Things to do in London, when you’re two

What are the best things to see and do in London with babies and young children? I wrote a post last year about the best things to see and do in London with babies, and had loads of great suggestions that we tried out. Now E’s coming up to two and running about all over the place, I wanted to revisit the idea as there’s so much more she’ll be able to appreciate.

I’m not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions, but I wanted to pick out and write down fun things we should do this year in the hope it will inspire us to actually do them. I know we’re going to be busy with the house, and it’s also lots easier to stay south than trek anywhere on the train with a pram and an energetic pram-adverse toddler, but there’s no point in staying in London if we’re not going to make the most of everything amazing it offers, is there?

So here’s our new list of the things we want to do in London with our toddler this year:

• Explore our brand new local area (all the p’s – parks, playgrounds, playgroups, and child-friendly pubs, restaurants and cafes)
• Talk to the animals (go to another city farm, London Zoo, the Horniman Museum)
• Go ‘raaaaah’ at a dinosaur (Natural History Museum, Crystal Palace Park)
• Look at the view from up high… (London Eye, The Shard, the Air Line, Kew Garden’s Treetop Walkway)
• …and from down on the ground (Coram’s Fields, Museum of Childhood, London Transport Museum, and anything arty that’s visual and engaging and vaguely toddler-proof)
• Make waves (go swimming anywhere, play in the water fountains at Somerset House, say hi to a shark at the London Aquarium, water play at the Science Museum, set sail on the pirate ship at the Princess Diana playground)

Again, everyone’s help would be really appreciated. Is there anything fantastic, secret or fascinating I’ve missed off – especially involving food, books or dancing? It’s more about fun experiences rather than major tourist attractions.

Let me know if you have any great ideas and I’ll add them to the list. I have an idea to make this a recurring weekly post (along the lines of ‘London Mondays’) but who knows if I’ll manage to keep that up…I’ll try x.