The school summer holidays are upon us. And while some of you will be going about your lives normally, for parents it’s six weeks of ‘how the hell am I getting through this with my bank balance and annual holiday allowance intact?’
While we can’t actually help you with the second point, we can with the first: here’s our recommendation of five genuinely great new free London activities and days out this summer holidays. Some are actually new, some are classic London venues or activities with something new to offer for the 2026 hols – all of them should offer a proper day out.
Check out our longer list of the 25 best activities for the 2026 school summer holidays.
The best free things to do in London with kids during the 2026 school summer holidays
1. Step back in time to the new look Crystal Palace Park
London’s idiosyncratic Crystal Palace Park has just concluded the mother of all glow-ups via a regeneration project that has notably restored its 30 iconic Victorian dinosaur sculptures back to their original condition and paint jobs. It’s the perfect free morning or afternoon out this hols, with the extremely nice new playground – also part of the project – something else fun to do after you’ve gawped at the anatomically incorrect beasts. Go in the afternoon and you can also sneak in a visit to the free Crystal Palace Park Farm.
2. See spectacular outdoor theatre for free at the Greenwich Docklands International Festival
If you’re running out of juice towards the end of the summer hols, let the Greenwich Docklands International Festival refill your tank. The three weekend long festival is absolutely free and brings visually spectacular theatre and dance from across the world to (wait for it) Greenwich and the Docklands. There’s too much to easily sum up here, but the ‘family’ weekend is the two-day Greenwich Fair in Greenwich Park (Aug 23 and 24), but the line-up has something for all ages.
Aug 21-Sep 6.
3. Enjoy free lido sessions at Summer Splash in the Royal Docks
Another docklands gem, Summer Splash is a free lido and, er really that’s all there is to it. Located in the Royal Docks, you don’t even have to book for its four daily 90-minute swim sessions (11, 12.30, 15.00 and 16.30), although if the weather’s glorious you might expect a bit of a queue. Whereas a family trip to London’s more famous lidos can involve a fair amount of expense and wrangling of a timeslot, Summer Splash is about as easy as lido-ing in the city gets.
Jul 24-Aug 16.
4. Get children’s West End theatre tickets for free with Kids Week
To be absolutely clear, this entry is a slight fudge as to take advantage of the West End’s Kids Week offer an adult has to pay for their ticket. But being able to get one free child ticket per paying adult (plus up to two extra at 50 percent price) is a massive deal, especially as most West End shows don’t actually offer a child discount of any form. To take advantage book using this link – some shows will have sold out their Kids Week allocation but there’s still plenty of freebies to go around.
Runs to Aug 31.
5. Perform a ruff ruff dinosaur rescue at the Natural History Museum
To celebrate the new PAW Patrol Dino Movie, the NHM has a special pop-up shop dedicated to the do-gooding cartoon pups open all summer. Clearly that’s stretching the definition of ‘free’ given the items in the shop must be paid for. But never fear, the free-to-enter museum has loads of great free bonus stuff running all summer via its Family Festival, which will include everything from pollinator counting sessions in the garden to LEGO session in the Investigate Centre.
All Jul 24-Aug 31.
The 50 best things to do with kids in London.
Plus: the best free things to do with kids in London.
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