🖼️ 5 things to do in London this weekend with the kids (4–5 January)

Get in front of 7,800 of the best people in London! Find out about sponsored ads here.

Happy New Year! 

Been for a jog yet? How’s Dry January treating you, six hours in? Whatever your resolution this year, I hope it’s more successful than what I had planned for 2024: to finally love Marmite. Things got so dark that my friends nearly planned an intervention, caused by my rapid mental downfall as I tried to tolerate the stuff. 

I’m sure there’s a lesson in there somewhere.  

While I try to work out what it was, you can enjoy this lovely list of things to do this weekend. 

Enjoy!

Jeff xx

1: Shop for random gems while shivering in style

The Giant London Flea Market
Sunday 5 January, 11:00–17:00
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Multi-Storey Car Park, E15 2GZ
£3.20 per person
DiL age guidance: suitable for all 

January is a time for returning gifts you don’t like, cutting back on unnecessary spending, and drinking tea somewhere cosy while the January weather does its thing. 

… Unless you’re the events coordinator at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – in which case you’re thinking: “January! Let’s all stand in a draughty car park and buy random stuff we don’t need! And THENNNNN… food time! A dozen more blanketed pigs won’t break the bank, after all.” 

I admire the chutzpah of this person. And they have a point: why hunker down and ignore the world for a month just because you had a fabulous December? Continue the fun vibes! 

Unenticing venue aside, this flea market sounds ace. There’ll be over 100 traders, who are “constantly sourcing for yesteryear treasures from the length and breadth of the UK, and every corner of Europe, bringing a wide selection of unique finds, furniture, unexpected oddities, and much more”. So rather than wander through stalls of creepy porcelain dolls and faded paintings of sad clowns, it seems you’ll get something much more curated and professional. 

But back to the car park for a second. Seriously, a car park?? There’s genuinely nowhere else for this thing? 

Anyway! Once you’ve bought all next year’s Christmas presents, you can grab a meal (and warm up) at one of the canalside cafes, bars and restaurants in the park nearby. 

Find out more: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-giant-london-flea-market-tickets-1027919875017 

While you’re there… 

👍️ There’s so much to do and see at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park:

• Swim in the world-famous and architecturally interesting London Aquatics Centre. (Or you can just watch for free from the waiting area.)

• Sit in the stands of the velodrome at Lee Valley VeloPark, where Sir Chris Hoy won a bazillion medals in the 2012 Olympics. (You can also have lessons in many different types of biking.)

• Visit a ton of parks, playgrounds, gardens, open spaces, waterways and rivers. 

• Take a look at all the artwork scattered around the park. 

• Follow a dedicated trail around the park. (There are a few different ones – including an art trail and a children’s trail.)

2: Explore the OG trade network

Silk Roads
Saturday and Sunday, 10:00–17:00 (and daily until 23 February)
The British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG
Adults £24, under-16s FREE
British Museum age guidance: 6+ (download the Silk Roads Family Trail here)

When I hear “Silk Roads”, my first thought is the infamous “silkroad6ownowfk.onion” – the dark web marketplace where you could buy all the drugs and forged documents you wanted… until the FBI turned up and ruined the fun. I know about that Silk Road because I read American Kingpin, which is genuinely one of the best books ever.

The original Silk Roads? Let’s just say they’re not my Mastermind specialist subject, but I’m starting to see why people are so obsessed. 

The Silk Roads were a network of overlapping trade routes that connected communities across Asia, Africa, and Europe. And it wasn’t just silk making the rounds: Chinese ceramics found their way to the Middle East, Indian garnets turned up in Suffolk, and early chess sets from India became a hit everywhere. 

This exhibition shows how these routes didn’t only move stuff – they also shaped cultures. Islamic mosaics borrowed Byzantine styles, and even the Vikings ended up owning Buddha statues (which I’m guessing they didn’t meditate over?).

Basically, long before the internet or planes – or even reliable maps – globalisation was already in full swing. The British Museum’s Silk Roads exhibition (created with 29 international partners) brings it all together to prove it.

Find out more: https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/silk-roads 

Download the Silk Roads Family Trail (suitable for ages 6+): https://www.britishmuseum.org/sites/default/files/2024-10/Silk_Roads_explorers_family_trail.pdf 

While you’re there… 

👍️ You’re close to two historical and beautiful squares in London. The Bloomsbury Squares website provides lots of background (and information relating to cafes, events, etc.) about Bloomsbury Square and Russell Square. 

3: Celebrate like it’s 1599

Discovery Days: Twelfth Night
Saturday 4 January, 13:00 and 15:00
The Rose Playhouse, 56 Park Street, SE1 9AR
£10 per person
DiL age guidance: 5+

If you lived in England or Wales in Tudor times, you might have had to deal with bubonic plagues, witch hunting and streets that smelled like sewers. BUT Silver Lining Alert: you’d get 12 whole days to celebrate Christmas! And on the final night, there’d be crazy parties with food, dancing, games and theatrical performances. 

Want to celebrate Twelfth Night, Tudor style? Take a trip to The Rose Playhouse this Saturday, where you’ll be able to watch and participate in some traditional dances, learn about festive feasting in Tudor times (and try some samples), find out about particular Tudor customs at Christmas time, and lots more. 

