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Easter activities for kids in London
Keep them entertained during the Easter weekend – and away from the chocolate for a bit – with our guide to the best Easter events for children
Got big plans for the Easter weekend? Just kidding. It is now a FOMO free-zone. The Easter bank holiday (Friday April 10 – Monday April 13) is not remotely the way we pictured it, but there are still plenty of ways to keep the kids enterained – none of which involve leaving the house. On Saturday and Sunday, Camp Bestival is launching its first virtual festival with mud pie making workshops, circus skills, fitness with Mr Motivator and a storytime session with Kate Winslet. Want an afternoon of craft? Download an art activity book filled with tasks set by Grayson Perry, Gillian Wearing and Antony Gormley. In the mood for baking? Bread Ahead will show you how to perfect those hot cross buns. There are dozens of brilliant, inventive virtual events to help you fill those four days. But you might have to stretch that screen time limit...
RECOMMENDED: Crack open the full guide to Easter weekend
Easter activities for kids in London
1. Bake your own hot cross buns
Borough Market is hosting a virtual festival to bring the springtime Easter vibes to you with a weekend of streamed workshops. Bread Ahead bakery will making hot cross this Friday at 2pm, so make sure you get the ingredients you’ll need in advance. There’ll also be drawing and storytelling activities for kids, just follow the market’s insta page to see what’s coming up.
2. Download an activity book with tasks by famous artists
Whether it’s finding inventive ways to entertain increasingly furious children in lockdown, or keeping yourself away from TV in the evenings, there’s a lot of pressure to be ‘creative’ right now. To try and make lockdown a little more bearable, artists Antony Gormley, Grayson Perry, Gillian Wearing, Michael Landy and others have come together to create a downloadable activity book. It’s called ‘Art Is Where the Home Is’ and you won’t need any specialist materials. Plus it’s completely free.
3. Create and make at home with The Design Museum
The Design Museum’s new calendar of online events might help restore some sanity in lockdown. Last week, the museum is launched a weekly ‘lesson plan’ with activities for kids that will be streamed on Instagram Live. It features a ‘Crowd Sourced Wall Lesson Plan’ for the homeschoolers, and a workshop on how to make your own rocking horse, which sounds like a lot more fun. If you’re feeling crafty, you can learn how to make an Easter lamb carton, right here.
4. Make your own Creme Eggs
London chocolatier Paul A Young has put together a step-by-step guide on how to make Creme Eggs – or as he’s calling them, ‘fondant eggs’. Admittedly, you will need an egg mould, but who hasn’t got one of those lying around? As well as that, you’ll need chocolate, fondant icing (that’s for the gooey stuff in the middle) and ideally some kind of yellow food colouring. You’ll probably need to do most of the baking, but the kids will love the finished product.
5. Try a new Harry Potter online experience
JK Rowling’s Wizarding World website has launched a new ‘Harry Potter at Home’ online hub, with hundreds of games, how-tos and activities for Potterheads – and they’re free for all users. Learn to draw a Niffler, keep the kids occupied with Potter puzzles and challenge your Gryffindor knowledge with a quiz about Harry’s first year at Hogwarts.
More great activities for kids around the capital
101 things to do in London with kids
Get set for family fun with our round-up of exciting events and activities for children in London.