Babies are learning all the time, often in amazing and quiet ways!
They learn by watching faces, reaching for new textures, listening to sounds, and sharing moments with the people who care for them. At the London Children's Museum, even our youngest visitors are curious learners, invited to explore the world through play, connection, and wonder alongside their caregivers. Below are simple, gentle ways to engage with your baby throughout the museum, turning each space into a shared moment of discovery.
Early Years Play Dates
Early Years Play Dates are educator-developed programs created especially for babies and young children. Each session offers curated activities and rotating themes designed to support early development through play. Materials and environments are thoughtfully selected to encourage sensory exploration, movement, and shared discovery in a welcoming space designed for both caregivers and children to explore together.
Try this with your baby:
As your baby explores, narrate what they see, touch, and do! You might say, “You’re squeezing the soft fabric,” or “I see you reaching for the blue ball.” Naming actions, textures, and movements helps build early language skills, supports cognitive development, and strengthens connections through shared play.
Branching Out
Branching Out is a favourite for babies who love to move, or are just starting to try! An immersive forest full of light, low platforms, and cozy spaces invites crawling, balancing, pulling up, and cruising at a comfortable pace.
Try this with your baby:
- Hold your baby’s hands as they practice standing or cruising along low surfaces.
- You can even place your baby on your lap and slide down the blue slide together!
- Explore the mural together and describe what you see (and hear!)
- Cozy up in Fort Forest and read one of the curated book selections together
Above and Beyond
From Mission Control to Star Shows, Above and Beyond invites babies to look, listen, and explore a world inspired by space. Fun lighting, bright visuals, and interactive elements encourage observation, curiosity, and shared moments of discovery with caregivers close by.
Try this with your baby:
- Hold your baby and press the buttons on the Mission Control board together. Move closer and let them watch or copy your actions.
- Cozy up with a space-inspired book and read together in a quiet corner.
- Watch a Star Show together and notice the lights, colours, and movement of the planets and stars
- Let your baby touch and feel the meteorite on display and talk about how it feels in their hands.
Discovery Lab
The Discovery Lab is always changing, but it often includes sensory elements that babies can enjoy alongside activities designed for older children. Our staff are nearby and happy to help point out baby-friendly ways to explore.
Try this with your baby:
- Sit or hold your baby while exploring textures and materials together.
- Let them watch demonstrations or moving elements from a safe distance
- Follow their gaze and talk about what they're watching or touching
- Ask a Discovery Lab educator which elements are safe and interesting for babies that day.
Community Roots
Inspired by everyday places and routines, Community Roots feels familiar and comforting for babies. Gentle sounds, textures, and child-sized spaces invite observation and exploration at a relaxed pace.
Try this with your baby:
- Point out familiar objects like fruits, vehicles, or tools and name them together.
- Let your baby crawl or scoot through the space at their own pace, stopping where they show interest.
- Sit together in the Community Kitchen area and practice counting what you see around you
- Watch other families nearby and describe to them what you see happening around you.
Farm Works
Farm Works offers soft opportunities for pretend play and sensory exploration inspired by life on the farm.
Try this with your baby:
- Help your baby place pretend eggs into the chicken nests or gather vegetables together.
- Let them hold, squeeze, or cuddle the large farm animal stuffies.
- Sit together at the market and practise putting fruits into baskets or bins.
- Narrate simple actions like “in,” “out,” “pick,” and “drop” as they play.
Unearthed
Unearthed invites babies to explore natural materials through touch, movement, and repetition.
Try this with your baby:
- Slowly pour dig pit beads into your baby’s hands or over their feet.
- Let them scoop, pat, or push materials across the surface.
- Talk about how the materials feel as they move and fall.
- Enjoy a fossil show! Babies can feel the different textures and weights of fossils in our collection.
STREAM
STREAM introduces babies to light, movement, and visual exploration in gentle, playful ways.
Try this with your baby:
- Hold your baby and let them feel water flow gently over their hands.
- Drop our colourful balls into the vortex together and watch them spiral down.
- Stand near the windows and watch light move through the laminar sculpture.
- Name colours, movement, and sounds as you explore side by side.
Every baby plays differently, and there’s no right or wrong way to experience the museum together!
At the London Children’s Museum, visits are all about connecting, following your baby’s lead, and sharing small moments together. Whether it’s your baby’s first visit or a familiar routine, you’ll find welcoming spaces waiting for you to make memories together.