Bonus: there’ll be fully functional toilets for you to use. 

Find out more: https://www.facebook.com/roseplayhouse/posts/pfbid0dVDMnPsDYZdfbYRC4HNBTTWz3XjJnpm3zR7AaooKyvA1Acgx6mxYPg1hyuzUYT32l (or if you don’t use Facebook, use this:) https://www.trybooking.com/uk/events/landing/70711) 

While you’re there… 

👍️ ​​Uniqlo has been partnering with Tate Modern since 2021 to create year-round free family activities called Uniqlo Tate Play. The latest activity is called The Joy of Feeling, and it provides various tactile materials for children to create a sculpture that shows how they feel. The purpose is to show how art can help us express our emotions, and you’re encouraged to look around the Tate’s galleries (the permanent ones are all free to enter) to get inspiration from other artists first. 

4: Join a boisterous Twelfth Night bash by the river

Twelfth Night
Sunday 5 January, 12:00 onwards
Bankside (near Shakespeare’s Globe, SE1 9DT)
FREE
DiL age guidance: suitable for all

Another Twelfth Night event for the weekend, and this one is being produced by a group of professional actors, writers, producers and directors who call themselves “The Lions part”. The founding members met while working with the Original Shakespeare Company, which is ironic because their website does indeed look like it was designed during the Elizabethan Era.

Every year they perform a free theatre-based festival for the season, and it’s nuts. The celebration starts at Bankside (near Shakespeare’s Globe) and ends in Soap Yard (in Borough Yards). I’m just going to quote the rundown of events verbatim, so you can fully appreciate the mayhem and bonkersness: 

“The Holly Man from the Thames: To herald the celebration, the extraordinary Holly Man, the Winter guise of the Green Man (from our pub signs, pagan myths and folklore), decked in fantastic green garb and evergreen foliage, is piped over the River Thames, with the devil Beelzebub.

“The Bankside Wassails: With the crowd by Shakespeare's Globe, led by the Bankside Mummers and our London Beadle, the Holly Man will 'bring in the green' and toast or 'wassail' the people, the River Thames and the Globe (an old tradition encouraging good growth).

“The Mummers Play: The Mummers will then process to the Bankside Jetty, and perform the traditional 'freestyle' St. George Folk Combat Play, featuring the Turkey Sniper, Clever Legs, the Old 'Oss and many others, dressed in spectacular costumes. The play is full of wild verse and boisterous action, a time-honoured part of the season recorded since the Crusades.

“King Bean and Queen Pea: Cakes distributed at the end of the play have a bean and a pea hidden in two of them. Those from the crowd who find them are hailed King and Queen for the day and crowned with ceremony.

“They then 'dance' the people along the Thames Path, through the remarkable Dirty Lane to the renovated Soap Yard in Borough Yards, for Dancing, with the Fowlers Molly, Storytelling, Singing and the Kissing Wishing Tree.”

Want a taster? Here are photos. 

Find out more: https://thelionspart.co.uk/twelfthnight/index.html 

5: Buy art on paper that won’t cost you Picasso money

For Arts Sake x Pitzhanger: Original Works on Paper
Saturday and Sunday, 10:00–17:00 (and Wednesday–Sunday until 12 January)
Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery, Ealing Green, W5 5EQ
Free with general admission ticket (adults £8, under-16s FREE)
DiL age guidance: suitable for all

I love it when it’s possible to buy the art on display at exhibitions: it makes me feel like I have a chance at nabbing (at a bargain price) something that might one day be worth millions. And even if I don’t get that lucky, I’ll have something unique for my wall. 

So I’m SUPER excited about this (soon-to-end) exhibition at Pitzhanger Gallery. It’s dedicated entirely to original works on paper, which might at first seem like a bit of a wasted brag: paper, canvas, wood: who cares as long as it’s good? But it’s actually quite a big deal because it means emerging artists (without much money behind them) have an opportunity to show and sell their work alongside those who are more established. Paper is cheap and easy to transport; other materials aren’t.

You’ll see lots of different printmaking techniques on display, such as screen prints, etchings, woodcuts, lithographs, linocuts, paintings, oil pastels, acrylics and mixed media works. It’s all framed, and prices start at £88. 

Some of the more established artists include Sir Peter Blake (who co-created the sleeve design for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band). His new Sources of Pop Art 7 ed 175 is a colourful silkscreen montage with diamond dust and red glitter, and it features “images from 1960s cultural icons including Elvis Presley, Jeames Dean, Shirley Temple, Marilyn Monroe and Mickey Mouse”. I’m going to guess this one is going for more than £88, though. 

Find out more: https://www.pitzhanger.org.uk/whatson/for-arts-sake-pitzhanger/ 

While you’re there… 

👍️ Visit the first UK Nando’s, of course! 

👍️ Peer inside the Ealing Club, now called The Red Room – which is where the Rolling Stones formed. (It doesn’t open until 22:00, so you won’t be able to enter. I wouldn’t recommend it anyway: reviews are less than stellar.) It’s a tiny cellar bar opposite Ealing Broadway station and is known for being the pioneer of British blues in the UK.