London has no shortage of theatre shows. But when you’re heading out with a baby or toddler in tow, you need a very specific kind of performance.
Little ones need something short, simple and full of energy, with puppets, music and plenty of flexibility to feed, wriggle and wander.
Many mainstream West End shows don’t admit under-3s. So for 0–2s, we recommend children’s theatres and relaxed performances created with babies and toddlers in mind.
Read on for Loopla’s favourite baby and toddler theatre shows in London, updated 16 June 2026.
Each was designed for very young audiences. Many even welcome under-2s.
We grouped these toddler theatre shows by age guidance. Click below to jump ahead.
- London toddler shows for 0–2 years
- Upcoming theatre shows for 2 year olds in London
- London theatre shows for older toddlers (3 years+)
Or if you’re in a hurry, pick from our quick-read table of London toddler theatre:
| Who for? | Loopla’s pick |
|---|---|
| Babies | Bach to Baby |
| Under-2s | CBeebies House Party Live |
| 2 years+ | Bluey’s Big Play |
| 3 years+ | There’s a Tiger in the Garden |
| Budding artists | Splat! |
| Mini music fans | Young MacDonald Wants a Farm |
| Nature lovers | Mother Deer |
| Outdoorsy toddlers | The Big Bad Wolf |
| Julia Donaldson fans | Zog |
Beyond theatre, we also have a guide on things to do with toddlers in London. It covers free activities, outdoor fun, cuddly animals and more.
London toddler shows for 0–2 years
Bach to Baby Family Concerts
Bach to Baby host relaxed live music concerts for babies, toddlers and their grown-ups.
Professional musicians perform a mix of classical favourites alongside jazz, folk and themed programmes. They do so while creating an environment where tots are free to move around, make noise or take a break as needed.
Concerts typically last around 45 minutes and take place in family-friendly venues across London. Click below to browse upcoming dates.
Event details
Ages: 0-4 years
When: Various dates this summer
Where: Locations across London
Prices: From £16
Boppin’ Bunnies Interactive Music Show
Boppin’ Bunnies are award-winning specialists in music for babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers aged 0 to 4 years (with under-1s able to join sessions for free).
Their structured classes are led by professional musicians. Toddlers get to explore instruments, sounds and simple sensory props with their grown-ups. You can also expect plenty of space for wriggling, dancing and snack breaks.
As well as classes, Boppin’ Bunnies often do special one-off music shows. We’ll let you know when and where to find upcoming events if you sign up for Loopla’s free newsletter for parents. We also include free events and pop-ups, along with special deals that could save you money on your next day of family fun.
Event details
Ages: 0–4 years
When: Tuesdays, Wednesdays + Fridays
Where: Various locations in South-East London
Prices: Tickets from £9; under‑1s free
CBeebies House Party Live
CBeebies House Party Live has been dubbed ‘Glastonbury for kids!’. TV favourites including Mr Tumble and Duggee lead the party from the stage, running through songs many toddlers will know by heart.
Little ones get to dance along amid the sort of fun you can’t enjoy through a screen: streamers, giant jellies and bubbles.
Event details
Ages: 0–6 years
When: Tuesday 25 August 2026
Where: Southbank Centre, SE1
Prices: From £24
Pirates Love Underpants
Pirates Love Underpants is a treasure hunt with a twist. A crew of pirates sets sail in search of the fabled Pants of Gold. Along the way they dodge crocodiles, cross Three Pants Ridge and spot sharks in fancy underwear.
Featuring puppets and music, this 50-minute show is an easy win for toddlers who already love the picture book.
Event details
Ages: 1 year+
When: Wednesday 22 – Sunday 26 July 2026
Where: Lyric Hammersmith, W6
Prices: From £15
Upcoming theatre shows for 2 year olds in London
The Flying Bath
The Flying Bath is a puppet adaptation of the Julia Donaldson and David Roberts picture book, following bath toys who swoosh off on watery rescue missions when their family goes out.
Using simple storytelling, songs and plenty of visual fun, the show is designed for a short attention span. Little Angel also offers relaxed performances of The Flying Bath, with softer lighting, open doors and a more flexible approach to noise and movement.
