The best October half-term activities in London

The newly reopened and rebranded Young V&A’s first major temporary exhibition is this thrilling-looking exploration of all things Japanese, from Hokusai’s immortal nineteenth-century woodblock print ‘Great Wave’ to Studio Ghibli’s animated film classic ‘My Neighbour Totoro’. It’s divided into four themed areas: Sky, Sea, Forest and City.

The Science Museum’s ‘Power Up’ holds bank after bank of classic videogames. It’s made an attempt at education with a wall of consoles from throughout history, but you can ignore all that if you want and just concentrate on turning your eyes square. Everything here is grouped by theme. There’s a Mario section and a Sonic section, a rhythm action game bit and a VR gaming bit, there’s 16-player Halo and solo Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. There are PC games and handheld consoles, Gamecubes and Megadrives. Want to save Lemmings? Race Micromachines? Fight the Empire? It’s all here.

The leaves are turning golden and the nights are drawing in. It can only mean one thing, pumpkin season is here. Whether you associate it with Halloween or not, there’s no excuse for not taking advantage of the huge number of pumpkin-picking opportunities at farms near the capital. Here are our favourite places to go for making the most of pumpkin season in 2023.

This enormous new exhibition marks the globally touring centrepiece of Disney’s all-encompassing centenary celebrations. It’s a massive interactive exploration of a century of Disney history, bringing together memorabilia and displays on all things Mouse from the charming rudiments of the 1920s to the contemporary Star Wars and Marvel eras. Don’t go expecting any great reckoning with the more dubious bits of the corporation’s past – ‘Song of the South’ doesn't feature – but as a big shiny, family-friendly celebration of all the most beloved entertainment gathered under the Disney banner, it looks nigh on unmissable. 

Four acres of stunning land beside the Thames has been delighting Londoners since 1673, making it London’s oldest botanic garden full of sculpted flower beds and newly restored Victorian glasshouses. Young people aged 16 to 24 are invited to this day of immersive tours and workshops. They can try their hand at botanical balm making, tea bag making and guided meditation, and hear panel talks from young speakers on engaging your autumnal senses. 

Take over day entry ticket, £5. 

When it comes to celebrity skeletons, size matters. Now, there’s a new guy at the Natural History Museum who’s bigger than any of the old bones in there. Patagotitan mayorum is a titanosaur whose giant thigh-bone was discovered poking out of the ground by an Argentinian rancher in 2010. Paleontologists spent a decade reconstructing patagotitan’s 37-metre skeleton out of the bones of six related beasts found nearby. The result has now been cast in stunning detail and shipped to London to wow museum-goers. The dino skeleton itself is so vast its tail pokes out of the gallery and it’s awe-inspiring and wondrous to be able to linger underneath their huge ribs and to touch the minutely detailed casts of their bones. 

Go on a tour around the impressive Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, but with a twist. This immersive adventure will take you through swishy grass and squelchy mud as you set off on an expedition in search of bears. Based on Michael Rosen’s best-selling picture book ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’, little feet will trek across the garden’s lake and into the Arboretum where some of Kew's most magnificent trees and visiting wildlife live exploring the garden’s varied autumnal landscapes. 

Newly founded immersive art gallery Frameless is a permanent gallery dedicated to the art of submersion. Having taken over the old Odeon at Marble Arch in late 2022, the former subterranean cinema rooms have been converted into four multi-sensory galleries featuring iconic masterpieces from the greatest artists of our time. Well, sort of. As its name suggests you won’t find any physical paintings here. Rather each of the rooms across the 30,000 sq foot site contains a mini show where some of the most famous and recognisable art in the world are stripped down to their base colours and then reconstructed in dazzling 3D animations that dance across mirrored ceilings and swirl across the floors and walls, all set to rousing soundtracks. Kids will love watching lava flows oozing down the walls and floors as Joseph Wright of Derby’s 1774 ’Vesuvius in Eruption’ painting is given the techy treatment. While small hands can push swirls of dots and brushstrokes up the walls which transform piece by piece into Monet’s ‘The Waterlily Pond’ in the ‘Colour in Motion’ room.