Guides With children 2026 Any time Updated 9 Sep 2026
Free things to do in London with kids: the honest list
Free things to do in London with kids that are actually free, actually good, and do not turn into thirty pounds at the gift shop.
London is the best city in the country for taking children out without paying, and it is not close. The national museums are free by policy and have been for a quarter of a century, the parks are free, and a surprising amount of the good stuff for children sits inside both.
The catch is rarely the entry price. It is the extras: the paid special exhibition attached to the free museum, the gift shop at the exit, and the cafe that assumes you have given up. Everything below is free to get into, and where there is a trap, it says so.
The museums that are built for children
The Science Museum and the Natural History Museum are the obvious two and both are free to walk into. The Science Museum’s basement gallery for under sixes is free but ticketed on the day, and it goes early at the weekend. At the Natural History Museum the free part is the whole main museum; the paid part is usually a special exhibition and an ice rink in winter.
The quieter ones work better with small children precisely because they are quieter. The Horniman in Forest Hill has a free aquarium, a taxidermy walrus and a hill with a view. The V and A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green is free and is exactly what it sounds like. The Museum of London Docklands has a free children’s gallery.
Our free museums guide has the full list of what is free to walk into and what still costs money once you are inside.
Outdoors, and free
The royal parks are free and each has something specific for children: the Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens with a pirate ship, the deer at Richmond and Bushy, and the playground and menagerie at Battersea Park, where only the zoo charges.
City farms are the underrated answer and most are free or ask for a donation. Hackney City Farm, Kentish Town City Farm, Vauxhall City Farm and Mudchute on the Isle of Dogs, which has a view of Canary Wharf behind the sheep. The lidos are not free but are a few pounds, and several are heated.
Free things to do with kids when it rains
The museums above are the first answer and the honest one. Beyond them: the libraries, several of which run free story sessions for under fives, and the shopping centre soft play at Westfield, which is not free but is cheap and indoors.
Crossrail Place Roof Garden is free, covered, warm and almost empty, which makes it the best kept indoor secret for a wet afternoon in east London.
What the free things actually cost
Budget for the cafe rather than the entry. A family of four in a museum cafe will spend more than most paid attractions charge, and every free museum is laid out so you leave through the shop. Taking food in is allowed at all the national museums and most have a picnic area, which is the single biggest saving available.
Travel is the other one. Under elevens travel free on the tube, DLR and buses with a fare-paying adult, and eleven to fifteens travel free on buses with a Zip photocard. That makes the far-out free things, the Horniman and Mudchute and Richmond, genuinely free rather than free plus twenty pounds.
More
Things to do in London with kids covers the paid ones too, and what is worth the ticket. Half term is the version for the weeks when everything is booked, and free things to do in London is the adult version of this page.
With children: what is on
Sun 25 October to Thu 31 DecemberSunday
25 October-
Exhibitions Free
Free entry: the Natural History Museum
Free, permanent, and busiest between eleven and three. Go at opening or after four and Hintze Hall is almost yours. Timed tickets are free but worth booking at the weekend.
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Exhibitions Free
Free entry: the Science Museum
The permanent galleries cost nothing. Making the Modern World runs the whole length of the ground floor and is the one to see if you only have an hour.
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Sport From £12
Public skating at Queens Ice and Bowl
A full size rink under Queensway, open sessions most of the day and into the evening. Skate hire is included in the session price. Book ahead at weekends, because it fills with birthday parties.
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Free
Big Story Festival at IWM London
Until 26 Oct
IWM's first Big Story Festival: free family drop-ins, drawing with Will Hughes and a 1940s sing along, plus paid author talks.
Wednesday
11 November-
Seasonal Adults from £13, children from £11, plus a £1.50 fee
Skate at Somerset House
Until 10 Jan 2027
The courtyard rink with the tree and the arcades lit around you. 11 November to 10 January, confirmed by Somerset House. Tickets are not on sale yet and no price is published.
Friday
13 November-
Seasonal From £25.50
Christmas at Kew
Until 3 Jan 2027
A mile of lit trail through the gardens after dark, ending at the Palm House. Ticketed separately from general Kew admission, and last entry depends on which gate you booked.
Thursday
19 November-
Pick Seasonal From £1 off-peak
Hyde Park Winter Wonderland
Until 3 Jan 2027
Closed on Christmas Day only. Book a date and an arrival hour before you go. Entry is free if you spend twenty-five pounds in a single online booking.
