LONDON WITH KIDS – CITY GUIDE
Have you heard of The Horniman Museum? It’s one of the most underrated museums in London and a great free place to explore with kids. Here’s our guide to the Horniman Museum, London and tips to enjoy your visit with kids, including, the Dinosaur rEvolution (which is a paid exhibition).
For reference, my boys are age 4 and 1 years old. We visited with a friend who also has two boys of similar ages and we all had so much fun!
GOOD TO KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
Getting There: The museum is a less than 10-minute walk (up a bit of a hill) from Forest Hill Station, which is an accessible station. There are several buses that can take you to opposite the museum (176, 185, 197, 356, P4).
Entry: The museum is free and advanced booking is not required. Some exhibitions are paid for. You can pre-book these online or at the information desk when you arrive. We paid for the Dinosaur rEvolution exhibition and I will talk more about it below!
Accessibility: The museum is very accessible and easy to get around with pushchairs (strollers). You’re not meant to take pushchairs into the exhibitions and there is buggy parking. However, they did let me take it in when my baby was asleep in it.
Eating: The Horniman has quite strict rules on eating. No food is allowed to be eaten in the museum and they did ask me to take away my baby’s snack.
The cafe does not let you eat your own food in there and the staff were enforcing this rule (which I have never known anywhere else to do!) The cafe menu is great but also on the slightly expensive side.
After our visit, I found out, that you can eat your own food in the gardens or in the Dutch Barn. (Of course, it would have been better for cafe staff to direct people to the barn rather than just telling them to leave!)
THINGS NOT TO MISS AT THE HORNIMAN MUSEUM
1. FREE EXHIBITIONS
There were 3 exhibitions when we visited. Music, World and Tea. The Music Gallery has interactive tables where you can hear the instruments play and the boys all loved this. World also has fun interactive activities for kids. Writing a wish for this tree was especially cute.
Tea was not so engaging for kids but while we were there, there was a hands-on desk and they did enjoy that. The mum also found it very interesting!
2. PAID EXHIBITION – DINO REVOLUTION
My boys love dinosaurs, so taking them here was a no-brainer. Tickets are £9 for adults and £6 for children. Under 3’s are free.
It was much smaller than I expected it to be. We only spent around half an hour in there and that was stretched out. The dinosaur replicas were great and there are some really interesting facts. There is also a colouring table and kid’s books you can read.
Is this exhibition worth it? Really, it comes down to your budget. If you can afford it, kids will enjoy it and it’s great to support a free museum. If you’re on a tight budget, it’s not as good as the dinosaur exhibit at the Natural History Museum, which is free.
There are big signs everywhere for this exhibition so if you think you can come to the museum and just skip this, chances are your kids will see it and want to go!
There is also an aquarium and butterfly house you can pay to visit. We are yet to try these!
3. THE MUSEUMS GARDENS
Coming out of the museum and into the gardens, there is a stunningly beautiful conservatory and also some lovely gardens. We really enjoyed walking through the gardens, especially the music garden, which has huge instruments kids can play.
You can also see amazing views of London which I just love.
4. THE FARM TRAIL
There is also a small farm trail. It’s on a bit of a hill so not ideal for pushchairs but we managed it. You can see lots of small animals and also goats and alpacas, which the boys loved. This is a really great activity for families and we’ll definitely be returning in the summer to do it again.
5. THE NATURE TRAIL
The nature trail was a little disappointing. It’s not easily accessible for pushchairs, you have to go up steps. After getting to the trail. It’s really just a path through trees. There is nothing special about it compared to any other woodland walk. It’s also not a loop, by this point our kids were getting tired so we turned back about halfway.
If you have a pushchair, I think there are plenty of other great things to do at the museum and this is one you can skip.
Thank you so much for reading our guide to the Horniman Museum, I hope we’ve helped you to plan your trip!
We’ve been living in London for a few months now and I’ve published many guides on things to do as a family.
Happy Exploring,
