Recommendations for short trip to London

[MaggieMaeWalsh]

Hello,
will be staying in central London for four days at the end of the month with my four (11, 10, 6 & 3.5). Any recommendations for sights/museums/activities suitable for everyone greatly appreciated.

Science museum?

London eye?

natural history museum

some good outdoor activities: Diana Memorial Playground, with wooden pirate ship (free);
the zoo in regents park

some apps out there that may be useful, "around me" which is quite general or "Haystacks" which focuses on activities for kids

You can use Tescos vouchers for London Eye at the moment and I would say Natural HIstory Museum and a visit to see Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square etc

We spent a lovely afternoon on Southbank the other day. Lots of street performers and there's a great playground.

There's a fair there at the moment too. Attractions wise, there's the Aquarium and the Eye but both expensive, or further along there's Tate Modern (free).

Borough Market is well worth a visit too (by London Bridge). Don't know if this is still a Saturday Market or open every day.

If you do go to Borough Market, The Golden Hinde makes a great visit, it's nearby. And from there it's nice to walk along the Thames towards Tower Bridge. I don't know if it's still on, but there is a Tower Bridge exhibition which takes you along the bridge. You may even be lucky enough to see it open.

Would also echo the Diana playground, in fact Kensingon Gardens in general. Kensingon Palace is lovely if they like history.

Also - Regents Park with boating lake, Corams Fields - great playground and the nearby Foundling Museum, The Wellcome collection if they like science (bit gory though!), all the big museums - Science, Natural History, V and A, Hampstead Heath and Golders Hill Park and Bethnal Green museum of childhood.

If you're using public transport, get yourself onto the www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london website. Two adults paying for the price of one or one adult, one child on a load of museums, boat trips etc.

I'd also recommend taking a boat from Tower Bridge down to Greenwich, seeing the Maritime Museum (make sure to do the hands-on section at the top) and/or the observatory, then taking the Docklands Light Railway back into London. You get the most amazing views: first of London from the Thames, then of London's rooftops, including Canary Wharf.

The London Transport Museum in Covent Garden is also great for those ages (and free for the children, 2 for 1 for the adults), with tickets to punch, vehicles to drive. You can then wander around the market and watch the buskers.

Watching with interest. DSs are 11 and 13, only been to the Nat History Museum and The Tower! Thinking of 3 nights in London at the end of the hols.