What to do with 7 and 11 year old in London over half term.

[Foodtheif]

Looking for something fairly inexpensive. Thinking of a nice playground, lunch and maybe something fun in the afternoon. Any suggestions?

Science museum is free entry and great for kids that age - loads to look at and explore in the hands on section too.

Hyde Park followed by National History Museum.

Picnic at Olympic Park (excellent playgrounds)

Greenwich- Maritime Museum (free) and an excellent park

Yes to Greenwich museum also in South is horniman museum and gardens

Holland Park is beautiful

All the South Kensington Museums have great free half term events- Science museum, NHM, and V&A

Picnic in Hyde Park for lunch.

Thames Clipper down to Greenwich every time.

Thanks all. Can’t decide what to do! Which museum is he best for kids would you say?

Science museum and Natural History museum, they are adjacent to each other. Take a packed lunch. Enjoy.

This is an impossible question to answer surely? What are the kids into.... science or natural history. You could aim to do a bit of each.... so the dinosaur section in the NH museum on the ground floor and something appealing from the Science museum as an example.

Agree with PP’s, South Kensington is the best place to be.

Sky garden in Fenchurch st is free but you have to book, google it, the kids love it

Do you live in London or are you visiting? If visiting maybe brave all the touristy things, museums etc but they'll be packed. If you live here give us a location (N, S, NW etc) and you will get more local tips.

The Skygarden in Fenchurch street is cool. You take a lift to the top of a skyscraper and can get a 360 degree view of the city. It’s free but usually you have to book in advance and they’d probably all be gone for half term by now. However you can just turn up and still get in, bit more of a gamble though if particularly busy.

I second the Thames clipper idea. You can start off at Westminster, walk over the bridge to the wheel then get the boat all the way down to Greenwich. Maritime museum is good, or you could go to the observatory.
The clipper is fab and you can get a seat outside at the back it's quite exhilarating as it goes really fast at times. Doing this you'll get to see loads of the sites too without much walking around.

There's a huge free event going on in Victoria Park until this Thurs:

www.allpointseastfestival.com/info/nbhd/

Victoria Park has two big playgrounds, one of which is just amazing and I wish I was still a kid. We didn't have playgrounds like that when I was a child (sob!)

Plus (for a cost) there's pedalos and rowing boats on the lake. The Pavilion cafe overlooking the lake is a great spot for lunch but gets VERY busy. The festival has lots of streetfood though, plus there are other food options like Gail's Bakery or hot sausage rolls from The Ginger Pig within one minute's walk of the park.

South Bank is quite cool for a wander. There is a big play area near the London Eye with lots of climbing things. Then carousel, lots of shops, restaurants, stalls, bars, art gallery etc. Things going on in the south bank centre for kids during half term. And they usually love the water fountains that form a room you can run in and out of. Could walk down to the Tate Modern too, cross the bridge over to St Paul’s cathedral.

Boat from London Eye to Greenwich. You get to see Houses of Parliament, Tower of London, Shakespeare's Globe and Tower Bridge on the way. At Greenwich there's the Cutty Sark, the free Maritime Museum with great hands on stuff for kids to do (steer a ship into harbour; load and unload boats with a crane etc) as well as a lovely playpark with cafe/ice-cream shop , pedalo lake and the meridian line, with Observatory if they like that sort of thing (that has an entrance fee.

Or Science Museum (free with fantastic stuff for kids to do) then picnic in Kensington Gardens and trip to Diana playpark if it's not too crowded.

Some of our favourites:
Science and Natural History Museums (great but busy)
British Museum for the mummies
Bank of England Museum
Museum of London
The Sky Garden (free but book online in advance)
Tate Modern Viewing Platform
Rooftop at One New Change for good views of At Pauls
Minalima, the millennium bridge and Leadenhall Market (for Harry Potter fans
Tower Bridge (check online for raising times)
Roman London: the Ampitheatre and Mithraeum are both free.

So much stuff to do in London. My kids love hiring bikes. You have to 14 for the Santander bikes but go to Battersea park and hire recumbent bikes. Really good fun. We normally go to Dulwich for this but it's the same company. Also a zoo and a great adventure playground in Battersea park.

www.londonrecumbents.com/hires-battersea.html

RAF museum if you are central/north
Kings X & St Pancras + british Library and/or Wellcome foundation &/or Crick

Came on to say History Museum and Science Museum but see they've been said already
The Kensington gardens Diana memorial park is brilliant too, mine both similar ages loved that when we went

I would second Battersea Park - the children's zoo is great ( they have meerkats ) Depends on your 11 yr old but although billed as a children's zoo I think it is is great - also the recumbent bicycles etc as a pp said - also can hire a rowing boat or pedalo type thing on the lake. 2 cafes and if you have had enough a short walk to Kings Rd / Sloane Square with the Saatchi gallery or at the other end a lovely Italian restaurant where you can sit upstairs in little tree house type tables (I think from memory is is called The Jam ). But Battersea Park a short walk from Sloane Square Tube station which would get you to the South Ken. Museums - Science and Natural History Museums or indeed you could walk to them from BP

The Ooher thing you could do from Battersea Park ( you would need to check timings / availability) is to get a boat from Cadogan Pier which ( may need a change ) but via Westminster will take you up the river to Greenwich which is great ( Maritime museum , Cutty Sark etc) and then on to the Thames Barrier)

Whatever you decide have a lovely day

Super suggestions!

We really like the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. My two are younger than yours but it's a great place and often a bit quieter than the South Ken museums. London Transport Museum is also worth a visit. I think the Museum of London has a Beasts of London exhibition and programme of activities on which I've heard good things about. We recently hired a boat from 'Go Boat' and travelled from Paddington basin to London zoo where we stopped on the river and had a picnic. It was a brilliant couple of hours and a different way of seeing that part of London. You can carry on down to Camden lock but we decided not to as it can apparently get very busy on that stretch of the river. Would thoroughly recommend that as an option.

Just wanted to agree with the Natural History Museum posters. We went today with a 10 and 8 year old. I think we were there 5 1/2 hours and there were huge parts we didn’t see, but our heads were full.
The children absolutely loved it and I was glad I’d left it until now to go and seemed the right age to start to really enjoy and understand it.