London with kids

London Aquarium, and a stroll along the South Bank which has various child friendly attractions along with the London Eye.

The Tower of London is also child friendly along with the many parks.

A bus ride?

When my children were small we used to go to Princess Diana's memorial garden. It was brilliant a peter pan themed park which is all gated, the children can run and play safely while you relax

There is a park in London which you can only go into if you have children with you coramsfields.org/
It is close to the Foundling Museum, but I think your children are a bit young for that foundlingmuseum.org.uk/

I agree that a tourist bus would be fun or a boat ride on the Thames . I did both these with mine and it saved much foot slog.

A boat trip to Greenwich- there is the Cutty Sark and the maritime museum, the park is lovely with a good playground.
You can book free tickets to the Sky Garden which gives great views over London, but book in advance.
The V and A has a lovely courtyard with little paddling pool where you can sit and have lunch. Somerset House has water fountains which the kids can run around in while you sit and have a coffee- (take a towel) the Southbank has similar fountains. Somerset House currently has a Cute exhibition with lots of Hello Kitty themed items.
The Horniman museum in Forest Hill ( train from London Bridge) has a butterfly house, little aquarium and currently a small dinosaur exhibition, very child friendly with lovely gardens.
Young V and A is worth a visit- lots of activities for little ones.

Personally I would try and show them some London sights rather than playing in a park which they could do anywhere. But agree the foot slog could be too much, so an open air bus ride would be perfect and you can point out various famous buildings from the top deck.

If walking then try and see some horse guards. These are London things they will remember The Kings Life Guard

I would save the Tower of London for when they're older. It is very big and hard work, with lots of things they won't understand. Just too much for young children.

Just to add, they will love Tower Bridge, and if you sit and eat your sandwiches by the river then they might be lucky enough to see it open.

When mine were small they loved the Science Museum.

If the children love dinosaurs, The Natural History Museum's your place, my kids made me spend hours there when they were young, I'd be begging to sit down, long before they'd had enough! I wouldn't be too over ambitious in trying to squash loads in given they're still quite young children can get overload fatigue, as indeed adults can too.

I'm inclined to agree with other suggestions here, foot slogging can be hard on children, the tube can be unpleasantly crowded at rush hour times. I would look into a double decker tourist bus trips or a down the river excursion where maybe the main sights can be viewed easily. What London has in abundance are parks and green spaces where the children might like to run around in to let off some steam,the more central ones are Hyde Park, St James's Park, Green Park, Regents Park, or you could head off to Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath which has a great views over London, good for picnicking if you don't want to spend a fortune in restaurants. I think there's a lido up there somewhere too. Also there are swimming ponds on Hampstead Heath which are very popular.

Hope you have a nice break however you decide to spend your time there.

Enjoy yourselves. London has much to offer, but it will be busy and is expensive. I suggest you take a picnic. We took our grandsons to the Cutty Sark by boat, but ‘they’re sure to love the National History and Science Museums , if you have time to do both. Have fun!

Have a look at the Youth Hostels Association. I haven't used them but friends have who recommend them. There;s on at St Paul's for example.

If it's raining you won't want an open top bus. Have a look at the bus routes before you go and buy bus passes. That way you can hop on and off whenever you want.

The Museum of London should be interesting - I went when I was little - about 70 years ago - when it was in Kensington Palace and enjoyed it very much.

NB, you may well need to book the London Aquarium, especially in school holidays - Gdcs were very disappointed when we found it sold out the first time.

The Maritime Museum at Greenwich has gone down well, esp. when combined with a riverboat trip to get there, so you pass the Tower of London and Tower Bridge.

We haven’t taken Gdcs yet (it’s def. on the list) but the Postal Museum is IMO very interesting for children (as well as adults!) - history of post (started with Henry VIII) inc. an old stagecoach etc., and there’s a ride on a mini underground train - it was formerly used to transport mail quickly across the capital.

They also enjoyed the Transport Museum at Covent Garden - lots of very old buses inc. horse-drawn etc. that they can sit in. Plus there’s always a lot to see in CG anyway - Gds in particular loved the people dressed up very convincingly as robots, etc.

And the London Eye - they were dying to go on that (at maybe 6 and 7) and TBH we thought they might find it a bit boring - just going round so slowly - but they loved it. Pricey, though!

I would second the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum and a ride on an open-top sightseeing bus. My son also loved the Planetarium when he was about 7. It’s next to Madame Tussaud’s but they are a bit young for MT I think.

Our 5 year dgc old was there a couple of days ago. Amongst other places, they visited Pudding Lane ( turns out that they had done a project on it at school last year), the Sky Garden skygarden.london/ and Paddington Station, and had a fantastic time!

Boat trip to Greenwich then the museum. My GS loved it.
The Travelodge at Covent Garden (a short walk to the Lego store) is a convenient spot or the one near the Aquarium (which is excellent).

Personally would wait two or three years before taking them. Parks , water fountains and aquariums can be visited in many parts of the country. Can't imagine anything worse than taking a 5 year old round London - however if I did I would plump for the Natural history museum. So much to see in London and it is an amazing place , but a 5 and a 7 year old would be a no from me.

Thank you all. A wealth of useful information as always! Very much appreciated.

Can I come? 😆

My granddaughter lives in Kew and I have been taking her to various places in Central London since she was around three. She loves the V&A and the Science Museum. I did the same with my own children. I have a memory of taking them on the tube when my youngest was still in a push chair! OH was often away on business so we just got on with it. I even took them to Harrods once. Just be sure to have plenty of breaks.

I would second the Lego store near Leicester Square but it does get very busy. They have some amazing constructions, I 9could not get my grandson out of there. He also loved the Horse Guards and chasing pigeons in St James’s Park. If you go to the Science Museum there are often very long queues in school holidays. We had to wait over an hour but that was quite a few years ago.

Elusivebutterfly

When mine were small they loved the Science Museum.

I agree, it’s more child friendly than it sounds

The Museum of London has moved and will not be open until 2025.
The Science museum is always good .Greenwich is very interesting.You could visit St Paul's and go up to the whispering Gallery. If they are keen on History there's the Tower, followed by a walk on the South Bank and then perhaps hop on a boat. a trip on the DLR is fun as is walking under the Thames at Greenwich or Woolwich.
It depends how old they are. I would avoid Oxford street, especially the lower part and especially the rip off sweet shops. I took my grandchildren all over, but we live quite near the centre and so we could do it in bits.If they are interested in armour the Wallace is a quiet museum .I'm sure you'll have a great time.

what about Buckingham Palace, see changing of the guard at Horse Guards Parade! aswell as museums.