Fun things to do with kids in South Kensington

The children's library has reopened providing children with easy access to a wide range of interactive resources.

Ever wondered what goes on at the Museum when everyone has gone home? Find out on a sleepover for kids.

Based at Imperial College London, a unique Saturday science tuition featuring specialists in science education and highly qualified scientists.

Ciné Kids screenings cater to children aged 4 and over – and their families – so they can discover the best animated films. In English, French or French with subtitles. Including Despicable Me and Paddington.

There’s a time to work and there’s a time to play! Stimulate your creative self through origami workshops to rediscover the joy of playing together. Bilingual and easy French

Science Night is a special overnight event for 7–11-year-olds, featuring exciting hands-on workshops, science shows, and a sleepover at the Science Museum among the amazing exhibits—all followed by a tasty breakfast and a breathtaking film in our IMAX theatre.

Create your own design and devise your own machine by using soft circuits (electronics and paper), e-textile and recycled materials. This is the perfect workshop for little inventors to experiment with sciences, technology, design, arts & crafts.

Discover a series of playful, recreational & instructional digital sessions, where we explore the potential that video games and apps may hold. Expect new games and a new console!

A drop-in workshop for families inspired by the museum and the exhibitions. Free but bookable, these informal sessions focus on design and making activities for children aged 5–11. Last Sunday of every month.

Enjoy activities for all the family and discover the stories of Kensington Palace. Time Explorers Station - activity bags for all ages from babies to 13 years & trails. Or Story Time - enjoy a well known story in the comfort of the palace and join in with themed toys. Aimed at 3 - 7 years olds,

There is something for everyone on a Storytastic Sunday. Explore the palace with activity bags, listen to Story Time or get creative in Make History workshops. Head along to Kensington Palace on the last Sunday every month to join in!

Love Classical returns to with an eclectic selection of some of the most distinct and original voices in classical music today. There will be a range of events taking place beyond the main stage, featuring everything from classical music for kids to late night performances in the Elgar Room.

Read, play, sing, grow! Whether you love drawing, reading, clapping or dancing there will be something to enjoy on Wednesdays & Saturdays!

Explore art history and get your paint brushes ready with these hands-on workshops. We recommend booking the whole semester in advance to ensure participants can learn, enjoy and create in the best conditions.

Enjoy a thrilling afternoon as we meet a hero, a duck and a wolf, in a fascinating story about a boy called Peter! This screening of the timeless Oscar®-winning animation will be accompanied by Prokofiev’s indelible score, performed live by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Hyde Park's expert education team run a range of free and exciting nature-inspired activities for families. You could be pond dipping, helping your children discover an underwater world, sweep netting in the meadow or bug hunting at the minibeast hotel.

Have you ever wanted to fly your own jet? Come and take the controls on Fly 360°, the hands-on flight simulator. Get your adrenaline flowing by performing your very own aerobatic displays, barrel rolls and loop-the-loops, all as if you were really flying!

Narrated by Jim Carrey and using incredible 3D technology, Under the Sea will leap off the screen and take you on a fascinating journey to discover the mysteries of the ocean floor.

Hot air balloons, gliders and flying suits will be brought to life in this fun, interactive storytelling session. Join us on a high-flying adventure through the clouds—then build your own beautiful flying machine.

Ever wanted to launch things across the museum? This is your chance! See how far you can launch your pompom in our catapult challenge. Put your skills to the test and you’ll be invading castles in no time!

Tim Peake is your guide for an out-of-this-world virtual reality mission that puts you in the pilot’s seat of a Soyuz capsule. As the European Space Agency’s first British astronaut, Tim Peake spent six incredible months aboard the International Space Station.

Get out and about this summer with the Mayor’s new London Curriculum Family Explorer Trails which includes the 'Creative Quarter' in South Kensington. Taking you on a circular trail starting at the V&A, up Exhibition Road and through the Royal Parks.

Explore the different time periods dinosaurs lived, sort the facts from the myths about why they died out, and find out what our scientific research has taught us about these prehistoric giants.

With stunning high definition 3D vision and flight simulator motion technology, you can see and feel for yourself what it’s like in the cockpit of a Red Arrow.

