Top 3 London Museums For Kids

Every parent knows that at some point getting their child to take an interest in educational and important things can be a challenge.  Dragging them around endless galleries and historical monuments that are aimed solely at adults is more likely to turn them cold to the idea of learning than encourage them.  One answer is to plan trips to specific child friendly and child orientated museums; these are likely to have activities to keep kids entertained and stop them from getting bored five minutes in.  Why not book one of the cheap Travelodge hotel rooms near Liverpool street station and take a trip to one of these child friendly museums in central London.

British Museum

Kids that come here seem to gravitate towards the Egyptian section.  There’s just something about mummies that appeals to the gory nature that’s inbuilt in children.  On Saturdays there are exciting free activity sessions aimed specifically at children and families, so that’s definitely the best day to visit here if you can.  The museum itself has such a huge catalogue that the curators can only display some of the collection at a time.   Different trails around the exhibitions are available for different age groups to help hold their attention and give them the best learning experience.  This might be a place to take slightly older children to, as although there are things specifically for little ones, there are still a lot of traditional museum exhibits that may not hold the younger ones attention.

Natural History Museum

One word: DINOSAURS.  Whether you’re 5 or 55, dinosaurs are exciting, and they’re even more exciting when there’s a life size diplodocus skeleton, albeit made from plaster, towering above you.  The Natural History Museum is not about telling you the history, it’s about showing you, which for kids, who have notoriously short attention spans, is ideal.  See the sheer scale of the blue whale up close and personal and step on the earthquake simulator and find out what one feels like for yourself.  There is also current a butterfly exhibition at this museum that is ideal for children.

Science Museum

At the science museum kids can really get stuck in and experience science in action.  The museum is free and perfect for kids with active imaginations.  The place to head is Launchpad – an interactive area stocked with 50 hands on exhibits for little inquisitive minds and mitts to explore.  No one is precious about the exhibit here, because, as all good scientists know, nothing new is discovered without experimenting. There is every branch of science to be discovered here, from the epic space collection complete with a ginormous telescope, to the basic principles, like how to create a rainbow by splitting light with a prism.  The science museum has everything.

All three of the above museums are completely free to enter and explore.  You can have an entertaining, educational and all round great day out with the kids without having to pay any entry fees.  This half term, consider a trip to London for a few days and check them out for yourself.