend for Valentine's night activities. Its nine magic herbs include Siberian Ginseng Root, Gingko Biloba Leaf, Cacao Beans, Calamus Root, Ginger, Calendula Flower, Nettle Leaf, Rue and Cinnamon Bark. As well as helping to make the bedtime magic happen, they also increase energy and vitality, enhance mood and mental clarity, improve immune fucntion and hormone balance. Just steep in hot water, strain and enjoy. Ding and very much, dong. BUY FROM MYLAS MOSS . £18 SAVOIA Americano Rosso Hailing from Italy - the country of passion and romance - this rose red, premium vino aperitivo is the perfect gift for the cocktail lover in your life. This stylish tipple celebrates the country’s centuries-old aperitivo tradition, and is made with more than 20 botanicals. We loved its bittersweet blend of Sicilian oranges, aromatic herbs, spices, and delicate floral notes. It's also 100% vegan. And it's perfect for a host of romantic cocktails, from their Cherry and Chocolate - Savoia, Bourbon and two pinches of cocoa - to the Romeo & Juliet, made with Savoia, Italicus Rosolio di Bergamotto and Prosecco and garnished with rose petals and edible gold dust, if you're feeling particularly fancy. BUY FROM MASTER OF MALT. £21.94 Castore Green Beanie Hat Let your love go to his head, with this super soft and super warm, mint green beanie. Featuring the Castore graphic and ribbed for your pleasure - and for the all-important durability and resilience - this high quality beanie is designed for exceptional warmth during active prusuits and everyday wear. BUY FROM CASTORE . £22 Barbary & Oak Foundry Casserole Pan YES, YES, YES Chef! This sexy casserole pan is a beautiful gift for cooking up a romantic meal. It's the sort of pan you don't hide away in a drawer, but keep on show, to fire admiring glances at. The deep green dish is made from robust and durable cast iron, with a non-stick and easy to clean enamel interior, which won't absorb odours or flavours. Its domed lid is crowned with a luxurious, gold handle, emblazoned with Barbary & Oak's trademark tree. And it can be used on all hobs, ovens and grills as well as a cold food server, for stylish, al fresco dining. BUY FROM BARBARY & OAK . £42.99 Sweet Hamper Company - Valentine's Sweet Box The ultimate sweetie box for your ultimate sweetheart. This Valentine's Sweet Box contains 22 retro classics - from foam mushrooms and fizzy peaches to popping candy in traditional, striped candy bags - as well as modern favourites, like Haribo and Skittles. It comes in a beautiful box, topped with shredded paper, brimming with goodies and personalised with a card and message of your choice. It also features a range of love-themed goodies, like a giant heart lollipop, Love Hearts, and Juicy Red Lips. Sweet! BUY FROM SWEET HAMPER COMPANY . £25.50 We have been gifted samples in order to provide honest and accurate tried and tested reviews. But we never feature anything we don't recommend Like what you've read? Why not follow us on Instagram?

Xi Home Dumplings Founder's Ultimate Guide to the Best Cafes, Restaurants, Bars and Hidden Gems in Shoreditch Wenjun Xiang Xi was one of the first to bring authentic Northern Chinese dumplings to the UK, and opened her first dumpling store at just 17. Now aged 27 - cries in unfulfilled potential - she is celebrating the recent launch of her third restaurant, Xi Home Shoreditch, on Blossom Street. Her Xi Home Dumplings havens in Liverpool Street and Covent Garden are inspired by her hometown - the bustling port of Dalian in Northern China. It serves more than 20 authentic, handmade dumplings, alongside tea pairings, cocktails and detox juices. All dishes are freshly prepared by Dalian chefs chosen by Wenjun, and guests can watch all the dumpling action from the glass panelled open plan kitchen. Alongside the dumpling menu, sits an array of buns, rolls, pancakes and rich soups including, the Pork Soup Bun - an Instagrammable dish where pork broth is sipped from a straw inside the bun. Other must-try dishes include Sliced Beef & Ox Organs in Chilli Sauce, Stir Fried Liver with Chives & Bean Sprouts, Steamed Cold Noodles (perfect for Summer), Xi Home signature Wonton Soup and the Dalian street food snack Starch Potato Cubes with Mixed Seafood. And Wenjun has taken a moment away from her dumpling revolution to bring us her guide to the best places to eat and drink in Shoreditch, from morning to night. Xi Home Dumplings, 10 Blossom St, London E1 6PL ____________________ COFFEE % Arabica Arabica is literally minutes from Xi Home Shoreditch in Spitalfields market. I always go for an espresso. I need at least one a day to keep me awake. They have a really good balance of acidity, there. % Arabica, Near Living Pure Natural, Unit 2 Market St, London E1 6AJ BREAKFAST Savoy Cafe & Kitchen + Amber Kitchen E1 My two favourite spots are both local independents. Savoy Café & Kitchen in Shoreditch is tiny, but they have a great breakfast menu. I usually choose Amber Kitchen E1 if I want something healthy. Savoy Cafe & Kitchen , 11 Great Eastern St, London EC2A 3EJ LUNCH Kastner & Ovens When I’m in Spitalfields Market and craving a delicious, wholesome lunch, my go-to spot is Kastner & Ovens . Tucked away like a true hidden gem, this unassuming deli offers a daily-changing menu of hearty, freshly made dishes that feel like a warm hug on a plate. From vibrant salads to comforting pies and bakes, everything is packed with flavour and made with care. What I love most is the relaxed vibe - no fuss, just great food that hits the spot every time. It’s the perfect place for a satisfying lunch, and once you discover it, you’ll keep coming back. Kastner & Ovens , 13 Frying Pan Alley, London E1 7HS DINNER Hawksmoor Spitalfields Hawksmoor Spitalfields has the best quality steak locally, and Pho always delivers a good Vietnamese meal. Hawksmoor , 157A Commercial St, London E1 6BJ DRINKS Eataly Eataly is a great, buzzy spot for some early evening drinks. All of their wines are good quality. Eataly , 135 Bishopsgate, City of London, London EC2M 3YD INSIDER TIP Inspitalfields Gift Shop Whenever I find myself wandering through Spitalfields Market, I always make a point to stop by Inspitalfields Gift Shop. It’s one of my personal favourite spots in the area. Hidden among the hustle and bustle, this quirky little shop is a haven for unique, thoughtful gifts and playful treasures that you won’t find anywhere else. Whether you’re looking for something special to take home or just browsing for inspiration, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s the kind of place where you’ll always find a little spark of joy. Inspitalfields Gift Shop , 3a Lamb St, London E1 6EA Like what you've read? Why not follow us on Instagram?

