The best May half-term activities in London

At last, London has a Paddington Bear exhibition! This lavish interactive experience sounds like it has everything a fan of the polite young bear could possibly want, from a journey through Paddington’s idealised London to a marmalade festival at the Browns’ house. It only opens on the Friday of half-term, but if you can’t get down these holidays it’s surely going to be around for a while.

The Natural History Museum’s big exhibition for 2024 is this massive new celebration of our avian pals. As you can doubtless glean from the title, ‘Birds: Brilliant and Bizarre’ focuses on the weirder end of the feathered spectrum. While some of the NHM’s permanent exhibitions can look a little tired these days, its big temporary exhibitions are typically cutting-edge, interactive and hugely fun.

Following on from two blockbuster seasons of the RSC’s ‘My Neighbour Totoro’, here comes the London premiere of this massive Anglo-Japanese adaptation of another Studio Ghibli classic, ‘Spirited Away’. Although the film certainly has its frightening moments, the official age advice for the stage show is seven-plus.

It’s all change for ZSL’s cold-blooded inhabitants: gone is the old school Reptile House; in for 2024 is The Secret Life of Reptiles and Amphibians, a massive new upgrade that aims to offer perfect habitats to 33 species across 11 zones. Admire mountain chicken frogs, big-headed turtles, panther chameleons and so much more.

This kids’ musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s picture book brings his tongue-in-cheek but ruthlessly uncosy story about a child-eating croc to the Open Air Theatre stage this half-term. Ages four-plus.

You can rarely go too long at the Horniman without encountering some form of prehistoric life: following its recent ‘Permian Monsters’ and ‘Brick Dinos’ exhibitions, 2024 sees it play host ‘Dinosaur rEvolution’. It’s based around five showstopping animatronic models,including a seven-metre-long T-Rex.

The British Museum’s excellent exhibition ‘Legion: Life in the Roman Army’ details the day-to-day reality of life for soldiers throughout the Empire. It on through most of June, but May half-term marks your last chance to see it during the school holidays.

There is no finer thing to do on a rainy day than visit the Science Museum’s ‘Power Up’ exhibition of dozens and dozens of computer and console games to play, from ‘Pong’ to the present.

The first temporary exhibition at Young V&A is a real delight, and should appeal to grown-up Nippophiles just as much as school kids. ‘Japan: Myths to Manga’ is a grab bag of the more eye-catching highlights of the past few centuries of Japanese pop culture, taking in everything from Hokusai’s ‘The Great Wave’ to copious Studio Ghibli appearances, to a draw-your-own manga craft corner.

This slick – if not revelatory – exhibition about Disney, by Disney is a diverting half-day of all ages fun. It’s also almost at the end of its time in London: although it’s on until the second half of June, May half-term is the last school holiday it will run through.