The Best Things To Do Over Half Term In London
This post is part of our archived content. While we’ve shifted focus, it still may be useful.
It feels like the kids just went back to school yet here we are, another half term school holiday is upon us.
There are plenty of things to do during the London half term, much of which doesn’t have to cost much (or in some cases, anything).
We find it helpful to manage expectations and explain that we may not be going out every single day.
Some half term activities will involve staying at home and that may involve the kids entertaining themselves.
Children feeling bored and/or claiming they have nothing to do is a good thing!
Find out why in our guide to the benefits of creative play.
We’ve rounded up a few things to do in the half term in an attempt to keep them away from their first love – screens!
Not all TV is bad though – we’ve written a guide to over 100 educational films and TV shows for kids that are worth a watch.
The best things to do this London half term:
For the ultiamte guide on the best things to do, see and eat this half-term, download our expertly curated digital guide!
Packed with the best family-friendly activities, from interactive museum exhibits to outdoor adventures and magical theatre shows, there’s something for every age and budget.
- Paddington
- 27 – 29 May
- 11 am – 4 pm
- Free
Enjoy a nine-hole crazy golf course in Paddington.
The games are free to play and no booking is required. Turn up, jump in the queue and grab your clubs and balls from the team.
Transport Explorers: A Live Show
- 27 May – 1 June
- London Transport Museum
- Tickets from £12
Join two trainee engineers as they race against time to tackle transport challenges from London’s past, present and future.
Kids will get to help them earn their Planner, Fixer, and Dreamer badges to become fully fledged engineers.
Packed with comedy, science demos, and audience interaction, this 60-minute show takes kids (and their grown-ups) on a journey through amazing moments in London’s transport history, from world-changing innovation in the 1800s to smart solutions for modern-day transport problems – plus groundbreaking ideas that could shape our future.
- Shakespeare’s Globe
- 25 April – 2 August
- Tickets from £13
Get ready for an interesting new take on the classic Romeo and Juliet.
Witness a showdown at the Globe Theatre as it transforms into the dangerous world of the Wild West for a new production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
An ancient grudge between two sworn enemies erupts in bloodshed when their son and daughter fall in love.
Saloon brawls and frenzied parties give way to brutal gunfights and violent retribution as a town divided faces its final frontier.
Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue
- 4 April – 29 June
- Canada Water
- Tickets from £24 (kids up to 2 years old are free)
Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue is a real-life immersive adventure where Minecraft fans get to battle mobs and collect resources in a daring quest to save the villagers.
They’ll get to practice Minecrafting skills with a handheld Orb – chop down trees, collect resources, and fight mobs, gather resources for their quest in interactive biomes and mine for precious gems or fight spiders, creepers, and skeletons on a quest to save the villagers from the zombie attack.
A lot of this is foreign to me but my teen son can’t wait to go!
- 27 May – 1 June
- Rose Kingston
- Tickets from £17
- Suitable for kids age 3 and up
The Elmer Adventure takes audiences into the heart of a magical jungle.
Three friends hear reports of a real-life patchwork elephant roaming in the jungle, so they all set off together on a quest to find him.
As they explore deep in the heart of the jungle, the adventurers talk about how they have loved the story of Elmer since they were childhood friends and how they always celebrate Elmer Day every year.
The show features unique creative storytelling, magical puppetry, playfulness, songs and humour, and celebrates friendship, acceptance and fun in true Elmer style.
Everyone is invited to come to see the show wearing their most colourful clothes and accessories.
Moomin 80: The Door Is Always Open
- 23 May – 1 June
To celebrate 80 years of the Moomins, marvel at the spectacle of the iconic Moominhouse as it’s built by Woodland Tribe and lots of little helpers.
Then head inside the Southbank Centre for free, Moomin inspired activities.
The Vanishing Elephant
- 29 May –1 June
Exploring themes of home and migration, family and the ties that hold us together, join an elephant and a boy in a story of friendship and belonging in a journey from Bengal to Broadway, told through theatre and puppetry.
- Until 29 March 2026
- Gillian Lynne Theatre
- Tickets from £60
- Not suitable for kids under 4, including babes in arms
My Neighbour Totoro is an enchanting coming-of-age story exploring the magical fantasy world of childhood and the transformative power of imagination, as it follows one extraordinary summer in the lives of sisters Satsuki and Mei.
Winner of six Olivier Awards, watch this jaw-dropping staging of the celebrated 1988 animated feature film brought to you by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The Crystal Maze Live Experience
- Suitable for kids age 9+
- Tickets from £65
Dive into the iconic 90s gameshow like never before and race against the clock in a series of mental and physical challenges.
Work as a team to collect crystals in four different zones and ultimately declare victory in the Crystal Dome.
- Entry to the park is free – rides are on a pay by pay basis
London’s only indoor theme park, this space-themed wonderland offers a range of rides, including an indoor rollercoaster, the iconic drop tower and bumper cars, alongside VR experiences and games.
