What’s On This Weekend? Saturday 20th & Sunday 21st February
Fun and fantastic things to do with the kids in London this Weekend & throughout half term
Saturday 20th & Sunday 21st February
KIDS GO FREE AT THE VIEW AT THE SHARD, LONDON BRIDGE
See London as a city of toys this half term as kids go free at The View from The Shard. Experience Western Europe’s tallest building and enjoy this unique 360 degree view of London stretching 40 miles across the city and beyond.
Take in over 1,000 years of the capital’s history all at once with this birds eye view and take turns spotting iconic landmarks including Tower Bridge, The Gherkin, Houses of Parliament and Canary Wharf as you’ve never seen them before. Stay as long as you want at the top and enjoy the interactive complimentary audio guides or listening to the interesting facts on the interactive Tell:scopes.
When: until 21st February
Where: The Shard, SE1 9SG
Age: All
Cost: Kids go free with Adults from £29.95, – book your free tickets here
LittleBird’s Top Tip: Kids go free at ArcelorMittal Orbit too this half term. Pop along and see the slide being built and enjoy Queen Elizabeth’s Olympic Park while you’re here too. Get your free tickets here.
MAGIC LANTERN FESTIVAL AT CHISWICK HOUSE & GARDENS – SAVE UP TO 22% WITH LITTLEBIRD
Don’t miss the amazing Magic Lantern Festival at Chiswick House & Gardens. See 52 lanterns using 58,000 bulbs light up Chiswick House & Gardens and experience giant sculpted lanterns in a variety of forms and structures – look out for tigers, elephants, peacocks, flamingoes as well as a Tree of Life lantern, illuminated oversized mushrooms, plants and flowers and many more unique and stunning creations. This is the UK premier of the world famous Magical Lantern Festival.
While you’re here, soak up the carnival atmosphere with live cultural staged performances, feast on a range of international cuisines and take a stroll through the market where you can buy your own lantern. To mark the Year of the Monkey 2016, a Mount Huaguo lantern with an illuminated waterfall provides a fairytale setting for an intricate recreation of popular Chinese fable, The Monkey King.
When: until 6th March – save up to 22% with LittlBird on selected dates
Where: Chiswick House & Gardens, W4 2QN
Age: Families
Cost: Adults £13.60, Children £8.50, Family Tickets from £20.50 only on LittleBird. Book now!
LittleBird’s Top Tip: The trail takes about an hour and a half so comfy footwear is advised as well as wrapping up warmly. If you want to get your bearings and an idea of the size of the festival before you arrive, download Chiswick House & Gardens general Visitor Guide here.
DINOSAURS: MONSTER FAMILIES AT THE HORNIMAN MUSEUM, FOREST HILL
Ever wondered about the parenting skills of a T Rex or a Diplodocus? The Horniman’s new exhibition Monster Families asks you to and discovers that dinosaurs were actually very good parents indeed! This interactive exhibition highlights how dinosaurs looked after their eggs, nests and babies.
There’s the chance to meet a replica of ‘Baby Louie’, the near-complete skeleton of a dinosaur hatchling, dig in the discovery pit, touch a real dinosaur leg bone and come face-to-face with T-Rex’s relative – a life-size Tarbosaurus skeleton cast. Along with exploration stations, you and the kids can also see a fossilised egg of the extinct Elephant Bird, on loan from Sir David Attenborough’s private collection! With the cafe and gardens you could quite easily spend the whole day here and why not?
When: until 30th October
Where: Horniman Museum, SE23 3PQ
Age: Families
Cost: Adult £7, Child £4, Family ticket £17
LittleBird Top Tip: Entry to the Horniman Museum is free and there’s always plenty happening including Art workshops, Hands On discovery rooms and Storytime sessions – check out the calendar here and see what’s happening when you’re going. Did you know the Horniman has an aquarium too but you need to pay to enter (a family ticket to the Monster exhibition and the aquarium costs £24.00).
SPECTACULAR SCIENCE AT THE LONDON MUSEUM OF WATER & STEAM, BRENTFORD – SAVE UP TO 36% WITH LITTLEBIRD
Have some electrifying fun at the London Museum of Water & Steam this weekend with Spectacular Science. Head to the Steam Hall and Engine Rooms and let the kids curiosity go wild with this special interactive exhibition that explore the world of electricity. How does a windmill work? How can you use electricity to send a secret message? Are you a human battery? Let the kids get hands-on and find out their own answers to these shocking questions!
This weekend enjoy Mad Science – a live show promising dazzling experiments with flames and frosty magic, witness magical transformations caused by extremes of heat and cold. The kids will love a ride on Thomas Wicksteed, the Museum’s very own steam locomotive, as well as enjoy the museums fun interactive displays, the Splash Zone, the new Waterworks gallery with interactive exhibits, the museum garden, a cafe and a shop too.
