London Toddler

London Wetland Centre is a great day out for the family which your toddler will enjoy too. The Wetland Centre hosts more than 40 hectares of created wetlands in the south west of the capital city with the opportunity to see rare and beautiful wetland wildlife. Understandably you can’t feed the birds but you should have fun pointing out the different birds and ducks, looking at the frogs and letting your little one burn some energy by having a walk around. Older toddlers will also burn off energy in the playground where you will also find the water exhibits duck races and the rain cloud. (Please not the water exhibits are turned off in the Winter and when it’s raining). When you’re hungry there’s the Water’s Edge Cafe right in the centre with highchairs available. There’s a selection of hot and cold food, snacks and cakes. There’s also baby milk warming facilities.

Pushchair Access
London Wetland Centre is buggy friendly throughout. There’s even lift access to the top of the Peacock Viewing Tower.

Website
London Wetlands Centre

Photo by silverfox09
Coram’s Fields is a seven acre open space in the Bloomsbury area of Central London which includes a playground, sand pit, animal corner and a cafe. It is great for children as adults over 16 are only permitted to enter if they are accompanying a child and the area is staffed too. The playground is particularly nice for toddlers as there is a fantastic sandpit, paddling pool and small climbing frame. The animal corner has goats, sheeps, pigs and rabbits. It’s completely free although they do appreciate donations and is quite close to the British Musuem (10 minutes walk away) so you could visit the museum after tiring your toddler out!

Corams Fields, 93 Guilford Street, London, WC1N 1DN
Contact details and location map

It’s said the best things in life are simple and free, which is so true. And there are so many free, great things to do in London with small children. You never need to spend much money. Just make sure it’s something you’ll both enjoy. Relax and simplify.

London parks

The best thing about London is it’s parks. There’s one near everybody. They are brilliant whatever the season to let your toddler burn off energy. In spring look at the flowers, in Summer, have a picnic, in Autumn take a box and collect leaves, in Winter wrap up warm and run about with a ball to keep warm. Take some bubble solution, blow bubbles and pop them. If you get bored of your local park, go to another one.  Go into Central London and visit one of the Central parks. There is lots to explore and enjoy.

Feed the ducks

Feeding the ducks and spotting the wildlife (squirrels, insects etc) are brilliant toddler activities. If you fancy going into Central London check out Duck Island in St James’s park where you can also see black Swans. (Please note the lake is currently being drained and cleaned but will be refilled by May 2009 - in time for the Summer)

Playgrounds

At nearly every park there is an accompanying playground. One of the best one’s in London is Diana’s Memorial Playgroundwhich has a huge pirateships surrounded by a huge sandpit. It’s being refurbised for Summer 2009 with sound walls, wobble platforms, play tunnels and a see-saw. Sounds like it’ll be fantastic!

Libraries
There’s normally so much going on at London libraries. I take my toddler to a baby singing session at Lewisham library on Thursdays called Baby Bounce. It’s free and very enjoyable. Check out your local library. Many have story telling, singing and of course books all for the under 5s.

Museums

If it’s raining, there’s lots of free museums that cater for the needs of babies and toddlers. The Science Museum has the basement with activities for the under 5s. Then there’s the soft play at the National Army Museum, the free aquarium at the Horniman museum, the dinosaur exhibit at the Natural History Museum and play areas at the V & A Museum of Childhood

City Farms
Toddlers are intrigued by animals and London is full of free city farms which have lots of different animals to look at. I love Mudchute Farm but check out your local city farm

Go for a walk
Toddlers love doing just that toddling. Take them on a walk. It doesn’t matter where, just around the block or to the local park. I always walk to the post box with my son and he loves it. He stops to look at the smallest things, the leave on a hedge, a wall!! Then at the end he has the magic of posting a letter! The awe of being so young. If it rains it’s brilliant because you can put them in their wellies and let them splash in the puddles.

Visit the shops
You have to be a bit imaginative with this one and think of shops your toddler might like. Go to a pet store, they will love looking at the animals. Go to a toy store, although maybe not always the best place if your trying not to spend money. There is of course Hamleys Toy Store in Central London which always has lots of toys your little one can look at and get their hands on. Many Early Learning Centre also have toys set up where your children can try out the toys and play. My son currently loves going to the Supermarket. He sits in the trolley and I pass him the items to put into the trolley. We say what they are called and what colour they are. I do give him something to eat as we go around but he enjoys the supermarket and the other day was disappointed when we weren’t going in there.

