Happy Families

If you are missing Blue Peter, you are almost certainly showing your age. And chances are you find yourself sneaking off of an evening for a local ‘making’ class in the hope of finding new ways to express yourself creatively with an old cereal box and toilet roll inner.

Sound familiar? Well, the opportunities for you to scratch that creative itch are likely to be there in spades this summer as various cultural institutions try to tempt in punters with kids to engage in hands-on programmes.

Among the more pertinent for the creative crew is likely to be the Design Museum’s Family Day, which offers all manner of fun pursuits in which you can share with your loved ones. A cut above the average Blue Peter show, it offers celebrity in the form of designer Donna Wilson, who will introduce visitors of all ages to her ‘menagerie of strange and beautiful creatures’ and you can even have a go at creating your own.

For those with a graphics bent, you can take on graphics master Wim Crouwel – or at least, in his absence, take inspiration from his typefaces – in the Loopy Letters workshop. But for Blue Peter purists it has to be the Mechanical Toys session, where you are encouraged make your own automata from every day objects. Toilet rolls anyone?

These are among the attractions to keep you amused at the museum on Sunday 26 June. All you need is an assortment of five-to-11-year-olds to make the day complete.

Family Day is at the Design Museum, Shad Thames, London SE1 on Friday 26 June.