20 awesome things to do in London with kids: September 2025

Emerge East will be popping up in Barking Riverside on the 6th. Highlights will include large-scale inflatable sculpture Meliora; a dedicated music stage; a hands-on workshop from constructive play masters Woodland Tribe, and am immersive Sandscape experience. Free.
Dabbers Family Brunch Bingo will be at Big Penny Social on the 6th. Get ready for three exciting rounds of bingo featuring a music round, animal riddles, funny calls, kids vs parents challenges, a slime station, prizes and lots more. Paid.
DPG’s ArtPlay Pavilion opens from the 6th. Created by HoLD, this space for 0-8s reimagines classic paintings from the gallery’s collection as interactive adventures. Head to the gallery from 6-7th to celebrate for the ArtPlay Festival, celebrating the pavilion’s launch. Free.
London Museum is hosting a Circular Free-Play Workshop at its London Museum Studios on the 6th. Then, on the 9th, London Museum Docklands is running a Tots & the Thames Day Festival featuring workshops, crafts and activities just for babies and toddlers. Free.
Serpentine is hosting a Family Day on the 6th, featuring art, storytelling, music and making. Then from the 30th, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley’s The Delusion, a video-game commission and multiplayer immersive experience, will take over Serpentine South. Free.
Saturday Sessions: Creating with Tasnim Mahdy is popping up at the Southbank Centre on the 13th. Use collage, cut-outs and movement to make a huge, collaborative art installation. There will also be a relaxed version of the workshop earlier the same day. Free.
The Somerset House Step Inside 25 Weekend runs from 13th-14th. Highlights will include a pop-up basketball installation, immersive disco experiences from the CUTE exhibition, and drawing workshops inspired by the erstwhile Peanuts exhibition. Free.
LDF runs from 13th-21st. Family-friendly highlights will include Miffy at Bankside, an immersive Step Inside Quantum installation at Imperial College, Wang Chung Kun’s Hornscape Playground and Lee Broom’s Beacon light installation – both on Bankside. Free.
Open House Festival is back from 13th-21st. Must-visits include Smithfield and Bartholomew Fayre, featuring graffiti, puppet and zine workshops; a family-friendly tour of the Crystal Palace Park Dinosaurs; and King’s Cross Academy’s unique Village playground. Free.
Frieze Sculpture returns to Regent’s Park from 17th September to 2nd November. United by the theme In the Shadows, works on show will engage with the notion of darkness from multiple perspectives, with artists including Elmgreen & Dragset and Erwin Wurm. Free.
Theatre Picasso is at Tate Modern from the 17th. Staged by artist Wu Tsang and author-curator Enrique Fuenteblanca, the exhibition will take the form of a theatre in which the artist’s paintings, sculpture and textiles – some never seen in the UK – will be displayed. Paid.
In celebration of the final weekend of its Morris Mania exhibition, William Morris Gallery is hosting a Family Day with Angry Dan on the 20th. Print your own black-and-white version of the artist’s William Morris-inspired limerick design – yours to take home and colour in. Free.
Head to Whitechapel Gallery on the 20th for Popcorn! Joy for Stuff, in which artists Eva Freeman and Jenny Pengilly explore their love of, and joy for the colourful detritus of contemporary life. Then explore the Popcorn! exhibition before it closes on the 21st. Free.
Blitz: the Club that Shaped the 80s opens at the Design Museum from the 20th. 40 years after its closure, visitors will be able to revisit the trailblazing club’s history and atmosphere with a sensory extravaganza of music, flamboyant fashions, and pioneering art and film. Paid.
Marie Antoinette Style opens at V&A South Kensington from the 20th. Explore the lasting influence of the most fashionable (and ill-fated) queen in history – with over 250 years of design, fashion, film and art. Paid.
The Material World exhibition opens at Kew Gardens from the 20th. Wander through five unique areas by visionary artists, from Lottie Delamain’s vibrant horticultural installation to Michael McMillan’s immersive audio-visual experience. Included with paid admission.
Counting Sheeps is at the Albany on the 21st. Snuggle up and join two sheep on a journey through the joys and frustrations of everything bedtime in this touching musical adventure filled with sensory play for 0-3 year olds and their (very tired) grown ups. Paid.
Barbican’s Family Film Club returns this month, with two blockbuster screenings to choose from. Wicked + Intro from Eve Bannister, the film’s prop maker, is showing on the 20th, while How to Train Your Dragon will screen on the 27th. Paid.
Chelsea Physic Garden is hosting a free-access Open Weekend on the 27th-28th as part of Chelsea History Festival. Families are invited to take part in pond dipping, craft activities, lively storytelling sessions, and encounter historical characters. Free.
The long-awaited David Bowie Centre finally opens at V&A East Storehouse this month. Step into the creative worlds and archive of David Bowie – artist, disruptor, icon. Explore costumes, sounds, lyrics and sketches that mapped his many reinventions. Paid.