Morning, London! Happy Friday. A day late, I know. You’re catching me on the road, searching for sunshine. Anyway… For those of you still in the trenches, one last school run today, then half-term. Hang in there.

Then there are the clocks. They go back on Saturday night, which sounds like an extra hour in bed. In theory. Small people don't do theory.

Halloween next weekend, so the costume question needs settling now. The last-minute bin-bag witch is a perfectly valid look. We've seen it win.

Plenty below to fill the week: ghosts, pumpkins, puppets, a proper helping of East London (you asked, we listened), and one Canterville Ghost who's clearly had enough.

Right. Let's go.

📸 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Is Back. This year’s winners are on show at the Natural History Museum, picked from a record 65,403 entries. The young winner photographed a dung beetle pushing its precious cargo. Every parent with a buggy: same. Heads-up, the overall winner (an elephant) is a sad one. Full story

🎬 A Happy Ending for the Prince Charles Cinema. The Leicester Square cinema has signed a new 25-year lease with no break clause, ending 21 months of uncertainty. More than 168,000 people signed the petition to save it. Plenty of time to introduce the kids to your favourite films and discover they have absolutely no respect for your taste. Full story

🎨 South Kensington Is Planning a Big Get-Together. The V&A, Science Museum and Natural History Museum are among the partners in Serendipity Arts Festival London, nine days of South Asian art, music, dance and food on Exhibition Road from 19 to 27 June 2027. Full story

🎸 The Strings Club Holiday Camps @ various locations
Date & Loc: Oct 26–30, across London
Music-led half-term camps with a Halloween twist, from Monster Mash dancing to spooky mask-making, plus a concert to end the week. Code SCOOP gets 10% off your first booking.
Age: 4–11 | Info

📖 You’ll See @ Polka Theatre
Date & Loc: Oct 23–25, Wimbledon SW19
Irish company Branar turns James Joyce’s Ulysses into a show for kids. Handy, for those of us who never quite finished it.
Age: 8–12 | Price: from £14 | Info

🎃 Halloween: Once Upon a Pumpkin @ Lewis of London
Date & Loc: Oct 23–31, Barnet EN5
A fairy-tale trail, a pumpkin patch and marshmallow toasting at the ice cream farm. Pumpkins cost extra. Ice cream is basically compulsory.
Age: Best for 2–8 | Price: from £4.95 | Info

🎪 Cirque Berserk! @ Garrick Theatre
Date & Loc: Oct 23–31, West End WC2H
Acrobats, aerialists and motorbikes racing round the Globe of Death, in its final week in the West End.
Age: 5+ | Price: from £17.50 | Info

🐈‍⬛ Halloween Trail @ Science Museum
Date & Loc: Oct 23–31, South Kensington SW7
A free self-guided trail past a dried merman, leech jars and Lucky Jim, the toy black cat that flew across the Atlantic in 1919.
Age: All ages | Price: no cost | Info

🍯 Winnie-the-Pooh @ London Zoo
Date & Loc: Oct 23–Nov 1, Regent’s Park NW1
Follow Pooh and Eeyore around the zoo on an illustrated story trail for his 100th birthday. It finishes at the end of half-term.
Age: All ages | Price: Incl w. adm | Info

👻 Halloween at Kew @ Kew Gardens
Date & Loc: Oct 23–Nov 1 (evenings), Kew TW9
An after-dark light trail with Dracula, fire performers, a cursed tomb and the Headless Horseman. From Oct 25 there are earlier Daylight slots for little ones.
Age: All ages | Price: from £19.50 | Info

🚀 Toto @ Polka Theatre
Date & Loc: Oct 23–Nov 1 (selected dates), Wimbledon SW19
A donkey dreams of becoming an astronaut in a musical adventure involving a carrot-powered rocket.
Age: 3–8 | Price: from £10 | Info

🗝️ Cabinets Unlocked: Sensory Explorers @ Ham House
Date & Loc: Oct 23–Nov 1, Richmond TW10
Ham House unlocks its ornate 17th-century cabinets for half-term, with sensory activities for small explorers along the way.
Age: All ages | Price: Incl w. adm | Info