Event details
Ages: 2–5 years
When: Till Sunday 12 July 2026
Where: Little Angel Theatre, Islington, N1
Prices: From around £8.50–£16 (varies by performance)
Teddy Bear’s Picnic
Teddy Bear’s Picnic is a good first-show option for younger toddlers who might find a theatre setting overwhelming. At least one familiar friend will also be in the audience to comfort them if needed, as kids are encouraged to bring their favourite bear along.
The show itself uses puppets, songs and dancing to follow a group of friends trying to get to the picnic on time. Numbers, colours and shapes are also woven into the story, so kids pick up a bit of learning too.
It’s the work of Rah Rah Theatre Company, who have been touring the show for twelve years.
Event details
Ages: 2-6 years
When: Saturday 4 July 2026
Where: Lyric Hammersmith, W6
Prices: From £12
Young MacDonald Wants a Farm
Young MacDonald Wants a Farm is one of our top picks here for tots who love music. Like many of the music-led toddler shows on this list, it’s more like a mini gig than a play.
The story itself is a sequel of sorts to the classic nursery rhyme, with Old MacDonald’s son seeking to set up a farm to rival his dad’s. Tots get to enjoy electro music, gentle clowning and playful interaction while finding out whether he pulls it off.
Event details
Ages: 2-6 years
When: Saturday 27 June 2026
Where: Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, W6
Prices: From £12
Bluey’s Big Play
This could be a summer highlight for toddlers who happen to be Bluey superfans. Bluey, Bingo, Bandit and Chilli appear on stage as puppets in Bluey’s Big Play, a brand new story written by the show’s creator Joe Brumm. Meanwhile, the music comes from its composer, Joff Bush.
The plot follows the classic Bluey formula: Dad wants some afternoon downtime, Bluey and Bingo have other ideas.
Event details
Ages: 2–8 years
When: Thursday 30 July – Sunday 2 August 2026
Where: New Wimbledon Theatre, SW19
Prices: From £20.50
Be Like Blippi
Fans of the TV show won’t need telling, but Blippi is an endlessly curious presenter who explores how everyday things work.
He’s played by Clayton Grimm, who’s coming to London this August for the Be Like Blippi live show.
In a 90-minute interactive adventure, Blippi and his friend Meekah will be getting kids up and moving along to big crowd-pleasers like ‘The Excavator Song’ and ‘Dino Dance’. Just be aware that Grimm will be replaced for shows between Wednesday 26 and Sunday 30 August.
Event details
Ages: 2–7 years
When: Monday 3 – Sunday 30 August 2026
Where: The Arts at Marble Arch, W1H
Prices: From £24
BubbleArt Show: A Dazzling Bubble Show
There’s no story to follow with the BubbleArt Show, but it’s no less absorbing. Performers completely transform the stage using lights, lasers, music and bubbles of all kinds (giant ones, cascading clouds). From clips we’ve seen, the most exciting bit is a huge bubble ‘tube’ created around a couple of lucky audience members.
Event details
Ages: All ages
When: Saturday 8 August 2026
Where: Greenwood Theatre, SE1
Prices: From £19 (under-2s who don’t need a seat go free)
London theatre shows for older toddlers (3 years+)
The Tiger Who Came to Tea
The Tiger Who Came to Tea is a great pick for a toddler’s first big-theatre outing to the West End. It runs all summer at Theatre Royal Haymarket, London’s third-oldest playhouse still in use.
Now in its twelfth London season, the musical play was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Family Entertainment.
It is of course based on the Judith Kerr book that most toddlers already know. The famous story is told with songs, sing-along moments and also magic. The illusions were in fact designed by a former president of the Magic Circle.
Event details
Ages: 3 years+
When: Monday 22 June – Saturday 5 September 2026
Where: Theatre Royal Haymarket, SW1
Prices: From £10
There’s a Tiger in the Garden
There’s a Tiger in the Garden is based on Lizzy Stewart’s award-winning picture book of the same name. It runs for five weeks this summer at Polka Theatre in Wimbledon, a venue built specifically for children’s shows.
Toddlers have wonderful imaginations, and the story here celebrates this. It follows a girl called Nora who thinks she’s too old for her grandma’s make-believe games. Then she finds dragonflies the size of her head, plants that try to eat her toy giraffe, and a polar bear that fishes.
