The best October half-term activities in London

Ah, what could be more picturesque than picking your own pumpkin from a patch just in time for Halloween? Nothing, but there are definitely some caveats: ‘real’ farmed pumpkins are harvested a little earlier in October than Halloween itself. But farmers know this, and any farm offering a Halloween style pumpkin experience will get round this via the medium of just shoving some back in the soil – you, a city slicker, will not know the different. Click though to see some of out fave farms.

This renowned annual photography exhibition returns to the Natural History Museum for its sixtieth edition, showcasing the very best entries of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, including Canadian marine conservation photojournalist Shane Gross’s winning snap The Swarm of Life (pictured) featuring western toad tadpoles.

Also open for half-term is a new mixed-reality exhibition Visions of Nature – we’ll have more on that soon.

As is the way during autumn, the Making of Harry Potter tour at the Warner Bros Studio takes on its spookier Dark Arts theme for the season. Roving bands of Death Eaters and over a hundred floating pumpkins in the Great Hall are back as per, but this season’s new addition is Dementors appearing unexpectedly in the Forbidden Forest that you can banish with a patronus.

Tom Hanks’s spectacular immersive documentary The Moonwalkers – which you can only see at Kings Cross’s projection-based gallery Lightroom – is back for half-term and an impressive spectacle for any kids intersted in space travel. It’ll have a few dates over Christmas but this is one of your last chances to catch it until at least April. 

Something more improving this half term for older kids is this new exhibition at the British Museum which takes us inside the history of the titular trade routes, which were used for millennia, exploring the networks and communities that were forged and linked by them. As much as anything it’s a brilliantly vivid snapshot of a ‘dark ages’ that really wasn’t so dark.

If your tweens or teens still can’t get enough of the soundtrack to The Greatest Showman then it’s worth checking out Come Alive, which basically combines life performces of the songs from the film with spectacular circus stunts. There is a ‘proper’ stage musical in the works, but you might find your little ones have grown up and moved out by the time that arrives here.

This extremely fun immersive show casts you and your fellow participants as the crew of a spaceship, out on a mission deep in the galaxy. Over school holidays there are special kids’ ‘Cadet’ shows for particpants aged 11 to 15 that are well worth a look – this half-term they run from Oct 26-Nov 3 with the missions at 10am or 1.30pm.

Older kids and teens of a gothic bent will dig this extensive exhibition curated in collaboration with Burton himself. The collection draws from the auteur director’s personal archive of drawings, paintings, photographs, sketchbooks, moving-image works, sculptural installations, set and costume designs to shine a light on his distinctive, darkly humorous aesthetic. 

Yes, Aqua Shard’s new afternoon tea is pretty splashy: £70 for adults and £55 for kids. But as well as featuring the usual assortment of afternoon tea goodies served in a cute flying pirate ship, bear in mind Aqua Shard is on the thirty-first floor of the actual Shard, something that’s sure to blow youngsters’ minds if they’ve never been (and those prices don’t look so steep if you bear in mind View at the Shard starts at £28 just for a view).

There is, frankly, just a lot of Halloween stuff happening in London, with most major tourist attractions having some sort of spooky seasonal theme. Here’s a round-up.