Upside-down Christmas, National Gallery

It can be difficult to know what to do with little ones in that dead time between Christmas and New Year, when the whole of London seems to come to a standstill and long empty days stretch into long empty day.

Fortunately, the National Gallery, inspired by their current exhibition on Australia's Impressionists is on hand to help kiddies forget about the slow march of time, the cold, the rain and -- inevitably -- the London sleet, with free family workshops where children are encouraged to make sunny works of arts inspired by the southern continent.

Discover artistic lief in the 1870s and 1880s, where Australian immigrant artists who had trained and worked in Europe brought first-hand experience of international art down under, and handed over the dappled, soft painterly techniques championed by the likes of Cezanne and Degas and Monet over to their Antipodean counterparts -- before making your own masterpiece.

There's no need to book and places for drop-in holiday activities are not limited. Arrive early to avoid disappointment and take the opportunity to wonder London's glittering but empty streets before January arrives and the crowds appear in haste.