A favourite with all families, Kew Garden\u2019s a great day out any time of the year. This Christmas Kew\u2019s glittering night-time trail returns including a garden of fire, Tunnel of Lights and sparkling giant snowflakes. \u00a0As you make your way around the trail, you\u2019ll be tempted by the aroma of roasting chestnuts, toasting marshmallows, and other traditional fayre. There is a Victorian carousel, family rides (\u00a32 per ride) and outdoor adventure playground providing fun for the young ones \u2013 and don\u2019t forget to make time for a memorable visit with Santa in his Snowflake Grotto (\u00a34 – not included in the ticket price). If an evening trail doesn\u2019t suit with little ones, enjoy Christmas in the day – take a walk through the wintery grounds then warm up with a hot chocolate and a mince pie before visiting Santa\u2019s grotto.<\/p>\n Where: Kew Gardens Santa\u2019s Grotto at Canary Wharf plus free festive activties including face painting<\/strong><\/p>\n Canary Wharf\u2019s Santa\u2019s Grotto<\/a> is back – hurrah! Visit Santa in his whimsical Grotto in Jubilee Place. \u00a0Santa\u2019s band of cheeky elves and helpers are on hand to \u00a0entertain \u00a0the children as they queue to meet Santa. Pre-booking isn\u2019t required,but there can be queues so allow plenty of time to avoid disappointment.<\/p>\n Plus, there\u2019s lots of free Children\u2019s Festive Activities<\/a> including Cookie & Cupcake Decorating in Canada Place, Festive Head Bopper workshops in Cabot Place not forgetting the all important Festive Face Painting \u00a0in Cabot Place, Canada Place, Churchill Place and Jubilee Place. You can visit the Enchanted Mirror Installation and marvel at yourself in bizarre shapes and sizes. With \u00a0ice skating<\/a> too – you might well want to spend the whole weekend!<\/p>\n When: Weekends – 29th & 30th Nov, 6th & 7th, 13th & 14th Dec and 20th & 24th Dec at 11am – 5pm <\/p>\n Paddington\u2019s Picnic Weekend at the Museum of London<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n We\u2019re besotted by the marmalade munching bear at the moment and with the film<\/a> opening this weekend, the Museum of London are celebrating Paddington with a free indoor festival <\/a>at the Museum of London. Join Paddington and his special guests and get to know the beloved bear from Darkest Peru with family friendly displays, storytelling and craft activities and more. There\u2019s lots to choose from including design your own marmalade label, Paddington hat making, storytelling plus Karen Jankel, daughter of Paddington creator Michael Bond, talks about her life with Paddington. You can also \u00a0enjoy The Paddington Trail <\/a>on your way to this indoor \u2018picnic\u2019 or after and don\u2019t forget to enter our own LittleBird Paddington competition<\/a>.<\/p>\n When: Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th November A Merry Tudor Christmas at Hampton Court<\/strong><\/p>\n Get ready for Christmas in Tudor style. Help the palace servants prepare for King Henry VIII’s extravagant feasts and revels, through a range of storytelling, music and craft workshops<\/a>. The workshop is free but does require booking. If you want to enter the Palace you\u2019ll need to purchase tickets but it\u2019s well worth it. A family ticket<\/a> for 2 adults and up to 3 children can be brought online for \u00a343.50 and allows entrance to the Palace, the Maze and the Gardens, plus a multi-language audio guide, costumed guided tours, children’s activity trails, entry to the Cumberland Art Gallery, a living Tudor world, the Young Henry VIII exhibition and much more!<\/p>\n When: 29th November, 10.30am – 1pm & 2pm – 4.30pm Xmas card making for kids at Cass Arts, Hampstead<\/strong><\/p>\n We love spending time in Cass Arts<\/a>, \u00a0browsing through the wonderful array of arts and craft goodies – its a the perfect place to find must-have stocking fillers and inspiring Christmas presents. We love it even more when they run their free events and their Christmas card making workshop<\/a> looks fabulous.<\/p>\n Drop in and join in the fun – using colourful papers, pens, stamps and tapes, the kids can make festive cards and gift tags for friends and family. Designed to inspire and ignite children\u2019s imaginations – the workshop is run by experienced staff. Children must be accompanied by an adult and note there is limited availablity to don\u2019t be late.<\/p>\n When: Saturday \u00a029th November, 10am – 11am Ice Age Animation Workshop at the British Museum<\/strong><\/p>\n Let the kids creates their own movie, using stop-motion software and digital cameras to bring Ice Age animals to life through animation. The workshops are two hours long so you\u2019ll have plenty of time for the wealth of free families activities that you can enjoy at your leisure; their are free activity trails, gallery backpacks plus art materials to borrow from the Family Desk in the Great Court. Did you know children go free to all exhibitions, current exhibitions include Ming: 50 years that changed China<\/a> and they can eat free too! Go to the Gallery Cafe<\/a> and treat yourself to a main and get a free childs meal.<\/p>\n When: Sunday 30th November at 11am – 1pm & 2pm – 4pm <\/p>\n Information Age at the Science Museum<\/strong><\/p>\n Never off your mobile? Kids too? Wondering how that happened? Explore the Science Museum’s newly opened permanent exhibition. Representing over 200 years of innovation in communication and information technologies and divided into six zones: The Cable, The Telephone Exchange, Broadcast, The Constellation, The Cell and The Web. The gallery explores the important events which shaped the development of these networks. Re-live remarkable moments in history, told through the eyes of those who invented, operated or were affected by the new wave of technology, from the first BBC radio broadcast in 1922 to the dawn of digital TV.