Museums and indoor attractions to visit

1/4

5 April 2012

Daralyn Danns checks out what to see and do at museums and other indoor attractions.

The Science Museum
Science of Survival is this year's hands-on exhibition looking at how life will change in response to climate change. Create your own future house, food and transport (£6 for adults/£16.50 for one adult and two children - with pre-timed tickets, so less queues). The interactive Garden (under-fives) and Pattern Pod (5-7s) are still in the basement but the Launchpad (8-14s) has moved upstairs.

Flights of Fancy interactive tours on the third floor Flight gallery (ages five+) every Sat and on Suns the Spaced Out Tour in the Exploring Space gallery (ground floor).

Space In Your Face (28 Jul-1 Aug) and The Super Science Museum Game Show (22-25 Jul and 25-29 Aug) are other summer events (check website for times). Also worth visiting - the IMAX for movies such as Secrets of the Pharaohs: Mummies 3D and Space Station 3D. Combo tickets to this and the SimEx Simulator ride offer savings. Buy on 0870 870 4868 (booking fee applies) or early in the day as tickets sell out fast. Rest of museum free.
Exhibition Road, SW7. 0870 870 4868 or sciencemuseum.org.uk

The Natural History Museum
They never tire of the dinosaurs and giant blue whales but why not expand the world of wildlife and get more out of your trip with an Explorer Backpack (£25 deposit) with themes: birds, mammals, oceans, primates or monsters. Also follow the Bookasaurus and Jurassic Ark trails and for 7-13s there is the hands-on Investigate centre in the basement.

Amazing Butterflies to 17 Aug (£5, £3.50 children, under-threes free) is this summer's big attraction - a tropical butterfly house with free-flying tropical butterflies and giant outdoor maze. Enter an interactive maze as a caterpillar and choose the right route to becoming a beautiful butterfly. Darwin's Canopy marks the bicentenary of his birth with works by ten artists - including Turner Prize winners Rachel Whiteread and Mark Wallinger. Rest of museum free.
Exhibition Road, SW7 5BD. 0207 942 5000 or nhm.ac.uk

British Museum
There are over two million years of history to explore here but most children want to head to the everpopular Egyptian mummies.

Try one of the six free trails including two for under-fives. Before 3.30pm, grab a free Ford family activity backpack (£10 deposit). Allow 90mins to complete the activities. Hadrian: Empire and Conflict opens 24 Jul (£12, under-16s free) is the summer exhibition with activities (check web for dates) including helping to build a replica of Hadrian's villa.
Great Russell Street, WC1. 020 7323 8000 or britishmuseum.org

National Army Museum
This gem is five minutes from the King's Road and has a spacious Kids' Zone playroom for under-tens, with a soft-play castle and dressing-up uniforms and a nice café next door. As such it can get busy, so aim to get there early. There's plenty of hands-on stuff to enjoy: try lifting chain mail or watching the battle of Waterloo unfold. Find out if your family could serve in Queen Victoria's army at the Victorian Soldier event (2 and 3 Aug). Suitable for all the family. Free activity backpacks at reception.
Royal Hospital Road, SW3. 020 7730 0717 or national-army-museum.ac.uk

Victoria and Albert Museum
Summer highlights include an exhibition of costumes worn on stage by The Supremes (online booking £5, children free).

Backpacks are available (bring ID) for children every weekend and during holidays, (28 Jul-1 Aug, 4-8 and 25-29 Aug, 10.30am-5pm). Try the new Picnic Party trail which takes you through South Asia, the Middle East and East Asia. A mustsee is the 3,500 jewels in the new William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery.
Exhibition Road, SW7 2RL. 020 7942 2000 or vam.ac.uk

Kensington Palace
Explore the State Apartments and visit the bedroom where Princess Victoria learned she had become Queen. See dresses worn by Diana, Princess of Wales, including seven which have never been on show, at Diana, Fashion & Style, and view outfits worn by past and present royals in the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection. This summer's exhibition is The Last Debutantes, to mark the 50th anniversary of the last court presentations. £12.30, children £6.15, family £34, under-fives free. Book online (and get a discount until 18 Jul).
Kensington Gardens, W8. 0844 482 7799 or hrp.org.uk/kensingtonpalace/

Madame Tussauds/ London Dungeon
Talk to Big Brother in the newly revamped BB Diary Room. Madonna has been reinvented and Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France, has joined the world's leading politicians at the wax museum. Book online, it's cheaper. £22.50, children £18.90, family £77. After 5 Saver £12.50 (and the queues should be shorter). Fastrack adults £40, children £30. Under-fives free. There are package options to combine other attractions such as the London Eye and the London Dungeon - with its scary rides and gory displays. See website for further details.
Marylebone Road, NW1. 0870 400 3000). madame-tussauds.co.uk

The London Bridge Experience
Starting from when London Bridge was created in the Roman times, up to the opening of the current bridge, at London's newest attraction you can listen to Charles Dickens and Braveheart tell you about their involvement with the Bridge. Under-fives should avoid the scary London Tombs. £19.95, children £14.95, family £59.95, under-fives go free.
2-4 Tooley St, SE1. 0800 043 4666 or londonbridgeexperience.com

Museum of Childhood
This Bethnal Green museum, part of the V&A, houses the biggest selection of toys in the country with lots to see, touch and do (although this will mainly appeal to younger children rather than teens). Take a glimpse of the past 100 years of the Olympics at A Century of Olympic Posters (until 7 Sep) and Are You Being Served? by Tom Hunter explores the changing face of East End trade through photographs. Check website for drop-in activities which include Funky Fridays in Aug - bring a picnic for fun outdoors (1-4pm).
Cambridge Heath Road, E2. 020 8983 5200 or vam.ac.uk

Imperial War Museum
Was writer Ian Fleming's creation, the secret agent James Bond, based on fact or fantasy? Find out at For Your Eyes Only (£8, children £4, family £19). At The Children's War (free) go back to the Blitz with regular appearances by actors and evacuees bringing this to life. From War to Windrush marks the 60th anniversary of the arrival of the MV Empire Windrush in Britain and tells the stories of West Indian people during the two world wars. Drop in on the family activity Me, Myself and Others (12-13 Jul, 19-20 Jul and 26 Jul-3 Aug 1-5pm), which looks at individual identity in a global community. Take a free guided tour of the galleries, every Sat and Sun, 11.30am and 1.30pm.
Imperial War Museum. Lambeth Road, SE1. 020 7416 5000 or london.iwm.org.uk

Horniman Museum
A mini Natural History Museum, British Museum and aquarium rolled into one with great hands-on activities throughout the holidays, grounds for walks and picnics (there is also a decent café), music gallery where you can make sounds, artefacts from around the globe, discovery sessions, chill-out Sundays with music, a night-time bat walk and so much more (check website for dates/ times). Entry and many activities free and well worth the journey (go by train to Forest Hill or by car - there is some free parking nearby). Combine with a visit to nearby Crystal Palace Park to see the Victorian dinosaur sculptures.
100 London Road, SE23. 020 8699 1872 or horniman.ac.uk.

Museums and indoor attractions to visit

Read More