Children: What To Do This Weekend In London

Kitchen Capers

Gunnersbury Park Museum, London W3 (0181-992 1612), tomorrow 1.30-6pm, free

Children can experience life "below stairs" when this museum in west London turns back the clock to Victorian times. There are three different sessions where they can dress up in costumes and learn about life in the museum's original Victorian kitchens.

Junior Design

Geffrye Museum, Kingsland Rd, London E2 (0171-739 9893), today 2pm & 3.15pm, free

Thanks to "Handy Andy", "Lovely Lawrence" and their ilk, children seem to be more into home design than ever before. Here at this fascinating museum they run regular workshops for three- to five-year-olds (accompanied by an adult). Tickets are allocated 30 minutes before each workshop on a first-come first-served basis.

Sailors Ahoy!

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London SE10 (0181-858 4422), today and tomorrow, every half hour from 1pm-3.30pm, adults pounds 5, children free (workshops free with museum entry)

It's full steam ahead at the Maritime Museum after a radical pounds 20m re-fit. As well as the "Shipmates" sessions (for seven- pluses) where children can learn what life was like for "Trim," the cat on HMS Bounty, visitors can now steer Viking boats and Seacat ferries, explore the sunken wreck of the Titanic, and marvel at the museum's new 2,500 square metre glass roof.

... AND BEYOND

Children's Bookfest

Gateway Education Centre, Shrewsbury (01743 355159), today and tomorrow, from pounds 2

One of the few literary festivals in the UK aimed exclusively at children. The weekend features readings and workshops with top authors such as Jacqueline Wilson, a screening of the film Madeline and a trip to Hawkstone Park, the location for the BBC's film of the Narnia stories.

Victorian Childhood

Penryhn Castle, Gwynedd (01248 353084), tomorrow 12-4pm, adults pounds 3, children over five pounds 1.50 (National Trust members free)

Come and find out about life and learning before the days of electricity and computers in this neo-Norman castle's Victorian schoolroom.

Seige Tactics

Richborough Roman Fort, nr Sandwich (01304 612013), today and tomorrow noon onwards, adults pounds 2.50, children pounds 2 (under-fives free)

Kids don period costumes when they reconstruct a Roman seige. The action centres around a cardboard castle and child-friendly seige machines using tennis balls. NS