Ideas for an afternoon in London with a 6 and 8 year old

[Findmeatthebeach]

We are heading up to London for the day on Friday to visit the zoo for my daughter's birthday . We will get to the zoo for 11ish and don't have to catch a train home from Waterloo until just after 6. Neither children have been to London before so wanted to take in some sights but now thinking that after a very early start and lots of walking we probably just need a lovely park with a cafe. Any ideas welcome

Hyde park is nice. I think you can play with the water from the fountain there. St James is lovely too

We’ve just been to London zoo with 4 & 6 year old. We got there at 10, enjoyed a lovely morning including eating a picnic we had brought with us, and we could have spent much longer there than we did but shot off at 2 as we had somewhere else to go. My point being: you might spend several hours at the zoo, and I wouldn’t plan on rushing off anywhere else necessarily.

You will be right by Regent’s Park, which itself is a gorgeous vast and varied place to explore, with lovely playgrounds. If you were very adventurous and keen on taking in a Site then I suppose you might consider going to Madame Tussaud’s … but I have never been and can’t recommend. It could be wildly inappropriate for that age of child, and also no doubt stupidly expensive!

You’re right by the canal / Camden Town. It’s great fun for kids to walk along the canal, so much to see and you could get all the way to kings cross depending on exhaustion levels. Or just go a bit to camden and get a tube from there.

We had a weekend in Paris when the kids were young - a big hit was the open top bus tour which (even when we didn’t get off) let them see sights without too much leg work. Plus the top of a bus itself is a treat!

You’ll spend hours and hours at the zoo.
The most efficient way to see sights on your way home would be to catch the Northern Line south from Camden Town, get off the tube at Charing Cross, say hello to Nelsons Column at Trafalgar Square and walk slowly over the Golden Jubilee pedestrian bridge from Charing Cross to Waterloo, looking at the view downriver, then just hang out at the riverside around Waterloo looking at the view/buskers/skateboarders/the Eye/the Houses of Parliament.

If your feet are absolutely killing you you can just get the tube straight to Waterloo and stagger to the riverbank to people watch. There’s a street food market behind the Royal Festival Hall, and a playground by the London Eye.

These are great ideas, thank you! @Popskipiekin was the zoo super busy? We wondered about taking scooters to save legs but I guess they could easily become a nuisance

The zoo did get busier as the morning went on (when we arrived at 10 we were first in and felt completely empty). Our two managed fine just walking but given it’s a long day with travel, and it will speed up your access to parks later on, I’d say scooters would be great. Plenty of families with buggies etc. and room to manoeuvre. And the zoo do manage / restrict the numbers so I’m sure it’s far less than it would ordinarily be.

I would just stick with Regents Park which is lovely and the zoo is right in. Or Primrose Hill the other side of the zoo which will give you a great view over London.

I doubt you’ll be allowed to use scooters in the zoo

Someone has already mentioned the canal (by foot), but you can also take a boat along the canal, it goes right under (literally under) one part of the zoo, through tunnels etc. It's a great way to see lots without having to walk. Plus Camden is great to have a quick browse. The boat takes you all the way to Paddington, where you could then catch the tube back to your station

You are definitely allowed scooters at London and Whipsnade zoos. We are members and go all the time.

As others said you can easily spend hours there. So Regent's Park can be a nice option if you do leave early. Definitely propose a picnic, the food isn't great and is overpriced. Then maybe get ice cream either at the park or the zoo.

Zsl have been good at managing numbers and they have a one way system in place.

Like others have said, just stick where you are, zoo, walk to Camden market along regents canal and walk back again, up primrose hill for nice London view and celeb spotting plus a man flies two huge macaws there and then relax in Regent’s Park. All next to each other and will more than fill the time

London Zoo is brilliant! You can easily spend the full day there. We often find we don’t have enough time to see everything we want - it’s such a splendid place.

I’d agree with @NicknamesAreLikeKleenex
that the area near South Bank is great for places to eat with kids and it’s best to be quite close to your train station when eating so you aren’t worrying about travel time to the station as much.
Loads of fun buskers/giant bubble performers etc that are fun for kids too.

Kids are allowed scooters in the zoo, I'm sure it says so on the website

We're regular visitors (we live in London) and if you want to see everything at the zoo, including whatever scheduled shows are running (penguin feeding, etc), then it'll take the entire day with children of six and eight. Scooters are allowed, but you have to leave them outside when you go inside areas such as the Reptile House, so it's a bit of a pain taking them (and on the Tube etc). I wouldn't bother with them and simply take your time going round. Weather wise it should be a really lovely day for it so if you do finish with enough time to get to Waterloo, I'd head down to the Southbank where you can go on the shingle beach next to the Thames if the tide's out, plus there are lots of street entertainers, food carts, etc.

I would take the narrowboat waterbus from Little Venice. If you go to Paddington (and visit the Paddington statue in the station), it's a short walk along the canal to the boat stop. You can buy a combined ticket and they drop you on the bankside inside the zoo so you don't have to queue, which is an added bonus! There is a nice cafe on a boat at Little Venice and there is a whole canalside development with restaurants and cafes at Paddington.

www.londonwaterbus.com/

The zoo is in Regent's Park so you could just spend the afternoon there. If you are taking the canal boat back to Paddington, it's just one stop on the tube to Bayswater and the amazing Peter Pan themed Princess of Wales Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park. There are also cafes, pedalos, the fountain for paddling and an ice cream parlour on Bayswater Road. There's an ice rink and bowling alley on Queensway if the weather turns. If you bring some whole peanuts, you could feed the wild parakeets and squirrels, who will eat from your hand. There is a spot near the Peter Pan statue where they congregate:

londonist.com/london/great-outdoors/there-s-a-place-in-hyde-park-where-parakeets-will-land-on-your-hand

www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/kensington-gardens/things-to-see-and-do/diana-memorial-playground

If you decide to head back to Waterloo, you could take a river bus past the sites eg Houses of Parliament, London Eye, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Canary Wharf etc I would book tickets in advance though because of social distancing rules.

Brilliant, thank you so much for all your suggestions they've been incredibly helpful!

I don’t know about the zoo but hopefully this is helpful about sites. The London Eye is only about five mins walk from Waterloo and you can see the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben across the river from there. Not sure if Big Ben is covered in scaffolding still.

Green Park is about 3 mins by tube (Jubilee Line) from Waterloo and Buckingham Palace is the opposite side of the park. It’s only a few mins walk.

There's a lovely children's playground area at the Buckingham Palace end of St James's Park and you can look at the waterfowl. (If you want to feed them - not the pelicans though - buy a bag of seeds from the Tesco Metro by Piccadilly Circus (Bakerloo Line) before you get to the park. )

From there you could walk to Trafalgar Square via Admiralty Arch and then either over the Hungerford foot bridge (next to Embankment Tube) to the Southbank to Waterloo or into Parliament Square and get the Jubilee Line to Waterloo a rather whacky Station and then take the travelator at Waterloo to the train.

All these lovely plans and its now supposed to rain all day!! On the train to Waterloo now