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Bank of England Museum: Easter EGGstravaganza!

Put all your eggs in one basket – a special treasure trail family event to find eggs hidden in the museum, with a chocolate egg for every child who takes part. Children can also create and decorate their own Easter basket to take home. While you’re there, take a look at the museum’s other attractions, including banknote jigsaws and safe cracking, or take control of a virtual hot air balloon; and even try to lift a genuine gold bar with a current value of over £400,000!
• Easter EGGstravaganza, April 2-5 and April 10-13, 10am-4.30pm at the Bank of England Museum, Bartholomew Lane, EC2R 8AH. Admission and all activities free. The  museum is open Monday to Friday from 10am to 5pm and closed on public and bank holidays, 02076015545, www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/museum/

ZSL London Z00
There’s egg-hunting with a difference at the zoo, with keepers making a twice-daily search of nest boxes after the exciting discovery of the first egg to be laid by a Humboldt penguin at the new Penguin Beach – England’s biggest penguin pool. There’s a daily Beach Talk at 11.30am, and a Penguin Beach Live show at 2.30pm.
• ZSL London Zoo, Regent’s Park,  NW1 4RY, 020 7722 3333, www.zsl.org/

Museums and galleries

RAF Museum: Eagles at Easter
If you’re searching for something for the younger members of the family during the holidays that won’t cost you a penny check-out the Royal Air Force Museum in Colindale. Children (aged five-plus) will have the opportunity to become Junior Falconers in a series of free wild bird displays which will run three times a day. Admission to the Museum is free of charge, and with a dazzling display of more than 100 aircraft and a special children’s gallery specially, there’s plenty to keep enquiring minds occupied.
• Eagles at Easter, April 5-11, three daily displays on the museum’s Helipad at 11.30am, 1.30pm and 3.30pm, RAF Museum, Grahame Park Way, NW9 5LL, 020 8205 2266, www.rafmuseum.org.uk

London Transport Museum: Storytelling and Easter Bonnets
It’s all bonnets and top hats at the museum this Easter as you travel back in time to a Victorian London of horse-drawn vehicles and explore the history of the river, steam and what the city was like before buses and tubes:
Storytelling – Monty makes his way to London (April 2-6, April 9-13, 11am and 1pm). Monty the Mole meets a Victorian lady traveling on the Omnibus, Dermot Fitzpatrick hard at work with his spade and hand tool digging the tunnel for Central London Railways, a Gateman working on the first Electric tube and the Museum’s favourite Fireman.
Craft workshop: Tip Top Hats and Bonnets (April 2-6, noon-1.30pm, ages 5+). Check out the gorgeous bonnet on the lady passenger in the Museum’s Omnibus and the top hat of her companion reading the paper. The horse-drawn tram and bus drivers even wore top hats as part of their uniform. Children can design their own to take home.
Craft workshop: Tickets please (April 2-6, 2-3.30pm, ages 5+). Families can handle cash bags and licence badges from the museum’s collection and make their own to take home.
• London Transport Museum, Covent Garden Piazza, WC2E 7BB, Saturday-Thursday 10am-6pm, Friday 11am-6pm, adults £13.50 (£10 conc) – tickets allow free entry for a year – and children go free. 020 7379 6344, www.ltmuseum.co.uk

V&A Museum of Childhood – Spring holidays: Hop-along fun
Join the hunt is on to find out where the Easter Bunny has hidden the chocolate eggs (11am). And there’s an “active re-telling” of The Bunny Who Found Easter by Charlotte Zolotow and Helen Craig (noon). Make a pop-up card, or help volunteers stitch blankets for St Joseph’s Hospice – helpers get a knitted chick and a chocolate egg as a thank-you. The museum has a whole host of daily activities – check out the website for details.
• Spring holidays: Hop-along fun, April 6-8, 11am-4pm, free, drop-in, all ages, at the V&A Museum of Childhood, Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, E2 9PA, free admission, 10am-5.45pm Monday-Sunday (last admission 5.30pm), 020 8983 5200, www.museumofchildhood.org.uk

