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Fun learning at home
Families don't need to visit to enjoy the fun. Here are some great ways to play and learn at home!
Play without screens...
Activities that don't need digital devices
#MuseumofFundon
Pleasure Gardens Souvenir
On summer evenings, 18th century Londoners flocked to the Pleasure Gardens to dance, watch fireworks and have hot air balloon rides!
Next time you go to a park or garden, why not collect some flowers and twigs to make your own souvenir inspired by the great outdoors!
Pack Your Bags
The year is 1800 and you're a sailor who's about to be shipped out to sea – what do you take with you?
Choose five things from your home that you would take with you on the long journey.
Let us know what you choose!
Lolly Stick Theatre
Create your very own lolly stick theatre and re-tell the story of the Great Fire of London! Follow these simple instructions, with templates, to create your own theatre for your performance.
Be sure to watch our live stream recordings for inspiration!
Be the TV
This is a television set from 1949 that came built in to a wooden case. How do you watch TV at home? Do you have any favourite shows?
Find some of your toys and a member of your family and act one out for them.
Can they guess which show it is?
Penny Plains
The Victorians loved decorating 'penny plains' – souvenir images of famous actors or heroes. Try it yourself using felt tips and colouring pencils – or embellish your pictures with sequins and glitter!
Tell us a Tale
Dockers loved to tell stories! See if you can tell a tale like a docker with this storytelling game. Place lots of different items into a large bag, then close your eyes and pull out five at random.
Can you tell a tale where you mention every single item?
Crazy Costumes
This silk dress was worn by Ann Fanshawe, daughter of the Lord Mayor in 1753. Can you imagine wearing something like this? Pop on your favourite clothes, strike a pose and take a selfie.
Bonus activity: look for old family photos! What are people wearing?
Playful Prompts
Try these quick-fire London challenges!
- 1. Pose like a famous London Building
- 2. Name as many London Tube stations you can in 30 seconds
- 3. Climb aboard an invisible boat and imagine journeying down the River Thames
Memory Matchers
Time to test your memory skills! See if you can match these Docklands themed images to the correct facts in this fun memory game.
Download and print off the game to get playing!
Sampling Station
Spices arrived at the Docklands from all over the world. Fancy a spicy guessing game? Close your eyes, ask another player to hand you spices found at home, give them a sniff then guess what they are. Who can guess the most correctly?
Stinky Museum Card Game
We've got a lot of stinky things at the Museum of London, from Roman toilets to Medieval wee pots. Play our stinky card game to find out more and see who comes out... bottom?!
Simply print and cut out the cards to play. 
Sailor Style
Get the sailor look in a few easy steps:
- 1.Find something stripey, like a t-shirt.
- 2.Use a scarf or a piece of fabric to make a neckerchief.
- 3. Make a spy glass (try an empty toilet roll).
Dig Down
Archaeologists dig into the ground to discover more about the past. Create your own dig box at home by hiding different objects in sand or shredded newspaper for your family to uncover. Do you like digging?
Cardboard Icons
Try the wartime principle of ‘make do and mend’ by recycling old cardboard boxes into a brand new creation! Or can you recreate a famous London building?
Marvellous Mosaics
Romans often decorated buildings with mosaics - pictures made up of tiles called tesserae. Create your own!
- 1. Cut some paper, card or foil into small squares
- 2. Sketch a design
- 3. Arrange the squares on it
- 4. Glue them down.
Messy Play
Do you and your little one love getting messy at home? We do too! Here's a messy idea for you: Paint a River Thames picture by mixing yogurt and blue or green food colouring to make your own paints.
We'd love to see them! #MuseumofFundon
Painted Stories
Portraits tell a story of the person they show. Details in paintings can give clues about their status, job or hobbies.
A sea captain might hold a compass, while a keen reader might be painted with books.
Create a portrait of yourself or your family. What will you include?
Or play *with* screens!
Join in and learn together (fun for all the family)
Rhymes in Time
Sing along to performances of well-known nursery rhymes - and discover the history behind them!
Memories of London
Enjoy these activity packs and podcasts for all ages - older, younger, and everything in between!
Festive fun!
Winter Celebrations
London's communities celebrate many different festivals in wintertime!
- Diwali
- Epiphany
- Hanukkah
- Kwanzaa...
Discover just a few of them here and try some activities they've inspired.
Explore the Great Fire (a school topic for ages 5-7)
Great Fire of London game
Help Tom fight the Great Fire in this interactive game, broken into handy bite-size chapters.
Great Fire 1666: Minecraft
Play through the streets of London during the blaze in this exciting Minecraft experience.
Great Fire 1666: Story
Dive deeper into what happened using interactive maps and timelines in this interactive digital story.
Great Fire objects and artworks
Discover the real evidence of the fire through intriguing images, documents and 3D objects.
Uncover prehistory (a school topic for ages 7-11)
Hunter-gatherer quiz
Could you survive as a Stone Age hunter-gatherer? Find out for yourself in this fun quiz.
Roundhouse quiz
It's 3000 years ago. You need to build a home. Can you manage it? Find out in this educational quiz.
Prehistory explorer
Look into life in prehistoric London and uncover its traces with this interactive map.
Virtual objects
Take control of real museum artefacts from the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age with these 3D objects from prehistory.
Other assorted fun (perfect for ages 7+)
Tails of Sailortown
Explore the streets of Victorian Sailortown in this playful interactive video for ages 4+. With puppets!
Minecraft temple challenge
A hidden Roman temple was discovered in London in 1954. Our challenge is to build your own – using Minecraft!
Black Londoners through time
Take a trip back in time to discover London’s Black history from the Roman era to the present day.
Tail Trail: Online
Riley Ratcliffe needs your help! Find her rat relatives hidden through London's history in this simple interactive game.
Puppetry Training
All you need is paper and sticky tape for hours of fun and creativity – Moth Physical Theatre show you how in these five exciting videos.
Interactive tour
Explore our immersive Victorian Walk, recreating the winding streets of 19th-century London. Can you complete all six challenges?
Which Beast of London are you?
Discover which animal from London's past you're most like in this roar-some quiz! Are a loyal lion, a cheeky horse, or maybe even... a bad bacterium?
Harry Kane's London quiz
England captain Harry has had quite a journey. Play our quiz about it and London's football heritage!
Roman mystery object quiz
The Romans left us some weird and wonderful objects to find in our city. Can you guess what these artefacts from Londinium are?
Fun learning to own
Goodies for sale
Toys, books, gifts... We've got loads of opportunities for further learning and fun available right now from our online shop!
*Remember to think carefully about what you share on social media. We take no responsibility for what you share with us, but we encourage you to be sensitive to others, only to share work that you created yourself, and not to share any personal information or photos of children.
Also of interest
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Free, fun school resources
Explore our range of free tools for visits and classroom use! We can help with everything from prehistory to the present with apps, pocket histories and more
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Friends Membership
Help the museum to continue providing inspirational learning resources by becoming a Friend today