The British Museum © Benedict Johnson
Museum sleepovers
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By Rosie Scammell
Updated: Wed Feb 17 2010 -
Want to sleep with dinosaurs? Bed down under an Elizabethan cannon? Or wake up beside the mummies? Time Out rounds up the top attractions that will let your kids bed down for the night. Call venues to find out dates of upcoming sleepovers
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Science Museum
Exhibition Rd, London, SW7 2DD
The veteran in city sleepovers, Science Night has been running for so long that some of the current staff first attended as children in the nineties. Activities are based around a different theme each month but a make-and- take workshop, a science show, and an IMAX film are guaranteed.
After breakfast, once the doors are opened to the public, those exhausted by all the excitement head home to show off their creations but kids with energy to spare are free to explore the museum, including the 50 interactive exhibits in the Launchpad area and the dazzling Exploring Space Gallery.
Jonathan Ross and Prince Andrew are among those whose children have enjoyed a Science Museum sleepover and recent satisfied overnighters praised the event as ‘better than we even dared imagine’.
(£35 per person (bursaries are available). Five children per adult. Suitable for eight-to-11-year-olds.) Read more
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British Museum
44 Great Russell St, London, WC1B 3DG
These popular quarterly sleepovers are open to Young Friends of the British Museum and their chums. Past highlights include a Terracotta Warrior night, which saw kids leave with their own warrior, some Kung Fu kicks and a phrase or two of Chinese.
Every sleepover brings temporary and permanent exhibitions to life with story-telling surrounded by centuries of world history, before kids bed down in the Egyptian and Mesopotamian Galleries. Coming next in 2010 are tales from West Africa to accompany the museum’s Kingdom of Life exhibition, plus a sculpture workshop and African dance. The June event takes a closer look at some of the museum’s most famous objects, helping guests to discover everything from the haunting legends of the Tang burial figures to how Lewis Chessmen arrived at the Isle of Lewis. September’s event is focused on the Enlightenment, and in November there’s an eerie walk through the afterlife to coincide with the BM’s exhibition about the Book of the Dead.
In addition to sleepover invitations, Young Friends of the British Museum receive a magazine, a gift membership pack full of museum goodies and the chance to attend other fun events.
(Annual Young Friends membership £22 (£18 by direct debit); sleepovers £32.50 per person. Four children, one of whom must be a Young Friend, per adult. Suitable for eight-to-15-year-olds.) Read more
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Natural History Museum
Cromwell Rd, London, SW7 5BD
For anyone who fancies themselves as the next David Attenborough, Dino Snores is the hot ticket. Visitors are taken by torch-light into the darkest depths of the museum, discovering clues along the way to solve a nature puzzle. The pleasures of this new addition to the sleepover scene include the opportunity to be dwarfed by the enormous blue whale and to get the microscope out for the insect hordes in the 'Revenge of the Mini-beasts'.
Explorers can recover from their adventure by watching a film, or a show by leading naturalists before falling asleep under the watchful eye of the 150-million-year-old Diplodocus, in the iconic Central Hall.
(£45 children, £40.50 museum members, accompanying adults free. Suitable for 8-to-11 year-olds. Five children per adult.) Read more
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Golden Hinde
St Mary Overie Dock, Clink St, SE1 9DG
An opportunity to sail the seven seas in the company of famous and infamous explorer Sir Francis Drake, sleepovers aboard the Golden Hinde, a replica of Drake’s ship permanently moored on the southern bank of the Thames, offer a ‘voyage’ in search of hidden treasures, and perhaps a bit of plundering too.
On arrival at 5pm a quick change into Tudor sailor costumes gets everyone set for firing the canons, before a traditional Tudor dinner and storytelling. After an exhausting evening on the high seas, the young crew bed down on the gun deck among the cannons. During the chilly winter months there are electric radiators and additional blankets available for families who don’t fancy replicating the harsh conditions Drake and his crew would have endured. There’s an SIA- registered security guard on board all night as well as the actors who lead the fun. Popular for birthday parties, the ship is also available for private hire.
(£39.95 per person. Suitable for 5-to-11 year-olds, with one adult per group.) Read more
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Hamleys Toy Shop
188-196 Regent St, London, W1B 5BT
Not a budget option, but if cost is not an issue what party girl or boy wouldn’t relish the chance to join the Hamleys teddy bears for their picnic, save the world with the action heroes, or relax at a doll’s pampering session? The world-famous toy shop is available for private hire on Saturday nights, when trained staff run treasure hunts and games galore and a chef serves a midnight feast before the partygoers head to the land of nod.
(£4,500 for ten children. Suitable for six-to -11-year-olds.) Read more
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6 comments
Hamleys soooooo inapropriate cost.
This is brilliant....but only if have kids.....I dont and I feel excluded! booo
This sounds a fabulous idea. Especially for parties - learn and have fun at the same time! Unfortunately, the price puts it out of my possibility and probably many others as well. Sadly.
A few years back i did this sleepover thing with Lainsmead primary school ! I was fab but i dont think there has been one scince But still we learnt alot about scieance it was creative and funny wich is the best was for children to learn about it ! ...
Please get back to me about when the next trip is ....
Our school slept over at the science museum many times and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, because of cost we had to abandon such stays.
My question is: Can we get help to fund such sleepovers? £30 for many of our parents is way out of reach.
Sleepovers are also available on HMS Belfast.