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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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Most Popular

  • 20 awesome things to do (at home) with your little Londoners in April 2020 and beyond
    20 awesome things to do (at home) with your little Londoners in April 2020 and beyond
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    20 awesome things to see and do with your little Londoners in January 2020
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    Take part in environmental activities in Stockwell's magical Oasis Nature Garden
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    Unleash your inner creative at the South London Gallery's artist-led Sunday Spot
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    Local parent: Jo in Highbury & Islington
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    Capture those hazy, heady postpartum days with photography by Arrow & Lo

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Getting quite good at living in the moment, taking a day at a time, going slow and all that inane bullshit. Basically I’ve stopped panicking about the future and submitted to the sheer effing boredom of it all. I’ve started looking forward to things like having a can of beer. Going for a walk round the block. Doing a poo. I’m getting ridiculously excited about breaking out the block paints we found in the cupboard and I’m thinking about making Christmas decorations with the air-drying clay @annawhitehouseceramics threw at me this afternoon. I might even order a new puzzle. Life is wild.
Everyone thought we were nuts for planning our family holiday for February (and the flight in the storm was actual hell) but boy am I glad we did a winter trip now 😬 I feel so lucky that we managed to have that holiday, when Wuhan and the Diamond Princess were constantly in the news but we weren’t even vaguely worried about the virus coming here, which seems SO naive now. I think about that adventure a lot at the moment - mostly when I’m feeling shit and missing the four of us being together - and I’m so grateful for such magical memories. I also feel SO desperately sad for everyone who’s had to/will have to cancel their longed-for breaks. There’s not much getting around the fact that this all completely sucks, and collectively we have basically nothing to look forward to, other than the end of this. But there WILL be an end to this. There WILL be more adventures. There WILL be more things to look forward to. We WILL make more memories. We WILL LIVE (as opposed to just getting through the day) again. And it WILL be ABSOLUTELY BLOODY SPECTACULAR.
I don’t know about you, but personally I feel like we’re far enough into this thing that we can start looking forward to the other side. I mean obviously we have no idea when the other side will come, but somehow the grief doesn’t feel so raw anymore. Sufficient time has passed that this is starting to feel normal, albeit painfully boring, and for the first time I’m beginning to feel like looking to the future, even if that future is months away. One thing I’m particularly excited about is finishing my mammoth playground post - even just going to any playground again! This one in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford isn’t particularly great but I’d still give anything to be able to let Babu loose in it right now. It’s going to feel so good to get cracking on our never-ending to-do list again. What are you most looking forward to?
Day 20 of social distancing, day 11 of lockdown, day 13 of being out of London and almost definitely the longest I’ve been away since I moved there 11 years ago. We’re missing people - especially Adam, who’s having a sad birthday back home with the cat. We’re getting into terrible habits that are going to be a nightmare to break (bad sleeping patterns, daily doughnuts, chocolate, ice cream and God knows what else). And we’re just generally driving each other completely nuts. Butttt it could be a LOT worse and I’m thankful for so many things: for these woods; for Babu’s amazing teachers who are still in touch; for daily FaceTimes with lovely friends and my lovely mum; and for having somewhere to be that isn’t our tiny flat in Camden, however much I miss it and the life that seems so far away at the moment. What are you thankful for right now?
How is everyone today? ♥️ I just wanted to say thank you so much to every single one of you who checked out my 20 awesome things to do (at home) with your little Londoners in April 2020 and beyond post. I’ve literally never had so many people looking at my site in a single day and it gave me such a boost as I was feeling so sad about having to abandon it. There actually seems to be more to do now than there ever was before and people have been sending me loads more ideas since I put the post up so thanks for those too and do keep checking my Stay Home story highlights for new activities. All this aside I still really suck at this stay-at-home thing and have so far done a grand total of one thing off my list, and that wasn’t even with the kids - it was adults-only yoga just to calm me the hell down. Right now I’m pretty much just working on trying to emulate this, Nils Volker’s Multiple of Five kinetic “breathing” sculpture that we saw at @museumvoorlinden and well... breathe... with the occasional bit of home-schooling from Babu’s home-learning pack thrown in, but I’m finding that pretty heartbreaking given the prospect of no more nursery ☹️ How’s everyone else getting on with the old homeschooling/activities?
