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For Tiny Londoners & Their Adults

Bablands is a resource for Londoners who find themselves with a small creature to dress up and entertain. Part-magazine, part-guide, Bablands follows the adventures of Babu and Roro as they seek out London’s coolest kids’ shops, best child-friendly hangouts and activities that won’t make mummy want to gauge her eyes out with a weaning spoon.

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20 awesome things to do with kids in London: February 2023
London's coolest indoor play spaces by area
20 awesome things to do with kids in London: January 2023
London's coolest playgrounds by area
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Take a break from shopping at Westfield's questionably named Playworld
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Spend a morning tumbling with your tot at Parent & Toddler Gymnastics

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I wonder how many hours I’ve spent scouring the internet for new playgrounds and then virtually walking the streets on Google Maps to see if they’re still there. This playground in South Acton was one such find, although I have no idea what rabbit hole I was tumbling down when I stumbled across it. It’s called Avenue Road Park (it used to be called Mill Hill Park, despite being nowhere near Mill Hill) and it’s really cool. I always love slides that make use of a hillside, and this one was particularly fast. It also boasts swings with reeeally long chains, a really good log climbing/balancing structure and a toddler playground with wobbly boat, slide, baby swings, seesaw and this green spinny thing. Great for all ages if you’re ever down that way.

20 awesome things to do with kids in London in February is now live 🥳 Looks like an absolutely cracking month tbh. Loads of brilliant sounding arty workshops and family festivals, and 3/4 of it is totally free! Link in my bio as always ❤️🕺

A new playground day is always a good day. Had planned on doing basically nothing today with it being so cold but then Kerri sent me a post announcing that the new Clapton Square playground had opened so… you get the picture. I’d only walked past the playground that used to be here but I think I can still say this is a massive improvement. I love this structure, which is reminiscent of the one at the Camberwell end of Burgess Park, and various others since then, and there are two other climbing structures at the far end of the space too. It’s got a huge sandpit with a tractor-trailer; swings for kids big and small, including a spinning swing that you can stand on; a balance structure for older kids; a roundabout (possibly from the old playground); balancing logs (definitely from the old playground); and a seesaw that’s currently fenced off. The playground has a really nice feel, with lots of space and potential for imaginative play. Stoke Newington Common and Haggerston Park playgrounds are set to be finished by the end of this month with Butterfield Green and Shoreditch Park playgrounds opening soon after. Exciting times.

We took advantage of the free Blue Monday tickets and went back to @framelessldn this week. It was predictably busy and I didn’t get a chance to take any decent photos because there were too many people (this one’s from our last visit). I still really like it but we only lasted about 40 minutes this time because Roma got spooked by the thunderstorm in one of the rooms and wanted to leave, so the £25 ticket would have been a bit painful had we had to pay it. Last time we stayed a couple of hours (and could have happily have stayed all day) so it felt much better value. I really hope they’re planning to change the displays at some point. It would be so cool if they did themed ones - I mean, could do almost anything with it. It’s great that under-5s go free but a shame it’s £15 for over-5s. I think Babu would really like it but that would make it £40 (£65 if Adam came too 🥴). Have you been? What did you think?

The staff at Edel Assanti were SO lovely and accommodating today I could have cried. We went to see Jenkin van Zyl’s Surrender, which you access via this giant inflatable foil mouse head, but Roma was a bit freaked out by the soundtrack so they turned it off while we were there 😭😭😭 They also told her she could jump on the beds in the video room and took some super cute photos of us. I’ve never had such a great experience in a commercial gallery before, or any gallery come to think of it. The show is great too, if a bit dark and noisy in places. Thanks @edelassanti for being awesome ❤️ On until the 4th of March.

The @batterseapwrstn Light Festival promised to be bigger and brighter than ever for its third run, but somehow it felt less impressive than last year, with mostly smaller-scale installations. On the plus side the power station is now open so we escaped the cold for a bit with hot chocolates from Grind and some illicit scooting in a corner of the turbine hall. Our favourite installation was Neighborhood by Sergey Kim, which takes the form of a giant illuminated washing line, but that was hard to photograph, so here’s our second favourite, Strangers in the Light by Victor Engbers and Ina Smits. I probably wouldn’t rush down there to see it in the freezing cold unless you’re local, but it’s on until March the 5th so you’ve got a while.

I had a rare afternoon without Roma yesterday so decided to spend it in the company of other children 🙃 This is Evanescent by Sydney-based design studio @ateliersisu and it’s just popped up outside @cheesegraterldn (kind of wanted to make a reel of it with Bring Me to Life by Evanescence as the soundtrack 😂). You’re allowed to wander through the bubbles, which catch the sunlight during the day and light up from within at night, but I’ve heard from other people that the security can be a bit militant, especially where kids are involved (they were fine with us but we didn’t linger long because Greta wasn’t into it). Catch it until the 10th of February.

Winter Lights is back for 11 days only so get your skates on if you want to catch it (literally at this rate - does it want to get a bit colder?). As usual it’s a pretty mixed bag of really stunning installations and some more meh ones, although I guess that’s subjective. This tunnel, called in[visible] by Daniel Popescu in Crossrail Place was my favourite. We didn’t do everything because we went for dinner first and by the time we started the trail it was late, but it was less busy and better signposted than in previous years, so it felt pretty chilled. You can download a map of the 22 installations (which includes some permanent ones you’ll have seen before) and there are loads of stewards handing out paper maps too. It’s on until the 28th of January and lights are switched on between 5pm and 10pm.

@curiouser.family is a new space on Finchley Road for families with kids aged 0-6. We went to their open day on Saturday to check out the space and it’s really lovely - exactly the sort of thing I wanted when we lived in the area when Babu was a toddler. It’s laid out across two floors with a really beautiful play frame in the downstairs lounge (I’ll put some photos in my stories but it was all quite difficult to capture as it was so busy), and several multi-use rooms - all super stylish. Rather than paying a membership like with some family clubs, you just pay for individual classes or buy a class pack to redeem against the classes of your choice on dates that suit you. Classes include messy play, art, drama, music, cooking, Mandarin, Montessori, baby massage and musical theatre, and you get 30 minutes in the lounge after every class. Check the website Curiouser-family.com for details and pricing. Kensington and Notting Hill locations opening soon.

Don’t mind me, just posting something colourful to make my feed look jazzy 🤡 What’s everyone got planned for this week? Tell me 👀

Actually really glad we made a special trip to @harrods to see the Yayoi Kusama x Louis Vuitton pop-up in the rain today. It’s small and it doesn’t take long to see it all but I was so desperate to see the Yayoi robot in all her spotty glory. You’re advised to book a free ticket (via the Harrod’s website) but nobody was checking and we just walked straight in. Aside from the robot, which appears to paint dots on the window, there’s a claw machine where you can win stickers, a special photo booth and a cake stand where you can buy Yayoi x LV eclairs or macaroons for £12 a pop 🥴 (we skipped this and bought a pack of six cupcakes from the Waitrose over the road for £2 lol). You can also shop the collection, which I’m sure is a lot more than £12 a pop. Good thing we were only in it for the robot 🤖

Megalols at @inflatanationcolindale on Sunday. I love this place. Whoever thought of an absolutely massive bouncy castle as a family attraction in its own right is a genius. So simple. So brilliant. It’s got ball pools, pneumatic shooters, stepping stones that deflate when you stand on them and lower you into the bally depths, bouncy pillows, rope swings, enormous slides and a separate sloping bouncy castle that starts off flat and gradually inflates to push you skywards. It’s so much fun and they even do parties (though not private hire), as we discovered on Sunday when we arrived to find it absolutely rammed 🥴 It was still great though. Tickets are £8.50 for under-4s and £13.50 for everyone else, then a bit cheaper for an extra hour.

Just one of Stratford’s many, many, MANY playgrounds (and there’s an AMAZING looking new one about to open round the corner from this). This is the Ravens Walk playground in East Village. I’ve posted about this one before when it had just opened but we hadn’t been back until last week, when we spent about an hour here in the rain. The kids didn’t seem to want to go down the slide with the break-your-neck steps in the rain but they loved all the hills and bumps. Good for playing the floor is lava, apparently.