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Exhibitions Ticketed separately
Winter Wonderland: Magical Ice Kingdom: Neverland
Until 3 Jan 2027
Five hundred tonnes of ice and snow carved into Peter Pan. Well done and genuinely cold, but you are inside for about twenty minutes.
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Seasonal No extra charge, park entry booked separately
Winter Wonderland: The Elves’ Workshop
Until 3 Jan 2027
Puzzles, giant cogs and hands on toy making for small children. Free beyond park entry.
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Seasonal Ticketed separately
Winter Wonderland: The Ice Rink at Winter Wonderland
Until 3 Jan 2027
The largest open air rink in the country, built around Hyde Park's Victorian bandstand. Sessions are timed and the evening ones go first.
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Seasonal No extra charge, park entry booked separately
Winter Wonderland: Winter Wonderland Parade
Until 3 Jan 2027
Santa's elves see the sleigh off, on selected days only. Free, and worth checking the day before you go.
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Seasonal No extra charge, park entry booked separately
Winter Wonderland: Santa’s Grotto
Until 3 Jan 2027
Free to visit once you are in the park, and it closes at six rather than ten, which catches people out.
Saturday
21 November-
Seasonal From £15
Pantomime at Hackney Empire
Until 3 Jan 2027
The best regarded panto in London and a fraction of the west end price, in a Matcham theatre that was nearly lost twice. Book early: locals get in first and it deserves them.
Tuesday
1 December-
Markets Free
Greenwich Market in December
Until 31 Dec
The covered one, open every day 10am to 5.30pm and shut only on Christmas Day. Craft and antiques from actual traders, and the naval college two minutes away.
Saturday
12 December-
Seasonal From £25
Pantomime at the London Palladium
Until 11 Jan 2027
The biggest panto in the country in a house built for variety, which is what panto actually is. Matinees are the ones with children in; evenings are louder and funnier.
Free
All free events-
Exhibitions Free
Free entry: the Natural History Museum
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Exhibitions Free
Free entry: the Science Museum
What is coming up
All guides-
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What to do in London at night, hour by hour: the things that start after work, the ones...
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Tue 19 to Sat 30 January
Canary Wharf Winter Lights: free light art in January
Free, after dark, and the best reason to be in London in January. Dates, the three main sites,...
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Sat 5 to Sun 6 June
London Open Gardens 2027: private gardens open for one weekend
A June weekend when more than a hundred gardens that are normally locked open to ticket holders. Formerly...
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On now
Date night in London: ideas that are not just dinner
Cheap, late, indoors and outdoors, sorted by what kind of evening you are actually trying to have.
London month by month
Twelve guides, one a monthThings to do in January Things to do in February Things to do in March Things to do in April Things to do in May Things to do in June Things to do in July Things to do in August Things to do in September Things to do in October Things to do in November Things to do in December
What is on right now
All 2213 listingsThis guide is rewritten each year before the dates come round. For what is actually happening this week rather than what happens every year, the listings below are dated, checked against the venue and carry the venue's own link.
Next up
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Sport Free
Dogs on Hampstead Heath
Or pick a part of town
Soho Covent Garden Islington Bloomsbury Camden Shoreditch Dalston Battersea Fitzrovia Crouch End
Questions people ask
What are the best free things to do in London with kids?
The Science Museum and the Natural History Museum, both free to walk into. The Horniman in Forest Hill, which has a free aquarium. The city farms, most of which are free or ask for a donation. And the royal parks, particularly the Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens.
Are London museums free for children?
The national museums are free for everyone, adults included. Special exhibitions inside them usually charge, and some free galleries are ticketed on the day, which means arriving early at weekends rather than paying.
Do children travel free in London?
Under elevens travel free on the tube, DLR and buses with a fare-paying adult. Eleven to fifteens travel free on buses with a Zip photocard. That is what makes the further-out free attractions genuinely free.
What can you do with kids in London when it rains?
The national museums first. Beyond them, libraries with free story sessions for under fives, and Crossrail Place Roof Garden, which is free, covered and warm.
Every listing on this page is checked against the venue's own page and the page is rewritten each year, usually six to eight weeks before the dates. Times and prices can change on the night; the venue link on each event is the one to trust. How we choose what goes in.