I won’t detail out what we did on each individual day In London because it’s all a bit of blur now but I’ll recap our highlights to perhaps give other families an idea of what kid friendly activities there are in London. This post will focus on some of the free museums & art galleries.
We were obviously conscious of our budget and the fact that one Australian dollar is worth basically half a British pound had us second guessing the necessity of every purchase. But I was quite surprised by how many free attractions there are in London so we actually experienced London is a relatively budget-friendly way.
Natural History Museum
One of our highlights was the Natural History Musuem which is absolutely free! It’s a huge collections of all things zoology, palaeontology, geology and mineralogy, including animal specimens that were collected by Charles Darwin! The architecture of the main building is simply breathtaking and the main hall features a blue whale skeleton suspended from the ceiling. (Interestingly, the blue whale’s skeleton was found in Wexford Harbour, Ireland in 1891 and was in storage for 42 years before being displayed in the hall with all the other whale and animal specimens. It moved to the main hall in 2017, replacing a skeleton cast of ‘Dippy’, the Diplodocus )
The girls loved the huge array of taxidermy animal specimens and I was particularly excited to point out the ichthyosaur fossils that were discovered by Mary Anning, a girl from the south of England who we had read about in a book we purchased from the Queensland Musuem called ‘Stone Girl, Bone Girl’. We also discovered that the Natural History Museum is the musem from one of the girls favourite shows ‘Andy’s Prehistoric Adventures’ and we were able to locate the clock that is used in the show.
We spent a good solid hour in the geology area of the museum which has countless rocks and mineral specimens, including gemstones. It also features a gallery dedicated to natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanos and tsunamis. This was particularly interesting after our time in Japan. Actually, in the Natural History Museum is as a room that is designed to look like the interior of a grocery shop in Kobe Japan which shook, replicating what it would feel like to be in the earthquake that occurred in 1995. There was even CCTV footage playing on small TVs from inside the shop at the time of the earthquake. After being in Japan and seeing a volcano - Mt Fuji - and learning about Tsunamis from seeing warning signs on the beach of Kamakura, it was a great experience for girls to see all the information presented in a museum format.
The other huge highlight for us was the dinosaur section where they have a massive robotic T-Rex, which roars and moves! Initially, we had seen a short clip of the T-Rex on a YouTube video and the girls said they would be too scared to see the T-Rex for real but after a bit a pep talk from Braino and I, the girls braved it and loved the T-Rex! Such a relief, because it was really impressive.
I would absolutely recommend the Natural History Museum! It’s amazing that its’ free and while it is recommended to book a time slot online, we did and it didn’t seem necessary on the day. It’s located ver centrally in South Kensington, not far from Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace.
Science Museum
Right next door to the Natural History Museum is the Science Museum, which is also free to enter and there are loads of exhibits included in the free admission. So much so that you could really dedicate a full day here. After an hour or so we felt a bit museumed -out and there were still many levels we hadn’t gone to yet.
I feel like the Science Musuem would be amazing for slightly older kids, even teenagers - like maybe 10 years and up. There is an amazing collection of airplanes and space shuttles and other feats of engineering. Our girls loved the area called ‘Who Am I’ which explores genetics, in particular the touch screen interactive games that focused on health, physical changes and peoples different appearance.
If I were to dedicate a full day the Science Musuem, I would buy tickets to the Wonderlab area, which is an interactive area for kids to learn in a really hands on way. It looked rather similar to the SparkLab Centre at the Brisbane Museum, which is why we didn’t initially prioritise it.
I’d also book tickets to one of the different nature based IMAX movies that are showing like Antarctic 3D and Ocean Odyssey.
Tate Modern
The Tate Modern is a huge art gallery, housed in a gigantic old power station on the banks of the Thames, near the Millennium Bridge and next to Shakespeares Globe. It was refurbished in the late 90s and opened in 2000 as a stunning gallery for modern art. It’s free to enter and there are a few sections that are kid friendly, we spent about an hour and a half there before visiting the tour at Shakespeares Globe Theatre.
There is a section in the foyer area with books, colouring in and blocks for toddlers an d young kids to play with while parents chill out on the surrounding couches. There are also a few digital art stations around the gallery were kids (and adults) can create art on a iPad style screen and then see their artworks appear in the large frames along the walls above.
We also wander though one of the galleries full of art - there is so many different levels of galleries, we just found the closest one to have a look at. Some of the modern art was bizarre and kind of creepy, some of it raised a few questions from the girls, but overall, it’s always thought provoking and educational. It’s free to enter and depending on how patient your kids can be when it comes to modern art, you could easily spend a couple of hours there.
The British Museum
This is one of the only really disappointing things about our stay in London. We intended to go The British Museum which is also free to enter, but one the afternoon that we went, we found that the line to get in was out the front gate and down the street. It was actually our last full day as well, as we had no option to come back another day. We didn’t book tickets in advance but I’m not sure that would have made a difference as we couldn’t even see a separate line for ticket holders. It was kind of mind blowing to see the line that long. We were there for about 15 minutes and the line didn’t move at all, so we decided to call it a day and not wait around.
The British Museum has an extensive collection of ancient artefacts, including Egyptian mummies. I have been many years ago but I only have vague memories of it. It would have been a good learning experience for the girls. So if you do have your heart set on visiting the British Musuem, I would recommended booking a ticket online, even though they are free, and arriving first thing in the morning.
Other suggestions
Another free Musuem that we didn’t go to but would be interesting is the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is located right next to the Natural History Museum and Science Museum. It a museum / art gallery that focuses on art, design and performance, for example there is an upcoming exhibit focusing on the songwriting and costumes of Taylor Swift.
There is a Young V&A which is further across London in Bethnal Green, near the Tower of London. It appeared to have similar themes to the V&A just in a more interactive format for kids.
The Discover Children’s Story Centre was on our list but we didn’t make it as it was a little further east, beyond the Tower of London and it also required paid tickets. It is basically an imaginative, indoor play space that is themed around storytelling. It says it’s designed for babies to 11 year olds but I would say, from the looks of the website, it’s probably great for toddlers and younger kids rather than 6 and above. But that’s just my guess.