Camden Arts Centre: Taking Root Easter Weekend
There’s a range of artist-led activities with a garden them over the Easter weekend, celebrating the culmination of the year-long residency with Erect Architecture and launching the next artist residency, Rachael Champion. Erect Architecture’s instal­lations – developed in collaboration with artists, choreographers, school children and families – activate the garden space. Devices include a periscope and viewing platform to see the garden through a new lens. This focus on “looking” links to the current exhibition in the galleries Zoe Leonard: Observation Point.
Rachael Champion joins Erect Architecture to sharing their investigations into our relationship with nature. Throughout the weekend they will lead workshops, discussions and tours of the garden.
In addition, artists George Wu, Dario Utreras, Sara Fernandez and Katie Spragg will lead drop-in activities in the Drawing Studio and the garden. Families are invited to make costumes and props in order to camouflage themselves from view, build a diorama based on natural landscapes, and model new and exotic plant species in clay.
Camden Arts Centre's cafe will be serving lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
• Taking Root Easter Weekend, April 7-8, noon-5pm, Camden Arts Centre, Arkwright Road, NW3 6DG, 020 7472 5500, book free places online at www.camdenartscentre.org/talksandevents

Imperial War Museum A Family in Wartime
Take a step back in time to and experience life on the Home Front in the Second World War, through the eyes of William and Alice Allpress and their 10 children and find out what life in London was like. Everyday household items from the era will be on display, including stirrup pumps which people were encouraged to keep in case of incendiary bombs and cookery books with advice on cooking with rations. Newspaper clippings, propaganda posters and film footage present life from the outbreak of war  to the end of the war and the VE day celebrations.
• A Family in Wartime is at the Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, SE1 6HZ, from April 5, free admission, Daily 10am-6pm, last admission 5.45pm, 020 7416 5000, www.iwm.org.uk

London Tennis Academy Easter holiday tennis camps
Founded in January 2005 by Gaddo Guidotti and Damian Nzekwu, the London Tennis Academy in Belsize Park runs tennis programmes for 3- to 18-year-olds throughout the year. The aim of the coaches is to make their learning tennis fun – and help students learn how to relate to others in a social environment. Week 1 of the Easter camp, April 2-5, Week 2, April 10-13, Week 3, April 16-20. 3 to 5-year-olds from 10-10.45am, £44 (£45 Wk 3); 5 to 16-year-olds 11am-2pm £121 (£151 Wk 3).
• London Tennis Academy, Globe Tennis Club, Belsize Park, NW3 2AL,  Gaddo 07837 720 736 or Damian 07956 068 492, www.londontennisacademy.com

The Foundling Museum: Yinka’s Foundling Back to Front Weekend
The Foundling Museum – established in 1739 by Thomas Coram – will be handing over affairs to children and youngsters for a special weekend, conceived and directed by the British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare MBE. Dressed in 18th-century costume, children will run the information desk, act as guides to the painting collection, sell tickets and create entertainments. They will be teachers of singing, needlework, catechism and writing. Outside, there will be puppet shows, magic and music – all with an 18th-century fairground theme.
• Yinka's Foundling Back to Front Weekend, Saturday March 31-Sunday April 1, The Foundling Museum, 40 Brunswick Square, WC1N 1AZ, free outdoor entertainments all day; indoor sessions £10 adults, accompanying children free; two sessions daily: 11am-3pm and 2-4pm, 020 7841 3600, www.foundlingmuseum.co.uk

Music, Theatre, Dance, Art

Kings Place: Global Music Foundation Easter Jazz Workshop and music festival
There’s a “Global Get-Together” this Easter at Kings Place which plays host to a unique international jazz course, combining intensive teaching with star-studded public concerts and free foyer events. Go along and learn Samba, take the kids to the children’s concert or listen in to some great vocal performances. There are some impressive evening concerts followed by late-night jamming sessions at Pizza Express in Dean Street, Soho. Training is six hours of taught sessions per day to give students a “total immersion” in music with activities including instrumental classes, masterclasses, perfor­mance opportunities, supervised rehearsals, group workshops and ensemble sessions.  
• Global Music Foundation, Kings Place, Easter Weekend, April 6-9, Kings Place, 60 York Way, N1 9AG. Box office 020 7520 1490, www.kingsplace.co.uk/gmf-easter

National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain at the Royal Festival Hall
Britain’s biggest orchestra under the baton of Charles Hazlewood is joining with award-winning folk band Bellowhead for world tour of orchestral music inspired by folk, including music by Kodály, Canteloube, Chávez, James MacMillan and Kathryn Tickell, and vibrant new interpretations of traditional British folk tunes sourced by Bellowhead.
The evening culminates in a post-show ceilidh in The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall.
• Saturday April 14, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, SE1, 7.30pm, under-25s £5; standard prices £6-£25;
0844 847 9910, www.southbankcentre.co.uk

