THEATRE AND WORKSHOPS

If you’ve seen Creation Theatre’s chilling current show, Jekyll & Hyde, or any of their other quirky, thrilling productions, you’ll know that this lot do drama differently. They perform entertaining reworkings of time-honoured classics in wild and wonderful places, and the company’s School of Creativity passes the dazzling baton onto the next generation. The May half term 2026 workshops include voiceover masterclasses (ages 11 – 16), giggle club comedy workshops (ages 7 – 11) and stop motion animation sessions (ages 7 – 11), to name just a few bits of fun on the agenda from 26 – 29 May. You can sign your charges up for the full week, or single days, and it all goes down at Wolvercote Primary School.

Kids can get creative over in Summertown too, where The North Wall’s YouthLab is also shaping the actors and playwrights of the future (no biggie). There’s a two-day improv workshop for kids aged 8 – 11 on 26 – 27 May from 9am – 12pm; think games, surprises and a whole lot of going with the flow. Those in secondary school can perfect their pacy dialogue in PM Playwrights’ Workshops on the same days.

Olaf Falafel Chesham Fringe — Olaf Falafel, who’s performing at Chesham Fringe Festival. Photo: Alan Powdrill

Little ones more keen on soaking it all up from the stalls? Kick half term off at Chesham Fringe Festival from 22 – 24 May, where they (and you) can lol along to the likes of Edinburgh Fringe sell-out Olaf Falafel’s Stupidest Super Stupid Show and hilarious gameshow Marcel Lucont: Les Enfants Terribles Deux. Kids more into things exploding? Science show How Curious! is just the ticket for those aged 7+. And for burning off some energy and possibly high emotion, Flamenco Fiesta is toe-tapping fun for all ages.

Elsewhere, there’s more bubbling test tubes at Henley’s Kenton Theatre on 26 March for Mark Thompson’s award-winning Spectacular Science Show. The tour may be celebrating its tenth anniversary, but the interactive show is cutting edge stuff (think vortex-generating dustbins). Kids aged 5+ are in for a real ride. Ending the half terms theatrics with a buzz, The Very Busy Bumblebee on 30 May at The Mill in Banbury is a sweet and funny ballet that’ll delight littlies under 8. They’ll be wanting to sow some bee-friendly wildflowers as soon as they get home, so that’s another half term activity idea ticked off.

MUSEUMS

Is your gang animal mad? Get them down to The Roald Dahl Story Museum in Great Missenden, where half term week is packed with animal-themed antics. Think drop in ‘make your own creature’ Lego sessions (sheer relief that you don’t have to pick up those tiny bricks from your own carpet), miniature farmyard crafting inspired by George’s Marvellous Medicine and animal handling with Jungle Juniors on 28 May. Round things off with the Awesome Animals Village Trail on 29 May to discover some of the beloved creatures from Roald Dahl’s books around the village. It’s storytelling on the move and they won’t even notice that they’re ‘on a walk’.

Speaking of storytelling, it’s kind of The Story Museum’s thing, and there’s plenty of it in the Whispering Woods Galleries this May half term. The team has gathered together witty, timeless and magical tales to celebrate Jewish Culture Month, with stories journeying from the Middle East through to Europe and the UK, and even a few that can be told in under a minute – we might borrow those ones for bedtime. There’s four pop-up sessions per day and they’re free with museum entry.

There’s also free pop-up half term activities across Oxford at The Ashmolean: nature-based, loose-parts play is the order of the day on 30 May and local artist Maliha Abidi is in residence on 31 May. She’ll be inspiring kids to create artworks and imagined worlds inspired by Soma Surovi Jannat’s ‘Climate, Culture, Care’ exhibition in Gallery 8, which is definitely more high brow than the finger painting I had planned at home.

For more indoor half term larks, head to the Museum of Oxford, where young artists can get busy with Mud, Mirrors and Magic on 28 May. For pre-schoolers, there’s a Fam Jam springtime sensory disco on 26 May, but siblings are welcome too so everyone can join the party.

Back to the bees, Science Oxford is pulling out all the stops for World Bee Day on 30 May and there’s a ‘hive’ of activities happening, from honey-tasting to meeting beekeepers and making a skin and nature-friendly bee balm. And if fire-breathing dragons are more their bag, don’t miss Mythical May Half Term at Discover Bucks Museum in Aylesbury. Anglo-Saxon myths and legends take centre stage to mark the start of the new Saxons Exhibition, and activities include Merlin’s Potion Making on 27 May, Nature Sprite clay puppet-making on 28 May and a ‘become a spy’ workshop with local author Mark Creasey on 29 May. You may just have a resident 007 in the making.

FUN ON THE FARMS

Not only will Fairytale Farm near Chipping Norton have just debuted its very first ride (a gentle Alice in Wonderland themed adventure), but the May half term high jinx are wondrous too. Once Upon a Unicorn and Dragon is a celebration of all things fantastical: there’s a Unicorn Queen in residence, little ones can make their own wands or embark on a mystical trail and the Dragon Master Knight will teach kids to speak Dragonese. It could well be a future GCSE, so we’re all ears.

Over near Aylesbury, Hogshaw Farm is rolling out fête games, animal displays, and a miniature electric train for Hogfest once again this half term. Kids can join in daily circus-themed workshops and try their hand at spinning plates and juggling as well as meeting the birds of prey, watching a lynx eat its lunch and helping to groom the donkeys.

