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 Christmas at Herbert Art Gallery & Museum

Winter Puppet Workshop | Arts & Crafts

• Dates: Tuesday-Wednesday | 30 & 31 December 2025 
• 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

Escape the winter chill and join us for a cosy family crafting session! Transform simple white socks into magical hand puppets that will spark hours of imaginative play.

Let your creativity run wild as you design lovable characters - create a funny monster, a hungry caterpillar, a cheerful snowman, or any character from your imagination! Using vibrant fabric pens, colourful buttons, pipe cleaners, and delightful embellishments, you can transform these plain white socks into lively characters with personality and charm.

Messy Play - Christmas Specials

• Dates: Thursday 4th December
• Times: 10.30am - 12:00pm & 1.30pm- 3.00pm 
• Find out more

Join us for wonderful, creative, festive fun! Little ones can stomp around Santas's path, making sooty footprints. They can dive into trays of cinnamon-scented cloud dough that smell like Christmas cookies and play in fluffy white snow. Then, create gorgeous handprints!

We will also be offering festive card making & biscuit icing!

Art Masterclasses: Festive Candle Painting

• Date: Saturday 6 December 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.

This winter, join us for a special art masterclass filled with creativity, relaxation, and joy. Young aspiring artists will immerse themselves in candle painting, designing their unique large candles with vibrant acrylic paints. Our experienced artist will guide them through conceptualising their ideas and mastering the painting process, offering plenty of tips to build confidence and make their designs shine.  

Sensory Stories & Rhymes - Christmas Specials

• Dates: Tuesday 9th & 16th December 2025 
• Times: 10.30am - 11.00am & 11.30am - 12.00pm 
• Find out more

Want to keep the little ones entertained this festive period? Herbert Art Gallery is hosting two sensory story and rhyme events for children!

Pastime Playtimes!

• Dates: Saturdays | 29 November, 6, 13, 20 & 27 December 2025 
• Times: 10.00am – 3pm
• Booking: Drop In
• Price: Included with admission
• Here's all the info and the activities on offer each day

Pastime Playtimes brings back classic board and card games for all ages—where adults can reminisce about their childhood favourites and young ones can enjoy fun the old-fashioned way. It’s a chance to get away from technology, connect with others, laugh, and make new memories. Whether you're reminiscing or discovering these games for the first time, there's something for everyone to enjoy!

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