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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 Bab as she seeks out London's coolest kids' shops, best child-friendly hangouts and under-fives activities that won't make mummy want to gauge her eyes out with a weaning spoon.

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Rowdy SS’s “Is this the end? A sonic collage of many endings” is loud and smelly and makes your eyes go funny, but you become accustomed to it really quickly and then everything else suddenly looks weird. So basically a metaphor for living in London. It’s on at @somersethouse until the 9th of Feb but there’s not a hell of a lot else happening there right now and Fernandez & Wells and almost the whole of the main building are closed for a refurb, which is a bit of a bummer. If you wait until the end of the month to see it (it’s literally a room) you can also catch new exhibitions “I should be doing something else right now” and “Mushrooms: the art, design and future of fungi” - and obviously 24/7, if you haven’t seen that already 👍 . . . . . #somersethouse #rowdyss #coolthingsfortinylondoners #londonwithkids #ldn #mylondonlife #artinlondon #londonmummy #takethemeverywhere
The list of places in London that are suitable for both a crawler and a toddler who’s not really a toddler anymore is depressingly short, but Sorted! at @thepostalmuseum is definitely on it. Babu loves the process of transporting parcels from post box to sorting office to letterbox, while Roma was happy enough repeatedly pulling a cloth mail bag over her head ♥️ The sessions are way too short though. Babu was so disappointed that it was over after just 45 minutes and it’s not like it’s mega busy during the week (it was literally us and two other mums with one kid each) so it’s not like they need to be able to cram more people in. Can we start a campaign to make them longer? There’s such a dearth of decent stuff for crawlers in Central London. It’s basically this and Squish Space ☹️ . . . . . #coolthingsfortinylondoners #thepostalmuseum #sorted #londonwithkids #londonwithababy #londonmum #londonmuseum #farringdon #kingscross #mylondonlife #ldn
Ok so you totally don’t need to be 5 to go on the big yellow Selfridge’s slide. Adam told the lady on the gate thing that Babu was nearly 5, to which she piped up “I’M THREE!” because if there’s one thing kids are ALWAYS proud of it’s how old they are 😆, but she said she could try anyway. I think the age thing is there more as a guide in case little kids get to the top, brick it and have to be bribed down with Wheat Crunchies. Babu’s quite hardcore with slides anyway - I mean she’s been on enough of them to be fair. I, on the other hand, am TERRIFIED of all slides but Babu made me go down this one anyway 😭 The slide will be in situ as part of Selfridge’s Highsnobiety collab until the 9th of Feb! . . . . . #selfridges #selfridgeslondon #highsnobiety #coolthingsfortinylondoners #londonwithkids #bondstreet #mayfair #oxfordstreet #london #popupslondon #londonpopup #thingstodoinlondon
Last week (or possibly the one before, who really knows anymore) we ventured to the deepest, darkest depths of zone 6 to check out @picnicplaycentres , a new role-play-centre-meets-play-cafe in Kingston. These indoor kids’ city places only seem to exist in other counties so it’s great to see more of them appearing in London, even if Kingston is basically Surrey. Full review and details now up on the blog. Spoiler: it’s worth the trek. . . . . . #picnickingston #kingstonuponthames #kingstonlondon #playcafe #londonplaycafes #coolthingsfortinylondoners #londonwithkids #mylondon #londonwithatoddler #londonwithababy #ldn
Having a right old lol in Brighton. I had 11 things on my original to-do list, of which we actually managed seven. Might do a little guide on the site but at the same time I don’t feel I’m massively qualified since we hadn’t even been to The Lanes before today 😐 This installation, A Room Full of Laughter by @andydoigneon , was one of my favourite bits and it finishes this month so I was pretty glad we caught it. You can find it at 32 Upper North Street for a limited time. . . . . . #brightonwithkids #andydoig #aroomfulloflaughter #installationart #neonart #artwithkids #brighton
We did a full day with Roma in the buggy and Babu WALKING. Ok so she only actually walked from Dartmouth Park to Archway but I was still pretty impressed given that she normally runs to the end of our cul-de-sac (do people still use the word cul-de-sac or was that just in the 90s??) and then slumps in a heap in the buggy for the rest of the day like she’s recovering from Tough Mudder. We’re leaving town for the day tomorrow and hoping to get her walking/scooting for the duration 😬 Pray for us. Btw this is the last weekend you can catch the awesome Omnibus by Honey-Suckle Company at @icalondon . Kids seem to love it and it’s pretty interactive so definitely worth a look if you haven’t been already. It’s really close to the St James’s Park Playground too if that sways you at all. . . . . . #ica #instituteofcontemporaryart #honeysucklecompany #coolthingsfortinylondoners #londonwithkids #mylondon #mylondonlife #ldn #londonmum #rockthatmuseumkid
