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Bablands Cool things for tiny Londoners & their adults. Lifestyle magazine for London parents + guide to the capital's best kids' shops, activities & hangouts.

For tiny Londoners and their adults

27/12/2024

We don’t often have time for day trips when we visit family in Yorkshire, but this visit we managed a much-needed Christmas Eve runaround at Leeds. Think giant inflatable structure a la Airthrill or Inflatanation, plus air pillows and loads of trampolines. I think AirHop in Enfield might be part of the same company - but don’t quote me.

What’s your favourite trampolining/inflatable venue?

📍Jump Inc, 1 Benyon Park Way, Holbeck, Leeds LS12 6DP
🚂 Leeds

24/12/2024

Every time we go to Herne Hill or Dulwich I decide I want to move there. Unfortunately I can’t afford it and my friends won’t let me anyway, but a girl can dream 🙃 My latest reason to move to SE24 is beautiful new children’s bookshop on Half Moon Lane, replacing Tales on Moon Lane which we also thought was great. We visited last weekend and co-owner Frann was so knowledgeable and brilliant, recommending a book for Babu that she devoured the same night. It’s a gorgeous shop with space for kids to sit and read, and the selection is 👌 A must-visit if you’re in the area 📚

What are your favourite Herne Hill/Dulwich haunts?

📍25 Half Moon Lane, SE24 9JU
🚂 Herne Hill
👀 Combine with Brockwell Park playground, water play and miniature railway, Dulwich Picture Gallery,

18/12/2024

I had so many messages about this playground I thought it deserved a spot on the grid. Also static posts about playgrounds are my favourite ❤️ told me about this one yonks ago when I was in the area with a tiny Roma and in desperate need of a playground, but we ended up at another castle-shaped one nearby. Anyway, we had some time to kill before the brilliant on Saturday and there it was! There are actually several playgrounds on the Kingswood Estate. This yellow structure was my favourite but I think the girls’ was the two big climbing frames connected by a wobbly bridge (4th pic). This is also really near the gorgeous and a short bus ride from the excellent kids’ bookshop, which we also visited on Saturday. I really love this area 🥰

📍Kingswood Estate, SE21 8QL
🚂 Sydenham Hill

29/11/2024

have done it again! Solstice was my favourite Christmas event last year and I think if anything this year’s performance of The Holly King and The Oak King was even better! This immersive performance unfolds over a series of gorgeous sets inside and includes (gentle, non-cringey) audience participation, a crown/necklace/bracelet-making activity and a big snowball fight at the end! It’s much more of a theatrical performance than last year’s, which was more of a walk-through-at-your-own-pace situation, but personally I preferred this since the kids seemed more engaged and it felt like more of a spectacle. Beats a panto any day!

(ad, invite)

📍Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, SW11 5TN
🚂 Clapham Junction
🎟️ From £12.50 for under-16s and £14.50 per adult
👧 Recommended for ages 4+ but all ages welcome
📆 Until December 24th

03/11/2024

Halloween hand puppets in the hand-puppet theatre at on Friday. I might be a bit biased but ‘s workshops are THE BEST 👹👻

30/10/2024

pumpkin fest is back in a big way 🎃🎃🎃 Catch it every day until Sunday, with light-ups from dusk. Mulled wine, hot chocolate and sweet treats available!

📍13 Dalston Ln, London E8 3DF
🚂 Dalston Junction, Dalston Kingsland
🎟️ Free, just turn up
👧 All ages

25/10/2024

Very excited for 10 days of fun with these two weirdos (obviously also bracing myself for the CONSTANT squabbling).

Every year their school lets them wear their Halloween costumes for one day the week before half term, which means two days of dress up because actual Halloween happens the following week 🫠 Can’t wait to clean the red face paint out of Babu’s ears all over again.

Just a reminder that my Halloween roundup is on the site (link in bio). It’s already out of date as loads of stuff has been announced since I published it. Will rectify. Regular October roundup also on the site and November coming soon.

What are you most looking forward to this half term (no judgement if the answer is doing absolutely sod all).

11/10/2024

Birthing book baby number 13(?!) this week 👶

Inside its deliciously chubby form you’ll find 90(ish) of London’s absolute must-visit haunts, from greasy spoons and stationery shops to ancient forests and Tudor palaces (and not a single mention of the London Eye). If you’ve yet to invest in any of ‘s opinionated guides to London, this is probably a good place to start.

Link in bio 🙏

30/09/2024

20 awesome things to do in London with kids in October 2024 is live (and has been for about a week - this is why it pays to sign up!). My Halloween roundup is also live. I’ll stick the links in my bio because I haven’t worked out how to do that comment for link thing yet. I’ve also misplaced my blue tick. It’s all falling apart. What are you looking forward to most this month? I think for me it’s Mike Kelley at Tate 😀

22/09/2024

Promised them I’d take them to see Barbie but it was always sold out when we wanted to go. Finally made it and they loved it, of course! We combined that with their brilliant free family day - den making with the always brilliant (including who we used to do workshops at Dulwich Picture Gallery with way back in the day - such a lovely surprise!) and an amazing treehouse-making workshop. Wanted to head to the Strand to catch the last day of the LDF Barbie pavilions too but we couldn’t be bothered in the rain, leaving my official 2024 LDF installation tally at zero 🙃 Love that the Barbie exhibition now has Barbies you can borrow to take round the exhibition with you. And there’s Barbie pink soap in the toilets! You still have until the 23rd of February to see it and the Tim Burton exhibition opens next month!!! 😱

