Morning, London! Happy Thursday! It's great to be back after a few weeks away. January hits everyone differently, right? Some of us are all about new starts and big plans for the year, while others might be feeling a bit blue after the holidays. Sure, the grey skies don’t help, but we all know London has tons of fun stuff for us and the kids. We're here to help you make the most of it!

For those who participated, I hope the primary school applications went smoothly (the deadline was yesterday). Just for context, every year, around 100,000 applications for state primary school reception places up and down the country are submitted.

Anyway, let’s check out what’s happening around town this week.

• 🎙️ London Snippets: Bits that caught our eye

• 📅 Readers’ Favourite: Family events this week

• 🧠 Casual Einstein: Two new playground-worthy facts

But first, the weather — because a new year doesn’t mean we ditch our traditions, does it?

. LONDON SNIPPETS .

Bits that caught our eye

📱 Swap Your Smartphone for No Homework? In an innovative educational experiment, pupils at a school in Solihull have the option to ditch their smartphones for two weeks in exchange for no homework. The initiative encourages students to reduce screen time and dive into reading, aiming to foster creativity and innovation away from digital distractions. Could we come up with a similar approach at home? Full story

🚆 TfL Tests “AI” for Safety on London Platforms. The experimental technology employs a visual recognition system that analyzes security camera footage to detect objects on the rails, such as people who might jump or fall onto the tracks, intentionally or accidentally. The system distinguishes between trains and other objects, alerting control staff when intervention may be necessary. Full story

📦 Amazon Challenges Royal Mail with On-Foot Parcel Deliveries. Look I’m not proud of it but truth is Amazon visits my door nearly every other day. At this point, I might as well invite the delivery person to my next birthday party! Anyway, it seems Amazon employees across central London will now take to the streets with carts filled with packages instead of driving from house to house. Full story

. EVENTS SCOOP .

What’s on this week?

🏺 Exhibition Explorer @ British Museum
Date & Loc: Jan 16th (Today!), Bloomsbury
The Little Feet teddies invite you to a free, drop-in session in the Silk Roads exhibition. Join the teddies as they explore the awesome objects on display while engaging in activities designed for under-fives and their parents and carers.
Age: Under 5 | Price: No cost | Info

🧜‍♀️ Little Explorers @ Little Angel Theatre
Date & Loc: Jan 17th, Angel
A weekly sensory session for babies and toddlers encouraging freedom of expression to engage in play and explore the world around them with creativity, fun and a few puppets along the way.
Age: 1-2y | Price: £12 (Adult + child/baby) | Info

🎥 Make-Lab Masterclass: 3D Animation @ Young V&A
Date & Loc: Jan 18th, Bethnal Green
Join professional Film-makers from Chocolate Films for a fun masterclass in 3D stop-motion animation. Through a series of creative tasks you will plan a short sequence, devise sets and create shots with a view to make your very own short film.
Age: 7-14y | Price: £25 | Info

🌟 Quantum Jungle @ Young V&A
Date & Loc: until Jan 19th, Bethnal Green
An interactive installation reflecting festivals of light around the world. Through encouraging hands-on play and sparking curiosity, Quantum Jungle reflects on festivals of light, prompting us to think about what makes us feel festive at this time of year.
Age: Everyone | Price: No cost | Info

✂️ Collage Crafting @ London Museum
Date & Loc: Jan 18th, Docklands
Consider identity in this relaxed and creative drop-in session for families. Create your own positive and powerful collage inspired by what makes you individual as well as what unites us. Two sessions (1030am & 1pm)
Age: Family | Price: Free (drop in) | Info

🐧 Family Workshop: P-P-P-Penguins @ Little Angel Theatre
Date & Loc: Jan 18th-19th, Angel
Make a cute cuddly sock penguin with your little one to celebrate Penguin Awareness Day on 20th Jan 2025.
Age: 3-6y | Price: £9.5 | Info

🧜‍♀️ The Singing Mermaid @ Little Angel Theatre
Date & Loc: Jan 16th-26th, Angel
A fun, warm-hearted musical adventure, a charming family favourite returns to LAT, following a hugely successful national tour. Through beautiful puppetry and performance, and with music by Barb Jungr, The Singing Mermaid, is brought to life.
Age: 3-8y | Price: from £15 | Info

