The best things to do in London with babies and toddlers

The newly revamped Young V&A (formerly the Museum of Childhood) has had a makeover to include more interactive baby and toddler friendly spaces. There’s still lots of wonderful old toys, doll’s houses and games, but little ones will want to crawl around the colourful sensory space and toddlers can spend ages building structures with blocks and pipe and playing with moving sand. The central café will furnish you with babychinos and respite, and we always end up in the peaceful reading room by the toilets in the basement which has a fab selection of books and is perfect for winding down after a busy day.

Best for: toddlers who get easily distracted

Free. All ages.

This West London children’s theatre has great shows for all ages but there’s usually some fun sensory stuff dedicated to under 3s. For very little ones, there’s performances that play with shapes, sounds and textures, and for older ones, there’s more narrative pieces. There’s also a train-themed café play den and sensory garden so you can make a whole day of it. On Tuesdays between 2 and 5pm, there’s also a special parents and baby time in the café where you can get a hot drink and cake for £5 and meet local parents.

Best for: Kids who can sit still for a longer than five mins

Tickets from £11. All ages.

For very small children, it’s the doing, not the looking that amuses and inspires. As a result, this busy museum’s hands-on galleries win the day. The Garden is a free play zone where young ’uns can don aprons and mess about with water and boats, jump around exploring light and shadows, and discover the science of sound through all kinds of fun activities. They’ll be captivated for hours.

Best for: toddlers with busy hands

Free, booking required. Ages 3-6.

‘No adult can enter without a child’ reads the sign on the gate at this great Bloomsbury kiddy park. Since 1936, this has been a child-focused playspace: I remember always being excited to come here as a kid, and now I love it just as much as a parent. There are multiple playgrounds for all ages, a big sandpit, a nature garden, a morning stay and play for under 5s, football pitches, a café and a splash pool which gets switched on in the summer. Pick up some food from nearby Lambs Conduit Street, bring a picnic blanket and let them run off and play. Dreamy.

Best for: entertaining kids of multiple ages 

Free. All ages.

Not all children’s entertainment has to be corny and colourful, as Bach to Baby proves. Trained musicians perform child-friendly classical concerts in spaces all over London. There’s no need for shushing your sprogs, either – toddlers are free to get and up move about and babies are content to sit on laps as the classical music floats around them. 

Best for: babies who love a good tune

£15, free for children. Ages 0-4.

This theatre will thrill tiny ones with its whimsical, creative puppet shows tailored to specifically to under threes. Many of them take inspiration from picture books, like 'Wow! Said the Owl,' offering creative reimaginings of stories they'll already know and love. Others are complete one-offs but promise to be just as engaging.

Best for: toddlers with big imaginations

£14, £12 child or baby. Ages 2+.

If you go into the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise. Forget teddy bears, this is parents and children larking about pretending to be squirrels, talking to trees, making leaf crowns and having a jolly old time. Part dance class, part forest school, Wild Things is run by the lovely community dance artist Olly Otley who facilitates these friendly weekly sessions in the woods in Millfields Park and London Fields. Wear wellies and rain clothes as this is an all weather experience. You’ll have truly earned a coffee and cake after this early morning runaround.

Best for: getting toddlers to explore nature

Drop in, £6.50. Millfields Park, Thursday, 10am; London Fields, Friday, 9.30am. Ages 2-4.

Stratford’s story centre is a full day out for little ones and is perfect if you have kids of multiple ages. Start inside where they can hide in secret musical caves, ride pirate ships, play a giant
piano, read in a big cloud, dress up and just generally run/crawl around doing creative play. There’s also a pretty big playground outside to explore with lots of musical elements and little
cubby holes. Each day, there’s storytelling events too so be sure to book on to those when you get your ticket as they always sell out.

Best for: little daydreamers

£10, £5 one-year-olds, free under-ones. All ages.

The first time we took our tiny daughter here, she spent the first five minutes terrified of the colourful shapes spewing out jets of water. But after that she was hooked and it’s been one of her favourite places ever since. The Aqua Play splash pad has shallow water for them to wade or crawl around and there’s pouring and shooting water to experiment with. For more adventurous toddlers, there’s a big slide where they get soaked and lots of running around to be done (although it does get very slippery so be careful). The small kids pool is sometimes free too if you want to do some actual swimming. 

Best for: getting your kid comfortable in water

Adults £6, children under £3 go free (£3.50 for over 3s). All ages.

London is awash with baby sensory classes these days, but Hartbeeps is a great one to start with, whatever age your little one is. It offers classes all over London for every age starting with very chill newborn move, soothe and baby massage. Then there’s Baby Bells gentle music classes (from 8 weeks) and it ramps up to Baby Beeps, a colourful interactive session full of rhymes and rhythms (from 7 months). Once they become toddlers, it gets more full on with Happy House classes with dancing, music, intense jumping around, puppets, fancy dress and props. Expect a big nap after this one (for them and you both). 

Best for: full mind and body workouts 

Prices vary. All ages. 