20 awesome things to do (at home) with your little Londoners in April 2020 and beyond is go! I’ve put this together in a day because tbh I’ve been so heartbroken and depressed by this thing I haven’t really felt like doing anything other than staring at a wall, but there are so many amazing London-based museums and businesses doing great things for isolated kids right now it seemed like a bit of a shame not to do some kind of roundup. I just wanted to say though, it’s ok if you still don’t feel like doing anything other than staring at a wall. I’ve been absolute crap at organising activities for my two and I definitely won’t be doing all of these, but they’re here if you fancy it ♥️
Remember when we thought we’d still be able to go to playgrounds during this thing hahahahahaha. Actually, before all this happened I was in the process of putting together a mammoth playground blog post that I promised myself I’d have finished by Easter but we never got round all of them 😭 This awesome Art Deco-inspired one is at Eltham Palace near Greenwich. We had SUCH a lovely day here with lovely friends and it’s memories like this that are keeping me going right now. What’s your favourite memory from the “beforetimes”?
Reeeeeeally missing the one on the right. And galleries. And London. And our mates. And our cat. And nursery. And playgrounds. And Gail’s hot chocolate. And that weird sooty fudgy tube smell. But mostly the one on the right 💔
Remember life? That was nice wasn’t it.
How is everyone this morning? This was the last time we saw any of our friends, bar the daily FaceTimes which are the only thing keeping me going right now to be honest. My depression and anxiety have, predictably, reared their ugly heads again - I mean literally EVERYONE is anxious right now so it was kind of inevitable I guess. Adam is a key worker, which on its own is massively anxiety-inducing, but it also means I’m mostly on my own with the kids, which I’m finding very hard while I’m in this headspace. I keep putting online activities in my stories but to be honest I’ve just felt so horrible I haven’t been able to join in with any of them yet, bar @stretchedmums amazing yoga class last night which made me feel calm for the first time in a week, until I woke up at 1am and had a panic attack. Our friends have been AMAZING at checking in on us when frankly they’ve all got their own shit to deal with, and I was overwhelmed by all the lovely messages in response to my stories the other day - both from people feeling the same and just general messages of support. I know we are absolutely all in the same boat, I know it could be a lot worse and I know this is all for the greater good. But that doesn’t make it any less shit, so let’s keep talking (please) ♥️
This is the absolutely incredible Kite Playground in Cator Park, Kidbrooke Village. We’ve been to a lot of playgrounds recently but this one really blew us away with its beautiful wooden construction, numerous tree houses, breathtaking slides and plenty of natural details. . . . . . #coolthingsfortinylondoners #playgroundsoflondon #londonplayground #kidbrooke #kidbrookevillage #greenwich #blackheath #southeastlondon #se3 #kiteplayground #catorpark #hiddenlondon #secretlondon #londonwithkids #londonmum #familylondon #parentingtheshitoutoflife #thingstodoinlondon
I guess now is as good a time as any to raid the playground archive. This is Graham Street Garden in Islington, a lovely little park that’s super-close to the amazing @parasolunit - home of Project Light - that very sadly closed its doors for the last time today, 12 days early in light of all the current shit. There are so many great new playgrounds in Islington and I’ll be posting all of out recent finds very soon! . . . . . #coolthingsfortinylondoners #londonwithkids #londonplayground #playgroundsoflondon #islington #grahamstreetgarden #londonfamily #hiddenlondon #secretlondon #thingstodoinlondon #parentingtheshitoutoflife #hoxton #angel #angelislington #cityroad #shoreditch #n1
We loved @tate ‘s new Andy Warhol retrospective so much - particularly the amazing Silver Clouds room. It’s on until September so there’ll still be lots of opportunities to see it even after 🦠 has gone. I’ve put a little review up on the site for those who are interested! . . . . . #coolthingsfortinylondoners #londonwithkids #thingstodoinlondon #londonculture #londonart #londonartexhibition #artinlondon #andywarhol #tatemodern #parentingtheshitoutoflife #kidsinlondon #londonfamily #londonmum