The Capital's Best Family Experiences in or near London this February 2025 We're taking the argh out of half-term with our guide to the best things to do with kids this February and half-term - the only pickle is they might not want to go back to school, afterwards. From children’s festivals, a robot zoo, Egyptian adventures, immersive cardboard quests, the UK's longest toboggan run, free Chinese New Year celebrations, drag queen aerobics, witches, magic, slime, wizards, monsters and space adventures. Our top  picks include a gaggle of free  events and there’s something to entertain (and wear out) every flavour of child. ______________________ Imagine Festival One of our favourite children’s festivals turns 23 in February, but it has no intention of growing up and will be entertaining children during half-term with a gaggle of events, many of which are FREE. From 18-23 February, Southbank Centre’s annual arts festival for children aged 0-11 will explode with events, spanning theatre, dance, music, poetry, literature, art and trails. H ighlights include REPLAY, an imagination-fuelling playground made from recycled materials; the 10th birthday party for much-loved supermarket superhero Supertato; beloved book There’s a Bear on My Chair being brought to life for the first time; the first opportunity in a decade to spend a magical morning with Dog Man creator, Dave Pilkey; CBeebies Wildlife Jamboree featuring hit characters like Duggee and the Squirrels with the BBC Concert Orchestra and “pop-punk juggling” in Rollercoaster. Imagine Festival. 18-23 February. Southbank Centre,  Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. Mixture of FREE and paid events. Wicked - Extra Matinees for Feb Half-term If Defying Gravity has been on an endless loop from your child’s bedroom, you’ll be turbo-chuffed to learn that the hit West End musical will be adding extra matinee trips to Oz on 19, 20 and 22 February. The show tells the untold story of the Witches of Oz and is celebrating its legacy as the 10th longest-running production in West End history. With its 18th anniversary celebrated last September and the conclusion of its 10-city UK and Ireland tour just last week, Wicked has also captured global attention through a blockbuster film, with Wicked Film Part Two set to hit cinemas later this year. Wicked , The Apollo Victoria Theatre, 7 Wilton Rd, Pimlico, London SW1V 1LG. From £25pp. Extra matinee dates on 19, 20, 22 February half-term. The Robot Zoo How do chameleons change colour? What makes grasshoppers leap so high? How do bats see at night? Enter the fascinating world of The Robot Zoo and discover the mechanisms that give animals their amazing abilities. This family-friendly exhibition features larger-than-life animals that have been cleverly recreated using a variety of familiar machine parts and gadgets to reveal how their real life counterparts see, eat, hunt and hide. Interactive exhibits also give you the chance to try jet-propelled squid racing, and shoot a chameleon’s ‘tongue-gun’. Horniman Museum, Lower Ground Floor, 100 London Rd, London SE23 3PQ. 14 February-2 November. Child ticket £6.50. Adult ticket £9.75 YOUNG V&A - Making Egypt Following the success of its first exhibition, Japan: Myth to Manga, Young V&A invites you on a fascinating journey through the ancient past to modern day, exploring ancient Egypt's creativity and how it continues to influence art, design and popular culture today, via more than 200 fascinating pieces - the oldest is a stonking 5,500 years old. Young V&A, Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, London, E2 9PA. Tickets £10pp. The Exhibition Pass gives unlimited visits to Making Egypt.  Kedi Studio Our review This unique, splatter paint experience is the perfect way to entertain and inspire Jackson Pollock Jrs. The innovative art studio welcomes all ages and skill levels to enjoy the thrill and freedom of creative expression in their colourful Splat Room. They provide the protective smock and shoes, stretched canvas and paints and kids provide the creativity - splashing, splattering, spraying, and throwing paint - in exactly the way they’re not allowed at home - to create their masterpiece, ready to take home in a custom box. Kedi Studio , Arch 91 Tiverton St, London SE1 6FX. Every Thursday-Monday. From £45. Ride the UK’s Longest Toboggan Run Our review Take on the country’s epic, 740 metre toboggan run through pretty scenery for under a tenner. Chatham Snowboard Centre’s toboggan run invites everybody aged four up to whizz around its metal course, for an adrenaline-packed experience with low skills and big thrills. And the cheeky bonus is that if your child is under 7, you get two rides together for £9. Chatham Snowsports Centre, John Nike Leisuresport Alpine Park, Capstone Rd, Chatham ME7 3JH. £9 for two toboggan rides (adults ride free with kids under 7) £17.50 for five rides. NEW Science Museum Afternoon Tea The Science Museum is launching its first ever afternoon tea, just in time for half-term. Mixing science, art and food, the experience is curated by Benugo chefs, featuring fun treats like petri dish jelly, their signature pink lemonade which invites kids to use chemistry to create their own fizzy drink, cupcakes with ‘blood’ syringes and test tubes filled with popping candy, moon rocks and edible soil. Science Museum, Gallery Café, Level 2, Exhibition Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD. Kids’ Afternoon Tea, £22. Every Wed-Sun from 24 January. Boxville Theatre Adventure Take your kids (6-10) on an adventure exploring Boxville, a land and puppet inhabitants made entirely from sustainable cardboard. Work with the engineers to craft-a-long with the story and build your way through the tasks and trials of Boxville, earning everything you need to become a fully fledged cardboard engineer. You will meet paper dragons, corrugated crabs and cardboard space robots in this STEM skilled, hands on, interactive adventure. Afterwards, all cardboard creations can be taken home. Polka Theatre, 240 The Broadway, London, SW19 1SB. 19-23 February. Tickets from £14. BeWell Family Dance Festival For one day only, artsdepot will be taken over by Dare2Dance Company’s family dance festival for all ages and abilities. including dance showcases and workshops covering everything from hip-hop to Bollywood. artsdepot . 