There's lots for families to see and do especially in the holidays, as well as enjoying a family-friendly café and shop. Kids go free!

A unique fountain memorial to Princess Diana designed to reflect her spirit of life and love of children.

Explore the rich diversity of mammals, from polar bears to pygmy shrews in the Mammals gallery. -

Inside the Cocoon see hundreds of Museum specimens. Marvel at beetles and butterflies, metre-high plants, huge tarantulas and historic herbaria.

Through dramatic film footage, exhibits, interactive games and our famous earthquake simulator, explore how the powers within shape the world in which we live.

Pattern Pod is an amazing multi-sensory area for children under 8 years old. Fun, interactive exhibits encourage them to recognise and copy patterns.

The Garden is an exciting interactive space, created especially for children aged 3–6 and their parents and carers in the basement of the Museum.

Explore and adventure in the playground with a huge wooden pirate ship which is the centrepiece of the Diana, Princess of Wales' Memorial Playground.

Explore how we’ve sent spacecraft to other planets, walked on the Moon and peered into the heart of our galaxy and beyond.

Revealing the beauty of the science and maths that shape our everyday lives, this unmissable experience will ignite your curiosity, fuel your imagination and inspire you to see the world around you in new and exciting ways.

Are you big on museums, but short on time? NHM's knowledgeable visitor assistants have designed just the dinosaurs tour for you. It will introduce you to some of the Museum's most famous and imposing specimens. One hour

From babies to teens, RCM Sparks run a variety of inspiring events for a range of abilities, including family workshops, concerts and courses

The trail will include creative looking, thinking and drawing activities as you explore the museum and exhibitions. The trail asks the user to consider what it's like to be a designer, maker and user of some of the wonderful objects in the collection. Takes 30 - 40 minutes.

As the European Space Agency's first British astronaut, Tim Peake spent six incredible months aboard the International Space Station. Using VR technology, get a 360° look inside a Soyuz capsule and retrace Tim's 400km journey back to Earth from the ISS.

V&A Secret Seekers is a new mobile game for families, launched to coincide with the opening of the V&A's Exhibition Road Quarter. Let eight characters from the V&A's history guide you on an exciting treasure hunt to uncover some of the secrets of the Museum.

Download the free Time Explorers app and try the new Digital Mission at Kensington Palace for children and their families.

From dinosaurs to mammals, explore the amazing diversity of life on Earth. Follow our planet's evolution and walk beneath a 25.2-metre blue whale skeleton. Take a journey through our spectacular Earth sculpture and find out about the tremendous forces that shape our planet. See scientists at work in the Darwin Centre and enjoy the tranquil habitats of our Wildlife Garden.

A new app from the Museum which encourages kids and their favourite grown-ups to head outdoors and learn fun facts about UK wildlife. Grab your phone or tablet to explore the nature on your doorstep.

Help to explode some rocket-fuelled bubbles, melt some marshmallows, and learn all about the challenges of space in this free interactive family show. This show is suitable for children aged 5 and above.

Based on the Apollo lunar landings, this film's exceptional 3D computer animation will fly you to the moon, where you can experience the sights and sounds of an Apollo expedition.

Fuel your adrenaline and feel what it's like to fly a low level mission in the RAF's latest Typhoon jet. Our new simulator takes you on an action-packed flight, demonstrating the aircraft's manoeuvrability through the beautiful landscapes of North Wales and the Lake District.

Pick up a family trail activity from the trail stand in White Court for a fun way to spend the day at Kensington Palace with children aged 5-11 years.

Paris 1930. Paul has never left the high walls of an austere suburban orphanage. When he is entrusted to Célestine and Borel, the joyful gamekeepers of a vast estate in Sologne, the scene is set for the boy to learn about the forest and its secret.

Explore some of the secrets and surprises of the museum’s story with Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and Jim the Dog. Meet Queen Victoria, Prince Albert or Jim the Dog. Journey around to dig up some secrets and surprises of the museum and life in Victorian times.

Using a special time machine, you will visit Jurassic periods and Classical eras as you travel through the ages. Along the way you will see the sights and hear the seminal sounds of the past. You will be singing, dancing and best of all, a full symphony orchestra will bring our adventure to life.

