Free storytelling takes place on the following dates:
No need to book, just listen out for announcements when you're here and join in.
Listen to the Museum’s expert storytellers read from either The Twits and The Enormous Crocodile. You’ll hear all about the Enormous Crocodile and some other fantastic animals in these energetic storytelling sessions. Feel free to join in with actions and lots of noise!
Free with Museum entry, no need to book
Drop-in throughout the day
Head to our craft room and help us create a room full of birds. Did you know that Roald Dahl had over 100 budgies? Colour yours and add it to our tree.
This activity us part of The Wild Escape, a major creative project supported by the Arts Council.
Free with Museum entry
Drop-in to our pop-up nest nook and have a go at making a giant one out of junk. It’s not just birds that like a fancy nest, so do crocodiles - and the Enormous Crocodile needs an Enormous nest. Get your group together and use your choice of materials provide to see how big you can make yours. You’ll also have the opportunity to learn about various nesting animals to help with your build.
Free with Museum entry, no need to book
If you want to be an Enormous Crocodile then you’ll need and enormous crocodile tail! Join us to make your own life-sized tail to wear. There’s be plenty of materials to choose from and you can even have a go at some printing to make it even more extra-special.
£4 per person plus Museum entry. Suitable for age 5 and up. Approx 45 minutes.
Set off from the Museum with your expert guide who tell you about the local and far-flung animals featured in Roald Dahl’s stories. Combining the best bits of our Village and Countryside trails you’ll discover the how the local landscape inspired the stories resulting in all sorts of birds, bugs and animals coming to life. You’ll also discover how Roald Dahl’s life experience led to more exotic characters like Muggle-Wump the monkey and the Enormous Crocodile – don’t worry we’re not expecting to run into any real-life crocodiles, but you never know…
£4 per person plus Museum entry. All ages welcome but do bear in mind that the walk lasts 45 minutes to an hour. The walk is level, with some slight inclines, it’s mostly on pavement but there are some paths that may be muddy. The Museum and Library are step free.
How high can a crocodile fly? We don’t have a full-sized flying crocodile but that won’t stop us trying to find out. Have fun with flying things as we investigate how flight works. You’ll try out plenty of hands-on activities and experiments to help us answer this question.
£4 per person plus Museum entry. Suitable for age 5 and up. Approx 45 minutes.
Take a peek behind the scenes with our Archive and Collections Manager Rachel. You’ll find out some amazing beastly secrets from the archive, looking at some of the animals that Roald met and wrote about – including The Witches, Fantastic Mr Fox and The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me.
£5 per person plus Museum entry, adults and children will need a ticket. Suitable for age 8 and above only. Approx 30 minutes.
Get your hands covered in clay and make a playful pot. You’ll learn all about the Roly-Poly Bird then use what you’ve discovered to inspire your creation. Will your pot be covered in feathers or have a huge beak? One thing’s for sure, it will definitely have a hidden egg surprise inside.
£4 per person plus Museum entry. Suitable for age 5 and up. Approx 45 minutes.
The Museum will be open on these dates for performance ticket holders only.
Experience times:
Visit the Museum for some extra-special musical performances this summer. Waterperry Festival are bringing their much celebrated musical rendition of Revolting Rhymes to our courtyard.
Through the celebrated words of Roald Dahl, delve into the world of fairy tales and adventure with our interactive, phizz-whizzing family-friendly show; Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs. With a running time of just under an hour, and ideal for ages 5+, both tales will capture the imagination through music, dance and spoken word that will leave families full of laughter and joy.
This co-production with Opera Holland Park will be directed by Lily Dyble, musically directed by Aleksandra Myslek and designed by Caitlin Abbott.
Tickets include the performance and Museum entry
Second Friday of the month during term-time, 10am to 12pm
Enjoy exclusive access to the Museum for little ones from 6 months to 4 years old and their adults. Toddle around the galleries, join in with special activities and take part in some Roald Dahl storytelling. Each themed session is based around Roald Dahl’s stories and characters and little ones will get to try out specially set-up activities as they explore. Our expert Titchy Tour Guide will be on hand to make sure you and your toddler get the most out of the morning. Adults can also help themselves to free tea and coffee and take the opportunity to chat to other parents and carers.
Go on a safari to spot animals from Roald Dahl’s stories, catch Esio Trot and build a den for Fantastic Mr Fox. Get messy making animal patterns (you might want to wear old clothes…) and don’t forget to watch out for the Enormous Crocodile along the way!
Play in the Grubber sweetshop, add dinner to Mr Twit’s beard and join Fantastic Mr Fox’s feast. Enter Willy Wonka’s inventing room to imagine a new treat or explore messy play with food (old clothes advised!)
Hunt for James’ minibeast friends and build a nest for the birds in Roald Dahl’s stories. Join in with storytelling from The Minpins and get messy with natural materials inspired by Roald Dahl’s love of his garden.
£5 per child, per session. Accompanying adults FREE (max. 2 per paying child). Siblings under 6 months free. Children must always be accompanied. Tickets are for each individual event are not an annual ticket. Buggy store, baby change and buggy accessible galleries onsite.
You’re welcome to bring your own food and drink to the Museum to eat in our picnic areas. Our shop sells cold drinks and a selection of treats, and you can pop out to buy food to bring back to the Museum.
We have pop-up food stalls in the courtyard during the summer holidays and October half-term holiday. We’ll post details of these on our Facebook page so keep an eye out!
You can join in with storytelling sessions every day in school holidays and most weekend days. These sessions are brilliant fun and free to join in with, just keep an ear out for announcements when you’re here and go to as many as you’d like.
We aim to make a visit to the Museum easy and welcoming for everyone. The Museum is mainly on the ground floor with step-free access. There are some rooms upstairs but these can be reached by a lift. We have two accessible loos and a nappy change. Hearing loops are installed by the tills and we have a bespoke BSL smartphone app called Signly.
For full details about accessibility, please send us an email.
Get In Touch