Meanwhile it’s a half term hoedown at Odds Farm near High Wycombe. The Wild West is coming to south Bucks, and your cowgirls and cowboys will be delighted with the array of country crafting, welly wanging and sheep-shearing on offer. And it’s trad tractor fun at Cogges Manor Farm in Witney; meet onsite engine Ruby on 23 and 30 May or set kids free on the fleet of mini tractors all week long.

High Lodge Farm Bale Play — Bale Play at High Lodge Farm

You can also blow mini farmers’ minds with a trip to the UK’s biggest straw bale playground at High Lodge Farm near Abingdon. There’s upwards of 250 bales for kids aged 5 – 14 to bounce around on, with a separate toddler and baby bale area complete with sandpit. Add a bale maze, garden games, train rides and copious Mr Whippys and they’re sure to be pooped come hometime. There’s sourdough toasties and barista-made coffee for you; settle on a bale and shoot the breeze with pals while the children play. Sounds like half term heaven to us. And from hay bales to giant inflatables, Thrift’s Farm near Milton Keynes has a swashbuckling May half term in the works – Blackbeard’s inflatable course is sure to be a highlight. Tiny treasure hunters can dig for gold and gems in sand and water and there’s a pirate puzzle path to test their grey matter.

Back to Abingdon, the big top’s in town at Millets Farm: John Lawson’s Circus has its tent up from 24 – 30 May. There’s also a SEND session on 28 May with lower capacity, quieter music and all of the circus capers you’d expect, just calmer.

OUTDOORS

Willen Lake paddleboarding — Willen Lake

As feelgood starts to half term go, Love Willen near Milton Keynes on 23 May takes some beating. A new community event raising funds for Willen Hospice, it promises a morning packed with free family activities, including splash n’ play sessions, treetop exploring, zorbing and a ‘gel blaster zone’. Two charity open water swimming sessions will get the day off to a fresh start, then there’s a 4k family fundraising walk at 1pm with puzzles, games and challenges for kids en route. Food and drink stalls will keep you fueled.

Call in the cavalry! Napoleon and his army are rolling up at the Chiltern Open Air Museum on 24 and 25 May with cannons, horses and an entire living history camp. Over 150 re-enactors will stage battles in the arena and you’ll learn all about life during the French revolution. It certainly beats the history textbooks.

Just as immersive are the May half term trails at our local NTs. The Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Trail at Hughenden, near High Wycombe, sees kids searching for Pokémon all over the grounds, discovering their unique powers and completing epic challenges. It’s capes on for the Sustainability Superhero Trail at Stowe, near Buckingham – they’ll never look at recycling the same way again. At Grey’s Court near Henley, the Great Garden Hunt is afoot. Little ones will seek both creepy crawlies and the resident gardeners’ lost tools. Not NT but on the trail theme, Waterperry Gardens near Oxford is hiding cheeky gnomes among the bushes and flowers for kids to find, with a prize from the Garden Shop at the end. Happy days.

Bug hunting is on the schedule at Oxford Botanic Garden & Arboretum Family Day on 27 May. The theme is ‘marvellous meadows’ and celebrates the beauty of wildflowers, as well as the creatures that live among them.

And there’s rich pickings at Rectory Farm in Stanton St.John near Oxford. They’ve just released their PYO schedule with strawberries, asparagus, and rhubarb for the taking (but check @rectoryfarmpyo on the day you go to be sure). Reward yourselves after your harvest at the new Meet Point Coffee café – there’s homemade cake as well as Indian street food bites.

Finally, little steam engine lovers will adore A Day Out with Thomas at Buckinghamshire Railway Centre on 24 May, and for those in Oxfordshire, Didcot Railway Centre is running Discovery Days on 27 and 28 May. While the trains aren’t in action, you can explore the carriages, learn the ropes in the signalling centre and kids can dress up at the station master to show you who’s boss.

ARTS & CRAFTS

May half term arts and crafts — Photo: Annie Spratt

There’s an art attack at The Walled Garden in West Wycombe from 26 – 29 May. From decorating beach bags ready for that long-awaited summer hol or making 3D sunflowers collages, the kids half term workshops are seriously imaginative. Combine it with a trip to possibly the most boujee soft play in the land, Clara’s Corner, and you’ve got the perfect half term formula.

Early bird? Nip over to Peterley Manor Farm from 26 – 29 May for daily kids nature crafting sessions at 9:15am. Aimed at littlies aged 3 – 7, they can get their hands gloriously mucky by making their own vegetable gardens, bug hotels and nature wands and headbands. Happily the breakfast menu at The Barn Kitchen is served until 11:30am, so you can all tuck into a pancake stack afterwards.

The Bodleian Libraries in Oxford are looking to the Greeks for May half term activity inspiration. The Muses at the Weston Library on 29 May will intro kids to three Greek muses before they created some muse-influenced artwork of their own. It’s a free drop-in, which is always music to my ears. Ending with some arts smarts, Bletchley Park’s codebreaking crafts from 24 – 29 May include making your own replica codebreaking hut (niche), looking to the mansion’s stained glass windows to create colourful masterpieces and even building your own pneumatic tube messaging system like the one formerly in charge of top secret comms at Bletchley. It beats a smartphone, that’s all we’re saying.

THEATRE AND WORKSHOPS

MUSEUMS

FUN ON THE FARMS

OUTDOORS

ARTS & CRAFTS

IN THE MOOD FOR MORE?

Your May 2026 half term survival guide: 35+ things to do with the kids

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