We visited St James’s park today with our two year old. It’s a lovely spring day in March and we arrived by 10am. I like to go into Central London as early as possible as it is quieter on the public transport and at the tourist attractions and parks.

What is there for toddlers?
The first thing Ethan wanted to do was chase the piegons. He currently loves doing this and managed to scare away all the piegons where we were sitting. My husband and I bought ourselves a cup of coffee and sat down on a bench in the warm sunshine while our little one burned off some steam and scared all the piegons away. We then went to look at the lake which is normally full with ducks and birds, including black swans and pelicans. Unfortunately it is being drained in March and April as they are cleaning the pond for the first time in 20 years! It was a shame as it’s normally great to see the birds. (If you’re interested normally they feed the pelicans at 2.30pm everyday). However, he loved looking at the machines which were doing the work. There was still a couple of white swans on the remaining small strips of water and a few birds hovering around.

We then headed for the playground. The playground has a lovely sandpit which is extremely popular with the babies and young children. Ethan (who is now 2 and 3 weeks) loves making sandcastles at the moment.


The playground also has swings which are great for babies and small children and a slide which is probably best suited for about ages 20 months and up. There are also wooden caterpillars which you can sit on, a seesaw and a bridge to walk over.

Overall, a great little playground.

We then had an ice cream and made our way back through the park. We actually spent an hour and a half in the warm sunshine of St James’s park.

Toilets and babychanging
There are toilets which are only opened for small children and babychanging right next to the playground. There are some more toilets for adults about 5 minutes away from the playground.

Eating and drinking.
There are lots of kiosks dotted around the park selling tea, coffee, snacks and ice cream. There’s also a restaurant called Inn the Park.The main restaurant is open from 5pm but there is also a self service cafe open throughout the day which is family friendly and serves sandwiches, drinks, snacks and all kinds of refreshments.

Website
St James’s Park

What is there for toddlers?

There is a kid’s zone which is free for 0 to 10 year olds but also has a baby soft play area. There is lots to do for toddlers including dressing up as soldiers and exploring the construction zone which includes music and building activities for toddlers. There is also a reading tree where you can look at books and there’s also a space for art activities.

There’s a limit to the number of children allowed in the kid’s zone so you have to pick up a free ticket for a set time at the reception desk. On average the time slots are for about 50 minutes although the first one of the day is a bit longer. Also sometimes the kids zone is closed due to a birthday party so it may be worth telephoning before you go to double check it’s open.

Food and drink
The Zone has direct access to The Great Escape, which is a cafe that caters for children with Hungry Jeep Meals. At weekends, you can also bring a packed lunch to eat in the cafe.

Getting there
The nearest train station is Victoria Station.
If you’re coming by tube get the district or circle line to Sloane Square.

Pushchair access
There is pushchair access to all the museum galleries and buggies can also be left at reception.

Toilets and babychanging
Baby changing facilities are available in both the female and male toilets.

Website
National Army Museum

For my son’s 2nd birthday we took him to The Pavillion Leisure Centre in Bromley. Parking was easy as there are two big car parks next to the leisure centre. We went to the Buzz family splash session which takes place on a Wednesday between 18.00 and 21.00. They have family changing rooms which are spacious. The pool is very shallow at one end and gradually gets deeper so it’s great for smalll children. There were inflatables, balls and a mini slide which my 2 year old loved. There were a few families there with kids of different ages and it wasn’t very busy. They also put the wave machine on intermittently which again my toddler seemed to enjoy. We’ve only taken him swimming a couple of times before when he was a lot younger. However, he loved it so much that when we left the pool he really cried until he was sobbing because he didn’t want to leave and that is really unlike him! Looks like we’ll have to go back again. I would definitely recommend the buzz family session on Wednesday evening. They also run a family session on a Friday evening between 18.30 and 21.00. Check the website before you go just to make sure these times are still accurate.
The Pavilion Leisure Centre

Peckham Pulse Soft Play

There’s a soft play area for children and toddlers at the Peckham Pulse Leisure Centre. It costs £1.35 for each play session which normally last 50 minutes except for the first session of the day which lasts a bit longer. The times for the sessions are as follows:
9.30am to 10.50am 11.00am to 11.50am
12.00am to 12.50pm 12.50pm to 13.00pm
13.00pm to 13.50pm 14.00pm to 14.50pm
14.50pm to 15.00pm 15.00pm to 16.50pm
17.00pm to 17.50pm

We went on a Thursday for the 11pm session (when my son had justed turned two). We had to queue a bit at the front desk to pay so if you want to make the most of your 50 minutes arrive a bit before the session begins. There is a baby area with a ball pool and different soft shapes, mirrors and space to crawl. This probably suitable to take babies as soon as they are crawling around, maybe even a bit before. There is a main climbing frame for the older children but I went on there with my son. I’m not sure if its officially allowed but there were other parents on the climbing frame and the person on duty didn’t say anything. There was a very fast yellow slide that my son enjoyed and he loved just running around the play frame. There was another really large ball pool. Some of the balls looked like they needed a bit of a clean though!