🎡 Halloween Funfair @ Crystal Palace Park
Date & Loc: Oct 23–Nov 1, Crystal Palace SE19
George Irvin’s funfair is back for half-term, with free entry every day and half-price rides on weekdays. Candyfloss negotiations are your own business.
Age: All ages | Price: no cost | Info

🐀 The Pied Piper: A Rat’s Tale @ Little Angel Theatre
Date & Loc: Oct 23–Nov 7, Islington N1
The famous story, finally told from the rats’ side, with puppets and a fair bit of mischief. A few performances have sold out.
Age: 5+ | Price: from £14 | Info

🎶 Home Song @ Unicorn Theatre
Date & Loc: Oct 23–Nov 8 (selected dates), London Bridge SE1
A gentle musical journey from Ghana to London, with puppets, a cappella singing and sensory play made especially for babies.
Age: 6–18 months | Price: from £12 | Info

📚 The Lost Property Library @ Discover Children’s Story Centre
Date & Loc: Oct 23–Nov 8, Stratford E15
Half Moon’s storytellers let forgotten objects tell their own stories. Finally, someone is taking lost property seriously.
Age: 2–9 | Price: £4 | Info

🐭 Pip and Posy Live on Stage @ Little Angel Theatre
Date & Loc: Oct 23–Nov 21, Islington N1
Axel Scheffler’s two best friends hop off the page in a gentle puppet show about friendship. Some performances have already sold out.
Age: 2–5 | Price: from £14 | Info

🔬 Discover Your CSI Skills @ St George the Martyr
Date & Loc: Oct 24 (Sat), Bloomsbury WC1N
Forensic science activities and a real 200-year-old miscarriage of justice to look into, the case of Eliza Fenning. Also, a bouncy castle.
Age: All ages | Price: no cost | Info

🎱 Family Takeover: Giant Marble Run @ Camden Art Centre
Date & Loc: Oct 24 (Sat), Hampstead NW3
Build an enormous marble run out of tubes, pipes and old bottles with artist Tom James. Free, but only 20 places a session, so book.
Age: 4+ | Price: no cost | Info

😂 Comedy 4 Kids: Reducks with James Campbell @ Museum of Comedy
Date & Loc: Oct 24–25, Bloomsbury WC1A
Proper stand-up for children from James Campbell, this month on The Funny Life of Teachers. The grown-ups usually laugh just as much.
Age: 6+ | Price: from £14 | Info

⚔️ Sword Fighting Demonstration @ Shakespeare’s Globe
Date & Loc: Oct 24–29, Bankside SE1
Watch the Globe’s fight team demonstrate Shakespearean stage combat, then handle the weapons for a photo.
Age: 4+ | Price: from £15 | Info

🎨 Play Saturdays @ Young V&A
Date & Loc: Oct 24 & 31 (Sat), Bethnal Green E2
Free drop-in play and making at the museum built for children. Nobody tells you not to touch. Mostly.
Age: All ages | Price: no cost | Info

⚓ October Half Term @ London Museum Docklands
Date & Loc: Oct 24–31, Canary Wharf E14
Superstitious sailors, clay lucky charms and a spooky silent disco, all free. Some sessions need tickets, so book the disco early.
Age: All ages | Price: no cost | Info

🍿 Hackney Children’s Film Festival @ Rio Cinema
Date & Loc: Oct 24–31, Dalston E8
Hackney’s first ever children’s film festival brings The Wild Robot, Paddington and The Little Vampire to the Rio, with crafts, storytime and a costume parade. Popcorn diplomacy is up to you.
Age: Most all ages (a few 8+) | Price: £5 (£3 with a Hackney Library Card) | Info

🦦 SUPER Natural Half Term @ WWT London Wetland Centre
Date & Loc: Oct 24–Nov 1, Barnes SW13
A scare-free Halloween with willow wands, cryptid hunts and pumpkin carving for the otters. The otters were not consulted.
Age: All ages | Price: Incl w. adm | Info

👑 Halloween @ Hampton Court Palace
Date & Loc: Oct 24–Nov 1, East Molesey KT8
Henry VIII’s famously haunted palace brings in costumed ghosts, daily storytelling and a pumpkin trail. Expect the odd jump scare.
Age: All ages | Price: Incl w. adm | Info

