Ideas for somewhere to take kids (13 and 11) in London that is cheap or free?

[spacedonkey]

My sister suggested ice skating at Ally Pally (not sure how much it costs). I thought of taking them for a wander round St James Park after dark to look at all the lights. Any ideas would be most welcome. I'm determined my kids won't just sit around the house all weekend again!

Natural History Museum, Science Museum abd the V&A are all free. And they are all great places.

They're in South Kensington.

Xmas lights, Oxford St, Regent St, Covent Gdn? Thames walk County Hall to Tate Modern or Tower Bridge if you are feeling v. energetic? Many museums and art galleries are free (or voluntary donation - if you can't afford it, don't bother). Any of the parks...

thanks for those ideas

I was wondering if anyone knew of any particular events going on over the weekend

Personally I love just wandering about especially at this time of year, but my darling children tend to moan if there isn't a specific "point" to an outing

Near Bayswater train station (in Hyde Park) there is the Princess Diane garden with full size Peter Pan ship, a sensory garden, a fort, wigwams. Loads to do there, needs to be dry though

Sorry didn't 13/11 age till after. Still is loads around there anyway.

hi sm, have just had a look at time out for you - nothing really grabbed me in terms of special events (e.g. no lord mayor's show or anything like that) but it does say which attractions are free, so why not have a look?

will do, I'm a lazy slug, I should've just gone out and bought a Time Out in the first place!

I think South Kensington is great - my favorite is the Science museum i still cannot get over that all the museums are free. Then I often walk up to Harrods and let my little fella play in the toy department it's totally unstuffy they have lots of the toys out for the kids to play with and people demostrating stuff. No pressure from pushy uptight sales assistants and then you can finish it off with a cheap and tacky treat like a Krispy Kreme doughnut! Culture and trash in one day for the perfectly balanced childhood!

Definatley The science museum.

We went a few weeks ago(our boys are much younger though) and it was Excellent. DH and I a great time in the 'Launch Pad' area in the basement, the kids did too but there's enough for all ages.

We'll be going back soon as theres to much to do in one day.

I love the Imperial War Museum - stunning place full of full size tanks, planes, subs, an omnibus, they used to have a full size 1940s house there, also a really excellent 1st World War trench experience (quite scary) as is the blitz experience. Can't remember the nearest tube - it's south London, I think it's free. Yours may be too young for the holocaust exhibition which is amazing too - a real education for me. Also - good shop for blokey presents for dads and grandads.

I'm a great fan of the National Gallery, my three year old will do a short visit looking for dragons - there are at least two!

Museum of childhood at Bethnal Green is very good lots to look at quite a bit to do and completely free plus good shop for stocking fillers.

Another idea might be to take them to St Pauls to the whispering gallery (dont know if you can still visit that or whether it is free!) then walk across the river to Tate Modern as someone mentioned. Good shop and great views of the river.

The museum of London is great I've heard, for older kids - they have events too and a website.

British museum - wonderful for your kids' ages - when I went last they let us hold some Roman coins - actually thrilling. Fabulous Mummies etc. Good shop for presents.

Also there is the Theatre museum in covent garden - haven't seen it since it reopened, also I've heard the London Transport museum also in covent garden is brilliant (is it free? don't know).

Also there is an excellent list of London Walks (loads of scary ones) where a guide meets you at a tube station at a certain time and walks you through =amazing parts of london that you'd never find - these aren't too pricey and you can get the list at anywhere they have loads of leaflets or try a tourist information office - I don't know where they are! The guides sound very funny - often 'resting' actors.

good luck!

I agree with a previous message, Science museum is one of the best places to take children and it should be free.

If you go down to Tower Bridge, you can take the boat to Greenwich. There's the market and the boat museum (Maritime Museum?) and the park. Have to admit this is my husband's day out with the boys, but if you want more details let me know.

