Halloween Treat 3 - The London Canal Museum

Halloween Treat 3 - London Canal Museum

Our last Halloween event of the Busy Halloween weekend we had was.... The London Canal Museum. Situated in Kings Cross, this museum celebrates narrow oats and London’s Canals. On this occasion, they also celebrated Halloween and it was spooky!

The museum is spacious and has 2 floors floors which are accessible! Intriguing objects and beautifully detailed displays could be seen. 

As it was Halloween, there was a lot of spooky going ins. From spooky decorations to everyone being dressed up, it really set the right atmosphere! We all had face painting (incl. me) for free, made some arts and crafts and had a witch telling us spooky stories and jokes. Now, what really spooked us and make all of us happy that Halloween was being rightly celebrated was a play from local Sixth formers who were marvellous! From a creepy ritual to being followed by them, the kids absolutely loved it. Kudos to them!

To top it all of, we had a spooky narrow boat ride in a mile long tunnel with weird and scary things hanging here and there. Our narrowboat’s team was the mad scientist lab and our host was a witch who was great in keeping the kids entertained. We also celebrated her birthday party and adults had to get involved! 

Overall, we had a spookylicious time and we’ll be coming again to get scared!

Halloween Treat- The Terrible Infants

After seeing Alice’s Adventures Undergroud and being amazed by it, we caught a poster of this production and the kids really wanted to see it! We weren’t disappointed!

Set in the beautiful Wilton’s Music Hall, a 10 minutes walk from Tower Hill Station, the whole production was quirky, funny and clever! With the use of enormous and weird puppets and excellent use of varied instruments, the cast was AMAZING! The storytelling was on point and easy for kids over 7 years to understand. Younger kids are also welcome and thanks to the puppetry and the acting my 5 year old Mahi understood what was going on and laughed on a few occasions!

There’s a moral to each dark story told! Mahi now doesn’t want to think with his belly but his brain (don’t ask!) and Laksha is “very happy to be who she is”! I’m so glad we went! I think I enjoyed it more than the kids and loved every single minute of it! We can’t wait for their next production! 

Halloween Treat: The London Dungeon

Every time we walk past The London Dungeon, Lucky and Mahi have always wanted to go! I’ve been once before and me knowing my kids know that they will not find it scary at all! So I’ve always put it off until I saw they added a special Ghost Train too just for Halloween . Intrigued, I booked tickets and didn’t tell the kids until we were there!

The kids were so excited once we got there! Laksha and Mahi couldn’t stop imagining what they would see and how they hoped to be scared! They expectations were very high to the say the least and unfortunately they came out disappointed!

Although the website recommends the attraction is not recommended for under 12s, my kids, despite being 8amd 5, who love all things gore and terrifying described the attraction as ‘not even scary’! The new Ghost train wasn’t really a train and was the same as the other stuff... Funny, not scary! The ride at the end isn’t for people measuring under 1.4m, which we didn’t know beforehand, so the kids couldn’t ride on it which added to the list of disappointment!

Despite that, the kids loved the historical facts and the set designs! The actors were very good too. 

Overall, if your kids loved being spooked, then as it was for my kids, London Dungeon will be more a learning experience rather than being a scary experience!

Pizza Party!!

Yes, you read that right! We attended a pizza party during the half-term holidays! The Pizza Party was held at Picazzo Arts in Harrow Weald, in our borough Harrow. The kids go to Picazzo Arts for their art class every week and this is how we heard of thie Pizza Party. It was part of the Autumn Food Happenings which Harrow Cooking hosted. This party was one of many other events that was happening that week with op-up breakfast, lunch and dinner in different part sof Harrow.

The kids were invited to make their own pizzas the day before the party at Bakkavor Pizza Factory. The kids who attends Picazzo Arts's half-erm club were involved in arts and crafts relating to the pizza party.

On the evening of the 27th October, the party was in full swing with lots of pizzas but also lots of yummy salads and delicious ice creams and tarts for dessert! Not only was there food but also plenty of arts and crafts for kids and parents to be involved with. From decorating glass jugs to drawing on the massive chalk board, there was something to do for everyone. 

The ,ood was infectious and we loved all the laughter and mingle with everyone. The food was amazing and the kids as well a sme had a great time.

Picazzo Arts offers after-clubs to children but also hosts workshops for adults. Found 2mins away from Harrow and Wealdstone Station, it is easy to get to. The staff are so friendly and while your kids have their classes, you can relax in the cafe. The kids love their art class and exploring their art skills by using different techniques. I have spent 3 months to look for a suitable art class for the kids and this was perfect. You can find more about children and adult workshops at Picazzo Art here: https://www.picazzoarts.co.uk/.

Harrow Cookery School also offer children's classes as well as for adults and more information can be found here:  https://www.harrowcommercialservices.co.uk/services/catering/harrow-cookery-school

The Feminist Library

The Feminist Library

Ever since this year’s International Women’s Day, Laksha was surprised to see it was the same women who were always repeated again and again as inspiring women. This of course was not true and this led to Laksha starting her very own ‘Great Women’ project where she captures all inspiring women she comes across.

Coincidentally, we also found another 8 year old girl who is doing a similar project and they are now penpals! Since half-term was coming, I thought they hsould get together and talk about their project. So what is the best place to take 2 little feminists on their first meeting? The Feminist Library, of course!

I found out about the Feminist Library from Twitter when I came across a retweet of how they were about to close down due to funding issue! But thankfully, due to amazing support from the public, they are still open and you could find them 5 minutes away from Lambeth North Station. They are open on days and times so check their website. The entry to the library is free but you can't borrow any books. I emailed the Library to inform them that we were coming and what we were looking for. The staff were very helpful in letting us know when best to come and how they will help the girls with their projects.

The day came for Laksha to meet her penpal, Ameira. Laksha was very nervous but excited at the same time to share her project with a like-minded girl. When they met, they instantely met and the way they were talking to each other, you'll never guess they were meeting for the very first time.

When we got there, an amazing display was waiting for us. Not only were there books for their age but there was colouring pages, sweets and even goodie bags. The library was a very intimitae offer and Sarah, the staff member was a star. She took time to give the girls a tour as well as being so attentive to the girls needs. The whole library was dedicated to women. Books written by women, books for women, everything women! We found old zines, magazines and book too. The girls found so many interesting and relevant things for their projects while we mums, were engrossed in the books that was on offer!

Time flew so fast and before we knew it was time for the library to close! The girls didn't want to leave as they found so many things relevant to their projects and neither did the mums as we just wanted to keep reading those fascinating books which would have been hard to find anywhere else.

You should visit this little gem. You could also support their cause by donating here http://feministlibrary.co.uk/ . We will definetely return!