London with an almost 3 yr old - any advice welcome

[timmette]

Hi everyone
We are currently living in Belgium and am very happy to be coming home for my little sisters wedding. We have rented a holiday let in South Ken - so much cheaper than a hotel.
We will be in London for a week and would appreciate and ideas on places that are toddler friendly restaurants and museums, parks etc - acutally any advice you can think of would be great including any - really dont's go here places.
This may well be our only holiday of the year so want to make it good.
Thanks

The London Aquarium on the South Bank is great. My kids love it there. Could follow it up with a trip on the London Eye.
Also good is the Science Museum, downstairs they have a good 'touch and feel' area.
My DS also loves going on the buses rather than the underground. We just get a travel card and go upstairs on a normal bus rather than paying a small fortune for one of those sightseeing buses.

The Museum of Childhood is lovely and wasn't that crowded when we went,nice cafe.

Science Museum and Natural History Museum, London Transport museum
Kensington Gardens have a peter pan themed playpark which is fab- it has wigwams and a pirate ship etc and you won't be far from it!

Thanks for the ideas - the peter pan themed park sounds fun.
Can I just ask about the aquarium - the one here in Antwerp is very dark and has pretend lightening and thunder storms all the way around and scared the life out of my son -- is the London one sound effect free?

The Londonone is sound effect free. My 2 yo loved it when we went. Some parts are fairly dark, but mostly so that the fish show up well in the tanks.
Had forgotten about the London transprt museum. DH took the kids there and they loved it, though I have never been.

Slightly off topic, but make sure you get an Oyster card or Travelcard if you are going to be using public transport.

Visitors are (quite rightly) shocked at the prices here - using an Oyster or Travelcard can save you around 50% (or more).

Thanks for all the help and the Transport museum is a great idea for him actually and I would never have thought of it.
Good tip about the travel card am going to have a look at the tube website now.
It's funny after years of living in London I have to ask for help but I was childless then.

Call the aquarium before you go. We went a few weeks back and a lot of it was closed, including the jelly fish with my DD usually loves. And it is very expensive, even more so when half of it is off limits.

Natural History Museum and Science Museum are both big hits with my 2 year old. She likes the Tate Modern too.

The Tate Modern has a good children's menu in its cafe. Also, any Giraffe or Carluccios is generally a good place to take a child (which is handy since they are everywhere!).