Morning, London! Happy Thursday! Hope you are having a wonderful/peaceful/organised (delete as appropriate) half-term and making the most of the big list of events I shared last week. I’m out of town in the mountains this week, so missing out on these evens. What’s the saying? Do as I say, not as I do? Yeah, that. Snow is my guilty pleasure after all.

Still, plenty happening until Sunday—just don’t forget to get the kids to finish their homework before then, or you’ll be dealing with full-blown Sunday blues. It hit me hard as a kid, and I doubt things have improved.

London trivia. Last week, I finally got you! The question: which of these four famous parks is the biggest—Regent’s Park, Hyde Park, Greenwich Park, or Victoria Park? A whopping 57% of you went for Hyde Park, with 17% backing Greenwich. But guess what? Regent’s Park takes the crown at 166 hectares! That’s bigger than Hyde Park’s 142 ha, Victoria’s 86 ha, and Greenwich’s 72 ha.

Ohh, I can’t wait for those spring/summer evenings at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park—if you haven’t done it yet, trust me! 🌿🎭

Anyway, keeping it short today—you’re all probably hiding in the loo reading, and the last thing you need is me trying to be funny. Talk to you next week!

Let’s see what else we’ve got for you today:

• 🎙️ London Snippets: Bits that caught our eye

• 🧠 Casual Einstein: Two new playground-worthy facts

• ☎️ Trivia: Know your London?

• 📅 Readers’ Favourite: Family events this week

But first—the weather. Not looking great, but hey, at least days are getting longer!

. LONDON SNIPPETS .

Bits that caught our eye

My editor -myself- is out skiing this week so surely you don’t want to hear about his front flips or mornings full of powder. Back with the snippets next week.

 . CASUAL EINSTEIN .

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

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

Fun Fact: You’re taller in the morning than at night. ⏳ Gravity compresses your spine throughout the day, making you slightly shorter by evening. Ever noticed how you have to adjust your car mirror in the morning? That’s not your imagination—it’s just physics messing with you. 🚗😆

London Fact: London taxis are designed to fit a gentleman’s top hat. 🎩🚖 London’s iconic black cabs aren’t just roomy for convenience—they were actually designed with top hats in mind! Back in the early 20th century, gentlemen wearing formal top hats needed to be able to sit comfortably inside a cab without removing their hat. To accommodate this, regulations were introduced requiring London taxis to have a minimum headroom clearance—which is why the classic FX4 model, introduced in the 1950s, had its distinctive tall, boxy shape.

. TRIVIA .

Think you know your London?

. EVENTS SCOOP .

What’s on this week?

🖼️ The Sound of Paintings @ National Gallery
Date & Loc: Feb 20th, Trafalgar Square
Artists have hidden many clues in the Gallery's paintings to encourage us to look closer into their fantastic worlds. It's incredible how many details you can discover just by exploring with your eyes, as you search for sounds and noise in the hills and across the sea.
Age: All ages | Price: No cost | Info

🖌️ Decoding Pictures @ National Gallery
Date & Loc: Feb 20th, Trafalgar Square
Have fun asking questions about paintings and seeking out answers, as our Gallery Educators help you explore the Gallery.
Age: 5-13yo | Price: No cost | Info

🖼️ How Does Food Shape Us @ Young V&A
Date & Loc: Feb 20th-21st, Bethnal Green
Express yourself through collage, drawing and sewing! Watch a screening, get involved in making fruit preserves and unwind in workshops for the whole family.
Age: Everyone | Price: No cost | Info

🚊 Behind the Poster @ London Transport Museum
Date & Loc: Feb 20th, Covent Garden
Create your own London Transport poster! Celebrate iconic London Transport posters that have been a familiar sight in London for over 100 years.
Age: Everyone | Price: free with admission | Info

📜 Commonwealth Family Tour @ Westminster Abbey
Date & Loc: Feb 20th-21st, Westminster
Join a family friendly tour of Westminster Abbey to discover how the Abbey supports the King in his role as Head of the Commonwealth.
Age: Everyone | Price: No cost | Info

✨ We Were There @ HMS Belfast
Date & Loc: Feb 21st, South Bank
Meet IWM’s veterans and eyewitnesses of conflict to gain a unique insight into the impact of war on people’s lives. You'll hear an array of personal stories, recollections, and powerful memories from those who have experienced conflict first-hand.
Age: 7+ | Price: Free with admission | Info

