Special Events

Plonk Crazy Golf
Every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays
Daily during school holidays
Until 27 October, 10am-5pm

Plonk is bringing back buckets of fun to the Horniman with a new exciting 9-hole family-friendly challenge. The course has wheelchair access and adapted putters, as well as putters for kids.
Tickets: Child £4, Adult £6, Group £13.50 (up to 4 people)

South London Music Sessions
1 & 8 August, 5.30-9.30pm

Enjoy live music and DJs along with spectacular views across London at these gigs on the Horniman Bandstand. Food and drink will be available from the Horniman Café’s Dutch Barn Bar. Free.  

The Studio 2019 Workshops
Wednesdays 7,14,21,28 August, see the website for times

Take part in activities and making sessions where you can explore thread, fabric and recycled materials to unravel, loop, twist and knot. These workshops are led by the Horniman’s Studio Collective 2019. Everyone welcome. Free.

Summer Welly Walk on the Nature Trail
Saturday 3 August, 1.45-3.30pm

Get your wellies on and join us on the Horniman Nature Trail to explore the animals, insects and plants that thrive there in spring. Have a go at sweep-netting, tree-beating and identifying what you discover. Suitable for children aged 5+. Tickets: Child £2.50, Adult £5

Horniman Kids Sleepover
Saturday 17 August 7pm – Sunday 18 August 10am

Roll out your sleeping bag and camp out in the galleries for an unforgettable night at the Museum full of fun activities, surprises and exciting exploration. Tickets: Child £50, Adult £50

Summer Holidays

24 July – 30 August 

Pond Dipping
Every Monday, 29 July-19 August
11am (Members only), 12pm, 2pm, 3pm (45 mins sessions)

Join us for pond dipping sessions exploring nature and wildlife in our Nature Trail pond. Suitable for children aged 5+. Tickets: Child £2.50.

Hands on Base: Horniman Explorers
Every Monday and Friday
26 July–30 August (except 26 August), 11am-12.30pm, 2-3.30pm

Discover the collections that make the Horniman special! Explore and touch things from puppets to sharks jaws in our Hands on Base. Free, drop in.

Family Art Fun
Every Tuesday, 30 July–27 August, 11am; 11.45am; 12.30pm; 1.15pm; 2pm; 2.45pm

Enjoy making some fabulous art and craft inspired by our collections and Gardens. Tickets: £2.50.

Wonderful Wednesdays
Wednesdays 7,14,21,28 August, 10.30am-3.30pm

Join us for a day of free family activities every Wednesday. There will be different themes and activities each week including storytelling, trails, family games and creative workshops.
Free.

Nature Notebooks
Every Thursday, 25 July – 29 August
11am, 11.45am, 12.30pm, 1.15pm, 2pm, 2.45pm

Create your own Nature Notebook to help you to explore the Horniman Gardens in a fun way. Free.

Minibeast Safari
Every Friday, 45 minute sessions
30 August: 11am, 12pm, 2pm, 3pm
2, 9, 16, 23 August: 11am (Members only), 12pm, 2pm, 3pm

Join us to hunt for creepy crawlies and bugs on the Horniman Nature Trail and discover the variety of insect life to be found in London in spring. Suitable for children aged 3+.  All children must be accompanied by an adult. These activities are not suitable for prams or pushchairs. Tickets: Child £2.50.

A World of Stories: August Bank Holiday
Monday 26 August, 11am, 12.15pm, 2pm, 3.15pm

Be whisked away to faraway places and different times in these enjoyable storytelling sessions inspired by the Horniman’s collections. Suitable for children aged 5+. Free. 

Exhibitions and Displays

Brick Wonders
Until Sunday 27 October

Discover amazing wonders from around the world made entirely from LEGO® bricks.

From an ancient Egyptian pyramid to Old London Bridge, and from the natural wonder of a coral reef to the modern marvel of the international space station, travel through history and explore over 50 models made using half a million LEGO® bricks.

Build your imagination at the interactive play areas, and don’t miss two special models of Horniman icons created especially for the show.

Ticket prices:  Child £5; Adult £9: Family (up to 2 adults, 2 children) £20. Prices include voluntary 10% Gift Aid donation. Horniman Members and Benefactors enjoy free, unlimited visits to the exhibition. See www.horniman.ac.uk for more information.

As I Live and Breathe
Until 4 May 2020

Award-winning, internationally exhibited visual artist Claire Morgan has created stunning new pieces for the Horniman, including a dramatic installation in Gallery Square. Claire’s thought-provoking work draws on the theme of waste and the impact that humans have on their surroundings. Her pieces include thousands of fragments of colourful waste polythene frozen in time. Free. 

My Model City
6 July-1 September 2019

My Model City, my dream today, our dreams tomorrow. What might the city of the future look like? And whose ideas, needs and dreams should shape it? My Model Citywill become the testing ground for a new vision of urban life, explored through an installation created by young people from Peckham Platform and the Horniman, in collaboration with muf architecture/art. Free.

Turn It Up: On Paradoxes
6 July 2019- 5 January 2020

Jide Odukoya’s photographic series shows Nigeria abuzz through the lens of traditional Nigerian weddings, presented as some of the world’s most opulent ceremonies.

This display deploys a critical lens to explore the paradox of parallel Nigerian worlds, contrasting cosmopolitan affluence and extravagance with underlying economic poverty. Jide Odukoya’s work focuses on global consumerism and overindulgence, Nigeria’s contagious spirit of celebration, and moments of everyday intimacy. Free. 

Grasslands Garden
Now open

Wander through wild landscapes in the Grasslands Garden, featuring spectacular plants from North American prairie and South African grasslands. Celebrating critically threatened wild landscapes, the garden includes beautiful summer-flowering species such as yellow coneflowers, sword lilies and summer hyacinths.

Linked to the World Gallery, the naturalistic planting scheme was devised by Olympic Park designer James Hitchmough. Free.

Sunken Garden Brick Wonders-themed display
Flowering June to September

The summer bedding display in the Sunken Garden features lobelia, carex, petunias and marigolds in six colours, planted in rectangular and square blocks inspired by the LEGO® bricks in the Brick Wonders exhibition. Free.

Green Turtle
16 May 2019–May 2021

A magnificent taxidermy mount of a male Green Turtle, Chelonia mydas, on loan from the Natural History Museum is on display in the Natural History Gallery.  Over 100 years old, this impressive animal was collected off the coast of Nicaragua in Central America and presented to the Natural History Museum in 1906. This small display will showcase the challenges facing Green Turtles and other marine life today and what we can do to protect it. Free.

Please check the website www.horniman.ac.uk for updates

Image credit: The Horniman