What's fun and free/cheap for kids in London?

[Yazzi]

Hi all,

We will be in London (we live abroad) for 7 days in August. It's part of a bigger trip.

I know all the very obvious stuff (natural history museum, children's V and A, Hamleys) to do with the kids, but can anyone suggest some really great activities for kids that are free or very cheap to fill up half a day?

My children are aged 7, 6 and 3.

Diana playground (good to combine with museums) and/or Diana fountain on a hot day. Hire a boat on the Serpentine

Buskers in Covent Garden, Lego Store and movie statues in Leicester Square, Chinatown.

Wander along the South bank, see buskers/street stalls and go down to one of the little river beaches. Visit Tate Modern turbine hall. Walk over the footbridge and see St Pauls.

Take a riverboat and see Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Big Ben etc

Climb the Monument. Book free tickets to the Sky Garden (released two weeks ahead I think) or Horizon 22

Sometimes there are painted statue trails - last year there was a Morph one and a gorilla one

You can buy a one day family pass for the Uber boats on the Thames and travel to Kew or to Greenwich. It costs £44 for 2 adults and up to 3 children, although if you buy tickets separately there is no charge for your youngest.

The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden does family Sundays -£10 per adult and £8 for children. Tickets go quickly but they are not yet booking for August.

Olympic Park in Stratford. Lots of summer activities , just check out their website or just walk and enjoy the story.

Register for Kidsweek - free/discounted tickets to shows , theatre tours and workshops in July/August. National Theatre and Southbank centre do tours and activities. BBC Proms offer family friendly events.

Horizon22 or sky garden (book in advance), southbank skatebaording, they let kids drop in and coach them

For free, lots of parks, Hyde Park, Regents Park, St James Park, Holland Park, Trafalger Square, going to see the outside of Buckingham Palace, a walk around China Town, Leicester Square to spot the statues and Covent Garden. Going to see Big Ben and The Houses of Parliament. Somerset House have fountains that kids can run through in the Summer, the Southbank near the London Eye has a great atmosphere with street entertainers, there's also a playground there and you can wave at the people on the tourist boats. Relatively cheap is the cable cars near the 02 in Greenwich, not sure on the price though.

The emirates cable car across the Thames.

Bank of England museum is free, open weekdays.

Museum of London Docklands.

You can go up the Oxo tower, there's a lift to the restaurants and then ask one of the waiters if you can go around.

Kew Gardens would be about £30 for a family ticket but would be a whole day there, with lots of space to go around.

Museum of Docklands is lovely, not too big, really interactive and engaging for kids. Nearby in Canary Wharf theres a flip out activity centre and a big shopping centre that I think has go karts?

Maritime museum in Greenwich, plus it has a play area inside (you have to book and pay for that bit) there’s a big park, you can see the meridian line, there’s the cutty sark (you have to pay to go on but you can see some of it from the outside). Greenwich market is nice for a wander and food.

Tumbling Bay playground in the Olympic Park in Stratford has a great activity playground, plus a sand and water play area suitable for a wide range of ages. There’s also a playground between the Stratford international rail station and the Westfield shopping centre.
You can swim in the Olympic Pool fairly inexpensively. Or in Leyton there’s a leisure pool with kids splash area.

The young V&A you already mentioned is fun. Get there right as it opens though otherwise you’ll be stuck in a queue.

Look out for Kids Week theatre tickets. Throughout August there’s cheap/free kids seats. We saw the Smeds and the Smoos last summer then went for a wander round Chinatown for lunch.

If you’re wandering in central London there’s a nice playground on the Southbank by the London eye. Handy if the kids need to let off some steam during sightseeing.
My daughter enjoyed just wandering around looking at the sights. We walked over tower bridge, and nearby is St Katherine docks.

Granary Square in Kings Cross has a big area of fountains that come out of the ground that is great for water play in the summer. There are lots of cheap eating options nearby, good pizza and really good ice cream.

Walk across Hampstead Heath/Primrose Hill (North end of Regents Park) and look at the view.

South Bank walk and look at all the street entertainers.

Greenwich Maritime museum and a walk through Greenwich Market and Greenwich Park. Get there on the Thames Clipper.

If you go to any major museum during the school holidays, it's really important that you book in advance (even though they are free) or you will end up queueing for ages to get in. Plan to go early, do the most popular thing first (i.e. dinosaurs), and be out within a couple of hours of it opening. They are not well air-conditioned and get rammed.

https://coramsfields.org/

Coram's Fields is a really central park and playground, close to both the British Museum and Postal Museum.

art play do some cool children's workshops - i've been wanting to try this: https://www.happity.co.uk/schedules/art-play-london-london-art-play-kids-mosaics-workshop