London with 7 year olds

[PrincessIsAUnicorn]

DH and I have our godtwins for a weekend, we are thinking of The Natural History Museum and taking a picture of them in front of Buckingham Palace, other than that we are not sure what to do. Any ideas? TIA

Transport musuem at Convent Garden is good, and you have the street entertainment there as well

or London Eye followed by a boat trip from the pier next to it was a good day out. There is an excellant fish n chip shop there as well

Tower Bridge sky walk and Tower of London

Have fun

Duck Tour or Thames RIB Experience

Take them to see a show? Matilda is brilliant for this age group, so is School of Rock or Joseph which is on at the Palladium for the next few weeks. The transport museum is great and so is the science museum. Hamleys is hell on Earth but they will love it British Museum to see the mummies? Loads of great things to do

Another who would recommend the London Transport Museum and perhaps a trip on a river boat . I think one of them you can use with an oyster card day ticket too .

The Wonderlab at the Science Museum is fab and our favourite.

Other things that have gone down well have been the Natural History Museum, the aquarium, the planetarium and a boat ride down the Thames.

My dc also enjoyed eating at the Rainforest Cafe, but you have to book in advance.

DS was 6 when we did London. Ridleys was amazing, London Zoo, Tower of London, changing of the guard at BP, all the Westminster stuff (Big Ben HoP Downing street etc) Piccadilly Circus, London Eye, Wembley if they are in to football.
The list is actually endless!

The Princess Diana memorial park is a must it is brilliant, there’s water and sand so a change of clothes would be good.

Shrieks adventure is good but pricey, you might be able to get 241s if travelling by train.

Check out kidsweek if you want to catch a show children go free to lots of shows in August, some big West end ones but also some specific child friendly ones. Dinosaur zoo is amazing if its on this year.

The Golden Hynde on the south bank is a lesser known gem. Mine loved it at that age. Especially if they like ships and pirated!

HMS Belfast is good.

All of the above suggestions are great, but try not to cram too much in! You’ll know the stamina level of the kids, or their parents will, id recommend quitting when you are ahead rather than spoil something good by them being tired and whinging.

Any recommendations for places to stay?

Transport Museum is free for kids and 2for1 with National Rail vouchers, as are a lot of London attractions - you need train tickets and printed vouchers or leaflet to use this but it can save you a fortune if you want to see big sights.

If in August take advantage if free kids show tickets through kidsweek. The most popular will have sold out but there will be some left. Science museum, Hyde Park, bus tour, Tower, Pudding Lane/Monument, Museum of London , south bank centre and London Eye?

We go to London a lot , usually go for Premier Inn, there are plenty of them around. Comfortable beds, a good breakfast and the kids eat free

The Science Museum has fun activities for kids.

Fantastic children's play park at Kew Gardens plus activities and other things that will appeal like the tree walk.

M&M shop is popular!

We normally stay at the Premier Inn at Stratford, its brilliant because a) we come from the East so on our way in to the city, b) you have the shopping centre and c) the Olympic park. The Olympic park has several play parks that DD loves and fountains. The Olympic swimming pool sometimes has a HUGE inflatable which is brilliant (they provide buoyancy aids so you don’t have to be a great swimmer).

DD also really enjoyed Kidzania but it was very busy, you are better getting a slot that covers closing time as all the tiny children will have gone home.

Keep it tight, not too much travelling and traipsing.

Cut waaay back on activities. 7 year olds who are not used to London quickly get absolutely exhausted from schlepping around on the tube and the average walking pace on the street.

By all means go to a museum, but honestly, I wouldn’t bother with playgrounds, which you have at home — even the Princess Diana one, which my seven year old liked when he was younger — and be prepared for them to get much more interested in entirely random things.

I spent two days in London with two seven years olds last week, and their highlights were the free ‘Which Lego Mini-Fig Are You?’ self-scan in the window of the Lego Store, street entertainers, the skateboarders and the fountain ‘rooms’ on the South Bank, and pizza at Francomanca, way more than the more obviously ‘special’ boat trip, and climbing the Monument (they’d done the Great Fire this year), or Olafur Eliasson at Tate Modern.

London eye, the sea life centre on the south bank. Rainforest cafe and Leicester Square with the m & m shop and big Lego shop. Kidzania! Don't try and cram too much in though, it's very full on 😊

A family ticket (cheaper if you show oyster at the kiosk) on Thames Cruises, at Westminster Pier next to Big Ben is good value for hop on hop off to see The London Eye, walk around the Tower (no need to pay to go in as the perimeter is so interesting). They might like the boats next door at St Katherine's Dock while you are there too. Hop pff again at Greenwich for lunch and the Cutty Sark.
If they like heights you could try to get tickets (free) for Sky Garden. It's the same height as St Pauls viewing platform and 360 view. Street theatre in Covent Garden is mesmerising for that age. Each act is around 30 mins, so you time it to watch from the start and they might be asked to participate as a volunteer.
Horses at Horse Guard's Parade is more impressive and memorable to that age than Buckingham Palace, I think.

Thank you everyone, we are looking after said godtwins at the moment, we had dinner, took them to bed and I fell asleep 🤷🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️
Thank you for all those, I forgot about M&M world and the Lego shop opposite. You'd think I'd know what to do, seeing as I lived in Thamesmead and went every other weekend in the 90s, although it has changed vastly since then (like no more trocadero!!!) I was in my teens at the time, so no idea what a 7 year old would find interesting (the boy is obsessed with titanic at the moment) so maybe HMS Belfast would be a hit, but at the same time the further away we are from the Houses of Parliament the better. Will show this thread to my DH and put a plan in to action, you are all stars

HMS Belfast is fabulous - my DS used to love going there. If you do head to Buckingham Palace, there's a little playground in St James's Park; it's really close but a bit hidden. If you stand with your back to the palace, cross to the park and head to the right side of the lake. Right at the top corner of the park there's a play area. It's not huge, but it will give them / you a break! Then you can walk through the park from there to Westminster/ Parliament - if you walk straight through Horseguards Parade (arch through there, with soldiers on horseback) and then you're right by Whitehall/ Downing Street/ Westminster.