5 Nether St, London N12 0GA. £3 per child. £5 to £8 per adult. 22 February Out at Sea - FREE LGBTQ+ Kids' Events Visit Cutty Sark, the National Maritime Museum and Queen's House this February half term for a week-long series of FREE events celebrating LGBTQ+ History Month. Enjoy storytelling and talks as well as a host of creative workshops, from Drag Queen, Merfolk making, Queer Pier crafts  Story Time, to Drag Aerobics, singing workshops and pride peg dolls. National Maritime Museum , Romney Rd, London SE10 9NF. FREE, 15-23 February Bella the Tower Bridge Cat Trail Our review Two and four legged guests can go on a feline trail at the London landmark, meeting character from the popular Bella the Tower Bridge Cat books and tottering across its astonishing glass walkways, 42 metres above the Thames. The cat trail is open all year, for people (as well as pets) and is a fabulous adventure for little ones, filled with fascinating history, as they get their Apprenticeship Records stamped by characters along the way. And keep your eyes peeled for the famous feline's birthday celebrations on 9 March, when they turn up the meowsic and get the pawty started. Tower Bridge, Tower Bridge Rd, London SE1 2UP. Daily, 9.30am - 6pm. Included with your ticket - £6.70 kids, £13.40 adults. A Squash and a Squeeze Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s hit book goes from page to stage in this funny and heartwarming musical puppet adventure, adapted by Oliver-nominated duo Barb Jungr and Samantha Lane.  The world premiere adaptation of this popular book tells the story of an old lady who is unhappy with the size of her cost cottage, so follows a wise old man’s advice, and fills it with a gaggle of noisy, smelly farmyard animals, and begins its nationwide tour at our favourite puppet theatre, Little Angel. Little Angel Studios, Sebbon St, London N1 2EH. 1 February-27 April. Kids £13pp. Adults £15pp. Ages 3-8 West End - London’s Chinese New Year Festival Hundreds of thousands of people will head to the West End on 2 February  for the largest gathering of Chinese lions and dragons in Europe, and more than 50 colourful New Year Parade floats. There are also free stage shows in Trafalgar Square  - featuring martial arts and dances to Chinese pop. The family zone in Leicester Square  will host craft, arts and dress-up sessions. The celebrations close with a show-stopping fireworks and lion dance display, lighting up Trafalgar Square. Chinese New Year Festival.  Through Charing Cross Road, Shaftesbury Avenue, Chinatown, Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square.1 - 2 February. FREE Year of the Snake at Greenwich Peninsula Greenwich Peninsula will welcome the Year of the Snake with a vibrant celebration of East and Southeast Asian culture and traditions. Expect acrobatic Lion and Dragon dances in Peninsula Square from 1.30pm, Firepit Art Gallery exhibitions celebrating Lunar New Year; hands-on workshops like woodblock printing, bamboo weaving and Chinese knot-making; live music from Eastern Margins DJs, and the Eternal Market - a vibrant Pan Asian showcase featuring contemporary and traditional fare, brimming with delicious food, unique crafts, and community traders. Greenwich Peninsula,  London, SE10. 1 February. FREE - £10. 12-4pm Chinese New Year in Camden Town Camden Town will celebrate Chinese New Year with an explosion of music, parades, workshops, and dance events. The colourful Lion Dance Parade will take over Camden Market and Hawley Wharf alongside live music and costumes. There are also hands-on workshops, from Calligraphy and Woodblock Printing to Fan Making, plus traders, creatives, and Chinese market stalls. Camden Market , 54-57 Camden Lock Place, London, NW1 8AF. 1 February. FREE. Lunar New Year Festival at London Museum Docklands Celebrate the Lunar New Year at London’s original Chinatown, in Limehouse. The London Museum Docklands is running a free  family festival with dragon dances, enchanting folktales, vibrant crafts and lively community-led events. London Museum Docklands , No 1, West India Quay, Hertsmere Rd, London E14 4AL. 1-2 February. FREE FREE Battersea Power Station Light Festival The Power Station’s FREE annual light show returns, bigger, better and more interactive than ever, to shine some light into the January gloom. This year's eight installations feature a tornado of light, the Northern Lights and a giant ball of yarn. It also includes family-friendly workshops, and live performances, like LED drummers, roaming LED stilt walkers, a glowing Cyr Wheel Show, combining dance, acrobatics, and mesmerising spins enhanced by vivid lights, while the LED Optioscopes dancers bring the night to life with their magnificent costumes and stunning routines. Battersea Power Station , Circus Rd W, Nine Elms, London SW11 8DD. 23 January - 23 February. FREE. FREE Winter Lights, Canary Wharf This gorgeous, free light trail returns for its ninth year, with 12 installations, including a towering stack of bath tubs, pulsating with light and music, portals, mirages, a 20m wide black hole. There are also sweet treats and hot drinks to fuel you on the adventure. Winter Lights. Throughout Canary Wharf. 