There is parking for the Peckham Pulse leisure centre but it is very small and parking is limited. I couldn’t get a space there so I parked in the car park for Lidl which is opposite the leisure centre. It is free parking here for 1 1/2 hours. However, after 1 1/2 hours if your car is still there you can get a hefty fine so be careful not to overun. You can also have 2 hours free parking at Morrison’s car park which is about a 5 minute walk away. Again, if you overun you can get a fined.

Avoid going in half terms and the school holidays as it gets filled up with older children quite quickly. When I went in the February half term and I was turned away from the 11am play session because it was full. I haven’t been on the weekends or after school hours but I imagine it’s pretty busy then too.

Peckham library is right next door to the leisure centre so you can always pop in there and look at the children’s books before or after your play session. There is also a 1.1km Surrey Canal Walk to Burgess park so if you haven’t tired out your child enough with the soft play and it’s a nice day you could walk to Burgess park and let them have a run around here. Perhaps take a picnic. Peckham Pulse also has a cafe which does children’s menus such as chicken nuggetts for £2.75. They also did a range of lunch and snack options for adults.

Soft Play Areas in Surrey Quays

Discovery Planet

Discovery Planet is a soft play area located in Surrey Quays shopping area for the under 10s. On weekdays it is £3.49 for under 2s and £3.99 for 2 years upwards. On weekends it costs £4.99 for children ages 2-10 and  £4.49 for under 2s. Adults are free.

They run a parent and toddler group from 10am to 12pm from Monday to Friday during term time. Entry for this is £2.50

Soft Play Area in Bromley

Adventure Kingdom

www.bromleymytime.org.uk/adventure-kingdom.html

I went here with my husband and toddler on a Saturday morning. We arrived about 10.30am and it was fairly quiet. The soft play area is divided into two parts. There is a main climbing frame for children between 4 and 11 and underneath this there is a toddler area for the under fours. Again my toddler (at 22 months) loved the toddler areas. There were three small ball pools and as he currently loves balls he happily sat in there for 15 minutes while we had a cup of tea in the cafe at a table right next to the ball pool. There are also mini slides for the toddlers, and soft play shapes.

You aren’t meant to go on the larger play frame with your under fours. However, when we were there were lots of parents taking their younger children on the larger frame as well and nobody said anything. We took Ethan on the large play frame and he sat on our laps as we went down the big slide. (The slide was very fast!). He loved climbing up to the top part as well as playing happily in the under 4 area.

It cost £3.80 for under fours, babies under six months are free, children over four are £4.80.

 

Gambados

Gambados is a huge indoor play area. There are two small play areas for the under 3s. There is a huge soft play frame for the older children as well as dodgems, a carousel and trampolines. The best thing about going to Gambados is that adults are are allowed on the big play frame and the dodgems too so you can go on with your toddler. Oh and the slides are great!

Gambados is extremely popular with older kids and you can see why. It really is the utimate in indoor play and it is great! My toddler loved it too! However, the downside with Gambados is the price.  Each family group has to pay a one off registration fee of £5. Then you have to pay £6.45 for a 1 to 3 year old or £8.45 for a 4 to 10 year old. Adults also have to pay £2 to enter. This meant that the first time we went we had to pay £15.45 for our first visit as a family and £10.45 for subsequent visits. I think it’s great for a one off treat now and again but a toddler  probably enjoys other soft play areas just as much for much less money, so you may not want to go every week. Having said this, check out the website as they have special offers on the entry price. Older kids will definitely appreciate it much more and if you take older children it’s a break for the parents. The children can run off and play while you sit down and relax in a chill out area with a cup of coffee.  Toddlers require a lot more supervision and it’s not really a break, it requires a lot of energy.  Additionally you aren’t allowed to bring in your own food so if you want to eat you have to buy food at the cafe.

Try and go in the week as it is much quieter. Weekends are hectic!