London with two 10yr old boys

[alybalybee]

I am planning a surprise 'bumping into' for my DS and one of his best friends. We now live 400 miles apart but BF and his mum are planning a weekend trip to London and we will 'just happen' to be in the same place at the same time! Any suggestions for where that place could be? There is obviously the NH museum and science museum but I wondered if there is anywhere a bit different or new that as non-Londoners we may not be aware of. The boys are fairly typical 10 yr olds and will be ecstatic just to be together but it would be great to do something fun and a bit different that will make their day extra-special.
Thank you.

How about the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park? Looks fantastic and in a great central location. EAW.

That looks fab, thank you.

If you do meet at the Serpentine, take swimmies. The lido is fantastic, cheap and usually empty. Imperial War Museum in Waterloo and National Army Museum in Chelsea are both free and very interesting.

My son (8) and nephew (10) loved Ripley's Believe It or Not. It's in Piccadilly Circus and is a bit tacky, but it's full of really weird things that seem to appeal to boys. There was a mirror maze which we all enjoyed. It's pretty expensive and didn't take us a very long time to go round but you can often get vouchers. My brother got a good deal with Tesco points. Have a google, Ripleys

The Golden Hinde ship by London Bridge is great and they run workshops and even sleepovers for kids.

Or take the boat from Westminster pier to Greenwich and visit the National Maritime Museum, look at the Cutty Sark and vidit the Royal Observatory/planetarium. Our boys love it there, and the boat ride is an adventure in itself.

The London Aquarium is fab but pricey. The London dungeon might be a bit too scary still?

Other ideas are treetop walkway in Kew Gardens, Hampton Court, Tower of London, climb to the top of St Paul's or Monument, or do the British Museum. I love London

Is the Trocadero still in Pic Circus? Took my brother and friend years agi and they loved it

Definitely Greenwich. Not sure if Cutty Sark is reopened yet but DSs love the hands on sections of the Maritime Museum (mostly upstairs IIRC) where you can load and unload cargo from a mini crane into a boat, and morse code each other across the room. You also get to practise steering a massive naval ship via computer generated pictures and to fire torpedoes.

They can have a go on the pedaloes on the park lake. If they are even a bit geeky they might like to visit Brunel's foot tunnel under the Thames (which incidentally comes out at Island Gardens - just a short walk from Mudchute city farm, though they may be too old for that. Or ride the driver free Docklands Light railway and sit at the front. If you get a nice conductor he sometimes lets kids switch the train on and off. (Only happened twice and we ride it a lot!)

From Greenwich you can get the clipper boat back into central London - our DC and their friends love that boat ride. You see Tower Bridge, Tower of London, London Eye.

At South Bank right now there's loads of fun stuff to look at. Just walk along the river. There's the multicoloured sand beach, the giant green chairs, loads of massive outdoor art, some cool dude skateboarders and free runners, and lots of places to eat. (Giraffe, Strada etc.)

Wow, so many suggestions....thank you all. I will check them all out over the next day or so. It looks as though water may be the theme of the day, I can't wait! Thank you.

Try the Thames 'ducks' - the amphibious car/boats things on the river. You can book (I think) and maybe meet up on the same duck?

Cutty sark has reopened (I'm sitting in the Starbucks next to it right now) and there is also Greenwich park which is great on a nice day.
Ripleys is good, there is also m and m world in Piccadilly circus. It is really a large shop but generally good fun.

Discover in Stratford is also great for kids/adults and pretty cheap .. Sorry on phone so can't do a link but google it.

You also madam Tussauds up baker street (personally not a fan) and the sherlock Holmes museum is next to it.

On a nice day you could do a nice touristy walk. Start at Hyde park, can walk down to bucks palace, then past traf square, down by downing street to Westminster abbey and houses of parliament then over to the millennium wheel. Good for photos and if it's a nice day can stop for picnic etc either in Hyde park or at James park.

And if u can, and if they are potter fans, get pictures taken at platform 9 3/4 at kings cross :)

Oh and also the imperial war museum is amazing, and last time I was there had a horrible histories 'the trenches' area which was super fun!!

Yes the trenches area of IWM is brilliant. So's the submarine.

Thanks Lara for tip about Cutty Sark. I feel an excuse to go to Greenwich coming on. Love that part of London. Day out to Greenwich is our family's favourite trip.

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions. I think we're going to take a trip on a 'Duck', thanks Sparkybabe, then give the boys the choice of a few of the suggestions above. Now, which forum do I post on to request no rain on the day?! :)