Horrible Histories: Terrible Thames
- From May 22
- Departs from Tower Bridge Quay
- Tickets: Adult £25 (15+) | Child £20 (3-15) | Senior (65+) £20 | 0-3 Go Free. Family & Group tickets available
Grab your first mate, hoist the anchor, and join the Horrible Histories team for a voyage through time to learn all about the mysterious waters of our greatest river, where every bend holds tales of treachery, tyranny and triumph.
We’ve done the tour a couple of times and it’s a lot of fun.
- 23 May – 2 June
- Westfield London
- Tickets from £16
- Suitable for all ages
- SEN sessions available
Kids can explore iconic rooms like Duggee’s Clubhouse, JoJo & Gran Gran’s kitchen, Mr Tumble’s living room and Bluey’s bedroom.
There will be performer-led interactive activities and the chance to meet one of their favourite costume characters from the adventure.
- Until 31 December 2025
- Tickets from £34
- Suitable for kids age 7+
Grab a team of at least four friends and go on a two-hour adventure of pitch-black challenges and sensory workshops that push the limits of your five senses.
You navigate between total darkness and ultra-colourful sensory workshops and face wacky challenges that push the limits of sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing—all while collecting sensory charms that support local charities.
- Mini Creators: Stitching Stories, Weaving Voices
- 26 – 31 May
- Exhibition included in museum entry fee
Join the museum in a creative, hands-on activity inspired by embroidery and weaving.
Weaving techniques will be used to create words and images that represent personal stories and moments of celebration.
Each piece will be added to a larger artwork, showing how together we can all create something powerful.
This activity highlights the role of creativity and community in preserving heritage and fostering unity.
- Open daily from 1000 – 1800 (except December 24 – 26)
- Prebook free tickets
A firm favourite, there’s always lots to do and see here including PowerUp, the amazing Wonderlab and a delicious afternoon tea.
Making Egypt
- 15 February – 2 November
- Exhibition pass £10 per person, which gives unlimited visits to Making Egypt throughout its run
Making Egypt, created for children and families, which takes visitors on a fascinating journey through the ancient past to modern day, exploring how stories and images from ancient Egypt continue to influence art, design and popular culture.
Told across three sections exploring themes of Storytelling, Communicating and Making, with gods guiding each step of the way, Making Egypt will journey through the Nile, inviting young visitors to uncover ancient Egypt’s myths and gods and the landscape and culture that inspired them.
Kids can try their hand at deciphering the mysteries of hieroglyphs, discover meaning and messages communicated through colour, as well as explore hands-on the making of objects that populated ancient Egypt.
- Barbican Centre
- Every Saturday at 11 am
- Tickets from £5
This month you can watch Paddington in Peru and Spirited Away (plus a pre-film Origami in the Cinema Café).
- The Apollo Victoria Theatre
- Until January 2026
- Tickets from £36
- Suitable for kids age 7+. No under 5s
If you’re planning to see it at the cinema, see it in theatre too!
One of the most successful musicals of all time” (BBC News), and the winner of more than 100 global awards, Wicked is already the 11th longest-running production in West End history.
The show imagines a beguiling backstory and future possibilities to the lives of L. Frank Baum’s beloved characters from ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Wicked reveals the decisions and events that shape the destinies of two unlikely university friends on their journey to becoming ‘Glinda The Good’ and the ‘Wicked Witch of the West.
Lots to do at the Horniman as usual:
Mini Golf by UrbanCrazy
- 24 May – 1 June
- Tickets: Adult £7, Child £4.50
Take on nine holes themed around your favourite Horniman attractions – tee-off from the Clocktower, putt past the walrus, and try for a birdie at the Butterfly House.
Family Craft Saturdays
- Saturdays 24 and 31 May
- Free
- Suitable for ages 3+.
Join in family craft activities inspired by the Horniman’s collections.
- 24 May – create your own little bumble bee and learn about the importance of these buzzy friends to celebrate World Bee Day.
- 31 May – for National Children’s Gardening Week, decorate little seedling pots and plant your own seeds.
MiniJam Percussion Fun
- 28 and 29 May
- Tickets: Child £10, includes one adult
- Sessions last 45 minutes
Join MiniJam in the Horniman Conservatory for music sessions for the under-5s. Expect singing, dancing, sensory and tactile fun and lots of percussion instruments to hit and shake.
Each session is led by a professional musician who’ll take you from upbeat nursery rhymes to family friendly rock, pop and soul classics, in an inclusive and friendly atmosphere.
The Robot Zoo
- 14 February – 2 November
- Tickets: Adults from £9.75 / Children from £6.50
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’.
There are also two specially commissioned interactive murals by artist Giulia Casarotto, inspired by the exhibition.
Spot the chameleons hiding on a mural co-produced with a local Polish singing group for children, or play a sorting game to match animals with their correct habitat.
- Ongoing
- Tickets from £10
Help your kids fall in love with STEM with a variety of events and activities curated for young people by the experts at RI.
Topics include the rise and rise of AI, maths, quizzes and kitchen science.
London always has lots of family-friendly theatre shows on offer.
Whichever genre they prefer, you’ll be able to find a show they’ll enjoy.