For this adaptation, Flock Theatre Makers worked with Lizzy Stewart herself.
Event details
Ages: 3 years+
When: Wednesday 8 July – Sunday 9 August 2026
Where: Polka Theatre, Wimbledon, SW19
Prices: From £13
The Lion Inside
The Lion Inside is a gentle confidence-builder for shyer toddlers. The show follows a small mouse who is fed up with being ignored by the bigger animals. So he sets out to learn how to roar like Lion.
Along the way, he discovers that even the biggest, bossiest creatures get scared sometimes. There’s a nice takeaway here for little ones: you don’t have to be big to have the heart of a lion.
The show is based on the bestselling picture book by Rachel Bright and Jim Field, and runs at the Unicorn, the UK’s biggest theatre dedicated to children.
Event details
Ages: 3 years+
When: Tuesday 14 July – Sunday 2 August 2026
Where: Unicorn Theatre, London Bridge, SE1
Prices: From £10
The Gruffalo
The Gruffalo is one of the most popular shows for young kids. Over three million kids have seen Tall Stories’ adaptation since it premiered 25 years ago.
It’s also one of the most interactive on this list of toddler shows. Rather than restage the picture book scene by scene, actors tell it directly to the audience. Every ten minutes or so, they pull children into the action with songs and gentle participation.
The show plays at the Lyric Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue and runs for an hour, well-suited to a three year old’s attention span.
Event details
Ages: 3 years+
When: Friday 17 July – Sunday 6 September 2026
Where: Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, W1
Prices: From £10
The Enormous Crocodile
Roald Dahl stories are rarely suitable for toddlers, but The Enormous Crocodile is aimed at 3 year olds and up. In the 55-minute musical, the crocodile is a bumbling, pantomime-style villain whose plan to eat children is played for silliness, not for scares.
Time Out actually saw the show’s lack of “dark streak” as a flaw. But if you’re looking for a softer-edged introduction to Dahl, this is probably what you want.
The show’s fun puppets were widely praised, though, as the villainous croc assembles and disassembles to take on new dastardly disguises.
Event details
Ages: 3 years+
When: Wednesday 29 July – Saturday 22 August 2026
Where: Lyric Hammersmith, W6
Prices: From £15
Zog
There are so many Julia Donaldson-based shows playing in London, but Zog is a standout for many toddlers. It’s a bigger production than most, with a six-person cast and live music filling (in this case) the grand surroundings of Cadogan Hall.
The story follows an eager young dragon who tries very hard at dragon school but keeps getting things wrong. At its heart is a genuinely important message for little ones: the value of picking yourself up and trying again.
Event details
Ages: 3–10 years
When: Sunday 2 – Sunday 23 August 2026
Where: Cadogan Hall, SW1X
Prices: From £25.37
Hay!
Across 50 minutes, this show uses just a single word: “Hay!”.
From then on, it’s a wordless story (told through music, clowning and dance) about a scarecrow seeing the natural world for the first time and longing to fly. Hay! was created by CBeebies star Patrick Lynch, whose Lyngo Theatre company has been making shows for very young audiences since 2003.
Event details
Ages: 3 years+
When: Sunday 20 September 2026 (also Sunday 27 September at artsdepot, N12)
Where: Jacksons Lane, Highgate, N6
Prices: £10–£25
Splat!
Splat! tells the story of the history of art in a way that might strike a chord with older toddlers who share their bedroom with a sibling. It’s set in an artist’s studio, where two very different painters are trying to create their next masterpiece. One is tidy and serious, the other messy and mischievous.
Created with deaf artist Brian Duffy, the 55-minute show features no words. The physical comedy, movement and music do all the talking.
Event details
Ages: 3-7 years
When: Sunday 13 September 2026
Where: Jacksons Lane, Highgate, N6
Prices: £10–£25
Mother Deer
Toddler shows are often silly or full of energy. But for little ones who’d like something more calming to wonder at, Mother Deer is one we recommend. It’s a quiet meditation on our place in nature, told with another thing that sets it apart: aerial acrobatics.
The story, from an award-winning director, is based on an old Northern European folktale about the Winter Solstice.