06/09/2024

My new book, The Art of Play: Designing the World’s Greatest Playscapes is now on preorder. This one has been in the works for so long I can barely believe it’s (almost!) here. Writing about the best playgrounds on the planet was a dream come true - and no I didn’t get to visit them all personally because that would have been silly (but maybe one day!). Preorders will ship next week and it would mean so much if you’d consider buying it (link in bio) It’s been a proper labour of love and I can’t wait to hold it in my hands. Thanks as always to my brilliant publishers for always believing in me and my daft ideas, my family for putting up with me while I wrote it and for this community for all your amazing support always x

31/08/2024

Summer hols 2024 day 36: picnic tea on Primrose Hill followed by frolicking in the (sort-of) recently revamped playground, then home via Sylvia Plath’s house on Chalcot Square. Been wanting to do this all summer 🌞

17/08/2024

I was already planning on posting about tonight before I heard about the 🔥 Hopefully the damage isn’t too extensive - assuming it’s not since the Courtauld is reopening tomorrow! Anyway, we had a lovely time on Wednesday playing in the courtyard fountains (the first thing I wrote on my summer holiday bucket list!) and having a (gifted) lunch at the handily (nearly) vegan which has just opened where the Hello Kitty cafe was. We tried and failed to go to the bookmaking workshop with (it was just too popular!), but here’s Greta at the Drag Pirates Storytelling session with from the week before, which she and both thoroughly enjoyed. Apparently the fountains are currently off for maintenance but let’s hope those come back on before the end of the month! We’ve managed a frankly pitiful number of fountains this year but I’m hoping to cram a few into the next fortnight if the weather holds. Did you go to any of the Summer in the Courtyard workshops?

13/08/2024

Summer hols day… 16(?): The Paint Room at Britain. Free painting on the wall/big easels and on paper, which was less fun but also less stressful than the Flooded Garden at Tate Modern (mostly because the paint was washable 🙃). We also did Tate Draw because the kids wouldn’t let us not. Wanted to revisit Play Studio and Story Space too but ran out of time. Open daily 10.30-13.00 and 14.00-16.30 - no need to book.

02/08/2024

Summer hols 2024, day 3: , Bristol. We loooove Bristol. Last time we visited this museum was still closed following a fire in 2022. It reopened last month and it’s absolutely worth the wait. I’d go as far as to say I prefer it to our Science Museum since it feels a lot more manageable and virtually everything in it is interactive. There’s a tilted room, animation stations, a giant moon you can climb inside… I just asked Adam how he’d describe it and he said “it’s a STEM wet dream”, which kind of says it all. We stayed a night in Bristol on the way home from my brother’s 50th birthday celebration in Cardiff and did Wake the Tiger the next day. Both are very much worth the trip, which only takes 90 mins from Paddington! Are you planning any staycations this summer?

📍We the Curious, 1 Millennium Square, Anchor Road, BS1 5DB
🚂 Bristol Temple Meads
🎟️ From £18.50 per adult, £12.65 for 3-15s, free for 0-2s
👧 Great for all ages

30/07/2024

Summer hols 2024, day 6: Oscar Murillo’s Flooded Garden for Uniqlo Tate Play. Keen to keep some kind of record of this summer without the need to make everything a reel because ughhh. This is looking so good now, although it was a significantly less calm experience with kids in tow (mostly due to Roma freaking out about getting paint in her finger cut and then flinging handfuls of the stuff everywhere 🫠). We waited in line for 25 mins, which was fine with us and preferable to the installation being too busy, but maybe bring something to do if your kids are easily bored (mine are but having their best friends there helped). Aprons are provided but are limited in number, and I’d recommend wearing old clothes anyway because if your kids are anything like mine they’ll find a way to get the non-wash paint all over their clothes, apron or not. We spent another 25 mins in the installation before they got bored and wanted to move on. Recommend checking out Oscar Murillo’s exhibition in the Tanks while you’re here. This experience absolutely reaffirmed my hatred of painting at home 🫠

I already posted about this one but in case you missed it, it’s in the Turbine Hall daily until the 26th of August. It’s free and there’s no need to book. Just bring yourselves and a willingness to relinquish control 🙃

27/06/2024

Silly adventures to far-flung ends of London in pursuit of weird playgrounds that probably don’t warrant the journey are my FAVOURITE. Especially when they’re with . This was in April, which gives you an idea of how on top of things I am right now. The playground is gasworks-themed (because why not?) and located in Southall’s Green Quarter Central Gardens. It’s a short walk from Southall station (which is very helpfully on the Elizabeth Line!) and Parkside Yards, just along from it, has a cafe and toilets. There’s even a play pond! We combined with Hanwell Zoo and Millenium Maze and had the best day ever. Top tip though, Hanwell station is often closed on a weekend. We’ve been attempting to do this trip forever because it’s ALWAYS closed when we try and go and alternative routes take too long, so make sure you check before you travel!

📍UB1 1FR 🚂 Southall

06/06/2024

New book 🚣🚣‍♀️🚣‍♂️ An Opinionated Guide to London Canals is now available to preorder from (link in bio).

Waterside pints and wild marshland, cheese barges and swan pedalos: London’s canals offer some of the most relaxing days out at all times of the year. From Little Venice to Limehouse Basin, by land or by water, explore the city and its diverse ecosystems at an altogether more peaceful pace.

I hope this is as fun to read as it was to research. I found so many amazing places I never knew existed and I can’t wait for you to discover them too! All pre-orders very much appreciated ❤️

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Our Story

For tiny Londoners and their adults.

Bablands is a resource for Londoners who find themselves with a small creature to dress up and entertain. Part-magazine, part-guide, Bablands follows the adventures of Bab as she seeks out London's coolest kids' shops, best child-friendly hangouts and under-fives activities that won't make mummy want to gauge her eyes out with a weaning spoon.