21 January - 1 February 2025. FREE. Neon Brush For Kids This brilliantly original event invites kids to experience the magic of neon painting, using fluorescent paints which glow in UV light. Stencils, brushes, paints and tools for snazzy effects are all provided for the family event, enjoyed to a soundtrack of kid-pleasing tunes. And they can leave with their finished masterpiece. Neon Brush Kids Edition , Glazier’s Hall SE1 22 Feb - 22 March From £21 Replay: A Limitless Recycled Playground Part installation, part adventure playground, REPLAY is a space built entirely out of waste materials repurposed for fun by The Herd Theatre, which children can transform in any way their imaginations lead them. Everything here can be moved, changed, combined, worn and reimagined, for kids to build their own worlds, invent games and leave ideas for players to come. It’s designed for all ages, with designated sessions grouped by age. Replay . The Royal Festival Hall. 21 Jan – 1 June Tickets from £7.50 Magic of Afternoon Tea at Vintry & Mercer Read our review Five star boutique hotel,  Vintry & Mercer launched a brand new candlelit Magic of Afternoon Tea, for little (and big) wizards, which is full of delicious surprises. Our menu comes to life with a UV torch, there are chocolate soil-filled coffins to excavate, magical elixirs to mix, dramatic smoking tiers brimming with edible spell books, chocolate wands, owls and a chocolate and mango Excalibur dessert stabbed with a chocolate sword. And that's before we discuss the savouries and other surprises, which you can read about in our review. Hint: It's one of our favourite new family afternoon tea experiences. Vintry & Mercer,  19-20 Garlick Hill, London EC4V 2AU. Adult's Magic of Afternoon Tea - from £49.50 pp. Kid's Wizard's Afternoon Tea - £37.50 Ice Rink Canary Wharf London’s longest running seasonal ice rink, Ice Rink Canary Wharf offers visitors a magical skate session in the heart of Canary Wharf. This year’s ice rink will be putting on themed skating sessions, including 80’s, 90’s and Soul Classics nights to get skaters in the festive spirit. There’s a transparent roof, to thwart Blighty’s pesky weather, plus an apres-skate alpine bar serving winter warmers for skaters and spectators. And the centre piece this year is a glorious Christmas tree, beneath a suspended giant mirrored ball, casting disco reflections across the rink. Ice Rink Canary Wharf.  Canada Square, London E14 5AB. 26 Oct - 23 February F1 Driving, Skywalks and Tours at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Little adrenaline junkies can get their kicks at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with a hat trick of high octane tours, from The Dare Skywalk - climbing to the top of the stadium, 46.8m above the pitch - to the UK’s first controlled descent from a stadium, once at the top. Plus a Stadium Tour for those who want to keep their feet on the ground. They can also experience a high tech Formula 1 driving experience, with an exciting track layout and LED steering wheels. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium , 782 High Rd, London N17 0BX The Paddington Bear Immersive Experience Read Review Everybody’s favourite, Peruvian bear has had the immersive treatment, with The Paddington Bear™ Experience. The marmalade-addled, interactive adventure across more than 26,000 square feet of Southbank’s London County Hall  invites guests into a series of themed rooms, inspired by iconic locations from the Paddington stories. Fittingly, it kicks off at Paddington Station, where guests will be greeted by a friendly Station Master and taken on a colourful train journey through London’s most famous landmarks, to the Browns’ charming, No. 32 Windsor Gardens home. Once inside the famous, tree-adorned hallway, guests will embark on a multi-sensory adventure to help the Brown family and Paddington prepare for the all-important Marmalade Day Festival. The Paddington Bear™ Experience , London County Hall, Westminster Bridge Road, SE1 7PB. Adult tickets £34pp. Children (2-15) £24. Under 2s go FREE Mrs Doubtfire Dining Experience Hellooo poppets! Hit West End musical Mrs Doubtfire has put the eat into theatre for a delicious new partnership with luxury London restaurant, Colonel Saab . The award-winning Indian dining concept gives fans a multi-sensory, pre-theatre dining experience, featuring cocktails and dishes inspired by famous scenes, which transform before your eyes and are not what they seem - just like the title character of Shaftesbury Theatre’s comedy show. Expect a "Run-By Fruiting" and a grand finale involving liquid nitrogen, in a cheeky nod to the famous kitchen fire scene, before heading around the corner to watch the show itself at Shaftesbury Theatre. Colonel Saab, 193-197 High Holborn, London WC1V 7BD. £60 course five course meal and cocktail or £35 Mrs Doubtfire Set Lunch plus theatre tickets. Shaftesbury Theatre, 210 Shaftesbury Ave, London WC2H 8DP Barbie: The Exhibition The wonder doll (and society’s) evolution is charted in this luminous exhibition, which opened this month, to coincide with Barbie’s 65th birthday. Exploring her story through a design lens including fashion, architecture, furniture and vehicle design, her plastic-fantastic universe has engulfed the Design Museum, showing changing attitudes to women’s careers - Barbie has had more than 250 jobs -  race, sexuality, fashion and body image. Highlights include a rare first edition of the very first doll released by Mattel in 1959, the first Black, Hispanic and Asian dolls to bear the Barbie name, as well as dolls that reflect today’s diverse, multicultural society, including the first Barbie with Down Syndrome, the first to use a wheelchair, and the first to be designed with a curvy body shape. Design Museum,  224-238 Kensington High St, London W8 6AG. Until 23 February 2025. Adult from £14.38. Children from £7.19 Science Museum Astronights Sleepover  Read our review Budding scientists (aged 7-11) can spend the night at The Science Museum,  exploring the museum out-of-hours,  sleeping among space rockets, a Moon rock or in the world’s largest medical galleries. Young campers will experience the ultimate sleepover, with an evening full of activities, including science shows and interactive workshops.  This year’s Astronights programme is supported by official sponsor TEMPUR®, who will gift all campers a travel pillow to help budding scientists get some rest during this exciting night.The following morning, campers can refuel at breakfast, before exploring Wonderlab , their interactive gallery, with hands-on exhibits and immersive experiences, and catch a 3D documentary on their giant IMAX screen. Science Museum,  Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 2DD. Dates vary, £70pp standard, £100 VIP. Monster Funfair at Discover Children's Story Centre Stratford's immersive, sprog-storytelling Mecca has launched its new family adventure, taking visitors through a fantastical circus tent and into the woods. In amongst the trees you’ll find an amazing, marvellous, EXTRAORDINARY… Monster Funfair!   