The Garden, The Science Museum

Exhibition: The Garden

Museum: The Science Museum

Address: Exhibition Road, South Kensington, SW7 2DD

Telephone: 020 7942 4000

Opening Hours: 10:00 to 18:00 (last entry 17:15). Open every day except 24^th December to 26^th December.

Website: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/

Pushchair Friendly Routes: Unfortunately, no easy one! Taking the Circle or District Line to South Kensington does cuts down on the number of stairs you have to tackle.

“The Garden is an interactive gallery created especially for our very youngest visitors” is how the Science Museum’s website describes this area for toddlers; however this doesn’t begin to cover the brilliance of this Basement area, a space which is as close to perfection for toddlers in museums that Yiannis and I have found so far!

The Garden is wonderfully located, almost in isolation, in the Basement, which means only small children find their way there and removes the anxiety of trying to ensure your toddler isn’t trampled by the giant six year olds. The Basement is reached by a huge lift, which has plenty of room for pushchairs, as well as coats and bags. Downstairs are excellent toilets, albeit with a small changing area. There is also a pushchair park (and it is always such a joy to finally be rid of the pushchair!), the picnic area for schools and (most importantly) a small cafe which sells snacks perfectly sized for toddlers and really good coffee. The only downside here is the cafe is the opposite end of the floor to the toilet – if you’re in the middle of toilet training, be prepared to sprint quite a way to make it on time.

The Garden itself is an utter joy. It is usually very busy, but equally well staffed by friendly folk who are wonderful at explaining the science behind the array of activities. There is a huge waterway, where children can place little sail boats at the top and watch their progress down rivers and waterfalls, which they themselves create. The waterflow can be turned up or down and there are a plethora of buttons and levers to push, pull and play with. Most brilliantly of all, waterproof overalls are provided; although Yiannis and I found it safest to bring a spare top just in case too! Little ones can easily spend the whole visit here, so if you are have a time restraint you may have to steer your child away after a while!

Once your little scientist has had their fill of splashing about, there are construction areas with small climbing frames and wheel barrows to play with, noodles hanging from the ceiling to run though, noisy, textured walls to discover and some brilliant instruments to have a go on. Yiannis and I mastered the drums, but there is a voice distorting one we’ve yet to be able to get to work – I’ve seen other kids using it with ease though, so it can’t be that hard!

One of the added benefits to The Garden is it gives your child a chance to interact with their peers, and you can glean a great deal of information as to which parts of the museum have made an impression listening to these enthusiastic conversations! Plus, once Yiannis had teamed up with one or two other children, it gave him a chance to run around and me a chance to stand still; which I think we both hugely appreciated. The space itself is much smaller than the majority of the museum’s galleries and so has a safe, comforting feel to it – Yiannis was much quicker to run off and explore than in the bigger rooms, and I was very happy to give him that independence here.

The number of different ways for children to learn in The Garden is impressive. The practical learning aspects are wonderfully complimented by easy to explain signs and the brilliant staff on hand. 

The hands on, noise making approach is delightful, and ideal for most toddlers. The only downsides to consider are the possibility of getting a little bit wet, and that once you have your child in The Garden, there will almost certainly be tears when it is time to leave! But those, I think, are excellent signs of a happy time had, and so not really downsides at all!

Yiannis and I gave The Garden a rating of 4 out of 5 dinosaurs (we decided stars were too boring!)