Twenty awesome things to see and do with your little Londoner in October

Until 2019 Whitechapel Gallery will be showing Sweet Feast, a film telling the story of 500 children visiting the gallery in 1973 to learn about sweets as art (and eating them all). Toddlers will enjoy climbing atop a colourful, squishy structure to watch.
From the 1st check out Barbican’s Squish Space, a new kind of soft play for under-5s. In this curiosity-driven playground for the senses, families will have the chance to experiment with versatile materials and connect through construction play.
Royal Opera House is the spectacular setting for new Ballet Dots workshops on the 1st and 29th. Discover the world of ballet through creative, fun and sensory dance (most classes are sold out but there are still tickets for the 3-12 months sessions).
Yayoi Kusama’s major new exhibition The Moving Moment When I Went to the Universe is on at Victoria Miro from the 3rd. Children are welcome at this free show, which will feature new paintings and a large-scale Infinity Mirror Room.
Artist Ashley-Louise McNaughton takes over Tate Britain’s Under Fives Explore the Gallery this month, with both a morning and afternoon workshop on the 6th. Both sessions are sold out but it’s free and usually fine to just turn up on the day anyway.
Half Moon will stage Can’t Sit Still’s brilliant Plink and Boo show for 2-5s on the 13th. Combining acrobatics, live music and a lot of toys, this interactive circus theatre experience playfully explores why people can’t always fit into boxes.
Serpentine Gallery will play host to a special Hall of Mirroring Family Weekend on the 13th and 14th. Join artist Harold Offeh and playfully pose as mannequins in the temporary mirrored studio before creating a GIF to capture your experiments.
Southbank Centre is running special Words and Rhymes-themed Pram Jam sessions for under-5s and their adults as part of the week-long London Literature Festival on the 18th, 23rd and 25th. Expect nursery rhymes, poems and rhyming stories.
V&A Museum of Childhood’s A Pirate’s Life for Me exhibition opens on the 20th. Expect immersive and playful set design, including a large-scale pirate ship and a tropical treasure island, plus real pirate coins and treasures.
The Roald Dahl Museum & Story Centre in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, will reopen on the 20th following flooding in May. The museum is just a 40-minute train ride from Marylebone and features three hands-on galleries.
artsdepot will present A Line Art’s production of Ready Steady Lift Off! on the 22nd. This interactive show invites kids aged 3-8 to take part in a weird and whacky astronaut programme and combines performance, music, storytelling and painting.
Storystock, the travelling circus of literary adventures for children, is back at Battersea Power Station from 22nd-24th. Choose from tales by Dr. Seuss, Julia Donaldson, Judith Kerr and more, all brought to life by charismatic storytellers.
National Army Museum is hosting special early-years sessions for 3-6s on the 23rd and 25th. The Seeing, Signalling and Stories workshop explores the concept of communicating with telescopes and signals through storytelling, singing and play.
Celebrate 250 years of the circus on the 24th with Museum of London’s new science show, Celebrating the Circus for Under 5s. Attendees will explore the mystery and history surrounding circus acts, and imagine being a circus performer themselves.
Join Laura Dockrill at the Southbank Centre on the 24th when she’ll be bringing her book Angry Cookie to life. Aimed at ages 3+, the session will help little ones explore what makes them angry and encourage them to process their feelings creatively.
artsdepot presents Get Lost and Found’s Mischief and Mystery in Moomin Valley on the 24th-25th. Designed for ages 3-7, this unforgettable journey to Moomin Valley combines magical puppetry, an ingenious set, original music and interactive play.
Have a Hair-Raising Halloween with The Royal Parks’ spooky Discovery Day sessions on the 24th and 25th. Investigate feely boxes, create a potion using herbs and plants from the garden, make your own bat mask and listen to a spooky story.
Good Grief, Charlie Brown! opens at Somerset House on the 25th. This celebration of all things Snoopy and Peanuts will feature original cartoons by Charles M. Schulz and explore the comic’s renewed agency in contemporary culture and society.
Polka is offering a special Autumn Stories Take Part workshop for ages 6 months to 2 years on the 26th. Take part in drama games and craft making, as Polka’s storytellers lead you and your little person through some charming autumn stories.
Half Moon is hosting The Chit Chat Chalk Show, an interactive chalky adventure, on the 27th. This beautiful story for 3-8s dances, draws and giggles its way through from beginning to end – and promises to get pretty chalky, so dress accordingly.