Event details
Ages: 3 years+
When: Sunday 27 September 2026
Where: Jacksons Lane, Highgate, N6
Prices: £10–£25
Rabbit & Rey and The Lost Things
This show puts a nice spin on what is a very relatable problem for parents: struggling to find lost toys, socks or keys. Rabbit & Rey and The Lost Things turns this daily frustration into a whole adventure.
Rey loses everything, helped along by Rabbit, a loyal toy bunny. Together they set off to track down missing items, and find that other people have lost things, too. With puppetry and visual storytelling, this 1-hour show gently makes a point some grown-ups in the audience may find mind-blowing (and hopefully uplifting): maybe losing things isn’t always a problem.
Event details
Ages: 3 years+
When: Sunday 20 September 2026
Where: artsdepot, North Finchley, N12
Prices: From £13.75
The Big Bad Wolf
Here’s a rowdier option for families who’ve had their fill of sweet, gentle shows. The Big Bad Wolf turns a classic fairytale on its head in one of the few outdoor shows on this list.
Having been outcast to the Deep Dark Wood, the Wolf dreams of a comeback. While trying to make it happen he runs into Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs (though not quite as you know them). The show’s makers are the Plandits, who tour gardens and outdoor spaces and were behind the 2024 hit, The Secret Garden.
Event details
Ages: 3 years+
When: Thursday 30 – Friday 31 July 2026
Where: St Paul’s Church (the Actors’ Church), Covent Garden, WC2
Prices: From £13.99
The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny
The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny is set in a garden and performed in one, too.
Covent Garden’s St Paul’s Church hosts it for one afternoon this July, making this the most central London outdoor toddler show on our list.
The adaptation pairs two of Beatrix Potter’s stories. Peter sneaks into Mr McGregor’s garden and gets tangled up with nets, cats and a furious gardener. His cousin Benjamin joins the trouble later.
Quantum Theatre specialise in outdoor family touring, though usually at country estates, so this is a rare chance to see them in Zone 1.
Event details
Ages: All ages (recommended 3 years+)
When: Wednesday 29 July 2026
Where: St Paul’s Church (the Actors’ Church), Covent Garden, WC2
Prices: From £13.99
Treat your toddler to a play day at one of London’s most famous museums
Did you know many of London’s big museums and galleries run special sessions for toddlers? Our favourites include the V&A’s Design Baby and the Natural History Museum’s Adventure Babies.
The only problem is that they often book up quickly. Signing up for Loopla’s newsletter can help you stay ahead of the pack. That way, we’ll keep an eye out for upcoming events, and the only place you need to check is your inbox.
FAQ: How to find the best toddler shows in London for your family
What is the best theatre show in London for babies and toddlers?
The baby theatre shows we recommend are gentle, sensory sessions and relaxed concerts created with under-2s in mind, like Bach to Baby. You’ll often be sitting on floor cushions while the musicians or performers come to you.
Two-year-olds tend to enjoy short, story-led shows with puppets and songs, such as The Flying Bath at Little Angel Theatre. Older toddlers of 3 and up can sit a little longer, opening up bigger productions like The Gruffalo and The Tiger Who Came to Tea.
Can I take a 2-year-old to the theatre?
Yes – you absolutely can take a 2-year-old to the theatre, just as long as you choose the right show. Look for early‑years performances with age guidance starting at 0–2 or 2–4, or for relaxed performances.
Puppet‑ and music‑based shows are a great way to introduce tots to theatre. Small venues like Polka, Little Angel, Unicorn and Half Moon often cater specifically to this age group.
Are West End shows suitable for 0–2s?
Most West End theatres set a minimum age of 3–5. Many don’t admit babies or strongly advise against bringing under‑3s because of the volume, length and content. For 0–2s, we recommend early‑years theatres and relaxed concerts instead. Save those big West End musicals for when your child is a bit older and more comfortable sitting through a full‑length show.
How do I find more toddler shows in London?
To find more toddler shows in London, use Loopla’s filters to search for events by age (0–2 and 2–4) and location. That way, you’ll see everything from baby concerts to toddler puppet theatre in one place. It’s also worth checking the “What’s On” pages at Little Angel Theatre, Polka Theatre, Unicorn Theatre, Southbank Centre and Lyric Theatre Hammersmith regularly. New early‑years runs and relaxed performances are added throughout the year.