TOP 32 THINGS TO DO WITH KIDS THIS MARCH
London's BEST Family Events this March 2024
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.
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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
Bella the Tower Bridge Cat’s Birthday Bash
Tower Bridge has the purr-fect family day out on Saturday 9 March, celebrating Bella the Tower Bridge Cat’s birthday at the London landmark.
Bella and friends will be there to celebrate with two and four legged guests - the famous cat will even welcome dogs to her bash at the capital’s only major dog-friendly attraction.
The first 500 guests will receive free balloons. And everybody can get involved with an interactive cat trail based on the Tower Bridge Cat Book series.
They can also enjoy live storytelling sessions of the book every hour from 12 - 5pm from the author Tee Dobinson and meet the illustrator, Steve Cox.
Family activities include making your own cat ears and cat face painting, to mark the star of the books about Bella’s adventures in the London landmark.
Tower Bridge welcomes big and small pets and cats have always been a big part of Tower Bridge’s story - until the early 1980s, it had several cats living in and around the Engine Rooms, and a Cat Manager was employed to take care of the cats onsite.
Tower Bridge, Tower Bridge Rd, London SE1 2UP. 9 March. 9.30am - 6pm (last entry 5pm). Adult tickets £12pp. Children 5-15 £6.20pp. Under 5s go free.
Paddington Film in Concert
Unleash the marmalade sandwiches and watch the hit, 2014 film about everybody’s favourite Peruvian bear on a giant HD screen, while London Concert Orchestra plays Nick Urata’s calypso-infused score, live.
The event, at Royal Festival Hall, is the perfect introduction to live orchestral music for little fans and the movie is a Rotten Tomatoes conquering crowd-pleaser for all ages.
Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XX. 30 March. 2pm and 5.30pm. Tickets £29.50 – £67.50. Children from £22.13.
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
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
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
Pirate Training aboard the Golden Hinde
Budding pirates can head aboard the Golden Hinde over the Easter holidays for Pirate Training.
During the 45 minute sessions they will learn how to sing a sea shanty, haul the anchor, fire a cannon and fight with a cutlass. The tickets include admission to the famous ship.
Pirate Training, St Mary Overie's Dock, Cathedral St, London SE1 9DE. 1 - 14 April. Kids (5-10) £11 pp. Adults £6 pp
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
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
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.
The Odyssey for Kids
Telemachus was just a baby when his dad Odysseus left to fight in the Trojan War. Now he’s almost grown he sets off on a quest to find him, even if his mum is not convinced. Luckily he has the muses - and some great tunes - to guide him on his heroic journey.
This Easter, join Telemachus on an epic adventure through stormy seas and strange lands, filled with mystical creatures, dangerous monsters and enchanting sirens - plus two talking sheep - and discover what really makes a true hero.
The Odyssey, Unicorn Theatre, 147 Tooley St, London SE1 2HZ. 17 March - 21 March. for ages 8 - 13. Kids from £10.50 pp. Adults from £13.50 pp.
iFly Childrens’ Skydive
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
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 HEREGoBoat 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 Observatory Greenwich Park, Blackheath Avenue SE10 8XJ
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