Created with the award-winning Nadia Shireen, this magical world also has a fairground mystery to solve – just who has stolen ALL the candyfloss?  Discover Children's Story Centre is brimming with entertainment across three floors, plus a wonderfully imaginative Story Garden. Creep through caves, find fairy worlds within magical trees, explore hidden ships, perform in a puppet castle, leap over alligators and man your own spaceships and rockets across two floors. Discover Children's Story Centre  383-387 High St, London E15 4QZ.  Ages 0-8 Art in the Docks - FREE There are FREE art classes every Saturday morning at Art in the Docks, which can be booked online, with 30 spots for each class. Children are encouraged to use their imagination and gain confidence in a nurturing environment, hosted by ceramic artist Mariana Alemany. The classes are suitable for all ages, and all materials and equipment will be provided. Art in the Docks , 25 Shackleton Way, London, E16 2XJ. Every Saturday. 10am-12pm. FREE. Navrtar VR Arctic Expedition Take the family on an Arctic expedition, without leaving London. They’ll learn about global warming in a whole, new way during the 60-minute experience, exploring the abyss of the Arctic; its icy tundras, hidden caverns and unique wildlife hidden in an extraordinary, underwater world. Guests in teams of six can teleport 100 years into the future to compare the effects of global warming. The sessions begin with a range of multi-player mini games to enhance the senses and test skills, before embarking on the Arctic expedition, exploring marine life and shipwrecks. Navrtar , Dickens Yard, Longfield Ave W5 2UQ. Prices from £32pp. iFly Childrens’ Skydive Read our review here Anybody from the age of 3 to 103 can experience the superpower of flight at iFly , as long as they can comfortably wear a helmet. The instructors allow children to safely feel the sensation of an  exhilarating, 12,000 ft free-fall and flight,  without  jumping out of a plane. Along with watching the instructor perform a mesmerising  dance on air inside the vertical wind tunnel, your family can enjoy the extraordinary sensation of weightlessness, soaring around the glass tube and unlocking a core memory of their newfound super powers. iFLY London at The O2, Peninsula Square, London SE10 0DX. Tickets and vouchers to fly can be purchased by clicking here  and are available from £69.99 per person Wizard Exploratorium Check out our review here.   Soho's magic-themed Wizard Exploratorium is a five-storey, geek wonderland, offering a 4D wand-making workshop, immersive trick shop and suitably magical afternoon tea encompassing tea brewing, molecular gastronomy, and technology. Wizard Exploratorium , 26 Greek St, London W1D 5DE Slimy Gootopia Sessions Slime is a gloopy rite of passage for every child - parents quickly learn the art of removing it from hair and unwitting pets and it’s up there with ice cream in the kiddie delight department. Enter stage left: Gootopia , which brings its gloopy joy to Brixton and Lewisham. The venues have shelves of ready-made slime, slime ingredients, activator, and their ‘goo-to-go’ slime vending machine. They also offer a range of activities and experiences for kids of all ages, including slime workshops, birthday parties, school science workshops, drop-in slime-making sessions and live slime-making demonstrations by goo alchemists Gootopia . Brixton and Lewisham locations. Pampering for all the family at Pan Pacific London Family activities that involve lying down and being pampered? Count us massively IN. Pan Pacific London  has partnered with luxury children’s brand Bonpoint , to create a unique offering for the hotel’s dedicated Wellbeing Floor. The first partnership of its kind in the UK, the duo have created a range of unisex skincare treatments and packages for children aged 6 – 16 years old, that provide an opportunity for parents to spend quality time with their children and teens and enjoy a spot of pampering. Pan Pacific Family Pampering , 80 Houndsditch, London, EC3A 7AB. Treatments start from £100. Power Up at the Science Museum Following five successful runs, Power Up will make its permanent home at the Science Museum from July, allowing visitors to try over 160 consoles and hundreds of the very best video games, all year long. With the new Power Up annual passes, visitors can return whenever they fancy, to journey through the world of gaming. Experience the evolution of gaming – from classics such as Pong and Street Fighter to the latest PlayStation and Xbox – while discovering the science and history behind gaming’s most iconic developments. Power Up  Ticketed, daily passes: £10, annual passes: £15   . Age: 5+. Science Museum, Exhibition Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD Get the Kids Climbing the Walls Get the kids climbing the walls at London’s Parthian Climbing centre in Wandsworth. The 25,000 square foot beast combines climbing with lifestyle, thanks to its café, bar, gym, retail and co-working space. And it is the first indoor climbing facility in the UK to feature an exact replica of  The Titan  Olympic bouldering wall, which will be used at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. They offer a range of kids’ sessions and courses for ages 3 and up. There are instructors for little ones taking on their first climbing experience, as well as the National Indoor Climbing Award Scheme (NICAS) for a progressive syllabus. They also host kids’ parties, for 1.5 hours of climbing activities and games which are the perfect antidote to ‘Fun Freddie’ wrestling a balloon into a drooping sausage dog. Parthian Climbing Centre , 52 - 58 Garratt Ln, Wandsworth, London SW18 4TF Avora Family Experience Read our review Up an unassuming, Shoreditch street is a secret portal to another planet. And on school holidays and