🖼️ Family Day Workshop @ William Morris Gallery
Date & Loc: Jan 18th, North London
Tulips and Peacocks, design and make your own piece of embossed metal art. Use a stylus on a lightweight metal sheet to explore how to achieve different marks and textures and create a raised 3D design to take home.
Age: 5+ | Price: No Cost | Info

🐚 Curious Corals with Francesca @ Museum of Zoology
Date & Loc: Jan 18th, University College London (Bloomsbury)
Think you can tell brain from bubble gum coral? Come and join us to feed your curiosity around reefs through stories, myths, games and craft. This workshop is part of UCL Museums & Cultural Programmes 2024-25 event series Architecting Futures.
Age: All | Price: Free (pre book) | Info

🎻 Vivaldi’s Four Seasons @ Kings Place
Date & Loc: Jan 18th, King’s Cross
For the first in the Platoon Presents at Kings Place series, join us for a never-heard-before version of Vivaldi’s baroque masterpiece, ‘The Four Seasons’. The event lasts for 70 minutes without an interval, so make sure your kid is up for it :).
Age: TBC (10+?) | Price: From £10 | Info

🐭 Town Mouse & Country Mouse @ Studio Theatre
Date & Loc: Jan 19th, North Finchley
Join two friends as they embark on an amazing journey and discover that sometimes new can be exciting, and different can be good!
Age: 3-7y | Price: From £12.75 | Info

❄️ Winter Lights @ Canary Wharf
Date & Loc: Jan 21st-Feb 1st, Canary Wharf
On its ninth edition, the trail will take you on a journey through 12 spectacular temporary installations, as well as the ever-popular permanent light artworks. Showcasing some of the most innovative light artists across the globe,
Age: All | Price: No cost | Info

🐦 Big Garden Birdwatch from Home!
Date & Loc: Jan 24th-26th
Big Garden Birdwatch is the world’s largest garden wildlife survey. Every year, hundreds of thousands of nature lovers like you take part, helping to build a picture of how garden birds are faring.
Age: All | Price: No cost | Info

🎪 Come Alive Show
Date & Loc: ongoing, Earls Court
Drawing inspiration from The Greatest Showman, "Come Alive" offers a circus extravaganza filled with all your favorite hits from the movie.
Age: Everyone | Price: from £95 | Info

🎭 Captain Sandy & The Sea Monster @ The Puppet Barge
Date & Loc: until Jan 26th, Little Venice
UK’s only floating puppet theatre. In the little village of Rocky Snore, all the fisherfolk are in a mess, where have all the fish gone? There are no fish to fish! Join Captain Sandy on her adventure to try and find out what happened!
Age: 4-10 | Price: from £10 | Info

🎭 The Nutcracker @ Polka Theatre
Date & Loc: until Jan 26th, Wimbledon
When squabbling siblings Clara and Fritz receive a mysterious Nutcracker toy from their flamboyant Aunty Drosselmeyer, Clara is certain that she doesn't want her accident-prone younger brother anywhere near it!
Age: 5+ | Price: from £12.5 | Info

🎭 Barbie: The Exhibition @ Design Museum
Date & Loc: Ongoing until Feb, Kensington
A major exhibition exploring the design evolution of one of the world’s most famous dolls: Barbie.
Age: 6+ | Price: from £7 | Info

✨ Churchill in Cartoons @ Imperial War Museum
Date & Loc: Until Feb 23rd, Lambeth
This free exhibition at IWM London marks 150 years since Winston Churchill’s birth, uncovering how satirical cartoons influenced public perception during Churchill’s lifetime, and how they shape our understanding of his role in history today.
Age: Everyone | Price: No cost | Info

As always, we appreciate you giving us feedback on this section to keep making it better and more useful:

 . CASUAL EINSTEIN .

2 for 1: Wow your kid & outsmart the other parents

Here are two cool facts to help you sound like the smartest parent on the playground:

Fun Fact: Honey never spoils. Archaeologists have found pots of honey in ancient Egyptian tombs that are over 3,000 years old and still perfectly edible!

London fact: London's Smallest Statue is located in Philpot Lane, near Eastcheap. There, you'll find a tiny statue of two mice sharing a piece of cheese. This quirky little statue commemorates an amusing incident involving two builders who had a disagreement over a missing sandwich, only to discover later that it had been eaten by mice.

. SPREAD THE LOVE .

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