Today was a better day. We did fun things and stopped lots: in two nice playgrounds and then again for Gail’s hot chocolate, which is basically medicine. We talked rubbish and bought stupid blind box toys because we love them. I remembered to BREATHE, because I think sometimes when I’m stressed I sort of forget to do that. It pissed it down and Roma screamed lots and two people pointedly brushed the chewed remnants of her snacks off their expensive coats and shot me disgusted expressions and I really didn’t give a shit ♥️ . . . . . #coolthingsfortinylondoners #londonwithkids #nottinghill #hollandpark #londonmum #honestparenting #ldn #mylondon #mylondonlife #artinlondon #londonmummy #londonwithtoddlers #thingstodoinlondon
Poised for another day of solo fun with these two reprobates. Yesterday Adam took Babu trampolining while me and Roma went to see the strawberry dog exhibition and it felt SO WEIRD. Weird because it was Roma’s first full outing in the buggy. Weird because she wasn’t strapped to me and I didn’t feel like I was going to snap in half all afternoon. Weird because I could actually WALK FAST (I realised Google Maps estimates my walking pace to be almost twice as slow as it is when I’m on my own because I’m usually pushing a almost four year old in a buggy whilst toting a giant 11 month old). And weird because - and this sounds a bit sad - but I had no one to talk to 😭 I mean sure you can talk AT a baby all you like but the most I’m getting back at this point is an enthusiastic “BA!” but Babu comes out with the funniest shit. Also we’d normally find a playground after doing something arty but obviously playgrounds are a bit crap for 11 month old crawlers in January so we just came home : ( I’d totally forgotten how hard it is to find places where babies can crawl in the winter (I did a blog post about it a couple of years ago but it’s probably really outdated now). If somebody could just open a nice play cafe in Central London that would be 👌 . . . . . #coolthingsfortinylondoners #londonwithkids #lazinc #watchthisspace #artinlondon #mayfair #londonwithababy #mylondon #ldn
More dogs because I really like the dogs. There’s also some police officers and a bunch of blokes standing around in suits. Really into all of it. . . . . . #coolthingsfortinylondoners #artinlondon #raphaelasimon #erdbeeren #michaelwernergallery #londonwithkids #londonmum #rockthatmuseumkid #mayfair
Made some doggie mates. Lol this gallery though. The first-floor entrance to the TINY lift is blocked by a sculpture, unbeknownst to the (LOVELY) receptionist, who sent us up in said lift and then when we tried to get out we got wedged between the lift door and a pair of life-size snogging puppets. We ended up having to call for help and then a really lovely guy in white gloves came and moved the snoggers and the whole thing was kind of mortifying but also totally worth it because look at the dogs 😍 The exhibition is called Erdbeeren and it’s by Raphaela Simon. It’s small (three rooms over two floors) and obviously there’s the lift issue but it’s really cool and only a short walk across Hyde Park to the South Carriage Drive Playground, which we think is quite good. It’s on until the 18th and there are MORE DOGS downstairs 🐶 . . . . . #coolthingsfortinylondoners #londonwithkids #artwithkids #artinlondon #rockthatmuseumkid #michaelwernergallery #mayfair #londonmummy #londonculture #raphaelasimon
@canalmuseum review now up on the site, and it’s only been three months since the actual visit! So organised. This is a cool little museum that’s great if you have an interest in local history and an hour or two to spare in Kings Cross. Lots of child-friendly little bits including this reconstructed longboat and a brilliant children’s corner filled with binoculars, torches and other things that little ones can take with them as they move around the museum. Lovely staff too! . . . . . #coolthingsfortinylondoners #londonwithkids #londonmuseums #londoncanals #londoncanalmuseum #londonmummy #kingscross #caledonianroad
Really late to the party with this one but there are 10 of these little concrete houses scattered around Burgess Park, each one representing one of the lives lost when in 1917 a WW1 zeppelin bomb hit Calmington Road, on the site where the park stands today. The houses vary in size to correspond with the person they represent - small, medium and large for child, woman and man - and colour to signify proximity to where Calmington Road once stood. It’s a really poignant tribute (even with the dog wee ☹️) and made me quite sad but we still enjoyed wandering around the park finding the houses, although we only managed nine out of the 10 and gave up pretty quickly because it was so fricking freezing. Anyone else spotted these? They’ve been there since November 2018! Also where’s the 10th one?! . . . . . #coolthingsfortinylondoners #londonwithkids #southlondon #burgesspark #silentraid #sallyhogarth #artinlondon #southwark #camberwell #peckham #londonmummy
