I know they are great and I’m finally getting to take my kids to these two on Thrusday

But I haven’t been since I was a nipper and lots of you guys have been over the recent years

So, once inside where would you head first for a 7 year old girl and 5 year old lad ??

The main hall natch (sorry 🙂 ) for NH and was thinking the planes at the top of SM

What other “blockbuster” have they got these days ?

And one last one … is the food any cop? …. don’t mind too much if expensive, just not rubbish and expensive (we normally pic-nic on days out, but dont fancy carting it all round central london)

thanks all

Launch pad in the sm is good for youngsters and dads. Hands on stuff. Bugs in the nhm is my favourite.

Went there last week with my 5 and 9 year old girls. Science museum wasn’t as big a hit as I’d thought. They much preferred the v and a. They did enjoy all the old appliances in the basement though.

NHM, not been back to the science museum yet – done NHM twice though in the past year.

Dinosaurs. Always the dinosaurs.

My eldest got to do a ‘dino-snore’, sleep over under Dippy. I was very jealous.

The boys were however even more taken with the hall of rocks. Sorry, I mean minerals. They are all a bit rock obsessive at them moment (5,7 and 9)

Food was OK, as pricey as you’d expect, but for kids I’d pack something unless your lot are way less fussy than mine.

Allow as much time as you possibly can + about 30 hours. Never get round it all in a day.

The hands-on kids stuff in the NHM is awesome, I went to one of those late opening nights with djs and bars and we all got pissed and played with the educational stuff. Learned nothing obviously.

Went to the V&A with a friend’s 10 year old, that was hard work, maybe we just managed to miss all the good stuff but there’s only so much wrought iron I can look at. It just seemed impenetrable and even the halfway interesting stuff lacked explanation or context, it’s like you’re supposed to already know everything about the exhibits.

The entomology section of the NHM is good. Remember to look up too, the paintings and columns in the main hall are interesting.
Does the science museum still have a frozen head made out of blood?

The food was good in the Science museum.

the absolute highlight for us was the IMAX, our twins (6) were reaching out to touch the creatures, awesome.

Other than that, they enjoyed most of the exhibits and spent hours pouring over rocks and old eggs etc, much to my supprise!

The boys were however even more taken with the hall of rocks

spent hours pouring over rocks

Call my daughter Makka-Pakka… she’s always coming home with pockets full of stones, rocks… gravel 😆

Not sure whether l’ll take her into that hall or not ?? 😀

Dinosaurs, the whale, insects.

I think the science museum is a harder one for kids of that age – the hands on section there is excellent but most of the exhibits are more dependent on their interests. Can’t go wrong with spaceships though.

The building is one of the highlights of NHM for me. Staggering.

My son loved the NHM way better than the science one…..everything in the NHM was brilliant…..even the Giant seqosea ( whatever!!) on the top floor …OMG

NHM, not been back to the science museum yet – done NHM twice though in the past year.

Dinosaurs. Always the dinosaurs.
..yadda yadda…
Allow as much time as you possibly can + about 30 hours. Never get round it all in a day.
+1 Went for the 1st time earlier this year, get there early & go do the dinosaurs, after about an hour we noticed there was a new queue inside the museum for the dinosaur exhibit (had fancied doing it again but sod queuing twice!).
Excellent building, the detail on the interior is worth noting too, oh and I loved the blue wale, even if it is anatomically incorrect

cheekyget – Member

even the Giant seqosea ( whatever!!) on the top floor …OMG

I’ve got one of those growing outside my office window. It’s a tiddler though, only about 30 metres. Well it’s only 150 years old, give it time.

BMNH- oh how I love this place. My dad lived within walking distance so I’d regularly visit. At University I found that several of the specimens I needed to study for my dissertation were there so I got to see the special stuff normally out of view. I’m teaching now and take school trips from South Wales to visit.

But as mentioned above- the architecture is amazing. That terracotta is sublime.

Went to the V&A with a friend’s 10 year old, that was hard work, maybe we just managed to miss all the good stuff but there’s only so much wrought iron I can look at. It just seemed impenetrable and even the halfway interesting stuff lacked explanation or context, it’s like you’re supposed to already know everything about the exhibits.

I always aim for the Asian section, especially the Japanese part, beautiful silk kimonos for the girls to look at, fabulous samurai armour and swords for the lads.
I like both.
Also love all the ceramics, the Korean and Chinese are stunning.
The Egyptian section is worth a look, too.

Went to the Science Museum on Saturday, and the Natural History Museum a year ago. If I had to choose one to go to it would be the Natural History Museum. It’s bigger, with more to see, and more interesting exhibits IMO – thought there could have been more interactive things at the Science Museum.

For food you could always wander a couple of hundred yards into the heart of South Kensington where there’s loads of cafes.

Book in advance for the dinosaurs, btw. No queueing.