The best half-term activities in London

Lego lovers will be in their element at the Horniman Museum’s Brick Wonders exhibition. There are about 50 Lego models on display – that’s about half a million bricks if you’re counting – covering everything from ancient pyramids to the International Space Station. There are interactive play areas and a mini-cinema showing LEGO animation shorts, and you can buy a combi ticket if you fancy ticking off the aquarium and Butterfly House while you’re here. Family ticket £18.

Come face-to-face with the beasts who once roamed the city in the Museum of London’s new interactive digital installation. 'Beasts of London' takes visitors on a journey through London’s past via a cast of animal narrators. 

Since it was spruced up after the 2012 Olympics and opened to the public five years ago, the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has become a mainstay for family fun in the capital. Things are no different this May bank holiday, with the park opening its doors for lots of fun things, including the ArcelorMittal Orbit slide, an enormous water obstacle course at the London Aquatics Centre, BMX and skateboarding sessions and plenty of food and drink. It's like getting out of the city, but without leaving Zone 2.

The kids version of this popular pop-up cinema outfit doesn't disappoint. This year's event takes place during half-term in Dulwich Park, before moving to Hampton Court Palace for the summer. Weather dependent (obvs) it not only gets your little ones out the house but keeps them (and you) entertained, too.  

You'll have heard of All Points East, the London music festival taking over Victoria Park, with headliners including The Strokes, The Chemical Brothers and Christine and the Queens. It'll be hosting a whole heap of top-notch artists for two weekends at the end of May and beginning of June, but in the week between the gigs (which happens to be half-term) there's a huge programme of free, family-friendly events going down. Little ones can get stuck into kids’ sport and art workshops, children’s theatre and storytelling. While big kids can snack on street food and watch open-air cinema with everything from ‘Napolean Dynamite’ to ‘Black Panther’ on the bill. 

Now in its fifty-fourth year, the renowned and celebrated annual wildlife photography competition exhibition returns to the Natural History Museum with images of the most extraordinary species on the planet captured by professional and amateur photographers. This year saw more than 45,000 entries from across the globe, with 100 selected for what is always a highlight in the NHM's calendar.