London for kids

balletshoes

hold up - theres an ice-cream parlour inside Harrods???? I'm suddenly very interested !

UrbanExplorer.com

Hello, first post but hope is helpful.

We produce a Top Ten Weekend Guide to London for kids every Thursday as inspiration for spontaneous activities around town. Many are free and all are selected purely on merit (no paid placement / advertising).

We also do special editions (Kids Week, Olympics etc) and the guide is free on our site and emailed to subscribers first thing every Thursday.

Hope you have a wonderful visit and that perhaps some of our suggestions will come in handy.

gravitytolls

Science and history museums are great fun, even for that age group. Lots of lovely parks, parks and london museums are all fee. Kids under 11 travel free on the underground too.

Last year we booked cheap travel lodge rooms in Essex, parked at Upminster, took the underground into the city and toured museums. Great day out for the price of a day car park (cheap off peak) and two day travel cards. Picnic lunch, fab day out.

moneylover

thank you so much everyone, am sure we can find something from this lot! MSe'ers triumph again! Hilary

nollag2006

Some ideas here for free family events this Summer:


Trojan horse play. It’s free and open air near London Bridge on the river, and on at 630 every Thurs-Sun until August 5th:
http://www.steamindustryfreetheatre.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10&Itemid=31

Imperial War Museum near Waterloo is also a good day out for the family

I often take my girls to Corams Fields, near Russell Square:
http://www.coramsfields.org/

Its a great free fun day in the open air.

nollag2006

If you are happy to travel even further south (beyond my home of Richmond!!!), you could see some of the Olympics for free

Party for the Olympics cycling on Saturday 28th (Mens) and 29th (Womens) in Box Hill
http://www.ebdons.com/box-hill-festival-of-cycling

They have big screens up to show the event coming and going, but you get to see the bike round go around Box Hill nine times. The race departs London at 10am on Sat 28th, and passes through Richmond park and Putney if you want something closer to London that will be less crowded. The women’s event is on Sunday and will be a lot quieter.

Here is the route of the race
http://www.london2012.com/documents/venue-documents/cycling-road-race-route.pdf

It’s really lovely out in Box Hill actually – that’s where a lot of the Jane Austen novels are set and you can do train tours of Denbies vineyard also (http://www.denbiesvineyard.co.uk/)

steamlover

gravitytolls wrote: »

......

Last year we booked cheap travel lodge rooms in Essex, parked at Upminster, took the underground into the city and toured museums. Great day out for the price of a day car park (cheap off peak) and two day travel cards. Picnic lunch, fab day out.

Have got one better than that - they have just opened up the steam railway on what used to be the end of the Central line which is now called Epping Ongar Railway - so you can stay out in lovely Epping forest... or for "moneylover" drive from Chelmsford, then catch a steam train and heritage bus to Epping as a great way of starting your day out in London... it also keeps the kids occupied!

Quick tip... You can book your ticket online up to the day of travel and save 50p on each one before you go too )

minerva_windsong

There are a couple of old Routemaster buses still running on the number 9 and 15 routes in central London - they go all round the main sights but only cost as much as a 'normal' London bus.

Natural History and Science Museums are great for that age group. Your train ticket should get you 2 for 1s for London Zoo, London Aquarium and others - the list of deals is here: http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/

Time Out has some good suggestions for stuff to do with kids in London: http://www.timeout.com/london/kids/

The one thing I would say with Monument is that there are a LOT of steps! My friend and I climbed it a few weeks ago and whilst it was a great view we were knackered by the time we got to the top, so it might be a bit taxing on little feet.

xxJudexx

I know it's been mentioned before but the observatory and planetarium is excellent. I went a few years ago and recommend it to everyone! It's interesting for both young and old and the show in the planetarium is spectacular! I know when i went it was very affordable too!

davidlizard

minerva_windsong wrote: »

The one thing I would say with Monument is that there are a LOT of steps! My friend and I climbed it a few weeks ago and whilst it was a great view we were knackered by the time we got to the top, so it might be a bit taxing on little feet.

I agree - there are 311 of them, all exactly 6 inches high as they used it for scientific experiments. Our kids (6 and 3 at the time) however had no difficulty ascending. However, the problems start when you meet people coming the other way, as inside its a continual spiral staircase with no landings, so one party has to move into the centre of the staircase where the steps are very narrow to allow the others to pass, and some find this awkward.

However, you do get a certificate at the end!

Wren should have built it with a lift inside!