We live a short walk from Camden Market but I rarely go down there because it’s such a nightmare - and I NEVER go on a weekend because, well, if you’ve been you’ll know. We relaxed this rule a few weeks ago to see the Back in Time exhibition at Hawley Wharf because Babu really loves the films so I wanted to take her along. I was pretty much expecting stuff in cases, and not some beautifully curated exhibition, based on what I’d read about it (it’s toured the world) and I was right. If you’re not a BTTF mega fan I’d definitely swerve this one. I am, and I was very excited to see so many original props from the films, regardless of how unimaginatively they were displayed. The display cases were too high for Roma (and would likely also be for wheelchair users, despite the exhibition being otherwise accessible) and I did think it was weird that everything was displayed with a certificate of authenticity because really who cares. In terms of interactivity, there was an arcade game like the one Marty plays in the Cafe 80s in BTTF2, a weird mural photo-op thing and, of course, the Delorean. We went right at the beginning of the exhibition run and were able to take our own photo in the car but I’ve read reviews from people who went later on and weren’t allowed, and had to pay £15 for a professional photo if they wanted one - which is frankly INSANE given how expensive it already is to get in. I paid £21 for me, £16.80 for Babu and nothing for Ro because she’s under 4. Was it worth that price? Absolutely not. I enjoyed it and we all had a good experience, but the prices are nuts. On top of that the gift shop has almost literally nothing in it due to supply issues - not that I would have bought anything after paying all that. So yeah, go on your own if you’re a super fan, but probably don’t drag the kids, and don’t expect an immersive BTTF wonderland because this is not it (although how great would that be?).

We LOVE Bristol! (But don’t worry, we’re not planning on moving there any time soon. Actually I’m not entirely convinced it’s any cheaper than London 🥴). We did a night there in the October half term and had the best time. It was a bit of a last-minute trip and @wakethetiger which I REALLY wanted to visit was fully booked and @skyboatcafe who I’ve been following for ages doesn’t open on weekends but we still did so much fun stuff, including @bristolmuseums M Shed plus the steam train, @arnolfiniarts , Bristol Art Gallery, burgers at @threebrothersbrewingcompany , a boat tour, a wander around Stokes Croft to see the street art, @lucyandyakbristol and @thatthing.co , and dinner at the amazing @zazabazaar all-you-can-eat buffet with our friends before we left. I really want to do another trip soon - even if it’s just a day trip to do Wake the Tiger, although that might be a bit insane. What are your favourite things to do in Bristol?

Whatever you do, don’t zoom in on her face. It’s like a horror film. I’ve never really fancied any of the massive soft plays but we’ve got to a point where both of mine are too massive for the smaller ones. Today we went to @clowntown_finchley for the first time ever. It’s a relatively short bus ride from our house so I have no idea how we’ve managed to go nearly seven years without visiting. Personally I think it it’s nicer in reality than it looks online. It’s big but not unmanageable and on a weekday afternoon it was pretty quiet, and the soft play itself is good - not a pastel-hued Scandi dreamscape, but good. And clean. We all loved this digital aquarium slide situation, and the younger kids’ area is really spacious. Prices seem fairly standard for a soft play - i.e. pricy - but they got a lot out of it (we didn’t actually know how long we were allowed to stay but I had to get back to pick up Babu so we stayed 1h 45m which felt like enough - and apparently that’s how long the sessions are anyway).

We love Sammy’s Soft Play at @yogaloftlondon (although weirdly I realised it had been exactly a year to the day since we last visited). The soft play is great and grownups get to sit on comfy sofas and drink (decent) coffee while their kids play - this photo was taken from the comfort of one of said sofas. The toilets are really nice, which is always a bonus, and you can buy healthy food from the cafe at the front. It’s everything a soft play should be (but so rarely is). Soft-play slots are an hour long and £4 for babies up to 18 months or £6 for 18 months to 8 years. It was literally just Roma, Greta and another little one at 1pm yesterday so that’s obviously the time to go!

Emslie Horniman’s Pleasance Park playground has had a glow up and we’re into it. The original character of the playground has been maintained, which is great because it’s always been lovely with its cute Teletubby landscaping, but it’s been resurfaced (I seem to remember it was looking a bit worn the last time we visited a year or so ago) and they’ve added - most notably - a pirate ship and medium-sized climbing frame with wobbly bridges and slides. There’s also a roundabout, swings, a spinner, climbing rock, balance course, tunnel, a wide slide, musical instruments and bouncers, plus a couple of shades for hotter days. The planet mural at the back of the playground is gone but there looks to be a consultation happening with @kcawlondon to create a new one. Avondale Park and Kensington Memorial Park are also currently being redone (thanks so much to Beatrice for the intel). Do you live in the area? What do you think about the changes?

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