London (City) for 6 year old and two vigourous 3 year olds at the same time

[time4tea]

Hello

I'm a Londoner myself, but need to do something great for my godson (6) his sister (a really energetic 3 year old) which would please them both. As my son is 3, I'm not sure which would be good for both. Had been thinking of London Museum, but went there yesterday and my son (fairly quiet) wasn't amused for too long.

Was thinking of the Tower? but have never been there myself.

thanks for any tips. I'm based in Hackney, with a new baby, I don't want to stray too far from the centre of London, but if necessary, will travel...

thanks XXX T4T

How about a sight seeing tour bus. I know you said the three year old is energetic but it might work!

take a river boat down to greenwich ?

the London Acquarium .. although its pricey

I like city farm at Rotherhite tunnel (free and good for both ages) and then a walk down the river for lunch

Science or Natural History museaums more set up for kids last time I looked?

A wander in Kensington Gardens finishing at Diana Memorial Playground?

South Bank?

Mudchute Farm, a ride on the DLR to Tower Hill and back, a walk along the river by Island Gardens? There is a cafe by the river tunnel.

Ride on London Eye and Riverboat ride - you can get a dual ticket at reasonablish price from lastminute.com. I took ds when he was 4 and dd a baby. He loved it, and I could sit down for most of the time

The Tower will be reasonable for a group with such young children (it's quite expensive for older ones) and has lots of open space to run about in.
I took ds and dd at roughly these ages and we found plenty to keep both runners and readers occupied.
I am a Londoner too and it was my first ever visit to the Tower when I took ds aged four. I was 41. I was honestly amazed at how beautiful it was inside and how much there is to see
But a boat trip to Greenwich and a gallop round the park (boating lake and excellent playground, plus good cafe in the Maritime Museum, all at the bottom of the hill), would also be good.

only concern with tower is if you have baby with you there are a few steps also the 6 year old will love it but the 3 year olds will be off chasing pigeons .. which honestly I'd prefer not to pay for

I'm like Marina though .. didn't make it there until last year and agree stunningly beautiful place

Coram's fields! Very easy, very enclosed! Not much of an outing, though?

Museum of Childhood any good?

The Docklands Museum is good in places, although quite segregated, there's a baby bit and a grownup bit.

Greenwich - Cutty Sark and the Observatory plus the Maritime Museums. The only thing you have to pay for would be the Cutty Sark plus train fares - the other two are free and you can take a picnic. Children are usually fascinated by the DLR .

The DLR is a good outing on its own - you can go by City Airport and watch the planes land and take off. There's a great dim sum joint that faces the airport, too.

Princess Diana playground in Hyde Park. I went with DS(7) and DD(2) last week and we spent about 5 hours. I had a picnic for them as the food is rather expensive (£5 for a pizza etc).

thanks for all these ideas. might splash out on the Tower, after all. Glad to see I'm not the only slack Londoner who has never been there...

the tour bus is a great idea. apparently the 15 and 11 buses make a pretty good tour bus for nothing for kids, and £1 oyster/£2 single for adults.

I live in central london with two kids that age ish. We have an annual pass for the tower, but I would say that it involves lots of steps - is not pushchair friendly at all.

The Natural History Museum would be my first choice for that age range. It is free - there is so much for every interest. And the wildlife garden opens around about now I think which is just outside and is really fabulous.

No-one mentioned the zoo, but it would be great for those ages. Expensive though. The new gorilla kingdom just opened and is great!