Best Free London Museums For Kids

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London may not be known as a budget city for travelers but offers seemingly infinite free attractions.  In addition to iconic landmarks like Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Nelson’s Column, Tower Bridge and Buckingham Palace, there are many free museums, including four that are among the world’s top ten most visited museums each year.  Exhibits in these museums include the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon frieze, Apollo 10, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, Darwin’s specimens, the world’s largest portrait collection and the remains of the London Wall from about 200 A.D. With so much variety, there really are free museums in London for everyone.  Our family barely scratched the surface of London’s museums during our three trips there with kids but have been lucky to visit a few of London’s amazing museums as a family without paying any admissions fees.  To round out our list, we asked some fellow travel bloggers for recommendations for the best free London museums for kids:

Free Museums in South Kensington

#1:  London’s Natural History Museum 

My kids really enjoy natural history and have visited natural history museums in Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.  London’s Natural History Museum definitely did not disappoint.  The cathedral-like building in South Kensington is stunning, and we were greeted by Dippy, a diplodocus skeleton featured in Hitze Hall, the main hall of the museum.  This dinosaur reminded us of Sue, the T-Rex featured in the Field Museum’s main hall.  We were excited to learn that the cast of Dippy was a gift from Andrew Carnegie at the request of Edward VII.  Since our visit to London, we’ve seen the original skeleton on display at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Replacing iconic main hall dinosaurs seems to be a recent trend in natural history museums.  Just as Sue was replaced at the Field Museum with a cast of Maximo, a titanosaur, and the world’s largest dinosaur skeleton in 2018, Dippy was replaced with Hope, a blue whale’s skeleton in 2017.   While Dippy was quite a centerpiece, one of the biggest takeaways from our trip to London’s Natural History Museum was that the blue whale is the world’s largest animal.  So, my boys would probably approve of the change.  Admittedly, it must be easier to photograph Hope, who is suspended from the ceiling, without getting scores of other visitors in the shot as we found when trying to photograph Dilly.  We can’t wait to see Hope, whose installation is shown on this time-lapse video.

The Dinosaur Gallery one-ups the other dinosaur exhibits we have visited by adding animatronics.  The enormous animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex is the highlight of the exhibit.  Visitors stand in a line (which is known as a queue in London) that eventually inches past the T-Rex.

The Natural History Museum was originally designed to house the British Museum’s natural history collection, particularly Charles Darwin’s samples, so there are plenty of animal specimens.  My younger son got up close and personal with the lion exhibit.  We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and highly recommend London’s Natural History Museum for kids of all ages.

  • London’s Natural History Museum Admission:  There is no general admission to visit London’s Natural History Museum, but some temporary exhibits do require an admission fee.
  • London’s Natural History Museum Hours:  London’s Natural History Museum is generally open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:50 p.m.
  • Closest Underground Stop to London’s Natural History Museum:  South Kensington

 

#2:  London’s Science Museum

Kids who have a passing interest in space travel, experiments, technology or transport would love London’s Science Museum. It’s the best London museum for kids, and visitors can explore free exhibits including some of the most iconic objects created over the past 250 years – from Apollo 10 to the first Apple computer as well as the first submarine.   While the Museum is free, visitors can also purchase tickets for the WonderLab to take part in live experiments at the Chemistry Bar or watch 3D IMAX movie features on space travel and natural phenomena. The Science Museum is a great place to visit on a cold and rainy day thanks to the play area for smaller kids on the lower level. 

  • London’s Science Museum Admission:  There is no general admission to visit London’s Science Museum, but donations are welcome, and tickets are required for special exhibits and the IMAX cinema.
  • London’s Science Museum Hours:  The Science Museum is generally open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily and closed December 24-26.
  • Closest Underground Stop to London’s Science Museum:  South Kensington

Recommended by Katy Clarke from Untold Morsels.  Find out more from Katy about 3 days in London.