When: until 21st February
Where: London Museum of Water & Steam, TW8 0EN
Age: Families
Cost: Save 27% on child tickets, £4 and 36% on Single Adult Tickets, £8 with Littlebird
LittleBird’s Top Tip: You’re about a 15 minute walk from Kew Gardens – why not download the Families at Kew discovery and activity map: Family day out at Kew map – epic adventures await! Plus to celebrate and compliment Kew’s Orchid 2016 Festival this half term there are drop-in sessions of activities with an orchid theme.
THE DOODLE DANCE SHOW AT DISCOVER, STRATFORD
Grab a pen and kick off your shoes for this playful, interactive story-show that will get your whole family drawing and moving, doodling and imagining. After a sell-out first tour, The Doodle Dance Show returns and promises the most fun you can have with your family and a giant piece of paper!
Get ready to remove your shoes, move around the floor and help create a world populated by crazy birds, dancing pirates, strange underwater creatures and maybe more…
While you’re here, enjoy Discover’s interactive exhibition Michael Rosen’s Bear Hunt, Chocolate Cake & Bad Things (running until 10th April). Swishy swashy and splash splosh your way with the kids through a Bear Hunt – I’m not scared! And find out who will be the first to step inside a humongous chocolate cake and explore a secret larder? And dare you explore the Bad Things in the Dread Shed?
When: Saturday 20th February, 12.30pm & 3.30pm
Where: Discover Children’s Story Centre, E15 4QZ
Age: 0 – 11
Cost: £5 adult / child, £18 for a family of 4
LittleBird’s Top Tip: There’s lots to do at Discover including the Story Trail and Story Garden plus a cafe and a lovely shop full of great pocket money toys.
CUDDLY TOY CLINIC AT ZSL LONDON ZOO, REGENT’S PARK – SAVE 5% WITH LITTLEBIRD
Don’t forget teddy when you go to ZSL London Zoo this half term as the kids have the opportunity to learn all about the life of a Zoo vet. Vets LIVE offers a packed schedule of talks and activities where the kids and their cuddly toys will learn about the huge variety of work carried out by the Zoo’s vets and keepers on a daily basis – from microchipping meerkats to checking the tigers’ teeth – to keep the animals in tip top condition.
There will be health checks on offer at the teddy bear drop in service and children can become part of the action as they help experts conduct toy examinations at the ‘Animal Hospital’. Every animal ‘treated’ will receive a health certificate to take home.
There is also an exciting daily timetable full to the brim of talks and shows happening all over the zoo throughout the day including Penguin Beach Live!, Meerkat & Mongoose Stories, Megabugs Live, Reptile Champions and Giraffe High Tea. Pick your hit list before you go with this map and you can also download the smartphone app for daily events listings and the ability to schedule reminders.
When: until 21st February
Where: London Zoo, NW1 4RY
Age: Families
Cost: Save 5% with LittleBird – Adults £24.25, Children £17.60 – book your tickets now
LittleBird’s Top Tip: Love a trip to the zoo? Then save and invest in Battersea Park Children’s Zoo annual membership with LittleBird. Join in the heart shaped fun throughout half term and start enjoying your membership – as you go around the zoo, count up how many love hearts you can see.
SMASHFEST UK 2016: SUPER SOLAR STORM AT THE ALBANY, DEPTFORD
Smashfest UK 2016 is an innovative, exciting and unique festival for all the family offering a glorious mashup of science and art, engineering and entertainment, music and maths, comedy and technology. Events revolve around the story of a super solar storm heading for London, set to destroy the world’s electrical and electronic infrastructure and through workshops, theatre shows, music and comedy performances families are offered an adventure to prepare, rebuild and survive the storm!
This Saturday, experience a 3D Solar Storm, an Electric Paint workshop, a Mutant Circus and Cracking the Code: the Genetics of Superheroes and as well as learning about lots of hands on top tips for Solar Storm Survival! Why not join Simon Watt for a performance that celebrates and explores the incredible biology of the animal kingdom’s most monstrous in The Ugly Animal Roadshow or find out what might happen if all our mobile phones were destroyed – now there’s a thought…
When: Saturday 20th February, various times throughout the day
Where: The Albany, SE8 4AG
Age: Families
Cost: Free
LittleBird Top Tip: If you can’t go this Saturday, there are an array of events and shows taking place during half term right up until Saturday. Taking place at The Albany, there are a mixture of free and ticketed events.
