Morning, London! Happy Thursday. London’s looking good at the moment. Red trees, proper autumn colours. Yesterday was best enjoyed through a window, though.

For anyone carrying a golf umbrella on the school run: are we all invited under there? Some of those things need planning permission. One person stays dry. Six step into traffic.

It’s also World Space Week, running until tomorrow. A good excuse to let the kids ask questions about the universe and discover how little you retained from school.

Anyway. Plenty happening down here on Earth.. Let’s do this.

🏛️ London Museum Is Going Underground. The London Museum’s first exhibition will open next spring inside a newly rediscovered network of underground vaults, taking visitors back to the first 50 years of Roman London with projections, soundscapes and ancient stories. Full story

🦭 The Horniman’s Walrus Is Getting His Big Comeback. Forest Hill’s Horniman Museum opens its revamped Nature Gallery in February 2027, with more than 2,300 objects, hands-on activities and its famously overstuffed walrus. It’s the final part of a £12.5m transformation. New surroundings, same waistline. A refreshingly relatable approach to a makeover. Full story

🚶 Oxford Street Gets Its Car-Free Makeover. New images of the Oxford Street pedestrianisation plans have been released, showing the first 1km stretch between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street. Traffic stops on 26 October, with trees, seating and new public spaces arriving by spring 2027. Shopping with a buggy might finally be a contact sport no more. Full story

Last week, The London Scoop was invited to The Week Junior Book Awards at BFI Southbank. Because we’re a very big deal, obviously. We’re not, but thankfully the invitation still counted.

We happily went along and found ourselves in very good company: brilliant authors, illustrators and publishers, all celebrating books that make children want to keep reading. We left with a considerably longer book shopping list.

A few to add to yours: Don’t Trust Fish! by Neil Sharpson and Dan Santat won best picture book, while The Misadventures of Mina Mahmood: School Trip by Farhana Islam took the younger fiction prize. And Bunny vs Monkey: Intergalactic Monkey Business by Jamie Smart won Children’s Choice with over a third of the votes. No parental persuasion required for that one.

📚 Browse all the winners here.

🏔️ Everest: The First Ascent @ Eclipso
Date & Loc: Oct 8 onwards (selected dates), Camden NW1
Join Hillary and Tenzing’s historic expedition in a 40-minute VR adventure. Considerably less packing than an actual Himalayan trek.
Age: 8+ | Price: from £21.50 | Info

🎶 Home Song @ Unicorn Theatre
Date & Loc: Oct 8–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

🍯 Winnie-the-Pooh @ London Zoo
Date & Loc: Oct 8–Nov 1, Regent’s Park NW1
Follow Pooh and Eeyore around the zoo on a new illustrated story trail celebrating everyone’s favourite honey enthusiast turning 100.
Age: All ages | Price: Incl w. adm | Info

🎶 Foundling Libraries @ Holborn Library
Date & Loc: Oct 9 (Fri), Holborn WC1X
Musical storytelling for little ones, with instruments, songs and movement bringing stories from the Foundling Hospital to life.
Age: Under 5s | Price: no cost | Info

🎤 Baby Broadway @ Churchill Theatre
Date & Loc: Oct 9 (Fri), Bromley BR1
West End singers perform musical and film favourites, with bubbles, puppets and plenty of chances for small people to join in.
Age: All ages | Price: from £16 | Info

🎃 Pumpkin Patch @ Hobbledown Heath
Date & Loc: From Oct 9 (Fri), selected dates until Nov 1, Hounslow TW14
Pick a pumpkin, try seasonal games and toast marshmallows at the pumpkin patch. Pumpkins and fairground rides cost extra.
Age: All ages | Price: from £7 | Info

🔎 Culture Quest Treasure Hunt @ British Museum
Date & Loc: Oct 9 (Fri), Bloomsbury WC1B
Team up to track down museum treasures, solve clues and collect photographic evidence before the final score tally and prize-giving.
Age: Everyone | Price: from £8 | Info

⚡ Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: New One-Part Production @ Palace Theatre
Date & Loc: From Oct 9 (Fri), West End W1D
The new one-part version opens this week, packing Hogwarts, time travel and spectacular stage magic into a single theatre trip.
Age: 8+ | Price: from £25 | Info

✂️ Snip Snap! Rapunzel Retold @ Lyric Hammersmith
Date & Loc: Oct 10 (Sat), Hammersmith W6
A playful retelling of Rapunzel with glove puppets, quick costume changes and a rather troublesome head of hair.
Age: 3+ | Price: from £12 | Info

🐰 Rabbit and Rey and the Lost Things @ Half Moon Theatre
Date & Loc: Oct 10 (Sat), Limehouse E1
Puppetry and visual storytelling follow Rey and a faithful rabbit through the small mysteries of things that go missing.
Age: 3+ | Price: from £9 | Info

🐭 Pip and Posy Family Workshop @ Little Angel Studios
Date & Loc: Oct 10 (Sat), Islington N1
Make an animal puppet and miniature stage in a Pip and Posy-inspired workshop. Afternoon session only; morning sold out.
Age: 3–5 | Price: from £10 | Info

🏡 Family Day: Welcome Home @ William Morris Gallery
Date & Loc: Oct 10 (Sat), Walthamstow E17
Celebrate the gallery’s new displays with screen-printed posters, front-door designs and a fresh family trail.
Age: Best for 4+ | Price: no cost | Info

🎨 Family Art Day @ October Gallery
Date & Loc: Oct 10 (Sat), Bloomsbury WC1
Explore Romuald Hazoumè’s new exhibition, then turn everyday materials into your own artwork at this family making session.
Age: All ages | Price: no cost | Info

