50 Years of Aardman - how to celebrate

Larger than Life: starring Wallace and Gromit Shaun and More sweeps into the 360 degree experience that is Lightroom. The visuals are, as you would expect, fabulous. Let them wash over you and feel entirely immersed. Although the show runs on a 50 minute loop, see if you can time your entry for the 'start' of the story. It is a linear narrative and older children and adults will be fascinated to hear the creators telling how it all began. From sketch to screen, scripting, storyboarding, the sucess of The Wrong Trousers. And then the, now legendary Hollywood meeting with Stephen Speilberg to pitch the idea of 'The Great Escape, but with chickens.'

There is heaps of behind the scenes footage and insight and notwithstanding the slick graphics, director Lucy Izzard nails its enduring attraction: "I think people still crave inperfection, and you get that with clay." Best suited to older kids, 10+, who are already Aardman fans.

Tickets: £25 adults, £15 kids, U3s free. Family discount at selected times.

Julia visited Inside Aardman: Wallis &Gromit and Friends at the Young V&A when it opened in February and loved it. Read her write up here. I missed it then and somehow I failed to get to Bethnal Green until yesterday. OMG, it is one of the most imaginative and creative exhibitions I have ever seen. Starting with Morph and taking children (and fascinated adults) through the process of coming up with an idea, bringing it to life with pictures and words and then turning that into film, it is exhibition curation at its very, very best. I went during half term and it was simply joyous to see kids engaging with tracing characters, writing, making their own stop motion frames. I felt like I was watching the spark paper for a generation of creatives.

Unfortunately, I am extremly late to the party. It closes on 15 November and all walk up tickets are now sold out.

They have just released a tranche of extra morning tickets before the museum opens for the last two weekends of the run. It may be the best £12.50 you spend!

Last week we both took a trip down to Wakehurst, Kew Gardens' Sussex outpost. You don't need an excuse for an autumnal stomp but the Wallace and Gromit: Fantastic Fungi Trail will get kids off to a great start. Pick up a paper trail pack (£3), complete with activity guide and sticker sheet and follow it through the woods to take part in some fungi challenges that will have you learning without realising. It is an A to B trail rather than a loop so when you finish you can continue round the gardens. We spotted some real live fungi down by the lake!

The Wallace and Gromit trail is on until 1 November. Included with garden entry.

Also, last chance to catch Shaun the Sheep’s version of the Bayeux Tapestry, on display at the Darwin Centre in the Natural History Museum until 1 Nov. The 7 metre long Baa-Ewe Tapestry even has a section knitted by Tom Daley. Free.

Emily Turner, 26 October, 2026