Ideas of where to go in London with 11 year old dd (for her birthday)

[Rainbowsandrascals]

She’s never been to London before. She has autism so can get anxious if it’s very crowded but we would plan to go in January. Any suggestions for an 11 year old. She likes crafting, drawing, art, drama and afternoon tea!
Any suggestions on which hotels to stay in too please? 😁

Depends on your budget but the Covent Garden Travelodge is brilliantly located. Don't check in bang on 3pm as it will be crowded. Iirc it has a restaurant.

I'd say Tate Modern with a trip on the Clipper river boats from the Tate jetty, and Somerset House skating if you can get a slot for the latter as it gets very booked up. If not, then the National Theatre Christmas show is usually pretty fab. Slightly tricky to eat at the national unless you are willing to spend a lot imo.

Tate Modern is a good place to go. Bankside is a really nice, area for a drink or a bite to eat, popular with professionals and families — that’s the area directly behind the Tate. You could walk down the river to borough market / London Bridge too (the Shangri La on top of the Shard is amazing place for afternoon tea ) if going on a weekday (gets crazy busy on weekends), or walk the other direction towards the London Eye / Westminster / Covent Garden. It’s all walkable from the Tate.

I went to London with my daughter a few years ago in February, we stayed at Montague in The Gardens which felt like a real treat, we got a good deal on Superbreak. Her highlight was afternoon tea in the piano Lounge of Fortnum and Mason (so much food and a doggy bag!) . She was also really happy in Lush on Oxford street!

The little angel theatre is a puppet theatre that does beautiful work. It's tiny and friendly and is off Islington high st which has lovely cafes and shops to browse in. Really worth a look. They do puppet shows for tinies but also more grown up shows too - I love it and think it's one of London's hidden gems.

The Victoria and Albert museum does a lot of activities for families - a brilliant place for anyone interested in craft and art. It never feels crowded in the way the Science and Natural History Museums do. They have an amazingly beautiful cafe as well. Here's a link to the family activities - I can really recommend the backpacks :- www.vam.ac.uk/whatson/programmes/family.
If you have time ( and good weather!) afterwards, you can walk to Kensington gardens to visit the Princess Diana memorial playground which is fabulous and has lots of small areas with sensory activities she might enjoy.

The Sanderson hotel is amazing for afternoon tea.

I am not meaning this in a rude way but if she doesn't have a particular place in London she wants to go to why does she want to go? Even in January it's very busy in the tourist areas.

Afternoon tea at the Diamond Tea Saloon at Fortnum and Masons, lots of room between tables, very calm, some light piano music. They bring hot choclate in a beautiful tea pot. Took my DD at a similar age she loved it - had the children's tea so no fancy sandwich flavours. The staff were lovely.

The National Gallery do lovely art workshops, if the dates work for when you are there:

www.nationalgallery.org.uk/families