 

#3:  Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum, one of South Kensington’s Big Three free museums, is purely dedicated to art and design. It’s not as immediately child-friendly as its neighbors, the Natural History Museum and Science Museum.  There are no dinosaurs or flight simulators here, but it does have daily free activities and events for children.  Kids age 5 to 12 can borrow a backpack of activities to help them explore the Museum’s while paper trails and hands-on discovery areas help to bring the exhibits to life. Pop-up performances and making sessions appear on weekends and school holidays, too.  But another important feature is the John Madejski Garden, an outdoor courtyard in the heart of the Museum. On sunny days, families gather around the pond to eat packed lunches and relax or purchase ice-cream and refreshments in the Garden Café.  If it’s a less sunny day, the V&A’s main café is a historic work of art in its own right!

Photo Credit Mummy Travels

  • Victoria and Albert Museum Admission:  There is no general admission to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum, but there is a separate admission charge for some exhibitions and events, which may require advance booking.
  • Victoria and Albert Museum Hours:  The Victoria & Albert Museum is generally open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. and 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Fridays.  The Victoria & Albert is closed December 24-26.
  • Closest Underground Stop to the Victoria and Albert Museum:  South Kensington
Recommended by Nancy from Map and Family.  Find out more from Nancy about the things to do with teens in London.

 

Free Museums in Trafalgar Square

#4:  London’s National Gallery

London’s National Gallery is located in Trafalgar Square and houses a relatively small collection of about 2,300 paintings, almost all are world-famous and on permanent display.  The National Gallery is the fourth most visited art museum in the world with over six million visitors annually.  The Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum are the only more popular art museums.

The Gallery’s entrances are located off of Trafalgar Square.  We used the side entrance, which is more stroller friendly than the beautiful main entrance.  Our focus was the Impressionist Gallery that holds some of the world’s most famous paintings by Claude Monet, Pierre Renoir and Vincent Van Gogh.  Monet’s paintings on exhibit here include Gare St. Lazare and The Water-Lily Pond.  Van Gogh’s Sunflowers is one of the most recognizable paintings on exhibit.  Van Gogh only created about 800 oil paintings in his life, including several variations of these sunflowers.  Similar versions are displayed in the Van Gogh Museum and Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum of Art, which purchased Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers for about $40 million in 1987, which was a record at the time.  When considering those amounts, it’s hard to believe that Van Gogh relied on his brother for financial support during his lifetime.

Our budding artist was very interested in Van Gogh's Sunflowers

Our budding artist was very interested in Van Gogh’s Sunflowers

Our boys were particularly fascinated by Georges Seurat’s massive Bathers at Asnières.  Seurat masterfully uses pointillism, a painting technique that uses small, distinct dots of varying colors to form an image.  It’s much harder to see how the patterns of dots form an image when observing the painting up close, and the boys learned to step back to see the image more clearly.  While we were not able to explore the entire National Gallery, this is definitely a museum that we could visit again and again.

  • London’s National Gallery Admission:  There is no general admission to visit the National Gallery, but some temporary exhibits do require an admissions fee.
  • London’s National Gallery Hours:  London’s National Gallery is generally open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily and from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Fridays.  The National Gallery is closed on January 1 and December 24-26.
  • Closest Underground Stops to London’s National Gallery:  Charing Cross and Leicester Square

 

#5:  London’s National Portrait Gallery

When London’s National Portrait Gallery opened in 1856, it was the world’s first portrait gallery.  The National Portrait Gallery now contains the world’s most extensive portrait collection with approximately 200,000 works.  The collection most notably includes portraits of important, famous and royal Brits, including members of the royal family, celebrities, politicians, artists and writers.  Visitors have the chance to view history through portraits, photographs and sculptures arranged chronologically from 1500s to modern-day.

King Henry VIII is one of the most infamous Brits and is featured in the center of the bottom row below.  After their visit to the Tower of London, our boys were particularly excited to check out this royal portrait wall.

We loved learning about history and art at London’s National Portrait Gallery and recommend it for all family travelers.