🥷 Family Martial Arts Workshop @ Polka Theatre
Date & Loc: Feb 21st, Wimbledon
Ever wondered how to control a move like a famous ninja master?! Then bring the family along to Polka this February half term for some martial arts fun!
Age: 4+ | Price: from £12.50 | Info

🎭 Little Green Fingers @ Fulham Palace
Date & Loc: Feb 22nd, Fulham
Explore the wonderful world of growing vegetables and flowers as we dive into the process from start to finish. From planting seeds to harvesting your own veggies and blooms, join us in our beautiful walled garden for a day of learning and adventure.
Age: 3+ | Price: £15 | Info

🎭 Town Mouse & Country Mouse @ Lyric Hammersmith
Date & Loc: Feb 20th-22nd, Hammersmith
Join two friends as they embark on an amazing journey and discover that sometimes new can be exciting, and different can be good!
Age: 3-7yo | Price: £12 | Info

✨ Light up Kingston @ Kingston
Date & Loc: Feb 20th-23rd, Kingston
A bigger and brighter free spectacle with new light installation. Immerse yourself in mesmerising soundscapes, interact with installations that respond to your touch and movement, and get lost in a maze of colours.
Age: Everyone | Price: Free | Info

🖌️Tate Play: The Joy of Feeling @ Tate Modern
Date & Loc: Feb 20th-23rd, Bankside
Step into a magical world of texture, sound and movement this half-term at Tate Modern. Bring the whole family and explore a playful space inspired by the art of Dorothea Tanning.
Age: Everyone | Price: No cost | Info

⚓Out at Sea @ National Maritime Museum
Date & Loc: Feb 20th-23rd, Greenwich
From storytelling and singing workshops to maritime crafts and marvellous history, there's something for all ages at the National Maritime Museum this February.
Age: Everyone | Price: No cost | Info

🕵️ The Cake Thieves @ Police Museum
Date & Loc: Feb 20th-23rd, Covent Garden
All is not well at Madame Pâtissier’s 18th century cake shop – someone has stolen all her cakes! Henry, our Bow Street Runner, is on the case, but he is going to need your help. Pick up clues, make observations, study the exhibits and help solve the mystery!
Age: Everyone | Price: from £8 | Info

🎭 The Pea and the Princess @ Polka Theatre
Date & Loc: Feb 15th onwards, Wimbledon
Leap into a high velocity adventure, into the world of a Ninja Princess on a mega-mission, a practical Prince concocting the best inventions, a Queen with a slightly worrying crown obsession, and a very green baddy indeed.
Age: 3-7yo | Price: from £10 | Info

🌿Half Term Fun @ RHS Garden Wisley
Date & Loc: Feb 20th-23rd, Wisley
Craft activities, Storytime, Muddy Hands Green Fingers, Winter wonder walk & Guess How Much I Love You, a garden adventure!
Age: Everyone | Price: from £5 | Info

🐘 Half Term @ London Museum
Date & Loc: Feb 20th-23rd, Docklands
Let your kids' creativity run wild with free, animal-themed activities this half term at London Museum Docklands. From warehouse cats and rats to the elephants and tigers that once arrived at London's docks, enjoy storytelling, craft, trails and more.
Age: Everyone | Price: No cost | Info

🧸Family Workshop: Reflections in Clay @ Foundling Museum
Date & Loc: Feb 20th-23rd, Bloomsbury
Join artist Harriet Mena Hill to make a clay tile that reflects who you are. Explore the many sides of your identity through clay, shaped by your experiences, feelings, and imagination. At the end of the session, come together to create a collaborative artwork!
Age: 5-12yo | Price: £5 | Info

🧸 Home Song @ Unicorn Theatre
Date & Loc: until Mar 9th, London Bridge
In this multi-sensory show, meet young Adwoa and her mum as they embark on a journey to find the true meaning of home, from the bustling streets of Kumasi to the vibrant heart of London.
Age: 6-18 months | Price: from £19.50 (adult + baby) | Info

🎭 The Koala Who Could @ Rose Theatre
Date & Loc: Feb 13th-23rd, Kingston
In a wonderful place, at the breaking of dawn, where the breezes were soft and the sunshine was warm, a place where the creatures ran wild and played free ... A Koala called Kevin clung to a tree.
Age: 3+ | Price: £16.50 | Info

🎭 Macbeth: Family Storytelling @ Shakespeare Globe
Date & Loc: Feb 15th-17th, Bankside
Join us for a thrilling, spooky retelling of Macbeth, set in medieval Scotland! Expect blood, ghosts, and ambition gone wrong in this classic storytelling adventure.
Age: 5-12 | Price: £15 | Info