<\/p>\n When: Permanent Exhibition <\/p>\n Better Cotton at the William Morris Gallery<\/strong><\/p>\n Enjoy a family day at the William Morris Gallery. Run on the last Saturday of every month, these family days include a make and take memento of the day. This Saturday, let the kids enjoy creating colourful birds nests<\/a> from leftover wool and make stuffed birds from recycled fabrics. \u00a0Situated within Lloyd Park – let the kids run wild before and after; there\u2019s a playground, outdoor gym, natural play area, table tennis tables (bring your own bats and ping pong balls) and even a skate park to be enjoyed!<\/p>\n When: Saturday 29th November at 11am – 4pm <\/p>\n BRICK 2014 – Built for LEGO fans<\/strong><\/p>\n Who doesn\u2019t love LEGO? If ever there was a toy that spans the generations – LEGO is it! So<\/p>\n BRICK 2014 is a must, pure heaven for all those besotted by the brick. \u00a0So what\u2019s in store…amazing creations from the world\u2019s coolest LEGO builders and then it\u2019s your turn to build it – get creative in the construction zones, experience LEGO games, enjoy the have-a-go themed areas with your favorite LEGO sets and characters and maybe even do a little Christmas shopping while you’re there.<\/p>\n When: Thursday 27th – Sunday 30th November <\/p>\n Centre for Wildlife Gardening Trees from seeds open day<\/strong><\/p>\n Feeling in need a of a breathe of fresh air? Join London Wildlife Trust for a celebration of the wonders of winter woodland. Take part in tree and seed games and crafts. Learn how to identify trees in winter, listen to tree tales and join in with tree dressing. The day also boasts a musical slant with the SELfolk Orchestra playing a range of folk music plus local produce and seeds are available.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When: Sunday 30th November, 11am – 4pm <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Trying to plan your weekends? Here’s some fun and fantastic things to do with the kids this week! SATURDAY 29TH & SUNDAY 30TH NOVEMBER, 2014 Christmas at Kew A favourite with all families, Kew Garden\u2019s a great day out any time of the year. This Christmas Kew\u2019s glittering night-time trail returns including a garden of … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,563],"tags":[38,567,568,546,454,569,570,571,572,573,263,548,574,575,540,553,554,576,577,13,254,578,555,579,560,580,564,565,581,566,544],"class_list":["post-802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-whats-on","tag-art","tag-arts-and-crafts","tag-brick-2014","tag-british-library","tag-british-museum","tag-canary-wharf","tag-cass-art","tag-christmas-at-kew","tag-christmas-cards","tag-cotton","tag-crafts","tag-father-christmas","tag-grotto","tag-hampton-court-palace","tag-hyde-park","tag-ice-skating","tag-inspiring","tag-kew-gardens","tag-lego","tag-littlebird","tag-london","tag-museum-of-london","tag-paddington-bear","tag-picnic","tag-things-to-do-with-the-kids","tag-tudor-christmas","tag-whats-on-2","tag-whats-on-this-week","tag-william-morrid-gallery","tag-winter-festival","tag-winter-wonderland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5753,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802\/revisions\/5753"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"christmas_at_kew_littlebird\"](\"http:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2014\/11\/christmas_at_kew_littlebird.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nWhen: 29th November, various dates, check before you go, timed entrance between 5pm – 8.15pm
\nAge: Families
\nCost: Adults \u00a315, Children \u00a310 (advance ticket prices), under 4s free – booking recommended<\/p>\n![\"canary_whard_christmas_grotto_littlebird\"](\"http:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2014\/11\/canary_whard_christmas_grotto_littlebird.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nWhere: Jubilee Place, Canary Wharf
\nAge: Families
\nCost: Free with a recommended donation of \u00a32 to the Children\u2019s House Children\u2019s Hospice<\/p>\n
\nWhere: Museum of London
\nAge: Families
\nCost: Free<\/p>\n![\"hampton_court_palace_littlebird\"](\"http:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2014\/11\/hampton_court_palace_littlebird.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nWhere: Hampton Court Palace
\nAge: 7 – 11
\nCost: Free but booking essential – does not include general admission to the \u00a0Palace<\/p>\n![\"cassart_london_xmas_card_littlebird\"](\"http:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2014\/11\/cassart_london_xmas_card_littlebird.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nWhere: Cass Arts, Hampstead
\nAge: 5+
\nCost: Free<\/p>\n
\nWhere: Samsung Centre, British Museum
\n<\/span>Age: 7+
\nCost: Free but booking is advised<\/p>\n![\"science_museum_information_age_littlebird\"](\"http:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2014\/11\/science_museum_information_age_littlebird.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nWhere: Science Museum, Second Floor
\nAge: Families
\n<\/span>Cost: Free<\/p>\n![\"william_morris_gallery_cotton_littlebird\"](\"http:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2014\/11\/william_morris_gallery_cotton_littlebird.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nWhere: William Morris Gallery
\nAge: Families
\nCost: Free<\/p>\n![\"brick_london-2014_littlebird\"](\"http:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2014\/11\/brick_london-2014_littlebird.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nWhere: London ExCel
\nAge: Families
\nCost:<\/p>\n![\"centre_of_wildlife_open_seeds_littlebird\"](\"http:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2014\/11\/centre_of_wildlife_open_seeds_littlebird.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nWhere: Centre for Wildlife Gardening
\nAge: Families
\nCost: Free<\/p>\n