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is presented live in concert for the first time in the UK. The second installment in the original trilogy of George Lucas’ classic saga will be projected in high-definition on the big screen, accompanied by the Philharmonia Orchestra and conductor Dirk Brossé.

Create a hand printed design that represents you and your family inspired by the David Adjaye: Making Memory exhibition. You’ll try out different types of printing, learn surface pattern design techniques and produce a hand printed piece of fabric. Suitable for ages 8-11.

Take part in a fun afternoon of den building. Colour, collage and construct your own 3D paper shapes to build the den brick by brick. Suitable for families with children aged 5-11 years. Free.

This summer join us for a weekend of curiosity, discovery and exploration, bringing together science and the arts. From drones to design, and from symphony orchestras to brass bands, get stuck into a unique programme of creative workshops, talks, exhibitions and performances.

Drop your young explorer off at The LookOut to become an ecologist for the day and learn how to survey all of the park’s habitats. Can they find 100 different creatures in the park? Their investigation provides valuable data for the park’s Ecology Team and helps London monitor its biodiversity

Victoria and Albert are turning 200! Help celebrate the bicentenary of their birth at The LookOut, Hyde Park. Come dressed up in your Victorian best and learn how they influenced both Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.

Get a feel for how scientists work by having a go yourself. Come and explore hundreds of real nature specimens that form the evidence Museum scientists use in their daily work.

Orcas are notoriously formidable predators, which is probably what earned them the rather fierce name of 'killer whale'. But becoming such adept ocean hunters requires a certain level of complex behaviour. Join Museum scientist Ellen Coombs and find out more about the social side of orcas.

Meet a mouse on a mission—a mission to the Moon! Find out all about rockets in this wonderful workshop. Make your very own rocket mouse and see how high you can blast them into space.

Swim alongside some of the most exotic creatures on the planet, from the bizarre Rainbow Nudibranch to the Giant Pacific Octopus. Narrated by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, Deep Sea 3D transports you below the ocean surface on a unique underwater adventure.

Create curious craters as you build your own tactile map of The Moon, then see if your lander can make it to the surface as you make your own moon mission.

Make a collaborative magazine with art collective Fallen Fruit using collage making and storytelling. Everyone is welcome.

Enjoy performances this May half-term, inspired by FOOD: Bigger than the Plate. Come to the annual fruit and veg Olympics with Wonky Table Theatre Company. Enjoy a playful exploration of food through music and storytelling. Performance times 11.00, 13.00, 15.00, approximately 30 minutes.

While both UK and France women football teams are sweating on the field, come and shake your controllers to win our second esport tournament. And because esport is not just about FIFA, participants will fight on archery platformer game TowerFall Ascension. Prizes to win!

Dumbo isn’t your average circus performer. Born with oversized ears that allow him to fly, the young elephant has overcome the taunts of his peers and the loss of his mother to become the star attraction of the struggling circus he calls home.

Join the party with Peppa and George in their new adventures as they dance in the mud at a children’s festival, celebrate Grandpa Pig’s birthday at a restaurant for the first time, and take a trip to the cinema to see Super Potato’s big movie feature!

Experience Queen Victoria's life as a teenager at Kensington Palace. Wander the rooms where she grew up as a princess and discover what life was like for her. Catch the puppet theatre performance, then create your own stories and perform them with your very own puppet theatre.

Designer Maker User, the Design Museum's only permanent exhibition, features almost 1000 items of twentieth and twenty-first century design viewed through the angles of the designer, manufacturer and user, including a crowdsourced wall.

Take inspiration from our current exhibition and join us for an experimental drawing session. Try out different techniques and think about drawing in a new way. Family-friendly drop-in workshop. No booking required.

Hear about a courageous little boy growing up in a time of conflict in a storytelling and art workshop with award-wining children’s author and illustrator Nadine Kaadan.

Cirque du Soleil returns with a new spectacular extravangza, LUZIA, which takes you to an imaginary Mexico, where light (“luz” in Spanish) quenches the spirit and rain (“lluvia”) soothes the soul.

The Serpentine presents a weekend of artist-led workshops for children and families responding to Faith Ringgold’s summer exhibition and exploring the themes of art, activism, poetry and print. The event is free, drop-in and suitable for families with children of all ages.