April 2018

Ages of children: 3 years and 16 months

We visited the Science Museum in London for the afternoon, using public transport. We had a great time.

Very easy on the trains. District line to South Kensington. The new trains on the district line are really open and so very easy with children and buggies. Be aware that there are steps and no lifts from the platform at this station however… If you are on your own with a buggy, just hang around at the bottom or top of the steps looking helpless and someone will offer to help you soon (I do not think Tfl staff are allowed to).

It was raining so we used the magic tunnel that leads  from the station to very close to the science museum entrance (about 5-6 minute walk). Later, we walked back overground because the weather was better, and it’s a shame to miss seeing this impressive bit of London.

Lunch

We had lunch as soon as we got there. You can eat  on benches in any non-carpeted area of the museum. Or you can go and sit in the cafes. I took a picnic. It was busy enough so we had to walk around a bit before we found somewhere we could sit.

Although there are various toilets scattered throughout the building, many of them are tiny and cramped, not great if you have a buggy. Now that I know they are there, I’d just always head down into the basement and use the spacious and kid-friendly loos opposite “The Garden”. There are baby change tables down there too and it was way less busy.

There are water fountains to top up your water bottles near most of the loos.

One end is a sort of sensory paradise, with lights, mirrors, textures, audio, various interesting musical instruments etc. They both loved playing the instruments, particularly  the keyboard like electronic creation that is built into a cut out in the wall.  My 3 year-old really loved the floor mats with cut out letters, and my 16 month-old was obsessed with the bean bags and mini wheelbarrows, and also the hanging rubbery yellow string!

There is a snug in the middle, that they both enjoyed hiding in.

The other end is full of practical things. A raised deck up some ladders, with a shute and bean bags to put throw down it. There are a whole load of enormous building blocks.

And, most impressively, there is a huge water play system. There are plenty of aprons to keep the water off their clothes, but I’d still recommend bringing a spare set of clothes just in case… In fact, quite a bit on the water system doesn’t really work, the rotary pump is broken, the water fan thing doesn’t turn, the bubble machines don’t do what they are clearly  meant to, and there is was water leaking from pipes where it should not be all over the place – it could do with a fair amount of tlc. But it’s testament to the strength of the original design idea, that even given all that, there is still loads of fun to be had with this: there are lots of boats to launch down, a hand pump, gates to open and shut, like on a canal.

One of the lovely things about the water system is that one end of it is much lower, so although the advertised age group for “The Garden” is 3-6, my 16 month old could have played with this for getting on for an hour. In fact, I was really impressed about how much of the whole room was suitable for the youngest one.

After a long stint in the Garden, we went and had a look around a few other exhibitions. Exploring space has a real size model of the lunar landing module and both of them enjoyed looking at that for a surprisingly long time. The 3 year had lots of questions – I think they’ve talked about space quite a bit at nursery, so she was already pretty clued up. We also enjoyed looking at the cars and early steam engines in Making the Modern World.