🕷️ Not So Spooky Halloween @ Battersea Park Children’s Zoo
Date & Loc: Oct 24–Nov 1, Battersea SW11
Minibeast Mansion, Halloween crafts and a daily storytime that’s spooky without being scary. Good for under-8s, and grown-ups who aren’t keen on spiders.
Age: under 8s | Price: from £13.95 | Info

🏰 Halloween @ Tower of London
Date & Loc: Oct 24–Nov 1, Tower Hill EC3N
A ghostly trail with a Haunted Forge, plus a poet, a pirate and a bear. Leave the costumes at home, as fancy dress isn’t allowed.
Age: All ages | Price: Incl w. adm | Info

🏰 Halloween Half-Term @ Eltham Palace
Date & Loc: Oct 24–Nov 1, Eltham SE9
A Great Pumpkin Party at the Art Deco palace, with spooky games, storytelling, a devilish disco and a daily fancy dress competition.
Age: All ages | Price: Incl w. adm | Info

🎬 Family Film Week @ Barbican
Date & Loc: Oct 24–Nov 1, Barbican EC2Y
Howl’s Moving Castle, Matilda and Singin’ in the Rain, many with a quiz, craft or intro first. Better than Netflix, slightly less sofa.
Age: All ages | Price: £5 per screening | Info

🧱 UNIQLO Tate Play: Remake/Retry/Redo @ Tate Modern
Date & Loc: Oct 24–Nov 1, Bankside SE1
The East Tank becomes a giant DIY zone where kids turn ordinary bits and bobs into whatever they dream up. Overnight, staff wipe the slate clean for tomorrow’s builders. Someone else tidying up? Bliss.
Age: All ages | Price: no cost | Info

🦸 MCM Comic Con @ ExCeL London
Date & Loc: Oct 25 (Sun), Royal Docks E16
Cosplay everywhere, a kids’ cosplay showcase and The Treehouse family zone for a breather. Friday and Saturday have sold out, so Sunday it is.
Age: All ages | Price: from £7 | Info

💥 Book Buzz @ artsdepot
Date & Loc: Oct 25 (Sun), North Finchley N12
A free comics and manga festival: make a mini comic, swap a book and draw with Beano artist Kev F Sutherland. Costumes welcome.
Age: All ages | Price: no cost | Info

🦆 Wonderful Wildlife Weekend @ Walthamstow Wetlands
Date & Loc: Oct 25 (Sun), Walthamstow N17
Pond dipping and log flipping with London Wildlife Trust, free for the whole family. Bring wellies, and maybe spare socks.
Age: All ages | Price: no cost | Info

🪔 Diwali on the Square @ Trafalgar Square
Date & Loc: Oct 25 (Sun), Westminster WC2N
Music, dance, puppet shows and vegetarian street food in the square for the Festival of Lights. No booking, just turn up.
Age: All ages | Price: no cost | Info

📖 Big Story Festival @ IWM London
Date & Loc: Oct 25–26, Lambeth SE1
IWM’s first storytelling festival, with free drawing workshops, puppet-making and a giant colouring wall. Jacqueline Wilson is there on the Monday.
Age: All ages | Price: no cost (talks £10) | Info

🌊 Family Festival: Ocean October @ Natural History Museum
Date & Loc: Oct 26–Nov 1, South Kensington SW7
Free drop-in ocean activities and LEGO builds inspired by the Jurassic sea monsters. It’s the NHM in half-term, so go early.
Age: All ages | Price: no cost | Info

👑 Family Day: Hidden Kingdoms @ National Portrait Gallery
Date & Loc: Oct 27 (Tue), Leicester Square WC2H
Royal training day: kids get crowned (self-made), invent a crest for the household and sit for their own portrait, while storytellers whisk them back through the centuries. Expect a request for a throne afterwards.
Age: 3+ | Price: no cost (drop-in) | Info

🦇 Discovery Days: Hair-Raising Halloween @ Hyde Park Learning Centre
Date & Loc: Oct 27–29, Hyde Park W2
Mystery-object rummaging in a Witches’ Den, a Halloween wander through the park and all you ever wanted to know about bats, plus spooky tales at 12, 1 and 2pm. Fancy dress welcome, wellies probably wise.
Age: Best for 3–11 | Price: no cost (drop-in) | Info