  • London’s National Portrait Gallery Admission:  There is no general admission fee to visit London’s National Portrait Gallery, but some temporary exhibits do require an admissions fee.
  • London’s National Portrait Gallery Hours:  London’s National Portrait Gallery is generally open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Fridays.  The National Gallery is closed on December 24-26.
  • Closest Underground Stops to London’s National Portrait Gallery:  Charing Cross and Leicester Square

 

Free Museums in Bloomsbury

#6:  British Museum

The British Museum allows visitors to journey through time and around the world, without leaving London. While most people visit for the Ancient Egyptian exhibit and to see the Rosetta stone, there’s much more. Visitors can use the regular audio-guide for a more formal experience or the interactive family guide to play games throughout the Museum. With either guide, everyone will love learning about the burial rituals of Egypt, seeing hundreds of natural history specimens in the library and looking up at the Maori from the mysterious Easter Island. This is a museum where visitors could spend days properly discovering it all or skim the surface in only a few hours.

Parthenon frieze

Image by Tasos Lekkas from Pixabay.

  • British Museum Admission:  There is no admission charge for the British Museum.
  • British Museum Hours:  The British Museum is generally open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Fridays from 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.  The British Museum is closed on January 1 and December 24-26.
  • Closest Underground Stations to the British Museum:  Barbican and St. Paul’s

Recommended by Kyla from Where Is The World.

 

#7:  Museum of London

The Museum of London is a fascinating and beautifully presented introduction to the city itself.  It is located north of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and its permanent galleries describe a timeline from prehistory to the present day, and special temporary exhibitions take angles – recent and current examples range from the story of London’s secret rivers to the impact that animals from lions to bees have had in the city’s story.  We learned that London was the richest and most populous city in the world one century ago.  

My kids were of course fascinated by the disgusting “Fatberg!” story of London’s sewer blockage, and my husband loves the Museum mostly because it is in the Barbican, which is either a wonderful icon of architectural history or the most repugnant set of concrete tower-blocks on the planet, depending on the viewer.  

  • Museum of London Admission:  There is no admission charge for the Museum of London.
  • Museum of London Hours:  The Museum of London is generally open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
  • Closest Underground Stations to the Museum of London:  Barbican and St. Paul’s

Recommended by Ania from The Travelling Twins.

Free Museums in the South Bank

 

#8:  Tate Modern

The Tate Modern is the sixth most visited art museum in the world and houses modern and contemporary art from the 20th and 21st centuries in a former power station.  Unlike most art museums, which are presented chronologically, the Tate Modern is organized by themes.  We last visited in 2015, and a 10-story addition opened two years later in 2017.

Displays change frequently, and many exhibits come from the Tate Collection, which includes the United Kingdom’s national collection of British Art.  The expansive Turbine Hall can showcase large-scale work.  London’s Tate Modern is an extremely kid-friendly art museum.  The website has a special page dedicated to visiting families that explicitly states that women are welcome to nurse wherever they feel comfortable – which is exactly what I did while the boys explored the interactive building area.

Amazing interactive building exhibit

The view of St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Thames and the Millennium Bridge from the balcony should not be missed.  The Millennium Bridge is a pedestrian bridge that was completed in 2000 to connect the Tate Modern to St. Paul’s Cathedral, but an unexpected sway required it to close almost as soon as it was opened and undergo almost two more years of additional modifications.

  • Tate Modern Admission:  There is no general admission to the Tate Modern, but donations are welcome.
  • Tate Modern Hours:  The Tate Modern is generally open Sundays through Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily and Fridays and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
  • Closest Underground Stop to the Tate Modern: Southwark and St Paul’s
Free Museum in Forest City
#9:  Horniman Museum and Gardens

Opened in 1901, the Horniman Museum and Gardens in Southeast London is a brilliant free and child-friendly museum. The Horniman houses artifacts procured by Frederick John Horniman on his world travels in the 19th century. Aside from the aquarium and special exhibitions, all galleries and parks are free to enter.

