There's lots going on at Herbert Art Gallery & Museum during the school holidays! It's the perfect place to delve into Coventry’s history and engage with art and culture.

School Holidays at Herbert Art Gallery & Museum

• Opening Times: 
  • Monday: CLOSED (Open for Bank Holiday Mondays only)
  • Tuesday to Saturday: 10am - 4pm
  • Sunday: 12pm - 4pm
• Location: Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Jordan Well, CV1 5QP
• Prices:
  • Day Passes: Adults, £4.50 | Go CV, £3 | Go CV+ and Children, FREE
  • Annual Passes: Adults £9 | Go CV, £5 | Go CV+ and Children, FREE
• Booking: You don't have to book to visit The Herbert, but you can book certain exhibitions, events and activities here.

What's on this October Half Term at Herbert Art Gallery & Museum

Plot, Print & Play | Arts & Crafts

• Dates: 25 October – 1 November 2025 (excluding Mondays & Sundays)
• Times: 10.00am – 3.30pm
• Booking: Drop In
• Price: £2.50 Per Child, Under 3s FREE | Adults go FREE* (*Admission fees apply)
• Here's all the info and the activities on offer each day

This October half term, help us transform the studio into one magnificent communal allotment plot! Working together with your families and friends, you'll create spectacular wall displays of vibrant vegetable and fruit prints across large sheets of paper.

Drawing inspiration from Leah Gordon's Coventry Biennial exhibition, we're exploring themes of shared spaces, food, common land, and folk traditions through art making. Just as plants and animals have always featured prominently in folk art, we're inviting you to add your artistic voice to this growing garden of creativity and community connection.

Leave one artwork with us to become part of our evolving display and create additional pieces to take home. Visit multiple times throughout the week to try different activities and watch the collaborative masterpiece bloom!

Art Masterclasses: Silk Painting Furoshiki 

• Date: Thursday 30 October 2025
• Times: 10.30am-12.30am & 2pm-4pm 
• Suitable for: Ages 8-16 
• Booking: Book Online 
• Price: £12.50 Per Child, adults go free  (Admission fees apply)
• Here's all the info and how to book.

In this special silk painting masterclass, explore the Japanese tradition of furoshiki, which dates back over 1,200 years. These elegant fabric wraps offer an eco-friendly alternative to traditional gift wraps.

Led by Amy Wilde, young artists will explore vibrant colours, brush techniques, and creative expression while learning the techniques to paint on silk. Whether you're a beginner or have some experience, this workshop provides the guidance needed to create stunning artwork. Children will experiment with various designs, ranging from bold patterns to flowing florals, and develop their unique pieces to treasure.

During this hands-on session, you'll master special silk painting techniques and learn how your finished creation becomes furoshiki (pronounced foo-roh-shee-kee) - perfect for gift-wrapping presents, carrying books, or displaying as art!

Exhibitions to Explore

Coventry Biennial 2025: Obsessions, Posessions: Coventry Biennial 2025 will facilitate a collective exploration of the roles and functions of collecting within the art, museum, heritage and knowledge production sectors, the wider community and the artists’ studio.

The programme of exhibitions, events and activities will platform the co-creation and presentation of new artworks and exciting reimaginings of collections and archives rooted in society’s shared obsessions and possessions.

Ranging from major national art collections to personal and family archives, from libraries to what can be found beneath your kitchen sink, from warehouses full of artworks to photo albums full of memories, we will explore how and why we collect, what it means to collect and will examine the impacts, legacies, politics and problematics of what is (or isn’t) included.

Dippy the Dinosaur - Dippy the dinosaur is a life-size, plaster-of-paris replica of a Diplodocus carnegii  skeleton. It became the first Diplodocus to go on display anywhere in the world when it was gifted to the Natural History Museum by Andrew Carnegie on 12 May 1905.

Warwickshire's Jurassic Sea - Discover the amazing creatures that lived in Coventry and Warwickshire during the time of the dinosaurs.

Coventry Rugby Club - A display celebrating 150 years of Coventry Rugby Club. Located in the History Gallery.

Click here to find out more about the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum