Highbury/Islington - ideas to spend an hour with 1yo whilst daddy works?

[loomer]

My DH has to spend an hour working in Islington next week, and apart from going for a toddle around Finsbury Park, I've no idea what there is locally that might entertain me and my DD (just turned one)...

Any suggestions very gratefully received .

There's a nice pool at the Highbury and Islington roundabout. It has a children's pool with shallow steps into it, which is very child-friendly. I have been to a soft play centre near there, too.

get on the number 73 and sit on the top deck and go for a ride up Balls Pond Road and back

Oooh, that's a good idea with the bus ride sunny... she's never been on public transport before (no snob value, just isn't very do-able in darkest Wiltshire). NQC I don't suppose you can remember where the soft play was? I've googled, and an 'Children's Indoor Adventure Playground' is listed, but address is just Highbury N5...?

isn't Marx buried round there never too early to teach them

Just off Newington Green there's a soft play place calld Zoomaround. Been taking DS, now 18 m-o, since he was about 6 months and he loves it. You can have coffee etc there too and part of it (the far end) is sectioned off for toddlers. www.zoomaround.co.uk. If not then there's another soft play place a couple of minutes up Green Lanes at a big Resevoir, cna't remember what it's called though. Will look it up for you if you like, parking there is free, but it's not as fund for little ones as Zoomaround, better when they're a bit bigger. still it's got a big ball pit which the babies lal seem to like. Also Clissold Park in stoke Newington, closer than Finsbury has good swings and animals, deer, rabbits, goats, birds. also a coffee shop where you can sit in or outside and it's all very baby riendly.

Loomer, if you've only got an hour (it's a fair old hike to Clissold Park from Islington and even further to Finsbury Park) why not go down to the canal and look at the boats?
ds3 and I do that a lot - and it's free!

This is the otehr one, Pirates' Playhouse Next to the Castle Climbing Centre Green Lanes N4 2HA 020 8800 1771.
Mon-Thurs 10-6pm, Fri-Sun 10-7pm .
6 Mths?12 Yrs

If they're crawling at this one I think it's free or cut price. Both this and Zoomaround are no more than £3.50. All very chid friendly round here, so if you go to Zoomaround, there's a posh, and ridiculously expensive French cafe type place for lunch or coffee blah and they fully expect everyone to have a buggy. The 73 goes from Islington straight to Newingston Green, so you could do the bus ride AND the soft play. what lucky little person you'd have then.

Also, the pool near Highbury Corner has quite a nice big playground next to it - and, further down towards Highbury, lots of green space, a cafe and a 1 o'clock club

Wow, great ideas, thanks. Particularly liking the canal boats -free entertainment is always a bonus, and now that she's got reins I could even let her toddle along the towpath for a bit.