I feel weird posting about things that are happening OUT THERE right now. Going out feels a bit naughty and ill-advised, but equally self-inflicted quarantine with two kids feels a bit nuts when we don’t really know how this thing is going to play out and are potentially going to be forced to spend a long stretch stuck at home soon anyway. We went to see this two-room @alice_in_hackneyland immersive art installation at @verv.london today and it was incredible. The kids absolutely loved it and were allowed to handle everything (and yeah I’m aware the idea of handling anything right now is a bit 😷). It’s on until the end of the month and they’re running a paper-cutting workshop next Saturday, although obviously only time will tell if that’ll go ahead. I feel like it’s probably a bit irresponsible to be all “Hey guys, go see this! Your kids can touch a bunch of stuff a hundred other kids have touched”, but I feel like for now everyone’s just got to do what they feel they’ve got to do until we’re instructed otherwise. Wash your hands tho obvs 🤲 . . . . . #coolthingsfortinylondoners #londonwithkids #parentingtheshitoutoflife #aliceinhackneyland #artinstallation #londonart #artinlondon #bethnalgreen #londonparents #londonmum #hiddenlondon #secretlondon #londonculture
Just really wanted a polka-dot pumpkin on my feed, to be honest. Anyone else finding this week particularly hard? 😬 We “took it slow” and stayed local today and I found myself wishing we’d missioned to Peckham like we’d planned to and actually had some kind of focus other than the mega stressful “treat” trip to Gail’s where one of them spent the duration screaming and lobbing food at people and the other one rolled around on the floor complaining that “we’re not doing anything interesting today” (I know, I know: rod, back). Actually I just realised we just had a full moon and Mercury comes out of retrograde today, if you believe any of that shite (I do), so maybe things are about to improve. Let’s go with that... . . . . #thehague #denhaag #artwithkids #hollandwithkids #visitholland #yayoikusama #yayoi #museumvoorlinden #rockthatmuseumkid #kidsingalleries #visitthenetherlands #thenetherlands
Morning! So I recently discovered that my 100 cool things to do with babies and toddlers in London blog post is my most popular by quite some way, with more than 20k views in total 🤯 In fairness I did write that a lonnng, long time ago but since some of the activities have since ceased and some of the shops closed down I thought maybe it was time to make a new one. Unlike my monthly 20 things these posts feature more permanent things like play cafes, museums, regular sessions etc and are designed as backup for those days where there is cack all else happening. Anyway, 100 MORE cool things to do with babies and toddlers in London is live on the site now! Enjoy 🙃 . . . . . #coolthingsfortinylondoners #thingstodoinlondon #londonwithkids #secretlondon #hiddenlondon #mylondon #londonfamily #londonmum #londonmums #londonkids #thingstodowithkids
Kind of loving this weird Soviet-looking playground in Shepherd’s Bush Green. Its got a piano-type thing, swirly wheel bits and the things with the coloured heads play notes when you turn them. It’s also got a tube slide, a climbing wall, steps to nowhere and a swing in a lake... although I think the lake bit’s accidental... . . . . . #coolthingsfortinylondoners #thingstodoinlondon #londonwithkids #playgroundsoflondon #londonplayground #shepherdsbush #shepherdsbushgreen #mylondon #hiddenlondon #secretlondon #playground #parentingtheshitoutoflife #londonfamily #londonmum #londonmums
I’d heard mixed reviews of Eltham Palace but we went anyway and I’m kind of obsessed with it now. I loved the aesthetic and found wandering around its rooms SO interesting. Little quirky details like the bamboo ladders for the couple who owned it’s pet lemur and the central vacuum system were just brilliant, and Babu LOVED the animal stamper trail and the small but unusual Art Deco playground. I’ve written a long review and it’s up on the site now! . . . . . #coolthingsfortinylondoners #thingstodoinlondon #londonwithkids #mylondon #hiddenlondon #secretlondon #greenwich #eltham #elthampalace #englishheritage #londonforfamilies
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