Also, there's a small street fair by me near Victoria Park with a panto of Sleeping Beauty (I've heard it's risque in bits, but will go over the heads of my 6 and 3 year olds..) on Saturday.

science museum definitley - more to do there and more fun than the natural history museum. Take a picnic - there is an indoor picnic area. If you buy lots of food from the cafe your cheap day can turn out more expensive.

If time, 15 minutes walk will get you to Harrods - great for browsing. Brill food halls - a must!!

I was going to suggest bethnal green museum of childhood but someone already has :)

What about the Victoria and Albert museum - fashion displays (for girls!) and musical instruments are all i remember but there is loads more - just cant remember what :o

Bank of England have a free museum about money (surprise surprise). Sounds dull, but was actually fascinating. I think it's only open during business hours though.

thanks for all the ideas everyone. Actually I'd be fascinated to go to the museum of money. There was a fantastic documentary about the bank of england a few years ago showing staff stuffing millions of pounds of old notes into a furnace.

It has to be the Science Museum. Brilliant for all ages.

I remembered last night that in January I took a 13 year old out of towner around london for a day, along with my 10 and 5 year old. The oldest boy really wanted to 'do london' but was not too easily pleased. He found the science museum ok for a few hours, but wanted something a bit less educational and worthy as well. So we headed to Covent Garden, watched some free entertainment, browsed in some shops - and he really began to enjoy himself once we had located a skateboard shop around Neal's yard. HTH

I'm going to check out Santacon tomorrow if I can find out the secret location. Hundreds of santas descending on London creating mayhem!

what's santacon? sounds very interesting, but why is it secret?

Hope you and your kids have a great weekend, spacedonkey.:)

And tell me more about Santacon- I'm with t'moth in being baffled!

Had rather a nice time with ds - went over to my sister's and had big bowls of soup followed by the strictly come dancing final, then a spot of late night ice skating at ally pally and hot crepes on the walk home.

As for santacon, here's the details (of course, I missed it because we haven't got santa suits)

----------

Santa,

Santa is pleased to announce that the meeting place for this year's London Santacon is the Wetherspoon Pub in Victoria Train Station, which is above the WH Smiths newsagents in the station.

We are meeting at 12pm sharp this Saturday, the 11th of December. Please
Don't ring the pub for details or anything as we have not asked them. If they object to us drinking their beer then we shall be meeting on the concourse.

Press Embargo: PLEASE NOTE: This meeting point is NOT for publication or
broadcast [though feel free to tell Santa friends]. Do pass the meeting
point on to Santa friends, but it should also not be propagated on non-Santa
lists, weblogs or newsgroups. Feel free to tell other groups about the event, but direct them to [email protected] for details of the meeting place.

Please remember YOU MUST WEAR A SANTA SUIT to take part (or follow), even if
you are a member of the press (including photographers, sound crews etc),
royalty or the Blair household. Press wishing to attend/take pics should
contact [email protected] first.

Please be aware that Santacon is NOT a protest about anything. Its only
agenda is the furtherance of Santa-ing, the celebration of being Santa and
the Santa way.

The Santacon carol booklet can be downloaded from the UK Santacon Group files on the Yahoo site. Kindly print extra copies and bring them along with you.

I know we went over this last year, but Santacon is NOT a Flashmob or a Mobile Disco concept, though they are part of the same cacophony mindset.

Do bring presents for the naughty or the nice, kids and adults, party blowers, stickers, kazoos mince pies, wrapped up coal or brussel sprouts, chocolate sovereigns and anything else you can think of that Santa hasn‚t mentioned before. Remember, you are Santa.

We are ending Santacon differently this year and there are several options for us to get stuck into...

The will be several events happening from 8.00pm and the Santa party will start around 9pm at a venue to be announced on the day.

There you have it...

gor blimey spacedonkey, everytime I read your diary posts I get all misty eyed and homesick. You must have a subliminal Dickensian turn to your writing

Glad you and super ds had a great time

it's dickensianly christmassy here guvnor, make no mistake