Things to do on a London trip with younger children

cheesyboy · 20 Sep 2017 at 14:36

Going to London for a short trip with Mrs Cheesyboy and the kids (age 7.5 and 4) next month.

Eldest is keen to see some of the sights like Big Ben (silent, unfortunately), Buckingham Palace etc, and I thought doing the London Eye and Natural History Museum might be worthwhile, but we have 2 full days to fill.

Mrs C is taking the eldest to see Lion King (Matinee performance on arrival day). I've seen it enough times that I wasn't keen to do it again, and we thought it wasn't quite worth it for the 4-year old, so I need to fill an afternoon with just me and her too.

Any suggestions appreciated

Pipe & Slippers · 20 Sep 2017 at 15:41

The Sky Garden at the Walkie Talkie is free to visit - you just have to book in advance - I was very impressed

ubersonic · 20 Sep 2017 at 15:51

You should totally check out Games Workshop, Wetherspoons, and the Iron Maiden show at Earls Court (sadly I can only recommend things I've seen).

Tunney · 20 Sep 2017 at 16:00

Science Museum, Transport Museum and London Aquarium are all great with kids.

Your youngest would probably love the soft play centre (Play Base) at the National Army Museum. If you’ve got an afternoon without the eldest then it’s worth checking out. You need to book in advance but it’s cheap.

Hagar · 20 Sep 2017 at 16:08

If the weather is fine, a boat trip, Westminster or Tower bridge to Greenwich. See the landmarks from the water.

cheesyboy · 20 Sep 2017 at 16:35

Cheers chaps - a few promising things to check out there.

Rroff · 20 Sep 2017 at 16:36

~~I know its kind of expensive~~ and you need a lot of time and not sure if the 4 year old is old enough to really appreciate it - but can't take kids to London and not do the science museum.

EDIT: Weird didn't know its been free except certain exhibits since 2001 - last time I went it was ridiculously costly.

Hades · 20 Sep 2017 at 16:37

Natural history museum.

Maccy · 20 Sep 2017 at 16:39

Tower of London is always worth a visit if they like history too.

Hades · 20 Sep 2017 at 16:44

Riverboat down the Thames? The cheapest way is probably the regular commuter boats.

Hades · 20 Sep 2017 at 16:45

London Eye

Edit: Sorry just seen you average that covered. Maybe the cable car near docklands?

Feek · 20 Sep 2017 at 17:58

Tunney said:
Science Museum

Don't bother going there any more. As a regular visitor over many years, I'm sad to see what's happened to that place. It used to be so much fun with exhibits kids could push buttons to make work and that lovely basement full of stuff for them.

It's pretty dreadful now, loads of open and wasted space and strangely, many exhibits gone. It's just not worth going any more.

Caged · 20 Sep 2017 at 20:37

They might like http://londonfilmmuseum.com/

Rroff · 20 Sep 2017 at 20:39

Feek said:
Don't bother going there any more. As a regular visitor over many years, I'm sad to see what's happened to that place. It used to be so much fun with exhibits kids could push buttons to make work and that lovely basement full of stuff for them.

It's pretty dreadful now, loads of open and wasted space and strangely, many exhibits gone. It's just not worth going any more.

Is it that bad now? I've not been in ages but it used to be really good when I was a kid.

robfosters · 20 Sep 2017 at 21:18

London Zoo, NHM, Science museum, London aquarium would be my choices.

SDK^ · 20 Sep 2017 at 22:22

When we went to London to watch the World Champs Athletics over a weekend we did the Natural History Museum and the London Eye - Our 5 year old loved them both

bobbarley · 20 Sep 2017 at 23:01

I have a 5 year old daughter and she absolutely loved the Natural History Museum. Free and very interesting. We also went on the London Eye and she loved that too.

Feek · 20 Sep 2017 at 23:08

Rroff said:
Is it that bad now? I've not been in ages but it used to be really good when I was a kid.

Yes, it's awful. Even the abortion they turned the basement into has now become chargeable and it's got worse. I went at the weekend with someone who had a free pass into all the paid for exhibits and even those really weren't very good. They try and milk you as much as possible, even forcing you through a till on the way in practically demanding donations. We just walked through as we were talking and the person manning the till called out "don't just walk past, you're supposed to stop."

HangTime · 21 Sep 2017 at 00:04

Feek said:
Don't bother going there any more. As a regular visitor over many years, I'm sad to see what's happened to that place. It used to be so much fun with exhibits kids could push buttons to make work and that lovely basement full of stuff for them.

It's pretty dreadful now, loads of open and wasted space and strangely, many exhibits gone. It's just not worth going any more.

Yeah I used to love it as a child but taking my son in the past year it seems to have gone downhill.

Winchester Science Centre on the other hand is surprisingly brilliant, everything hands on, interactive learning of all sorts of physics, fluid mechanics, parachutes, thermal imaging, mirrors, sprinting with speed guns, aiming projectiles, pulley systems, weight pivoting / balancing, oscillations etc. Much smaller than Science museum but definitely better for younger children less interested in history / static exhibits etc and so much to learn

Tunney · 21 Sep 2017 at 00:22

Feek said:
Even the abortion they turned the basement into has now become chargeable and it's got worse.

Is this something they’ve introduced very recently? I took my son there about six months ago and Launchpad in the basement was free.