20 awesome things to do with your little Londoners in October 2021

Beautiful People: The Boutique in 1960s Counterculture opens at the Fashion and Textile Museum from the 1st. Designs worn by the likes of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix will be displayed in colourful, graphic recreations of eight iconic boutiques. Paid.
Apple Tree Children’s Cafe’s Peckham Rye branch opens its doors from the 2nd. Like its sister site in Herne Hill, the new play cafe is designed for under-5s, and will feature a sensory room in addition to activity tables offering educational play-based challenges. Paid.
The Bed, based on the Sylvia Plath poem, will be showing at Little Angel from the 8th-31st as two shows for ages 6-18 months and 18 months-3 respectively. Explore different worlds, from underwater in a submarine bed to space in a rocket bed, each with its own soundscape. Paid.
Takeshi Matsumoto’s Club Origami is on at The Place on the 10th and artsdepot on the 24th. Designed for 0-5s, this immersive and interactive dance show invites audiences to create, imagine and explore whole new ways of thinking, playing and moving. Paid.
The Hyundi Commission opens at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall from the 12th, as Anicka Yi creates her largest and most ambitious project to date. Yi’s work deals with emerging forms of life and intelligence, and addresses questions around migration, class and gender. Free.
LUX: New Wave of Contemporary Art comes to 180 the Strand from the 12th. Featuring 13 large-scale installations, LUX brings together 12 celebrated artists who are working with the latest AV technologies to expand the boundaries of interactive, immersive art. Paid.
Head to Superblue London from the 12th and experience Silent Fall, a new, site-specific installation by artist duo A.A. Murakami. Expect an ethereal, multisensory environment where tree-like automata will release ephemeral scented bubbles that can be handled. Paid.
Ron Mueck: 25 Years of Sculpture 1996-2021 opens at Thaddaeus Ropac from the 13th. The exhibition will mark the most comprehensive gallery survey of the sculptor to date, and will include works such as Woman with Shopping, Youth and Couple Under an Umbrella. Free.
Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition opens at a secret location from the 15th. This immersive show will offer a never-before-seen perspective of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, allowing visitors to engage with the artwork in ways that were never before possible. Paid.
Beano: The Art of Breaking the Rules takes over Somerset House from the 21st. Discover artists who push boundaries in their own original ways, and come face-to-face with the Beano gang through original artwork artefacts plundered from the Beano’s archive. Paid.
Walk with Amal from the 22nd-24th as the 3.5m puppet of a young refugee girl travels through the Capital. Join in with events in Lewisham, Central London, the Royal Opera House, a birthday party at the V&A and a Farewell to London event in Camden. Free/paid.
The Natural History Museum Ice Rink opens for its final season from the 22nd. Take your toddler for a skate on a weekday before 2pm and you’ll both enjoy a free mini hot chocolate, tea, coffee or soft drink. Penguin Skate Club for 4-8s runs from November. Paid.
Barbican is hosting a Family Film Week from the 23rd-30th. Highlights will include a Riso Printing Family Workshop; a showing of Calamity – based on the life of Martha Jane Cannary, AKA Calamity Jane; and documentaries narrated by Kate Winslet and Cate Blanchett. Paid.
Waste Age: What can design do? opens at The Design Museum from the 23rd. Explore major new exhibits that capture the devastating impact of waste, including a large-scale art installation by Ibrahim Mahama made from e-waste in Ghana. Paid.
Head to artsdepot from the 24th-30th and check out Aaron Blecha’s interactive Aliens, Zombies & Monsters! exhibition. The gallery will be packed full of life-sized alien, zombie and monster characters, ready to mingle with visitors of all ages. Free.
Head to the Royal Observatory on the 25th and 26th for Out of this World: Moons. Travel across the solar system in RMG’s planetarium before joining in with an interactive family workshop as you discover more about moons, space and astronomy. Paid.
Zoom is showing at The Lyric from the 26th-30th. Devised for children aged 3-8 years, this new production features uses music, songs and puppetry to provide a gentle introduction for young children into ways they can help to protect their environment. Paid.
Magnificent Monsters with Pop Up Projects is on at the Southbank Centre on the 27th. Let your little monsters’ imaginations run wild in workshops and performances based on the curious creatures from Pop Up Projects’ 10 Stories to Make a Difference. Free.
Pop down to Sir John Soane’s Museum on the 28th for their family Sugar Sculptures workshop. Create artworks inspired by the sugar sculptures often featured in Regency banquets, and Pablo Bronstein’s magnificent cake and jelly skyscrapers. Free.
Family Friday: Expressive Art takes place at the Dulwich Picture Gallery on the 29th. Join artist Crystal Fishetti, whose work revolves around art therapy, and explore how you can get creative as a family whilst expressing your emotional worlds. Free.