GEFFRYE MUSEUM

BLUE PETER eat your heart out this October half-term, as the Geffrye Museum, in Shoreditch, explores how to put recycled materials to good use with an exciting programme of free arts and crafts workshops.

Turn old magazines and newspapers into decorative door hangers on Tuesday (10.30am-12.30pm and 2pm-4pm, ages five plus), design a funky chime using kitchen utensils and other recycled items on Thursday (2pm-4pm, ages ten plus) or make a stylish cushion cover with your old clothes or vintage materials on Friday (2pm-4pm, ages 13 plus).

With four craft activities on offer daily, children and families alike can also try their hands at making pin boards (Wednesday, 10.30am-12.30am and 2pm-4pm, ages five plus) animal buddy draught excluders (Thursday, 2pm-4pm, ages five to nine), weaving small rugs (Friday, 2pm-4pm, all ages) and much more.

In celebration of Black History Month, there will be a nursery rhyme time each morning for ages three plus and a story-telling session every afternoon for ages five to 15.

The Geffrye Museum, Kingsland Road, Shoreditch, London, is open from Thursday to Saturday, 10am-5pm and Sundays, noon-5pm. All workshops are allocated on a first-come first-served basis, 30 minutes before the workshop begins. For details call 020 7739 9893 or visit www.geffrye-museum.org.uk

LEE VALLEY PARK

ONLY the bravest souls need enter Lee Valley Park this Halloween with some seriously spooky goings on to contend with.

Hear all about the park’s ghosts on a haunted boat trip on Thursday, October 29; get dressed up for an eerie skating session at the Lee Valley Ice Centre on Saturday, October 31 and come and see what lies in the park after dark for Fright Night at Lee Valley Park Farms on All Hallows’ Eve.

For further details call 08456 700 600

PROFESSOR BUMM

MAYHEM will ensue at Murray Hall, Loughton, on Sunday, October 25 at 3pm, as Professor Bumm and his assistant Doctor Whee unveil their latest invention, The Story Machine! With claims the gadget will ‘shatter Shakespeare, trounce Tolkien and pulverise Pullman’ all is going well until it breaks down and the eccentric inventors have to rely on their own improvisation skills and suggestions from the audience to spin their tales.

Tickets: 020 8508 4200 (£2.50)

BANYAN TREE

PUPPETRY, music, theatre and dance collide in Beneath the Banyan Tree at Stratford Circus on Saturday, October 24 at 3pm.

A celebration of cultural diversity aimed at ages seven plus, the story follows Anjali, an aspiring dancer who has moved to the UK from India and who travels between the reality of adjusting to life in a strange country and her imaginary world in which the colourful animal characters from the Indian fables come to life.

Tickets: 0844 357 2625, www.stratford-circus.com

VALENTINES MANSION

ARE you sitting comfortably? Then sit back and relax as Valentines Mansion’s Children’s Writer in Residence, Adam Guillain, entertains you with his tales and holds a fun story-telling workshop on Tuesday, October 27

On Wednesday, October 28, master of words Baden Prince Junior will explore aspects of Afro-Caribbean culture through words and games.

For details call 020 8708 8100

WILLIAM MORRIS GALLERY

BE transported back to a time before cameras and learn how to create your own self-portrait silhouette with artist Elizabeth Oniri on Sunday, October 25, noon-4pm.

This free family workshop has been inspired by the African-American artist Kara Walker.

Details: 020 8496 4391