Feature: Easter Holiday Activities
Published: 7 April, 2011
HMS Belfast
Feeling nautical? Try the Waving Not Drowning: Signalling and Signals workshops on HMS Belfast – family sessions offering an opportunity to learn about signalling in the Navy and take part in sending and decoding messages.
• HMS Belfast, Morgan’s Lane, Tooley Street, SE1, 020 7940 6300, April 9-24, 11am-12.30 and 2-4pm, entry free with general admission ticket: Adults £13.50, children under 16 free. Concessions available.
Geffrye Museum
The Geffrye Museum, famous for its collection showing changing styles of English domestic interiors, has a special exhibition devoted to Homes from Around the World.
Explore the wonders of other cultures through a whole host workshops for children of all ages. Choose from 20 different events running from April 12-15, including Nursery Rhyme Time – A Grand Tour (storytelling and craft session for 3-5s); Smelly candles (create a spicy candle to take home using herbs and scents, 5-8s); Beautiful Batik (learn the dyeing technique and make a cushion cover, 8-plus); An Elephant in the Room (create an elephant mask with a telescopic trunk, 5-plus); Mapping the World (explore where objects in the museum have come from, 8-plus); Arty Tiles: (cast and sculpt an artwork to take home, 11-plus);
Two fun-filled days for ages on April 19 and 20, with a variety of workshops and stories for all ages, including Tales From the Deep (handle 300-year-old objects from the Ca Mau shipwreck and retell the story using shadow puppets, all ages); Company’s Coming (bake Turkish teatime treats, 5-plus); Tea-leaf Reading (have a go at the popular Victorian parlour game of reading tea-leaves, 5-plus).
• Geffrye Museum, Kingsland Road, E2, 020 7739 9893, www.geffrye-museum.org.uk April 12-15, 19, 20.
London Transport Museum
Easter Family Fun events at the London Transport Museum include workshops celebrating the Mayor’s New Bus for London, inspired by the old Routemaster. Families can join the free workshops which include story-telling for very young visitors:
Fantasy journeys (April 11-15 and 18-22, 12-1.30pm for under-fives): create a fantasy journey for the New Bus for London (NBfL). Using a giant map, choose where you would like the new bus to go and what you will see along the route. Families can build bus shelters and buildings out of everyday objects.
New bus, new look (April 11-15 and 18-22, 2-3.30pm for under-fives). This workshop is about designing a new staff uniform for the driver and second crew member of the NBfL. Uniforms, caps, ties and badges from the Museum’s collection are available for inspiration.
• London Transport Museum, Covent Garden, WC2, 020 7379 6344/020 7565, www. ltmuseum.co.uk/
Admission to the museum and family activities are free to accompanied children under 16. Adults are charged £13.50 (£10 concessions) and tickets allow unlimited admission for 12 months,
Natural History Museum
For something BIG, why not check out the Natural History Museum’s Age of the Dinosaur exhibition which starts on April 22 and runs till September 4. Meet life-size animatronic dinosaurs in the Jurassic swamps and Cretaceous forests.
10-5.50pm daily, Adults £10, child and concession £6, family £26, under-3s free.
On the opposite end of the spectrum there are Sensational Butterflies to be found on the East Lawn from April 12-September 11. Walk through the five sensory zones of sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch in the butterfly house among many different species, including swallowtails, blue morphos and massive moths. 10am-5.50pm daily, Adults / children / concessions £3.50, Family £12, Under-3s free.
Why not make a night of it with Tyrannosaurus rex at a Dino Snores sleepover event? There are lots of activities and a special show to watch before snuggling down in the shadow of the Diplodocus. In the morning, enjoy breakfast before the Museum opens to the public and souvenirs to take home. Central Hall April 16, 7pm, (also June 17, July 22 and September 16). Suitable for children aged 8-11. Each group of 5-6 children must be accompanied by an adult. Starts at 7pm and ends at 9.50am the following day. £46, members £41.40. Booking required.
• Natural History Museum Cromwell Road, SW7 020 7942 5792, www.nhm.ac.uk
Hampton Court Palace
There are special events for Easter at Hampton Court, Henry VIII’s favourite palace:
April 22-25: Live Tudor cookery. Watch history chefs prepare a feast for a king in the famous Tudor kitchens at the palace. Project run by Historia food archaeologists.
April 22-26: Hampton Court Funfair – the annual fair on Hampton Court Green that has been running for 150 years – children’s rides, a giant wheel, white-knuckle rides, traditional games and stalls and a centre carousel. Free admission, and rides are at special low prices.
April 22-25: The Birth of a King. The scene is set for 1537 and merrymaking and celebrations are sure to be the order of the day if Jane Seymour gives birth to a boy. The court kitchens will be at full swing.
• Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey, KT8 9AU, 0844 482 7777. Train from Waterloo to Hampton Court, 35 minutes.
Kensington Palace
Over at another royal palace there are free Family Learning Easter holiday activities at Kensington Palace’s Secret Garden. Children of all ages can make an enchanted animal mask and help create a secret magical garden using craft materials. Just bring a lively imagination. April 9-21, 11-4pm in the Gallery of War and Play. The event included in palace admission ticket.
• Kensington Gardens, W8, High Street Kensington, Queensway, or Notting Hill Gate tubes, 0844 482 7777, www.hrp.org.uk/KensingtonPalace
Bank of England Museum
Put All Your Eggs in One Basket (April 11-15 and 18-21, 10am-4.30pm) at the Bank of England Museum’s Easter Egg Trail family event to find eggs hidden in the museum. Children can get creative and decorate their own Easter basket to take home. While you are there, take the opportunity to enjoy all the other attractions on offer including banknote jigsaws, a roller ball game, interactive displays and even some safe-cracking. Children can play with a virtual hot air balloon, keeping it on a stable course to simulate the role of the Bank in keeping inflation steady.
