London with Children

These are from the chapter of Rick's book "London With Children" from his London guidebook:
(more information there on all these)
Tower of London
Museum of London
Unicorn Theatre
Covent Garden
National Gallery (often has weekend programs for kids)
London Eye
Sealife Aquarium
Hyde Park
Science Museum
Natural History Museum
Madame Tussauds Waxworks
London Zoo
Pollock's Toy Museum
HMS Belfast
The Cutty Sark in Greenwich
Kew Gardens

I've been to about half of these.
Rick has 6 pages just on what to do with children in London.
He also mentions the Time Out London's website for more ideas.

There is a LOT for kids in London!
Hampton Court Palace has a great maze in the gardens and lots of "in character" residents wandering about the palace.
The Crown Jewels and the armory at the Tower of London.
The Princess Diana children's play area.
Take a boat ride on the Thames.
Rent "Boris bikes" and ride around in the more quiet areas of town as well as in the areas it is allowed in the parks.
The Natural History Museum.
Take them to a child-friendly musical in the West End.
Get cheap groundling tickets for the Globe Theater and stay for as long as their attention span will allow. You can duck out when they get restless and you won't have spent a fortune!
Go to Covent Garden to see the street performers in the market square. There are also performers in Trafalgar Square in front of the National Gallery.
Although it is jammed with crowds, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace is fun to see.
Take them to the toy department of Harrod's department store - wow.
Get on any double-decker bus and ride in the front seat on the top - better than most amusement park rides.
Buy tickets for Buckingham Palace and just walk through with them, forgoing the audio tour.
Those are just a few things that come to mind...I'm sure you'll get lots of other suggestions as well!
The only thing I will say NOT to do would be the London Eye...seems like it would be great with kids but it takes almost an hour to go around once and the kids I've seen on it don't appreciate it so much. :)

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You don't need a car in London, use the tube to get around safely and sign up for an Oyster card to save money on fares. You can buy one online.

As everyone has said the Museums are great and the Natural History Museum is a must for a rainy day and free of charge.

The Tower of London is fantastic if you're interested in History (the Tudors, Princes in the Tower etc) and want to see the Crown Jewels but not so sure with a 3 year old.

Take a train from London Euston station up to the Harry Potter Studio Tour (suggest you book your tickets for the tour well in advance.) There's a chance to ride a broomstick (against a green screen), taste Butter Beer etc and see where the films were made.

Lego Land in Windsor and Windsor Castle are fantastic if you fancy getting a train from London Paddington.

Do an open top bus ride tour and stop off at Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard. You will probably get a free river trip with the ticket.

Wimbledon is on in June and you can queue to get in. However, not so great with a little one but if you like Tennis it's fab.

The Princess Diana Memorial park is great or go to Richmond Park and see In the Night Garden Live.. Not sure if that's popular in the USA but it's a BBC show which is aimed at little ones.

Spend some time in Harrod's or Hamleys. The food hall and toy department in Harrod's is great and there's lots of chocolate, ice creams, pets corner, retaurants and bars. Hamley's used to have a kids make over area (not sure if it's still there) but my daughter liked having her nails done in the nail bar.

I wouldn't recommend the London Dungeon or Madam Tussaud because I don't think they're good value but others love them.

Restaurants - my daughter loves the Rainforest Cafe or Sticky Fingers in Kensington but I would say go to a local pub for a roast dinner on Sunday and another day try fish and chips for value for money. If you go to a chain restaurant like Pizza Express or Nando's the prices are reasonable. We also have amazing Indian restaurants too which aren't pricey.

Most of these recommendations seem way too heady/historical for kids of 3, 6 and 8. Remember, attention spans and potty needs will start to end most of their visits after 45 minutes tops. So be careful what you invest the time and money to get to.

I'm just back from 9 days in London/Paris with teenagers. Even they really enjoyed Hyde Park, the ducks and swans, walking along the Serpentine. It was too cool for the Diana Memorial, but that sounds like a winner for yours in June. Regents Park Zoo is convenient, though I have never been.

I will say that Windsor Castle does deliver on about everything visual a kid expects of a royal residence. And they have a great big dollhouse on display that is really cool. Its a short train ride, and a McDonalds is nearby. Don't be ashamed of it.

The one thing I did with our girls when they were little 5 & 7 on the first trip, I got them camera's (you could get disposable ones)so they could take pictures of whatever they wanted to, they loved it and they got some really good pictures.

I was in London in 2013 with my daughters (ages 5 and 7 at the time). My suggestions may not work as well for your 3-year-old, but here are the top things my girls liked in no particular order:

1. Windsor Castle. It is easy to get to and from Windsor. It was a great place to see a changing of the guards ceremony. The rooms that are open are very interesting. My girls liked the doll house. The staff seemed attuned to children, espcially at St. George's chapel.

2. Covent Garden/London Transportation Museum/Show. Covent Garden has some great free/low cost performers (depending on what you thrown in the hat) that my kids liked. The London Transportation Museum (right next to Covent Garden) has a neat collection of old buses and subways that kids can climb on. As a plus it has clean bathrooms and your ticket is good for a year. There are plenty of theaters nearby. We saw the Lion King and really enjoyed it.

3. Churchill War Rooms. There is a special audio tour for kids and a lot of really interesting stuff to see in the Churchill Museum portion.

4. The museums in South Kensington. The V&A has a lot of interactive kiosks that my kids liked. The natural history museum has dinosaurs. The science museum has some nice interactive displays and staff engagement learning stations.

5. Tower of London. A castle, crown jewels, ravens, live action actors in period costumes, beefeaters. This was the favorite of the group. Just show up early if you can.

6. London Eye. Great views of the city.

7. Westminster Abbey - They have a children's tour page/hunt that my oldest daughter really liked. You get a chocloate at the end for finding all of the items on the list and filling it out. One caveat - this is really for ages 6 or 7 and up. My youngest had a near meltdown because she was having trouble reading the clues and finding the answers in the crowd.

8. Princess Diana Playground in Hyde Park - It has all kinds of things to climb on and swing on, including a giant pirate ship.

We did not stay in Knightsbridge, so my restuarant recommendations won't be useful. One idea that might help - before we left for our trip we downloaded TripAdvisor restaurant reviews for London so we could check for ideas on the go and adapt our plans based on where we were when the kids got hungry.

Have a great trip.