📜 Soldier Silhouettes @ National Army Museum
Date & Loc: Feb 20th-21st, Chelsea
Taking inspiration from some amazing photographs from our collection, join for our silhouette-making workshop as we explore techniques using light, dark and glowing material.
Age: Family | Price: No cost | Info

🎇 Imagine Festival @ Southbank Centre
Date & Loc: Feb 18th-23rd, Southbank
Southbank’s family festival returns for 2025, sparking creativity with world-class performances, art and free fun for children aged 0 – 11 and their grown-ups.
Age: 0-11yo | Price: from £16 | Info

🎭 There’s a Bear on My Chair @ Southbank Centre
Date & Loc: Feb 20th-23rd, Southbank
Mouse tries all kinds of tactics to move the pesky Bear but nothing seems to work. However, it isn’t long until the tables are turned and Bear finds himself with an unwelcome guest – the cheeky Mouse won’t leave his house!
Age: 2-7yo | Price: from £16 | Info

🎭 Boxville @ Polka Theatre
Date & Loc: Feb 20th-23rd, Wimbledon
You will meet paper dragons, corrugated crabs and cardboard space robots in this STEM skilled, hands on, interactive, cardboard adventure!
Age: 6-10yo | Price: from £14 | Info

👩‍🎨 Street Art Masterclass @ Southbank Centre
Date & Loc: Feb 20th-23rd, Southbank
Focusing on a different specialism every day, the workshops introduce participants to various street art techniques like stencil making, graffiti lettering and how to create art adapted to the urban spaces.
Age: 7-11yo | Price: Pay what you can | Info

🎭 Ballet Shoes @ National Theatre
Date & Loc: until Feb 22nd, Southbank
In a crumbling house filled with dinosaur bones and fossils, three adopted sisters – Pauline, Petrova and Posy – are learning who they are and what they want to be.
Age: 7+ | Price: from £25 | Info

🌌 Neon Brush Kids @ Glaziers Hall
Date & Loc: Feb 23rd, London Bridge
Get ready for your next family adventure! Neon Brush Kids offers parents a chance to connect with their kids in a fun and creative environment. With paints that glow in the dark, stencils to spark your imagination, and family-friendly tunes to set the mood, you'll be painting, laughing, and creating unforgettable memories together.
Age: 4-17yo | Price: £21 | Info

🌌 Light Festival 2025 @ Battersea Power Station
Date & Loc: until Feb 23rd, Battersea
This interactive art trail features eight must-see light installations by British and international artists, with several making their UK or London debut. Shining both inside and outside the Power Station from 8am to 11pm daily.
Age: All | Price: No cost | Info

🔬 Wonderlab @ Science Museum
Date & Loc: Daily, Kensington
This hands-on experience will spark curiosity, fuel imagination, and change the way you see the world!
Age: 7-14y | Price: from £15 | Info

🌍 SOIL: World at your feet @ Somerset House
Date & Loc: Jan 23rd onwards, Embankment
This ground-breaking exhibition unites visionary artists and thinkers from around the world to explore the remarkable power and potential of soil.
Age: All | Price: From £10 (under 5 free) | Info

🎭 Pig Heart Boy @ Unicorn Theatre
Date & Loc: until Feb 22nd, London Bridge
Is it better to have a pig's heart that works … than a human heart that doesn't? This captivating new adaptation follows a boy in urgent need of a heart transplant, who yearns simply to reclaim his life.
Age: 9-13y | Price: from £8.50 | Info

🎭 Barbie: The Exhibition @ Design Museum
Date & Loc: until Feb 23rd, 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, exploring how satirical cartoons shaped public perception during his lifetime—and how they continue to influence our view of him today.
Age: Everyone | Price: No cost | Info

✨ Snow White and Red Rose @ New Wimbledon Theatre
Date & Loc: Feb 28th - Mar 2nd, Lambeth
Two sisters, Snow White and Rose Red, live in a pretty cottage in a garden full of white and red roses. Their kind hearts and happy dispositions help a Bear and a Wolf to get along so they can break a magic spell.
Age: 2-12yo | Price: from £15.0 | Info

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

. SPREAD THE LOVE .

Thank you for reading ❤️

Got any comments or suggestions? Feel free to reply; I’d love to hear from you.

Also, if you enjoyed this, feel free to share it with friends!