And can you lift a gold bar? There's a genuine sample on offer, valued at £340,000, and weighing 13kg. Activity sheets available. Free.
• Bank of England Museum, Threadneedle Street, EC2, 020 7601 5545,
www.bankofengland.co.uk/museum
Handel House Museum
Live music and Easter Trail. Drop in and listen to the Handel House harpsichord being performed all afternoon on Sunday April 24. And take part in a special Easter trail, with a chocolate egg for all participants. 12-6pm (last entrance 5.30pm), museum admission price for adults £6, free for children.
• Handel House Museum, 25 Brook Street, Mayfair, 020 7495 1685,
www.handelhouse.org.
Finsbury Park
Easter fun fair
This popular fair is back, with all the traditional sideshows and attractions including super dodgems, big wheel, swings, ghost train as well as more exhilarating spins and twists on rides definitely not for the faint-hearted. The Easter Fair runs from 12 noon-8pm daily throughout the Easter and May bank holiday, plus the royal wedding bank holiday. Opening on the April 16 and running to May 2. There is also a children’s Fair from the April 29-May 2 at Clissold Park, Hackney.
• Finsbury Park, Seven Sisters Road, N4, 01992 631388, www.carnivalfunfairs.com
£1 admission; rides £2-£2.50; children £1.50
The Clink
The Clink Prison Museum is setting an Easter Vermin Hunt. Follow the history of the prison and its rodent inhabitant through a medieval-themed hunt. No rats – but there’s a chocolate egg for the winner. April 11-25, 10am-6pm,
Adults £6, children/ concessions £5.50, Families (2 adults + 2 children) £15.
• Clink Prison Museum, 1 Clink Street, Soho Wharf, Bankside, SE1, 020 7403 0900, www.clink.co.uk
Easter Chocolate Festival
Chocolate, chocolate everywhere... This outdoor festival on the South Bank features chocolatiers and chocolate companies, with dozens of stalls selling chocolate-related products including cakes, chocolate-infused savoury treats and kits to make your own chocolate, as well as tastings and demonstrations. The Chocolate Festival is a celebration of everything chocolate with dozens of stalls selling chocolate bars, truffles and bonbons, as well as chocolate cakes, crêpes with chocolate, hot chocolate and even savoury food with chocolate. There also tastings, chocolate baking demonstrations and book signings.
• Southbank Centre Square, Belvedere Road, SE1, 0844 847 9910, www.festivalchocolate.co.uk
London Zoo
ZSL London scooped the Best Tourism Experience award last year, and for its energy and water efficiency has also been recognised with a Green Tourism for London award. Meanwhile, among the 16,000 animals, the zoo’s new male baby gorilla, named Tiny, is taking making his first appearance at his Gorilla Kingdom home. Proud mum, 12-year-old Mjukuu, gave birth last October. The Zoological Society of London runs projects to conserve western lowland gorillas in Gabon and mountain gorillas and eastern lowland gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
• ZSL London, Regent’s Park, NW1, open daily, 10am-5.30pm, extended to 6pm on April22-26; April 29-May2; and May 28-30, 020 7722 3333 , www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo/
Unicorn Theatre: The Three Musketeers
Adventure, swordfights and intrigue a plenty in the Unicorn Theatre’s brand new adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ great classic, The Three Musketeers. The production takes a less traditional line on the story, setting it in a glamorous, contemporary world. Often hilarious and always thrilling, this explosive tale of musketeers, kings and queens, diamonds and swords is full of romantic heroes and swashbuckling heroines. But the life of a Musketeer can be more brutal than you think. This is a world where the most dangerous player is a mysterious female with all the cards in her hand and where outsider D’Artagnan has nothing to show for himself but courage and an open heart. He will do anything to prove himself her equal. But at what price?
• The Three Musketeers is at the Unicorn Theatre, 147 Tooley Street, SE1, (London Bridge tube) until May 8. Booking: 020 7645 0560 or www.unicorntheatre.com (no booking fee). Tickets £13-£19, concessions £8-£12, Family ticket £34-£54, www.unicorntheatre.com/musketeers. Suitable for age 10-plus
• There will also be stage-fighting masterclasses for 10 to 16-year-olds on April 17 and 30, and an interactive stage fighting demo on April 13.
Shakespeare’s Globe
Swordfighting demonstrations and costume displays are also part of daily events over the Easter holidays at the Globe Theatre.
• Shakespeare’s Globe, 21, New Globe Walk, Bankside, SE1, 020 7401 9919, www.shakespearesglobe.com
Out of London
Woodlands Farm Trust
This 90-acre working community farm in Welling, Kent, is offering a variety of family activities for children aged 4-11, including pond-dipping, a mouse count and an Easter egg hunt. Various dates and times, see website or call for full details. April 12-20, various times, free-£2
• Woodlands Farm Trust, Shooters Hill, Welling, Kent, DA16 3RP, 020 8319 8900, www.thewoodlandsfarmtrust.org/news.htm
Valentines Mansion and Gardens
For an out-of-town nature trail to find the Easter bunny and chocolate eggs take a trip to Valentines Mansion in Ilford, Essex . There are plenty of other activities for all ages – dressing up, jigsaws, children’s art gallery, touch-screen computer and much more. There are backpacks to borrow for outdoor games including an egg and spoon race set and Victorian skipping rope; and games exploring the house. Open Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10am-5pm and Sundays from 10am-4pm. Free entry. Events take place throughout the year... even ghost hunts.
• Valentines Mansion & Gardens Emerson Road, Ilford, Essex IG1 4XA,UK, 020 8708 8100, Transport Gant's Hill tube, £3, April 19, 2-4pm www.valentinesmansion.com