Sundays, you can take your kids for a well-deserved break from Earth, on planet Avora. This  otherworldly adventure will see you encounter scientists, mocktails, aliens, army villains and closes with a child-pleasing, farty finale. Avora: Family Immersive Adventure  5C, 127 Hackney Road, London, E2 8GY. Sundays, 12pm – 3:30pm. School Holiday weekdays. £24.50 per child (6-13) £29.50 per adult. The Gunpowder Plot at Tower of London Vaults Older children (12+) will be catapulted into the most exciting history lesson of their lives, in this explosive new, immersive experience, starring Harry Potter’s Tom Felton. Your mission is to go undercover and unmask the mysterious figures behind history’s most infamous plot. But when you’re surrounded by traitors, who can you trust? With surprises around every turn, descend into the vaults and experience a combination of live and digital actors, virtual reality and fancy pants technology like motion simulators and special effects, transporting you back to London 1605 in the heart of the Gunpowder plot. The Gunpowder Plot , 8-12 Tower Hill Vaults, London, EC3N 4EE Play Captain on a GoBoat River Picnic Read our review If you’re looking for somewhere to spend a genuinely relaxing few hours for parents and  children (plus dogs, if you have one) we recommend a GoBoat  trip. You can enjoy a picnic as captain of your own, electric boat through Canary Wharf, Paddington, Kingston, Thames Ditton or Birmingham. GoBoat UK , Open 7 days a week from 9am - dusk. Prices start from  £85 for 1 hour and  £125 for two hours on the  8-person boats. GoBoat Canary Wharf, 22 Churchill Place, London, E14 5RE Paddington Afternoon Tea Bus Tour Read our review Brigit's Bakery  launched the first, official Paddington Bear afternoon tea bus tour , celebrating the capital.The double-decker has built-in screens, so that Paddington and Mrs Bird can provide an animated guide to the tour, which includes some of Paddington's favourite landmarks, like Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Hyde Park, Nelson’s Column, Downing Street, St. Paul's Cathedral, Borough Market, Green Park and Piccadilly Circus. The tour takes just under two hours, while you scoff treats including glittering shortbreads, designed to look like nibbled marmalade sandwiches, mini pizzas, smoked salmon and cucumber pretzels, turkey ham and cheddar or cream cheese and cucumber finger sandwiches and naturally, marmalade sandwiches. And for those who share the bear’s sweet tooth, the homemade sweet treats included a rice pudding studded with chocolate honeycomb, chocolate cupcakes crowned with Paddington’s chocolate paws, lemon meringue tarts, chocolate macarons and freshly baked scones with cream and jam. Brigit’s Bakery also provide vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and halal afternoon teas. Paddington Afternoon Tea Bus tour  Departs from Trafalgar Square, Wednesdays to Sundays. Prices from £45 adult, £35 child. Whizz Down The ArcelorMittal Orbit How about hurling your children down the world’s tallest slide? The 178m long ArcelorMittal Orbit  was the iconic landmark of the 2012 London Olympics and is now an attraction with three adventure experiences. Families can speed down the winding slide, abseil, or walk around the glass orbit at the top. You can also pretend it's a high-brow, cultural experience, because the orbit is also a sculpture by Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond. And it beats the usual views of grubby swings and bins, because here you can check out the stunning views of Queen Elizabeth Park. To ride the slide, children must be at least eight years old and over 1.3m.   ArcelorMittal Orbit , Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, 5 Thornton St, London E20 2AD. From £10.75. Cutty Sark Rig Climb Experience Originally climbed when the ship first arrived to Greenwich in 1954, visitors can now recreate this, by clambering up the famous masts of the Cutty Sark.The Rig Climb Experience invites kids and brave parents to step up from the main deck onto the ship’s ratlines and climb up its top mast, as hundreds of sailors did during the Cutty Sark’s heyday. Once at the top, climbers will experience a controlled descent from the rigging. Participants will be rewarded with some of the best views in London, overlooking St Paul’s Cathedral, The Shard and Tower Bridge. Cutty Sark King William Walk, London SE10 9H Snot, Sick and Scabs at the Centre of the Cell Deliciously disgusting and sneakily educational centre in a futuristic, light-studded pod suspended above the laboratories of the Blizard Institute in Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. Children can learn about the heart, teeth or senses, see scientists at work and enjoy their delightfully vile ‘Snot, Sick and Scabs’ session. Centre of the Cell,  4 Newark St, London E1 2AT Out-of-Hours at the British Museum Your little ones can walk in the footsteps of the ancient Greeks, Pharoahs or journey through the cultures of China at The British Museum's family-friendly, out-of-hours tours. Taking place between 8.50 – 10am, before the galleries are open to the public, you can beat the unsavoury crowds. And from 4 - 25 March, children can explore Roman history through Minecraft, create a Japan-themed family photo (11 March) and make mosaic masks inspired by the Aztec gods on 18 March. The British Museum , Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DG. Under fives go free.  £16.50 for 5-15 year olds. £33 Adults Monopoly Lifesized Go big or go home… or straight to jail at Monopoly Lifesized,  an immersive, on-your-feet version of the classic, family game, played on a 15m x 15m lifesized Monopoly board. Enter the 4D experience and compete in challenges for your chance to buy properties. Stage a heist in Mayfair, compete against a clock to build some of London’s iconic buildings, solve a baffling murder mystery or step into the world of codebreakers. The 80-minute experience is suitable for kids from 9 and older and is open every day except Mondays. Monopoly Lifesized , 213-215 Tottenham Court Road, W1T 7PS. Tickets £49 pp Crystal Maze LIVE Experience Older children (from 8 onwards) can take on this immersive adventure, which brings the hit 90s TV show to life.Run around like mentalists, yell, complete a host of difficult challenges and end the game in a fetching, satin bomber jacket. Crystal Maze Live Experience , 22 - 32 Shaftesbury Avenue W1D 7EU Holiday to Space at Royal Observatory Greenwich Join Ted and Plant as they explore the Solar System in search of the best place to take a holiday in an intergalactic morning adventure, including a planetarium show and interactive workshop. Recommended Age: 3 - 6 yrs. Open 10am-5pm daily Royal Observator y Greenwich Park, Blackheath Avenue SE10 8XJ Like what you've read? Why not follow us on Insta?