This family-friendly disco crew references the rave culture of the early ’90s, but happily, its events around London and at festivals are thoroughly wholesome affairs. Suitable for babies and children of all ages, Big Fish Little Fish daytime gigs give parents a chance to enjoy good music in a setting that the whole family can enjoy, complete with activities like synthesizer workshops and hula-hoop demonstrations. Check the website for upcoming dates across London and festivals all over the UK and beyond. 

Best for: burning off excess energy

Prices vary. All ages.

As playgrounds go, there’s a lot to do at this Peter Pan themed one in Kensington Gardens. Toddlers will want to explore the massive Jolly Roger with its below deck hide-out and cool
captain’s cabin. It’s all set inside a fun sandy playscape with running water, lost boys’ treehouses and teepees meaning there’s loads to explore, places to play hide and seek and
cooling water for warm days.

Best for: little explorers

Free. Under-13s.

Each week, groups of mums meet up in swimming pools across north and east London, hangout, chat and take turns to play with eachothers babies while they go for a solo swim. This is a warm and friendly community vibe for swim fans with kids under two and means that mums can get some precious time to themselves while also finding new pals. It’s currently happening at West Reservoir in Stoke Newington, London Fields Lido, Parliament Hill Lido, Park Road Pool in Crouch End and Waltham Forest Feel Good Centre – follow them on Insta to find out the latest details. And okay, full disclosure, this one is actually way more for the parents than the kids but the babies will enjoy the playtime too.

Best for: mums who need a break

Booking required for swimming sessions. Ages 0-2.

Good play cafés are a haven for parents but sadly they’re surprisingly hard to find in London. Enter Sandscape – a play café with a fun sandpit in Finsbury Park. The people who set this up clearly know how transfixed babies and toddlers are by sand: my daughter can sit and build sandcastles by herself for an impressively long time. You’ll actually get to enjoy your coffee here as £4 gets you an hour slot for your little one to thoroughly explore the toys, slide and sandpit. 

Best for: rainy days when the playground feels too chilly

£4 for an hour in the play area. All ages.

This newly revamped Hoxton mainstay is a surprisingly relaxing spot for hanging out with small people. There’s a little kiddy playroom in the middle of the galleries with enough toys to have a great tea party, books and comfy sofas for cuddling up and reading, as well as a small sensory den to enchant tiny ones. There’s also a mini playhouse which toddlers can decorate to create their own homes. And once they tire of these, there’s a lovely outdoor garden space for running around and burning off energy.

Best for: culture without the crowds

Free. All ages.

This West Hampstead social enterprise does a lot of things: the church space is a post office, soft play, event venue and all-day café. It’s a vibrant community space and is a great place to hang out with your small one while they chuck themself around on some squidgy blocks. There’s a space for babies with a ball pit, puzzles and games, as well as one for bigger kids with two slides and lots of space to crawl around and explore. Parents can watch nearby with a coffee or get involved. If you have a small toddler, avoid going at 3.30pm as that’s when the big kids come in from school.

Best for: soft play with a side of stained glass

£5 under 2, £7 2-10 year olds. Ages 0-10.

Not many parks in London are home to a pack of prehistoric dinosaurs. Ok so these old south London dinosaur sculptures might not be the most scientifically accurate but dinosaur-obsessed toddlers will get a real kick out of seeing them dotted around the undergrowth. Once they’ve had their fill of Jurassic Park, Crystal Palace Park also has a great playground with a big sandpit for babies to crawl around and a farm where they can meet some real life animals.

Best for: Dinosaur obsessed toddlers

Free. All ages.

When the weather heats up, fountains are your best friend – and there’s no better place for a free splash around than the brilliant ones in Granary Square. Toddlers will go wild for the unpredictable glowing shoots of water that spring up from the ground. There will be shrieking and excitement galore. Babies will enjoy watching the water and brave crawlers might be up forgetting involved too. The main ones outside the restaurants in the main square are the best but there are some quieter ones around the corner behind Coal Drops Yard for more gentle splashing.

Best for: Kids who love stripping down to their pants

Free. All ages.

Not only does this children’s bookshop have a brilliantly inclusive range of books for all ages, it has also got weekly interactive storytelling events, craft sessions and even book groups for
bigger kids. Big name kid’s book authors and illustrators such as Joseph Coelho and Fiona Lumbers, Julia Donaldson and Rob Biddulph stop here for event and there’s a secret theatre in
the back which has sensory shows for children aged 0-3.

Best for: toddlers who have favourite book characters

Prices vary. All ages.

An underrated museum for toddlers, the Postal Museum has two great kid-focussed elements. There’s Sorted!, the playspace which is 45 minutes of solid running around in a mini town sorting delivering letters and parcels, pushing around carts, chucking stuff down chutes and generally causing merry chaos. Then there’s the refurbished old Mail Rail which does educational rides through the old tunnels. It’s small and quite dark but most train-obsessed toddlers will get a real kick out of it.

Best for: kids who love trains

From £4.50. Ages 0-8.