🧹 Room on the Broom @ Rose Theatre
Date & Loc: Oct 27–Nov 1, Kingston KT1
The witch, the cat and an increasingly crowded broomstick, live on stage. There’s a relaxed performance on Thu 29 at 1.30pm.
Age: 3+ | Price: from £16.50 | Info

🧵 Half Term Family Day: Beyond Bayeux @ Guildhall Art Gallery
Date & Loc: Oct 28 (Wed), City of London EC2V
To mark the Bayeux Tapestry’s return to Britain, kids get hands-on with looms big and small and draw their own chapter of the 1066 saga. Arrow-in-the-eye optional. Plus a free peek at London’s Roman amphitheatre.
Age: 3–13 | Price: no cost (booking recommended) | Info

🐙 At Sea @ Polka Theatre
Date & Loc: Oct 28–Nov 1, Wimbledon SW19
An underwater puppet adventure with projections and an original score, for kids who’ve outgrown the baby shows.
Age: 6–12 | Price: from £15 | Info

🍬 Half Term Theatre: Hansel & Gretel @ Fulham Palace
Date & Loc: Oct 29 (Thu), Fulham SW6
A gently spooky retelling in the palace garden, with a gingerbread house that isn’t quite what it seems.
Age: 4–7 | Price: £12 | Info

👻 Half Term Theatre: The Canterville Ghost @ Fulham Palace
Date & Loc: Oct 29 (Thu), Fulham SW6
Oscar Wilde’s centuries-old ghost meets a family who simply refuse to be scared. He’s had enough, frankly.
Age: 7+ | Price: £12 | Info

🎞️ Relax, Watch & Make! @ Young V&A
Date & Loc: Oct 29–31, Bethnal Green E2
Drop in for Wallace & Gromit screenings and have a go at sketching your own characters. Free, no booking.
Age: All ages | Price: no cost | Info

🛏️ Search for a Story @ Southbank Centre
Date & Loc: Oct 29–Nov 1, Waterloo SE1
A giant storytelling bed is the centrepiece of this trail of half-remembered fairy tales, with a Story-collector dropping by for 15-minute tales. The only bed in London kids will happily get into.
Age: 5+ | Price: no cost | Info

👻 Ghost Ship @ Mudchute Park & Farm
Date & Loc: Oct 30 (Fri), Isle of Dogs E14
Halloween at one of Europe’s biggest city farms, with a ghost ship theme. Free entry, and fancy dress is optional but encouraged.
Age: All ages | Price: no cost | Info

🎃 Pumpkin Hunt @ Wimbledon Common
Date & Loc: Oct 31 (Sat), Wimbledon SW19
Hunt for pumpkins in the woods, then hear a ghost story in the haunted windmill. The money goes towards looking after the Commons.
Age: All ages | Price: £3 per child | Info

🌊 Flotsam @ Half Moon Theatre
Date & Loc: Oct 31 (Sat), Limehouse E1
A new opera for small people, based on David Wiesner’s wordless picture book. Opera for toddlers at £9. Very civilised.
Age: 2–6 | Price: £9 | Info

🍬 Halloween Trick and Treat @ Mudchute Park & Farm
Date & Loc: Oct 31 (Sat), Isle of Dogs E14
Trick or treat your way round the farm, with animal feed and a treat bag included. The goats will want both.
Age: All ages | Price: £10 per child | Info

🪩 Halloween Spooktacular Family Rave @ Night Tales Hackney
Date & Loc: Oct 31 (Sat), Hackney E8
Big Fish Little Fish bring the family rave to the Hackney arches, with foam, bubbles, balloons and the famous parachute dance.
Age: Best for 0–8 | Price: from £9 | Info

🦇 Halloween Party @ Deen City Farm
Date & Loc: Oct 31 (Sat), Merton SW19
Games, prizes, a disco and a spooky trail, plus a bar for the grown-ups. Fancy dress encouraged.
Age: All ages | Price: £7 per child | Info

🙏 If this makes your week a bit easier, pls think of two parents who'd love it, or drop it in a WhatsApp group. Takes 20 seconds. Please don’t ignore me 😂.
Appreciated, kind Londoner!

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