The Capital's Top Art Shows this February 2025 January has finally naffed off, and we welcome the month of love with Linder's major Tate retrospective exploring the body and its representation over the years; Leigh Bowery's extraordinary world, Alice Neel's Queer World paintings and, erm, socks. There's also much-needed light from Luke Jerram's new Sun to Battersea and Canary Wharf's light artists, as well as a colourful exploration of the birth of Modernism in Brazil and a gaggle of shows to brighten up February, among our guide to this month's best 15 London exhibitions. __________________________ Linder: Danger Came Smiling Pioneering feminist artist, Linder launches her first London retrospective, celebrating 50 years of her work, dissecting our fascination with the body and its representation. From early glamour photography to digital deep fakes, this must-see exhibition spans from the early photomontages she made while part of Manchester’s Seventies punk scene, to new work in digital montage, featuring montage, photography, performance and sculpture, examining of our shifting attitudes to aspirational lifestyles, sex, food and fashion. Hayward Gallery , Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XX. 11 February - 5 May 2025. £3 - £20 Leigh Bowery! In his short but brilliant life, Leigh Bowery left an indelible mark on the art world, as artist, performer, model, TV personality, club promoter, fashion designer and musician. This eclectic and immersive exhibition is a rare chance to experience many of Bowery’s looks alongside his collaborations with artists including Michael Clark, Charles Atlas, Nick Knight, and Lucian Freud. It will provide a fresh insight into the creative scenes in London, New York and beyond featuring Lady Bunny, MINTY and Boy George and allow us to step into Bowery’s dynamic world that blurred the lines between art and life. Tate Modern,  Bankside, London SE1 9TG. 27 February - 31 August. £18 / free for members. Socks: The Art of Care and Repair - Celia Pym This colourful, sock-addled exhibition by London based textile artist Celia Pym transforms NOW Gallery into a creative space, for little and big hands to learn the art of darning, with colourful materials and guidance provided. The show centres around a vibrant installation of 488 socks, stitched and darned by the Surrey Square Primary School community in Southwark. There is also a map of socks belonging to Pym’s friends and family, creatively mended by Pym in styles to suit the sock-owners’ personalities.  NOW Gallery , 3, Gateway Pavilion, Peninsula Square, London SE10 0SQ. Until 9 March. FREE At Home: Alice Neel in the Queer World One of our favourite, and most radical American painters of the 20th Century, Alice Neel’s legacy is further explored in Victoria Miro’s ninth exhibition of the late artist’s work. This show focuses on her role within the LGBTQ community and highlights the her career-long commitment to depicting the human condition and painting people from many walks of life, with subjects in the show including friends, politicians, writers, artists and performers. Victoria Miro , 16 Wharf Road, London N1 7RW. 30 January - 8 March London Premiere of Luke Jerram’s NEW Helios Installation Move over Mars, there’s a new star in town, in the extraordinary shape of Luke Jerram’s brand new Helios installation, which will make its London premiere at Old Royal Naval College. The artist’s equally jaw-dropping Mars artwork will be replaced by the seven-meter celestial artwork of our largest star, to bring its vibrancy within touching distance in this cold winter. Co-commissioned by the Old Royal Naval College, Helios promises a ‘winter sun’ escape in a stunning setting, complemented by a programme of events celebrating wellbeing and culture. It offers a rare opportunity to closely examine the star’s surface in astonishing detail. At a scale of 1:200 million, every centimetre of the illuminated masterpiece represents 200km of the Sun’s fiery expanse. Painted Hall,  Old Royal Naval College, London SE10 9NN, 25 January - 25 March. £16.50 FREE Battersea Power Station Light Festival The Power Station’s FREE annual light show returns, bigger, better and more interactive than ever, to shine some light into the January gloom. Many of the eight spectacular installations include soundscapes and interactive elements which respond to people’s movements, like the LightPiano, which invites people to play with music and light; or Lightbattle III, for a cycling competition inside arches of light, with the ultimate winner awarded with a flood of colourful light. Battersea Power Station , Circus Rd W, Nine Elms, London SW11 8DD. 23 January - 23 February. FREE FREE Winter Lights, Canary Wharf This gorgeous, free light trail returns for its ninth year, with 12 installations, including a towering stack of bath tubs, pulsating with light and music, portals, mirages, a 20m wide black hole. There are also sweet treats and hot drinks to fuel you on the adventure. Winter Lights.  Throughout Canary Wharf. 