Visiting The Young V&A Museum as a Family: A Full Review
The V&A Museum of Childhood re-opened in July 2023 and is now known as the Young V&A Museum. This is a great, free London museum to visit for families. I had heard mixed reviews on this London museum so we were excited to try it out for ourselves. Overall, we really enjoyed our visit and in this post, I’ll be sharing everything you need to know about visiting the Young V&A / The Museum of Childhood located in Bethnal Green.
For reference, my boys were aged 4.5 years old and 16 months at the time of our first visit here.
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Good to Know Before You Go to the Young V&A / Museum of Childhood
Getting to the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green
The Young V&A is located at Cambridge Heath Rd, Bethnal Green, London E2 9PA. It is very close to Bethnal Green tube station however, this is not an accessible tube station, so if you’re a mum on your own with two under 5, this can be tricky. The closest tube station is Whitechapel.
Whitechapel is a 30-minute walk and it’s not a pretty walk. You may want to opt for a bus, but I often find that a bus is just as long as walking.
Unfortunately, the difficulty of getting there is a large factor that puts me off going back in the future.
Tickets for the Museum of Childhood / Young V&A
It’s a free museum which is fantastic! There is no booking, you can just turn up.
When we visited, we walked straight I’m however I have heard of people having to wait up to an hour outside in busy periods.
Accessibility at the Museum of Childhood / Young V&A:
The Museum of Childhood / Young V&A is very accessible for wheelchairs and pushchairs (strollers). There is an area for pushchair parking, of course, you leave it there at your own risk but we found it easier to leave it there. Just make sure to take any valuables with you.
Eating at the Museum of Childhood / Young V&A:
The Young V&A has its own cafe. There are also long benches where you can sit and eat your own food. Most of the galleries don’t allow food and drinks.
We ate at Spitalfields Market before vititing the museum, there are lots of great options here, however, it is back where we started near Whitechapel Tube Station, around a 30-minute walk from the museum.
Tips for Visiting and Review of The Young V&A / The Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green, London
The Museum of Childhood is located in a stunning building and the inside is beautifully renovated. While it looks great, there is quite a lot of wasted space. Im not sure if this central bit ever gets used.
On entering, there is a big sensory area that is great for babies and pre-walking toddlers to enjoy.
They have various fun and interactive things for kids to play with including a spinning sand table, a magnetic building board and foam blocks. There is also usually colouring or a craft activity. However, there’s no room for many kids to use them at a time. For example, there is a large area with building blocks but there are not enough blocks to really build anything when they’re divided by multiple children. My 16-month-old was happy to stack a few and knock them down but my older one would have liked to build something more interesting!
We visited on a rainy Saturday afternoon. It was surprisingly quiet and the boys could easily explore. I’m going to be honest, if it was busy, this museum would be a nightmare!
There are lots of display cases with various toys in them, my 16-month-old loved looking at everything and generally just walking around. Again, if it was busy, I wouldn’t have been able to let him do that! My older one would have liked to be able to get some of these things out and play with them!
Finally, it was very hot in the museum, definitely wear layers!
Final Thoughts
Overall, we really enjoyed our visit here and the boys were happily entertained for a couple of hours. For a free museum, I think it’s great!
I would avoid weekends and school holidays if you can as I don’t think it will be fun when it’s busy.
While we enjoyed our time at the Museum of Childhood, I also don’t feel the need to rush back, we prefer The Museum of London Docklands or The National Army Museum (click for our reviews on those) . Personally, I wouldn’t make a special trip to come here, but its a great thing to do in Bethnal Green if you happen to be in the area.
Thank you so much for reading our review of The Young V&A also know as the London Museum of Childhood. We hope we’ve helped you plan your trip and you have a great time there!
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Happy Exploring,
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