Over the last few years, baby-friendly wine tastings have become a bit of a thing in parenting circles. And wine shops all over the city have started offering events so local parents can meet over a few glasses of vino. The Wine Tasting Shop in Balham does a brilliantly named BYOB (bring your own baby) event, the Must wine bars in Hampstead, Islington and Wanstead do a mum and baby lunchtime sesh, and there’s my fave, Wine & Wean run by Tottenham cheese and wine shop Wine and Rind which who do pop up tastings at Big Penny Social in Walthamstow, The Prince in Bounds Green, Riverside East in Stratford and Forza Wine in Peckham. So fun, although I have found that parenting with a hangover is hellish so would advise not getting carried away.

Best for: Pumping and dumping

Price vary. Under 1s.

Kew feels like a world apart from central London and I spent a lot of time walking through the gardens and showing my daughter plants in the hot house when she was a baby. The giant leaves, colourful blooms and huge trees can be a full sensory playground. There’s also a real playground, the Children’s Garden, which will enthral toddlers as they explore the different areas dedicated to the different elements. Keep an eye on the website as there’s often toddler-friendly trails from well-known books (looking at you Julia Donaldson) and Kew Light at Christmas is always an annual highlight for babies and toddlers if you can keep them up past their bedtime.

Best for: when you’re all bored of your local playgrounds

Kew entry ticket £20-£22, £18-£20 concs, £5-£6 child, under-fours free, booking essential. All ages but Children’s Garden is ages 2-12.

Since Kidzania in Westfield closed, Role2Play has become the go-to spot for toddlers into roleplaying games. If your child turns your home into incessant tea parties and ice cream shops, this will let them live out their fantasies. There are scenarios including supermarkets, cafés, garages, building sites, vets and doctors – it’s almost as fun for you to watch them get into character as it is for them to do it.

Best for: next level playtime

£10 per child (prewalkers are free). All ages.

The Mudlarks sessions at the London Museum are surprisingly good for both babies and toddlers. There’s a soft play bit for crawlers and plenty of things to pick up and chew, and for toddlers there’s a historic dress up box, tiny ships to bob around through a mini dock, building blocks and other interactive fun. They might even learn a bit of the area’s history while they’re at it. The sessions are only 45 minutes which goes by fast so get there for the start so you don’t feel rushed.  

Best for: Toddlers who love boats, sailors and all things nautical

£3. Under 8s.

The Royal Festival Hall is a great spot to hang out with babies and toddlers thanks to its sofas, large spaces for running around and the legendary Singing Lift. But take that lift up to The National Poetry Library and there’s a fab little secret children’s reading hub. Filled with books of poems, rhyming narratives and baby picture books. We have spent hours here in the cubby holes going through the Dr Suess, Michael Rosen poems and full Hairy Maclary selection. 

Best for: chilling out on a rainy day

Free. All ages.

This canalside Japanese eatery is one of my favourite play cafés; although the toy selection might not be top notch, the lovely food and atmosphere make up for it. My daughter manages to amuse herself here for long enough for me to catch up with a friend over a matcha latte or to enjoy a bowl of noodles. The rice balls are perfect for toddlers and the daily cheesecakes are perfect for everyone. In summer, the outdoor tables by the canal are idyllic and if the kids get bored of the play bit, they can look out for ducks.

Best for: small babies who are happy to chill or toddlers who can lead their own play

All ages. Free entry.

There is a surprising amount of stuff to do with kids in Vauxhall. Our toddler loves to play in Bonnington Square Garden or the Harleyford Road Community Garden after we’ve all had a delicious lunch from Italo Deli. We then wander over Vauxhall City Farm to feed the alpacas and goats and to try to spot the semi-feral farm cat. There are ducks, pigs and turkeys as well as cute critters like rabbits and guinea pigs. There’s also a nice café here for a pit stop before it’s off to the nearby playground. A full day out of fun.

Best for: animal obsessed kiddies

Free. All ages.

See new releases without antagonising either your baby or your fellow cinemagoers at Everyman's special screenings. A couple of times a week, you'll find movies shown with the volume turned down, dim lighting, plus a hot drink and a slice of cake thrown in with the cost of your ticket. Optimise your experience by bagging one of the squashy leather sofas.

Best for: lucky parents of tiny babies who mostly sleep

£14.55 for one adult and one toddler. Babies.

Covent Garden’s LTM is a joyful place, and its All Aboard play area for babies and under-sevens takes the hands-on experience even further. Wannabe bus drivers can get behind the wheel of a real bus, repair a mini tube train, or sail on the Thames Nipper, a recreation of the Thames Clipper riverboat service. Kids been inspired by buskers on the way to the museum? They can try their hand at performing, too, at the make-believe busking spot.

Best for: tiny trainspotters

Free with entry (£24.50, £23.50 concs, free under-18s, with unlimited re-entry for a year). Ages 0-7.

Richmond’s bright children’s bookshop encourages all ages to linger as long as they like, browsing the shelves. Well supported by the children’s literature world, you can expect big names like Michael Rosen, Jacqueline Wilson and Cressida Cowell to make personal appearances here. There are also free events for older children too, like the weekly after-school storytime and creative workshops for older children (ages 7-12), too.

Best for: book-hungry babies

Thursdays at 11am, £3 (redeemable against any purchase on the day). Ages 0-4.