A Handful of Ideas for Half Term

for when imagination feels hard to come by! I got you!

"We Go Together" for Rookie Magazine, photography by Amanda Leigh Meyers

As anyone who has gotten a train into London today will know, it is half term. A glorious, slightly chaotic, heady time- which, if the weather cooperates, can be filled with lots of scooting, Tupperware packed lunches and ambitious plans (my favourite type)- and if the weather doesn’t; can be filled with lots of scrambled together imagination (again, my favourite type) and the internal promise to ones self that WE WILL STILL ONLY WATCH A COUPLE OF EPISODES OF BLUEY. YES EVEN IF IT’S RAINING.

Anyway- to assist anyone, who like me, panics at the sight of a series of empty boxes on my calendar as half term rolls around- I thought I’d pop together a selection of lovely things to do in London (and beyond) over the next week (and beyond). Much to my dismay and art a-level, I have little to no originality for crafting (my GOD I am trying but my creative bones regrettably do not flex in a way which makes me a natural for pipe cleaners and egg boxes) and I am certain you don’t need me to show you the plethora of excellent museums London has (although if this and this aren’t on your list you really must add them)- but I have tried to pull together a selection of tried and tested favourites!

I know it’s a cliché and it is nice to have some ideas to fall back on, but I think it’s always worth saying that often the free things are the most satisfying and important. You don’t need to spend a penny to have quality time together (even if your imagination for made up games can sometimes wane like mine) and the most cherished times are often those sat on a park bench with soggy wellies and slightly damp sandwiches. So try to take the pressure off if you can. I haven’t made any grand plans (even reading through some of my suggestions made me think ‘Liv, GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER WOMAN’) so see these as some gentle ideas you can take for now, and save for later too. For rainy days, and far far beyond.

P.S I also did a post last year with some other things I love to do in town, so to avoid repeating myself- I’ll pop a little link here with some extras!

10 Things I Love Doing In London With My Toddler

• I know! I know! It’s an obvious place to start, but London parks are just so good (and cost nothing!) We have so many favourites (depending on what we fancy doing) but our chart toppers include Crystal Palace Park (great for the dinosaurs, boats, free farm (!), sand pit (YES) and cafe which does an excellently rated (by my 4 year old) beans on toast), Beckenham Place Park (very impressive sand pit, giant squirrel, forest and brilliant ice cream offerings), Brockwell Park (this week they have this on but also have a little miniature train which goes round- and who doesn’t love that)! St. James’ Park is lovely for picnics by the water in central London (it’s also not too far a walk/scoot from Charing Cross), Hyde Park if you have a whole day and lots of energy (I’m pretty sure this park has it all), Holland Park for the stunning gardens, Kensington Gardens also have the Diana Memorial Garden which is gorgeous (with an impressively large pirate ship and a couple of little rides nearby), Battersea also have a great kids play area (although the park is still quite new to me) and finally (for us, there’s lots more!) Greenwich Park which not only has the Observatory at the very top also has it’s new Cove play area at the back of the Maritime Museum too which is really wonderful!