Adam took the kids for the afternoon 🥳 They went to the really awesome playground in Paddington Rec and then soft play at the Sherriff Centre and they didn’t get in until 7pm whooop. I so needed a day of sitting around in a hoodie with the cat and feel so much better but also like I still need 10 more, or some kind of retreat situation. Speaking of which, my beautiful friend @stretchedmums is running a yoga retreat at a manor in Oxfordshire in May and it sounds AMAZING, full of lovely food and lovely walks and lovely stretching and general loveliness. Head to her profile for details, she’s incred ♥️ . . . . . #coolthingsfortinylondoners #mumsyoga #mumsyogaretreat #yogaretreat #londonwithkids #londonmum #londonmums #londonmummy #paddingtonrec #thesherriffcentre #westhampstead
When you like the back of the art better that the front of the art 😆 Made it to @southlondongallery just as the Sunday Spot was finishing yesterday, just to fit with the theme of the day (I got so many lovely messages about that though, so thanks 🥰). The Bloomberg New Contemporaries exhibition is displayed across both of SLG’s locations and there’s some really cool stuff in there (even if my kids were more bothered about the air vent) and it’s on until the end of Feb so there’s loads of time to see it. Babu’s back at school this morning so we’re back to only being able to venture to the depths of South London (and Kent 😭) on weekends, which I’m ok with! Who else is back to routine today? . . . . . #coolthingsfortinylondoners #southlondongallery #peckham #camberwell #londonwithkids #bloombergnewcontemporaries #artinlondon
Yesterday’s fun was this “deconstructed theatre set”, part of a work by Alex Margo Arden and Caspar Heinemann at Cell Project Space called The Farmyard is Not a Violent Place and I Look Exactly Like Judy Garland that also involves really fun-looking performances in the space, though we didn’t manage to catch one of those. I’m probably a bit late to the party but I’ve discovered a really cool app called ArtRabbit that tells you where all the art is at in whatever city you’re in, with maps so you can see if there’s anything you fancy near where you are that day, plus photos and a “what to expect” section so you know what you’re getting yourself in for - i.e. installation, painting etc. So worth installing if you love an exhibition and you can use it abroad too! . . . . . #coolthingsfortinylondoners #artwithkids #artinlondon #londonwithkids #cambridgeheath #hackney
Feeling mega wobbly today. One of those where I just want to lie in bed and escape into a book or a film. We’ve had a succession of epic days out, mostly with friends but without Adam being there to hand the baby to when my back’s done in from carrying her, and I’m so tired I feel like I’m never going to be not tired again. We’re going out again today (just the three of us because Adam’s working again 😭) since it’s our last full day before nursery starts, but I feel like we’ll definitely all cry. This was yesterday in the big-kid playground in Victoria Park. Babu was way too small for almost all of it but a six year old adopted her and helped her up and down this slide, then they skipped off together hand in hand to climb the terrifying hillside rope thing behind it 😭 Cool playground but arghhh. . . . . . #coolthingsfortinylondoners #londonwithkids #victoriapark #hackney #playgroundsoflondon #londonplayground
I think if I had any artistic talent whatsoever this is the kind of stuff I’d be making, except there’d be no meaning behind it except for “this is fun and weird” and I definitely wouldn’t be winning any Turner Prizes for it. I said Tai Shani’s giant pink hand thing was my favourite but actually it might be this, Oscar Murillo’s Collective Conscience. I can’t decide. It doesn’t matter anyway because they all won 🥰 . . . . . #turnerprize2019 #margate #turnercontemporary #oscarmurillo
This thing is so cool. It’s called The Welcome Chorus by Yuri Suzuki and it’s a sound sculpture with built-in AI. It’s been learning and evolving since it was installed outside @turnercontemporary in September by “listening” to people’s voices and sounds in its immediate surroundings. It also sings, plays bird noise and shouts things you say back at you, like “you’re a smelly bum head” 😬 Like the Turner Prize it’s only there until the 12th. . . . . . #margate #thewelcomechorus #turnercontemporary #coolthingsfortinylondoners #margatewithkids
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