🧜 LFF for Free: Build a Bug & Mermaid Parade @ BFI Southbank
Date & Loc: Oct 10 (Sat), South Bank SE1
Create a bug character or make a mermaid tail at two free film-inspired craft sessions. Drop in while spaces last.
Age: Everyone | Price: no cost | Info

🪩 Big Fish Little Fish: Animal Fantastical @ The Bedford
Date & Loc: Oct 10 (Sat), Balham SW12
DJ 2 Bad Mice supplies the soundtrack for a family rave with bubbles, foam, crafts and a giant parachute dance.
Age: Best for 0–8 | Price: from £9.75 | Info

🛠️ Family Design Challenge @ Young V&A
Date & Loc: Oct 10 (Sat), Bethnal Green E2
Take on a design brief together, experiment with materials and make something to take home or add to the display.
Age: 5–14 | Price: no cost | Info

🩰 Alice in Wonderland: The Ballet @ Blackheath Halls
Date & Loc: Oct 10 (Sat), Blackheath SE3
Follow Alice into Wonderland for a 40-minute ballet with the White Rabbit, Mad Hatter and a very demanding Queen of Hearts.
Age: Best for 2–14 | Price: from £15 | Info

🎬 Family Film Club: Missing Link @ Barbican
Date & Loc: Oct 10 (Sat), Barbican EC2Y
A talking Sasquatch recruits an explorer to find his relatives in this stop-motion adventure from the makers of Coraline.
Age: 7+ | Price: from £2.50 | Info

🍬 The Magic Sweet Jar @ West Norwood Library
Date & Loc: Oct 10 (Sat), West Norwood SE27
Follow Louisa into a world made of sweets, with puppetry, live music and audience participation helping her take on the Sugar King.
Age: 6+ | Price: £6 | Info

🔬 New Scientist Live @ ExCeL London
Date & Loc: Oct 10–11, Royal Docks E16
Get hands-on with robots, explore the human body and try a tractor simulator at a weekend packed with science discoveries.
Age: All ages | Price: from £20 | Info

🏰 Big Bayeux Bash @ British Museum
Date & Loc: Oct 10–11, Bloomsbury WC1B
A free medieval-themed weekend with creative activities, musical performances and a taste of Normandy.
Age: 6+ | Price: no cost | Info

⛵ Anniversary Family Storytelling @ Queen’s House
Date & Loc: Oct 10–11, Greenwich SE10
Songs, movement and musical storytelling bring the lives of the young sailors who once studied here to life.
Age: Everyone | Price: no cost | Info

✈️ Airfix Model Club: Gloster Gladiator @ RAF Museum
Date & Loc: Oct 10–11, Colindale NW9
Build a miniature Gloster Gladiator to take home, with an accompanying grown-up on hand for the fiddly bits.
Age: 8+ | Price: from £5 | Info

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

🎃 Halloween: Once Upon a Pumpkin @ Lewis of London
Date & Loc: Oct 10–11 & 16–31, Barnet EN5
A fairy-tale trail, duck races and marshmallow toasting join the pumpkin patch at this ice cream farm. Pumpkins cost extra.
Age: Best for 2–8 | Price: £7.95 | Info

🔎 The Mystery Of… artsdepot @ artsdepot
Date & Loc: Oct 11 (Sun), North Finchley N12
Calling all junior detectives. Team up to examine evidence, inspect video footage and interrogate suspects in this interactive murder mystery show.
Age: 7+ | Price: from £13.75 | Info

✨ The Museum of Marvellous Things @ Woolwich Works
Date & Loc: Oct 11 (Sun), Woolwich SE18
Giant puppets, live music and audience ideas fill a museum powered by imagination, with a chance to make your own puppet.
Age: 3+ | Price: from £17 | Info

🍎 Apple Day & Farmers’ Market @ Forty Hall Farm
Date & Loc: Oct 11 (Sun), Enfield EN2
Celebrate apple season with activities for the family and a browse around the farm’s autumn produce stalls.
Age: All ages | Price: no cost | Info

🪁 Blackheath Kite Day @ Blackheath
Date & Loc: Oct 11 (Sun), Blackheath SE3
Watch enormous kites take over the sky, bring your own to fly and catch the afternoon steel-band performance.
Age: All ages | Price: no cost | Info

💤 Mr Sleepybum’s Dream Machine @ Jacksons Lane
Date & Loc: Oct 11 (Sun), Highgate N6
A homemade dream machine unleashes dinosaurs, robots and ridiculous adventures in an interactive comedy show.
Age: 3–8 | Price: from £10 | Info

🧀 Larger Than Life: Starring Wallace & Gromit, Shaun and More @ Lightroom
Date & Loc: From Oct 14 (Wed), King’s Cross N1C
Aardman’s characters take over the walls and floor in a new immersive show celebrating 50 years of stop-motion mischief.
Age: All ages | Price: from £15 | Info

🎻 Aurora Orchestra: Meet the Instruments @ Kings Place
Date & Loc: Oct 17 (Sat), King’s Cross N1
A lively interactive concert where kids can sing, dance, play games and discover the sounds of different orchestral instruments.
Age: 3–7 | Price: from £15 | Info

👻 Ghosts & Ghouls Family Tour @ Shakespeare’s Globe
Date & Loc: From Oct 17 (Sat), selected dates until Jan 30, Bankside SE1
Explore Shakespeare’s ghosts, witches and supernatural stories on a family tour of the Globe, with exhibition entry included.
Age: All ages; some scary content | Price: from £18 | Info

😂 The Funny Life of Teachers @ Museum of Comedy
Date & Loc: Oct 24–25 (Sat–Sun), Bloomsbury WC1A
Stand-up for children from James Campbell, with ridiculous stories and plenty for the accompanying grown-ups to laugh at too.
Age: 6+ | Price: from £14 | 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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