21 January - 1 February 2025. FREE Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism In the early 20th century a new modern art was emerging in Brazil, informed by the vibrant cultures, identities and landscapes of Brazil. This major exhibition features more than 130 works by ten important Brazilian artists from the twentieth century - with many on show for the first time - capturing the diversity of Brazilian art its birth and colourful evolution. Royal Academy , Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD. 28 Jan - 28 April.Tickets  from £23.50 pp The World of Tim Burton We whispered Beetlejuice three times, and the UK premiere of The World of Tim Burton has been announced at London's Design Museum. Fittingly, the alchemist of whimsical goth horror’s exhibition launches just before Halloween, on 25 October, riding the crest of the hype-tsunami around the freshly released Beetlejuice 2 movie. The show will showcase his work beyond the silver-screen, as an illustrator, painter, photographer and author, as well as key collaborations with designers. Drawing from Burton’s personal archive and representing his creative output from childhood to the present day, this collection of drawings, paintings, photographs, sketchbooks, moving-image works, sculptural installations, set and costume design focuses on the recurrent visual themes and motifs found in Burton’s art and film worlds. This will be the final stop in a decade-long world tour for this exhibition and will be its only ever showing in the UK. The World of Tim Burton , Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High St, W8 6AG. 25 October 25 2024 - 21 April 2025. Tickets from £19.69 pp, Kid’s £9.85 Marilyn: The Exhibition Read our review This UK premiere offers a rare and unprecedented glimpse into the private world of the silverscreen icon. From love letters, satin robes and timeless outfits to vintage shoes, make-up and accessories, this meticulously curated collection features 250 extraordinary objects from the exclusive private collection of Ted Stampfer, the world's largest collector of Marilyn's historical objects. The eternally fascinating, Hollywood superstar's most personal belongings were locked in storage for almost 40 years before being dispersed across the globe, after being released to the world’s biggest auction houses. Finally, this vast and extraordinary collection has been reunited for this show, revealing the woman behind the world’s most famous smile. Marilyn: The Exhibition . Arches, London Bridge,  8 Bermondsey St, London SE1 2ER. Until 23 February 2025   Looks Delicious! S hokuhin sanpuru  – the Japanese concept of placing unexpectedly realistic food replicas in restaurant windows - has been celebrated, in this feast for the eyes. Audiences can admire 47 of these skilfully-created models up close, with dishes ranging from Okinawan goya chanpuru  (bitter melon stir fry) to the indigenous Ainu ohaw (soup with salmon) from the northern island of Hokkaido. The free show explores the history, materials, processes and future potential of the craft. Japan House , 101-111 Kensington High St, London W8 5SA. Until 16 February. FREE Turner Prize 2024 Work by the four shortlisted Turner Prize  artists will go on display from 25 September , ahead of the 40th year of the awards ceremony, which has made stars of everybody from Damien Hirst to Grayson Perry. Delaine le Bas and Jasleen Kaur explore their Glaswegian Sikh and Roma heritages via immersive installations; Claudette Johnson examines the marginalisation of Black people in Western art, through striking figurative portraits, and Pio Abad reflects on colonialism, with drawings and sculptures of artefacts from Oxford museums. Tate Britain , Millbank, London SW1P 4RG. 25 September - 16 February 2025 Barbie: The Exhibition The wonder doll (and society’s) evolution is charted in this luminous exhibition, which opened this month, to coincide with Barbie’s 65th birthday. Exploring her story through a design lens including fashion, architecture, furniture and vehicle design, her plastic-fantastic universe has engulfed the Design Museum, showing changing attitudes to women’s careers - Barbie has had more than 250 jobs -  race, sexuality, fashion and body image. Highlights include a rare first edition of the very first doll released by Mattel in 1959, the first Black, Hispanic and Asian dolls to bear the Barbie name, as well as dolls that reflect today’s diverse, multicultural society, including the first Barbie with Down Syndrome, the first to use a wheelchair, and the first to be designed with a curvy body shape. Design Museum,  224-238 Kensington High St, London W8 6AG. Until 23 February 2025. Adult from £14.38. Children from £7.19 Anthony McCall - Solid Light at Tate Modern The Godfather of immersive exhibitions, Anthony McCall brings his extraordinary, Solid Light show to Tate Modern  on 27 June, inviting visitors to bring artworks to life through movements and interactions. Beams of light projected through a thin mist create large, three-dimensional forms in space, which slowly shift and change. As you move through these translucent light sculptures, you’ll create new, airy sculptures. Occupying a space between sculpture, cinema, drawing, and performance, McCall is known for his innovative installations of light. In 1973, his seminal work Line Describing a Cone redefined the possibilities of sculpture and this show is set to be the Tate’s next big blockbuster. Anthony McCall: Solid Light.  Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG. Until 27 April 2025. Tickets £10 pp. Entheon at Illusionaries  Illusionaries , Canary Wharf's new multi-sensory art space, invites us on a journey through three immersive rooms and installations, designed to engage the senses through soundscapes, animation, projection and colour. The UK premiere of the Entheon  show sees international artists Alex and Allyson Grey explore the human condition, with kaleidoscopic pieces, showing the interconnectedness of the physical and spiritual worlds. Alex and Allyson are also the co-founders of Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM), a non-profit organisation dedicated to fostering creativity, spirituality and contemplation through art.  Entheon . Illusionaries, Crossrail Pl, London E14 5AR. Until 21 February NAOMI in Fashion at V&A The V&A will transform into the ultimate catwalk for a celebration of supermodel Naomi Campbell’s 40 year career, from 22 June. The show features more than 100 stunning outfits as well as iconic shots by some of the world’s biggest photographers, telling her extraordinary story and celebrating her creative collaborations, activism and far-reaching cultural impact. Victoria & Albert Museum , Cromwell Rd, London SW7 2RL. Until 6 April 2025 Like what you've read? Why not subscribe to our free, monthly newsletter?