Day trip to London for 5 year old's birthday, help me plan?

[PourquoiTuGachesTaVie]

We will arrive at Euston at 9am and depart at 6pm on a Saturday in August. He has wanted to visit London for a long time, but only because he wants to play in a big park (and London must have bigger and better parks than we do).

Where would you go? I'm concerned the NHM or Science museum will be heaving so I'm open to all suggestions.

And any recommendations for which park to go for?

You could go to the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green and then Victoria Park. They also have some water fountains and a couple of playgrounds. Nice places for lunch in Victoria Park village.

Or SouthBank - a boat down the Thames?

Well, if he wants a park, the Princess Diana one is good and very big.

And the fountains too.

Try Corams Fields for the park - convenient for Euston.

I second the Princess Diana playground, and a mooch about in the huge park.

Or Greenwich Park?

Greenwich could be fun as you can go by boat. I'm not sure if there's a playground sort of park in the Park, but there's the Observatory, Maritime Museum and Cutty Sark all close together.

I agree that Kensington Gardens for the Diana Playground and fountain (not in the same place) would be good. Maybe a trip on the boats on the Serpentine and a posh icecream somewhere. Combine it with a trip on the top deck of a Double Decker bus past somewhere exciting and you're sorted.

Or Regent's Park and a trip to the zoo. Not cheap but great for that age group and super convenient from Euston.

Oh wow lots of ideas! Thank you, this is going to keep me busy!

we took dd to london. we did the museums - if u do one definitely the natural history over the science museum.

However her favourite place was the m&ms shop - still talks about it and was her absolute favourite! !

we went to London eye and there was a small climbing area for kids behind which she liked and she enjoyed watching all the different street performers.

Diana playground definitely.

There's a really nice play area in Greenwich park and a boating pond/lake thingy

I suggest the Southbank. There's always loads going on there in the summer holidays - and lots of it is free. Check online at Southbank Centre - they do lots of bookable children's shows/productions. Around there you've also got the London Eye, a massive children's play area with big wooden climbing area, the Sealife Centre, not many shops, but loads of restaurants including Giraffe, there's often a small man-made beach overlooking the Thames too for children to play in. You can get a boat up the Thames, go on a London Sight-Seeing bus etc. Southbank is my favourite area!

Agree south bank brilliant

There are a whole load of theatres doing one act show based on childrens books at the moment. I took my DD to see 'Aliens love Underpants' last year and she loved it. You can see things like the gruffalo and room on the broom too. Some of them were listed on amazon local earlier this month too.

If you want to see a museum but not go to South Ken then we love the Museum of London which is in the square mile.