Toddlers will love the music room where they can beat African drums and experiment with unusual Asian instruments. The main gallery contains hundreds of taxidermy animals from across the world. Children especially adore the famous gigantic stuffed walrus. It’s an amazing place to learn about other cultures and to inspire a love of nature.

Every day, free workshops for children are offered to those who register at the front desk. The attached Horniman Gardens are beautiful with views over London, farm animals, a music laboratory for children and a stunning conservatory. In the summer, it’s easy to spend a whole day in the museum and gardens.

  • Horniman Museum and Gardens Admission:  There is no admission charge for the Horniman Museum and Gardens.
  • Horniman Museum and Gardens Hours:  The Horniman Museum is generally open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and closed December 24-26.  The Horniman Garden closing times vary by season.

Recommended by Kirsty from World for a Girl.

 

Free Museums in Chelsea

#10:  Saatchi Gallery

My favorite place to visit whenever we’re in London is the Saatchi Gallery on King’s Road. This area is great with its many restaurants and upscale shopping, and it’s the perfect place to house a contemporary art gallery.  I find that modern art is easier to keep the kids’ attention than the more traditional galleries, it’s bigger, brighter and sometimes they can touch it! My daughter loves visiting the Saatchi as much as I do to see its ever-changing exhibits.

 The Saatchi sometimes holds child friendly workshops and talks, their ethos is to make modern art accessible to all so children are very welcome.  Previous exhibits have included Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, and the Saatchi in constantly showcasing, new, little known artists. Just think, it’s possible to introduce kids to the next big thing in the art world! Some exhibits are not so child friendly so I would check the website before visiting and avoid these areas.   Most exhibits are not roped off so keep an eye on young children to ensure they’re not touching the artwork although some pieces are interactive such as the multimedia installations.

Because the rooms are spacious and clean, it’s easy to get around the Saatchi with a stroller. There’s also a lovely open space at the front of the Gallery for the kids to burn off some energy either before or after a visit.

  • Saatchi Gallery Admission:  There is no general admission to the Tate Modern, but donations are welcome.
  • Saatchi Gallery Hours:  Generally open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
  • Closest Underground Stop to the Saatchi Gallery: Sloan Square

Recommended by Karen from Are We There Yet Kids.

 

So Many Amazing Free London Museums for Kids

When considering a family trip to London, remember that many of the most popular attractions are free to visit, including London’s museums of art, science and history.  This London museums list can create the perfect family itinerary for London.  Also check out our posts on Planning a Trip to London With Kids, the Best Places to Visit in England With Kids, Top Attractions in London for Families, Best London Parks With Kids and the Tower of London with Kids.

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8 comments

Carine February 12, 2018 - 1:48 pm

I’ve always wanted tot go to London! The aquarium looks cool!

-Carine
http://www.rinnyandbean.com

Reply
meganjohnson86 February 12, 2018 - 7:01 pm

Great post! I would LOVE to travel abroad with my kids! Truth be told I am scared the time change would get them all out of wack and they would be awful the whole time! I think I need to get over that fear!

Reply
Sandy February 12, 2018 - 11:42 pm

Our family has only been to London once but we were there for only a few days so didn’t get a chance to see too much. Thanks for these suggestions – now I know which museums we want to try when we go next!

Reply
julieannhoag February 13, 2018 - 3:37 pm

I would LOVE to bring my kids to London some day! It’s pretty far for us in the middle of the US, but I would certainly enjoy visiting London with my family.Thanks for the info!

Reply
Catherine D'Cruz February 14, 2018 - 5:43 am

We are based in Ohio. It’s closer than you think : ).

Reply
Lauren Sheriff February 14, 2018 - 2:28 am

I’ve always wanted to go to London and now want to go even more!!

Lauren

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Catherine D'Cruz February 14, 2018 - 5:44 am

I definitely recommend it!

Reply
45 Things to do in London with kids - Globetotting December 14, 2018 - 5:12 am

[…] Recommended by Catherine D’Cruz, We Go With Kids […]

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