JERAMEE, HARTLEY & OOOGLEMORE AT THE UNICORN THEATRE, LONDON BRIDGE – SAVE 30% WITH LITTLEBIRD
Jeramee, Hartleby & Oooglemore are three friends that have a lot to say but only three words in which to say it! Enjoy watching the very funny, silly, confusing things that occur on a trip to the seaside. Comedic, silly and profound, featuring plenty of clowning and lots of physical humour, this wonderful production explores relationships, friendship and how to express yourself without words.
If you have older kids to entertain this half term and over the weekend, check out The Unicorn’s The Minotaur production. A playful, clever retelling of the well-known Greek myth offers families an action-packed theatrical treat! Save 25% on tickets and book with LittleBird until 21st Feb (includes half term shows).
When: until 15th March with LittleBird savings until 21st Feb
Where: Unicorn Theatre, SE1 2HZ
Age: 3 – 7
Cost: Book with LittleBird & save 25% on selected shows until 21st Feb (includes half term)
LittleBird’s Top Tip: North of the river and looking for some family friendly theatre this week? Storystock at the Bush Theatre has a plethora of productions to enjoy with performances running between 17th – 19th Feb. Enjoy Myth Marathon and Tempest in a Tea Cup plus a puppet making workshops and save 50% on both with LittleBird.
FUN DMC AT THE SOUTHBANK CENTRE
Enjoy the last day of the Imagine Festival and get ready for three hours of child-friendly hip-hop, funk, disco and block party anthems – for free!
Fun DMC is the creation of Spin Doctor (The Doctor’s Orders) and Charlie Dark (Run Dem Crew/Attica Blues), your hosts for the afternoon. With a playlist put forward by Southbank Centre’s young Mini Festival Makers, children remain at the heart of the party. Whether you’re the proud parent of a Lil Wayne, a Missy Elliot or a whole crew of Beastie Boys and Wee Papa Girls Rappers, this is the jam for you and yours.
While you’re here, check out what else is happening this Sunday and don’t miss the Imagine Animation Zone where the kids can collaborate with professional animators to tell their stories and adventures and create their own animated films and it’s free!
When: Sunday 21st February, 12.30pm – 3.30pm
Where: Royal Festival Hall (Clore Ballroom), SE1 8XX
Age: 3+
Cost: Free, drop in
LittleBird’s Top Tip: The Imagine Festival runs until 21st Feb offering a cornucopia of theatre, storytelling, art, dance and of course marvellous music for all the family; some events are ticketed, some are free with lots offering plenty of interactive fun through workshops and there are an array of free activities throughout half term.
THERE WAS A NAUGHTY BOY FAMILY FUN DAY AT KEATS HOUSE, HAMPSTEAD
It’s World Book Day on Thursday 3rd March and Keat’s House are starting the literary celebrations this Sunday. You and your family are asked to meet reckless boys, rebellious girls and beastly babies (and a scary parent or two) in this joint event with the Keats Community Library for World Book Week.
Romantic poet John Keats spent two years (1818 – 1820) living at this house that we now know as Keats House and penned his famous ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ from under a plum tree in the garden.
When: Sunday 21st February, 1pm – 4pm
Where: Keats House, NW3 2RR
Age: 5+
Cost: Free drop in
LittleBird Top Tip: Fancy a bracing experience? Go to Hampstead early, pack your swimming bags and enjoy an invigorating family open air swim!
HOP ON & HOP OFF A RIVER THAMES SIGHTSEEING CRUISE – 50% OFF WITH LITTLEBIRD
What better way to see London than a cruise on the Thames – and with LittleBird you can enjoy 50% off. Hop on and hop off throughout the day, and travel by boat to spend the day in Greenwich or enjoying Tate Modern and the Globe on the Southbank, enjoy a 50% saving off all tickets with LittleBird’s All Day Sightseeing Pass.
When you and the kids need a rest, you can simply stay on and enjoy cruising past HMS Belfast, St Paul’s Cathedral, Houses of Parliament, Somerset House, Tower Bridge and the London Eye to name a few, listen to live commentary, treat yourselves to a hot chocolate or ice cream from the cafe whilst enjoying the fantastic views from inside the snug of the boat or on the open deck.
When: Daily, first boat is at 10.15am (Westminster Pier) with the last boat at 5.50pm (Westminster Pier).
Where: Westminster, Tower or Greenwich piers
Age: Families
Cost: Adults £9 (only with LittleBird) and Children £4.50 (only with LittleBird). Under 5s go free.
LittleBird’s Top Tip: If you hop off at Shakespeare’s Globe – enjoy their demonstrations that take place throughout the day, including stage fighting and Elizabethan dressing as well as the exhibition and tour. You can save 33% with LittleBird this half term only.