Ten things to do with LittleHumans in London this July
July in London rewards the unhurried. The lidos hit their stride, the puppet theatres pack up and sail upriver, and a park in Walthamstow throws the most community-powered party of the summer. Here are ten moments worth building a day around, each chosen for LittleHumans aged 0 to 7 and the grown-ups who wander with them.
1. Whatever The Weather at the Unicorn Theatre
The UK's leading theatre for young audiences has turned its stage into an immersive weather world: rain, snow and sunshine to play through, designed for ages 0 to 7 with dedicated sessions for under-3s. Runs all month by London Bridge, tickets from £5.50.
2. Walthamstow Garden Party, Lloyd Park (18 and 19 July)
A free, community-powered festival curated with the Barbican, filling the park behind the William Morris Gallery. Music, dance, craft stalls and family activity in the designer's boyhood garden. No tickets, just turn up.
3. Summer by the River, London Bridge City
The Thames path between London Bridge and Tower Bridge runs a free season all summer: open-air cinema on Tuesdays and Fridays (Fantastic Mr Fox among them), lunchtime concerts in the Pocket Garden, and the Scoop's amphitheatre steps for resting small legs.
4. Summer Screens at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens
Free family films every Tuesday evening in July on the site of London's original pleasure gardens, Zootropolis and Cool Runnings among them. Bring a blanket; the playground is beside the lawn.
5. The Puppet Theatre Barge sails to Richmond
In late July the floating marionette theatre leaves Little Venice for its summer mooring on Richmond Riverside. Catching a show in the little hull, water lapping beneath the stage, is one of London's stranger and lovelier family rituals.
6. Brockwell Lido
July is lido month. The 1930s pool in Brockwell Park runs family sessions through the summer: splash in the morning, picnic on the grass after, Brixton on the doorstep.
7. The Children's Puppet Festival opens at Little Angel (from 28 July)
Islington's 100-seat puppet theatre marks its 65th anniversary with a month-long festival: Tiny Planet, At Sea, Jack and the Beanstalk (sort of), and workshops where children build their own working marionette.
8. Luna Loves London at Discover Children's Story Centre (from 25 July)
Stratford's story museum opens a new immersive exhibition from former Children's Laureate Joseph Coelho and illustrator Fiona Lumbers, alongside its brand-new Story Tree, a multi-storey climb with a wheelchair-accessible treehouse.
9. Ruislip Lido Railway starts daily service (from 22 July)
Britain's longest 12-inch gauge railway, run entirely by volunteers, circles the woodland edge of a lake with a sandy beach. Daily trains from 22 July, steam engines on high days, and free entry to the park. The closest thing London has to a seaside day.
10. Pond-dipping weekends at WWT London Wetland Centre
Free pond-dipping sessions run on summer weekends from 1.30 to 3pm in Barnes: nets provided, dragonflies in season, and the otters and water-play area to fill the rest of the day.
Spontaneous days, seamlessly planned
Every place in this guide lives in Little Atlas, our free and calm map of London for families: curated spots, honest opening times, baby-change locations, and monthly guides like this one, all in your pocket for the days you decide where to go on the way out the door.
Image credits: Diana Memorial Fountain by C. G. P. Grey (CC BY 2.0); Ruislip Lido Railway by Mike Peel, mikepeel.net (CC BY-SA 4.0), both via Wikimedia Commons.