The Society of London Theatre (SOLT): Easter treats at tkts
The official discount theatre ticket booth in Leicester Square – tkts – is the perfect place to get Easter holiday theatre bargains. Offering last-minute deals on hundreds of tickets every day, you can pick up some of the best seats in the house at half-price or discounted rates. So whether it’s modern musicals like Billy Elliot, We Will Rock You and Rock of Ages, family shows like Shrek, classic musicals like The Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables or newer arrivals like Hay Fever and Crazy for You, there’s a show to suit all tastes and budgets. tkts is run by the Society of London Theatre, the trade association representing London’s major producers, theatre owners and managers, so you can be sure that you are getting a good deal from a reputable source.
• tkts, Clocktower Building, Leicester Square, WC2, Monday-Saturday 10am-7pm; Sunday 11am-4pm, www.tkts.co.uk

Unicorn Theatre
The Unicorn’s spring season has something for all ages, starting tomorrow with The Legend of Captain Crow’s Teeth (March 30-April 15, ages 7+). Based on the book by Eoin Colfer, this is a tale of how nine-year-old Will’s mundane seaside caravan holiday turns into a hair-raising adventure with a motley crew of pirates. For the very young there’s Ruby Red Tells Tales (April 4-5, ages 3-5) – a magical fairytale world where Ruby and her friends meet a timid tiger, a slightly scary spider and a gingerbread man who meets a sticky end; Egg & Spoon (April 10-15, for under-5s) is a “highly interactive” production, celebrating the four seasons –  play peak-a-poo in puddles and dance at a butterfly party. The Unicorn Young Company is performing Katori Hall’s Children of Killers (April 13-15, ages 14+). Set in Rwanda, and the aftermath of genocide,it explores the effect of perpetuating cycles of violence and recrimina­tion on young people divided by old loyalties.
Visit the website for full details of all productions.
• Unicorn Theatre, 147 Tooley Street, Southwark, SE1 2HZ, 020 7645 0560, http://unicorntheatre.com

Razzamataz Theatre School
Razzamataz theatre school for children aged 4-18 shot to fame when founder and managing director Denise Hutton-Gosney appeared on Dragons Den in 2007 and secured the backing of Duncan Bannatyne. Razzamataz has gone on to achieve amazing success and is opening its first London school in Hampstead. Principal Sam Bradshaw says: “As a child I was shy and had little confidence but now I have performed in front of thousands.” Sam is excited to see how every child develops and grows in confidence from their experience at Razz.
• Razzamataz Theatre School, Elsworthy Road, Hampstead, NW3 3DS, Minis (age 4-5) 4-5pm; Juniors (age 5-8) 4.15-6.40pm; Intermediates (age 9-11) 5-8pm; Seniors (age 12-plus) 5-8pm. To celebrate the new school, Razzamataz is offering free taster sessions at the opening night launch on Friday April 20. To reserve a place call 020 8150 7198 or 07875 331254; email: hampstead@razzamataz.co.uk, www.razzamataz.co.uk

Sadler’s Wells: The Most Incredible Thing.
If you missed last year’s sell-out performance of this production by pop legends Pet Shop Boys and choreographer Javier De Frutos, there’s a chance to catch it second time around. This modern fairy tale is a contest to “produce the most incredible thing”, and the prize is half the kingdom and a princess.
Check the website for other Easter productions aimed at children and families, including My First Sleeping Beauty – with all the enchantment of castles, forests and fairytales (at the Peacock Theatre, suitable for children aged 3+).
• The Most Incredible Thing is at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4TN, until April 7, £10-£40, 0844 412 4300, www.sadlerswells.com

Cass Art Workshops and Activities
Illustrator Evgenia Barinova is on hand at Cass Art in Islington on Saturday (March 31) to show young people aged 12-plus and adults how to design and make a special Easter card. Free, materials provided, from 2-4pm. The top suppliers of creative and colourful art materials are also running free “Easter Special” drop-in workshops on April 1 (11am-5.30pm) and April 7 (10am-7pm), also in Islington (age 4+). At the Hampstead shop there’s a Monoprinting Workshop on Sunday April 22 (12-1.45pm and 2.15-4pm) for 12-plus and adults, with Hampstead School of Art Christopher Lundie.
• Cass Art Islington, 66-67 Colebrook Row, N1, 020 7354 2999; Cass Art Hampstead,
58-62 Heath Street, NW3, www.cassart.co.uk