Things to do in London for 4 and 6 year olds?

[Sue]

Thanks LucyA.

No pigeons in Trafalgar Square any more? That used to be one of the highlights of my childhood :)

[Renata Hamvas]

Coram's Fields, on Guilford St near Russell Square station (or by 63 and then 45/17/46 bus or 188 etc up toward Euston). An enclosed and free to get into playground with farm animals too, great for a picnic or they have a little on-site caf? which has child friendly food. This can keep young children entertained for hours!

Renata

[Didster]

Closer to home - How about a lovely picnic in Crystal Palace Park - there are the dinosaurs, a park, the maze - a lovely afternoon out! There are usually a couple of bouncy castle there in summer too! that and an ice cream would be a nice closer to home thing to do! Also depending on when they are coming you should look up the Lambeth County Fair in Brockwell Park - lots of fun there for a day!

[Carbonara]

The Peter Pan Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens.

Fantastic. Free.

The zoo in Battersea Park is good.

[fl0wer]

In case you'd all welcome the contrast of a day in green space nearby don't forget Sydenham Hill Woods. Also the Marsden Rd Wildlife Garden, for info about both link here http://www.wildlondon.org.uk/Pages/Category.aspx?IDCategory=dc00cc1e-3e7f-4663-ae9d-e27e315c11e9 - and they are free. With any luck this weather will be helping back the butterflies.

[Sue]

You are all stars, thanks :)

[Sue]

Well, they've been and gone and I just wanted to say thanks so much for all your suggestions!

The boat trip never happened as the 6 year old - who can't yet swim unaided - refused to go on a boat without her flotation suit on, in case she fell in ..... reassurance that this was highly unlikely was in vain!

Their individual highlights were seeing "The house where the princesses live" (Princess-obsessed 4 year old's description of Buckingham Palace - seen only from the outside I hasten to add) and seeing "A man with no head, only I think he's got it hidden under his coat" (6 year old's description of one of those weird human statues on the South Bank) :))

They both loved seeing virtually anything from the top of a bus.

Brockwell Park and Archbishops' Park playgrounds were both favourites - thanks for those suggestions.

They were generally underwhelmed with the interesting (to me) vegetables and fish in Brixton Market, despite being told it was where Rastamouse lived, and attempts to find granddaughter-acceptable food in Brixton Village failed (we ended up in a fairly dismal Wetherspoons, where the 4 year old worked her way slowly and carefully through most of a very large adult portion of fish and chips :)) )

We saw many bits of London, and the older one in particular was quite interested in the history around things like The Monument.

Anyway, thanks again - still lots of things left to do on their next visit!