London Adventures: Discover Children’s Story Centre
A few weeks ago, I was reading a long list of things to do in London with kids and one of the suggestions was the Discover Children’s Story Centre, a small children’s museum based on fairy tales and children’s stories.
Obviously, it was something I wanted to visit. I guess the girls could come along too. . .
Last week was Bart’s fall break and the first couple of days were fabulous weather, so we spent them outdoors, at Coram’s Fields and Golders Hill.
But by Wednesday, the weather turned rainy, so Discover was the perfect place to spend the morning.
It’s a fairly small place, and Bart and I both commented on how impressively they used the space to make it as fun as possible.
There were craft and coloring stations, dress-up, a play restaurant, a puppet theater, and a mini playground.
There was also a darkened room with lights that when you stepped on them, they made various musical sounds. Ani was in heaven.
And at every turn, there were baskets of books from in-depth picture books to the simplest of board books.
After going through the story trail, we headed downstairs to the Oliver Jeffers exhibit.
It was so fun to see his books come to life, with rooms and a main street from various of his books, all fully touchable, including clothing to try on, boats to row, and a kitchen full of toy food and dishes.
We especially loved the South Pole section (that might have had something to do with the lounge chairs that we immediately snagged while the girls played).
Afterward, we walked down the block and had some lunch at a little cafe, then came back for storytime, which Ella loved.
The centre also has a large back garden with lots of fun play equipment, but because of the rain we didn’t go out there.
It was really a fun outing and we all loved it. Plus, under 2s are free, and regular tickets are only £5 each (which, holy cow, I can’t believe how expensive other tickets to city attractions are), so it’s very affordable.
They also do holiday shows, and I’m totally sad we won’t be around to attend. Now I just need to find out if there are other book-themed children’s museums in other parts of the world. And visit them all, of course.
While you were here, did you make it to the Eric Carle Picture Book Museum? If not, a visit is definitely in order! Besides, I'd love to meet the girls (all three of them).
I love Ani's little red sweater! And that museum looks amazing!
That looks fantastic! Also, your girls are darling! I am so glad we get to see them next month (!!!)!
I need to get my girl to a museum! She's never been to one yet. Ani looks like if those ice creams were real, she wouldn't share them!!
Oliver Jeffers was on the Radio 2 breakfast programme last week talking about his work. books and how he works (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04l3jh5 is it on listen again). Glad to hear you're enjoying my old home town!
There's one in Stockholm! I went there when I traveled through Scandinavia with the BYU track team. http://www.junibacken.se/lang/english
You and your girls might like the Horniman Museum in zone 3 (Forest Hill). It's free and has loads to see.
The Tate Modern is also free and has a couple of play areas as well as the giant turbine hall for running around
Oh, I'll have to check both of those out! Thank you!
So fun… I'd love to go, even without kids. =) Also, I've never really seen it but Ani is totally favoring Ella these days!
Ahhhh! I would love this. It looks amazing. Museums for children can be so enchanting. I loved the boat on the water, the chill of the South Pole, and the tongue used for concentration :)!
The Roald Dahl museum is in Buckinghamshire and fantastic 🙂 I was just reading about this earlier today, i must take my two!
My friend in San Francisco sent me the link to your post asking if I'd ever been to the Discover Centre. We have (and a love it), so I read your post. Suddenly it started to sound very familiar – half term, rainy Wednesday. Yep, we were there too and my daughter is in one of your photos! funny world.
That's hilarious! What are the odds?