London is a wonderful place to visit with your family as it houses a variety of attractions. If you’re ever wondering what to do on the weekend or where to visit for a few days, this city should be right at the top of your list. It’s easy to keep the whole family entertained for many days – and then come back for more another time.
Some of you have visited London before, but have you ever gone with kids? You’ll be looking at different attractions when the little ones are involved, so here are the six best things to do in the city with children:
Visit the Natural History Museum
You can’t visit London with kids and not go to the Natural History Museum. It’s a must for any families travelling to the city and will fill a good couple of hours on your trip. Unlike some museums, this one specifically caters to kids with loads of different activities both inside and out. So, there’s never the fear of your child getting bored!
To be honest, even without the special activities, it’s hard for them to be bored here. The Natural History Museum contains some of the best fossils and exhibitions on every child’s favourite animal: dinosaurs! They’ll marvel at the bones of a T-Rex and then get home and beg for you to watch the entire Night At The Museum movie series.
Head to London Zoo
London is a concrete jungle full of roads, skyscrapers and buildings – but deep within its heart lies a fantastic conservation zoo. We recommend families get tickets to the London Zoo as it is perfect for children. The zoo holds an array of animals from all over the world, including lions and tigers. There are plenty of monkeys as well – and even a gorilla enclosure.
Your kids will love seeing all of these animals and you can buy experiences as well. Two that are huge hits with children are the meerkats and penguins. For a small fee, you get taken into the enclosures to pet and feed the animals. It’s a wonderful experience for young kids and parents end up having fun too. If you’re a bit iffy about zoos from an ethical standpoint, London Zoo is part of a wildlife conservation charity. It helps reintroduce species back into the wild after they’ve stayed in the zoo for a while and does a lot to protect wildlife around the world.
See a show
Sometimes, you need to sit down for a couple of hours and have a rest. Unfortunately, when you’re enjoying a family trip, the kids don’t always make this possible! You want to take a breather, but they still need to be entertained. That’s why going to see a show is a fantastic idea – you get to take a breather but the kids are still having fun.
You’ll find a host of well-priced West End tickets for sale across a range of shows in London. Some are not suitable for children, but plenty are. A few of the best child-friendly West End shows at the moment include The Lion King, Frozen and Matilda. You can book tickets during the day or go out in the evening – whatever suits your family the best.
Experience the SEA LIFE London Aquarium
Like most big cities in the world, London has everything – including an aquarium. Again, this is something your kids will love. You’ll see some sea life at the London Zoo, but the SEA LIFE London Aquarium takes things to new levels. There are sharks, loads of fish, penguins and so much more. It’s one of those things you can do on a rainy day as well, given that everything is inside.
Also, you can buy loads of different tickets depending on what you wish to experience. The Deluxe Package gives you access to the entire aquarium and all its exhibits, plus an immersive VR experience for your kids to try out. Much like the zoo, you can buy experiences here. If you’re planning on visiting both places, it might be worth doing the meerkat experience at the zoo and the penguin one at the aquarium.
Take a ride on the London Eye
Do your children enjoy going on rides? There’s not a proper theme park in London, but there is the London Eye. This massive Ferris wheel takes people up in little pods and gives them a quiet ride to see London in all its beauty. It’s not a thrilling experience but it is very enjoyable to do with your kids.
They won’t get scared because it isn’t fast or anything crazy like that and they will love being up in the sky looking over London. The whole ride lasts for 30 minutes so it’s not bad value for money. At least you get a good chance to look out over the city and see some awesome sites.
See famous people at Madame Tussauds
Madame Tussauds is another great attraction to visit with kids. As you’re likely aware, it’s a waxwork museum. Hundreds of celebrities have been immortalised as wax figures in varying degrees of accuracy.
Your kids probably won’t know half the people in there, but it has certain sections that are definitely for kids. This includes the Marvel Hall of Heroes, a Star Wars zone and plenty of famous football players. Kids love posing for photos with the wax figures and they’ll have a lot of fun for an hour or so!
There’s enough here to fill a couple of days in London with your family. At the same time, if you’re keen to enjoy a day trip to the big city, pick a couple of things and do them. You can always come back another time and tick everything else off the list. Don’t worry about feeding your kids in London; even the fussiest eaters will find something they’ll enjoy. It’s swarming with great restaurants and independent eateries – plus loads of places to pick up a few sweet treats for the journey home.
Disclosure: collaborative post
Thank you for reading - if you enjoyed this content, please consider buying me a coffee here or browse my Amazon wishlist I really appreciate your support and it helps to keep the site running and for my time 🙂