TOP MUSEUMS IN LONDON FOR KIDS

The Capital's Most Family-Friendly Museums, Nominated by YOU in the Time Well Spent Awards

There are more than 200 museums - including 11 national museums - in London, and many are free and roll the red carpet out for children.

But which are the top museums in London for kids? Well, they're all below, as nominated by YOU for the Time Well Spent Awards. The ultimate winner will be crowned in August.

_________________________

The Science Museum

Read our review

There’s a huge difference between reading about the world and experiencing it. And that’s what the Science Museum does so powerfully - big and little guests can see, smell, hear and touch these wonders, leaving the museum to head back into a world that feels bigger, more extraordinary and worth caring for.

It's brimming with free (and paid) galleries, events, activites, and exhibitions and particular hits are the excellent Wonderlab and Power Up interactive galleries.

Science Museum, Exhibition Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD

Natural History Museum

This world famous museum is free and brimming with 80 million specimens, from dinosaur skeletons, to a jaw-dropping life-sized blue whale model, giraffes and gorillas. Kids love its interactive learning opportunities, from earthquake simulators, an animatronic T-Rex you can stomp with and the extraordinary Visions of Nature, Mixed Reality show, to explore the natural world in 2125.

Natural History Museum, Cromwell Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 5BD

Discover Children's Story Centre

If you’ve ever wondered how it feels to climb inside a child’s imagination, Discover Children’s Story Centre is it.

Creep through caves, find fairy worlds within magical trees, explore hidden ships, perform in a puppet castle, leap over alligators and man your own spaceships and rockets across two floors and its Story Garden, or check out its immersive, book-inspired theatre production downstairs.

Discover Children's Story Centre, 383-387 High St, London E15 4QZ

Horniman Museum and Gardens

There aren’t many places for a family to enjoy a butterfly house, aquarium, 16 acres of stunning gardens, alpacas, a merman, gorillas and a giant, overstuffed walrus for less than a chippy tea. So it's no surprise that so many of you nominated Horniman Museum and Gardens.

The brilliant, South-East London attraction is one of the capital’s hidden and most eclectic gems and is a huge hit with kids of all ages, as well as grown-ups.

Horniman Museum and Gardens, 100 London Rd, London SE23 3PQ

Greenwich Maritime Museum

Little sailors have endless opportunities for nautical adventure here - and most is free.

Children love its free, sea-themed Cove Playground, as well as its fabulous AHOY! Children's Gallery, an imagination sparking, interactive space for 0-7 year olds to climb aboard a replica ship, play with water, try on costumes and become a pirate for the day. It also offers a gaggle of fantastic, free and paid for workshops and experiences for all ages, throughout the year..

Greenwich Maritime Museum, Romney Rd, London SE10 9NF

Paradox Museum

Read our review

Nothing is what it seems at Paradox Museum, which successfully blows children's minds, while sneakily expanding them, leaving you with a camera reel of amazing snaps to remember it by.

The colourful world of more than 50 interactive exhibits is cat-nip for kids, combining flashing lights, candy-coloured walls, rotating rooms, upside-down tube stations, and mirror mazes, to challenge perspective and reality.

It's easy to see why the museum has blown up on social media, since launching in 2024.

Paradox Museum London, 90 Brompton Rd, London, UK. SW3 1JJ

The Young V&A

The UK’s first museum designed by and for 0-14 year olds is FREE (woo) and packed with interactive and hands-on activities for kids and families.Highlights of the £13m revamp include colourful, sensory playscapes, including an ‘Imagination Playground’ construction zone, a performance and storytelling stage and sandpit.

The museum has been shaped around childrens' interests to encourage playful learning and spark their imaginations. Three galleries, Play, Imagine and Design, help children build the skills and creative confidence they need to thrive, alongside inspiring exhibitions, like the current Making Egypt show.

Young V&A, Bethnal Green, Tower Hamlets, Cambridge Heath Rd, Bethnal Green, London E2 9PA

London Museum Docklands

This free riverside museums invites families to set sail on an adventure through 400 years of Docklands' history.

The fascinating destination is bulging with interactive fun for kids, from the Hamster Wheel, to Sailor Town, where they can , helping to build a Victorian underground and dressing up in period clothes.

The Mudlarks Gallery is also a big hit with under 5s, full of hands-on activities, from water play, soft play, stacking parcels and building, to experimenting with toy pulleys.

London Museum Docklands, No 1, West India Quay, Hertsmere Rd, London E14 4AL

London Transport Museum

Children under 17 go free to the world's leading museum of urban transport, packed with vintage London trams, trains and buses. Kids' highlights here include stepping into secret parts of the Underground network, including closed platforms, time-capsule corridors, disused Tube Stations and secret wartime shelters. They also host a range of family-friendly events and exhibitions.

London Transport Museum, Covent Garden Piazza London WC2E 7BB

The British Museum

Your little ones can walk in the footsteps of the ancient Greeks, Pharoahs or journey through the cultures of China at The British Museum's family-friendly, out-of-hours tours. Taking place between 8.50 – 10am, before the galleries are open to the public, you can beat the unsavoury crowds.

The British Museum, Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DG