20 awesome things to do in London with kids: November 2024

Remember, remember the 5th(ish) of November. Check out London’s best fireworks at Ally Pally (1st-2nd), Beckenham (2nd), Morden Park and Wimbledon Park (2nd and 5th, respectively), Battersea Park (2nd-3rd), Richmond (3rd) and Coram’s Fields (5th). Paid/free.
Head to Museum of the Home on the 1st and 24th for special Pollock’s Live Toy Theatre performances of The Bottle Imp, and Dick Whittington and Cinderella, respectively. The museum will also host a spellbinding Diwali Family Day 2024 on the 2nd. Paid/Free.
Day of the Dead, AKA Dia de los Muertos, returns to Camden Market on the 2nd. Expect live music from mariachi and tropical Latin bands, along with folk and Aztec dancing, and a lively parade. There will also be face painting, sugar skulls and flower making. Free.
Whitechapel Gallery is hosting a mass Play-In with Tarot for Creativity on the 2nd. Draw a card from the deck and get creative in the gallery, or join artist Amy Leung to make collaborative sculptural forms inspired by the works of Lygia Clark and Sonia Boyce. Free.
Head to V&A this month for the following. 2nd: BOOST: Family Festival (all ages). 6th: Design Baby: Play Build Play (0-3s). 9th: Drop-In Diwali: Family Day (all ages). 9th & 23rd: Make it: Fashion (5-10s). 30th: Sensory Friendly: Design and Draw with Light (SEN). Paid/free.
Head to Canary Wharf from the 2nd-22nd for Nature Rising, a larger-than-life installation celebrating the opening of Eden Dock. Consisting of 21 figures emerging from the greenery, the trail will lead from Jubilee Park’s lush greenery to Eden Dock’s floating gardens. Free.
Happy Birthday Elmer! is at the Southbank Centre on the 3rd. Dress up in colourful outfits and enjoy drop-in craft activities, party games and a live DJ. Then, on the 15th, shake, stomp and sing in an interactive musical workshop with the Tots Tunes Family Band. Free/paid.
The Francis Crick Institute is launching its Tots Too campaign from the 6th. Pick up a kids’ trail inside the Hello Brain exhibition and discover games, playmats and a ‘make a plasticine brain’ activity before enjoying a kids’ meal deal in the cafe. Free.
British Museum is hosting two Little Feet sessions for under-5s this month. Go on an Ancient Assyrian Adventure and make your own horse on the 7th, then discover the Silk Roads exhibition for free in a special Exhibition Explorer drop-in on the 21st. Free.
Uniqlo Tate Play Make Studio: The Joy of Feeling begins on the 9th and runs on Wednesdays and weekends. Create a sensory sculpture using a range of tactile materials. Take inspiration from art in Tate’s collection or let your imagination run wild. Free.
Make-Lab Masterclass: Family Acrobatics with Mimbre is at Young V&A on the 9th. Join the inclusive acrobatic company for a fun, family acro-balance workshop where adults and young people learn to support each other in acrobatic lifts and balances. Paid.
Head to RIBA on the 9th for Family Fun Day: We Built This City and design and build fantastic structures inspired by the Difficult Sites: Architecture Against the Odds exhibition. Or, grab your 0-3 and enjoy a morning of play at RIBA Baby: Bricks and Bubbles on the 15th. Free.
Head to Fitzrovia Chapel on the 10th for a Badge of Honour wearable art workshop with artist Christina Rose Brown. Aimed at ages 6+, the session will take inspiration from the chapel’s current In Uniform: Stories of Nurses and their Clothing exhibition. Paid.
Vogue: Inventing the Runway opens at Lightroom from the 13th. This spectacular immersive exhibition explores the history of the fashion runway show, from the intimate couture salons of the early 20th century to the unforgettable pop-culture events of the present. Paid.
William Morris Gallery is running Family Day: The Magic of Storytelling on the 16th. Join Palestinian play specialist Elias Matar on a colourful journey across borders, countries, and time, encountering mythical creatures and fairy tale characters along the way. Free.
Boxville is on at the Albany on the 17th. Meet paper dragons, corrugated crabs and cardboard space robots in this interactive cardboard adventure for 4-8s. Then on the 27th, the theatre is hosting You Are the Sun, a folk-inspired opera for 0-2s. Paid.
The RA will play host to two free drop-in art sessions this month. Early Years Studio: Weaving (0-5s) is on the 20th, then on the 24th children of all ages are invited to make a sculpture inspired by friends or family members in Family Studio: My Favourite People. Paid.
Luke Jerram’s monumental Mars sculpture will be taking up residence in the Old Royal Naval College’s Painted Hall from the 23rd. Measuring seven metres in diameter, this spellbinding artwork features detailed NASA imagery of the Martian surface recreated to scale. Paid.
Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light & Kids Art Workshop is at the Czech Centre on the 24th. This enchanting animated film about friendship and the power of being different will be screened in Czech with English subtitles, and followed by a workshop for ages 6+. Paid.
Electric Dreams: Art and Technology Before the Internet opens at Tate Modern opens from the 28th. Discover how artists used machines and algorithms to create mesmerising and mind-bending art between the 1950s and the early 1990s. Paid.