London walks: British Museum
 

I am planning a trip to London with my husband and two kids, ages 8 and 11. I thought they might enjoy a visit to the British museum more with a guide to bring things to life. Has anyone gone on the Original London Walks' British Museum tour and would you recommend it for a family? Thank you.

yes, it is excellent. i live in london and took two separate groups of out of town guests on two of the london walks BM tours.

i would say that it is not aimed at children of this age...however, the leader did do her best to engage the few children in our group (taking them to the front and pointing things out to them). i think it would be ok for them.

Like so many things, "it depends."

I went on the Original London Walks British Museum tour a few years ago with "Donald" and loved it. We touched on many of the areas of the museum and got a really good overview of the place. Obviously, nothing in depth, when you think about the size of the place and the array of displays. But, a great walk and very informative.

It was so good, in fact, that I suggested my little group (Mom, 2 friends and I) take the tour this summer. Mom opted out (walking/stairs) and the rest of us met "Hilary" and took the tour. Dull, dull, dull. We only went to one major section of the museum (the Egyptian area), plus one or two other specific sites ("Sutton Hoo" and "Lindow Man", but both of those were really rushed). Her commentary wasn't nearly as sharp, well-honed, or entertaining as the previous tour. All three of us thought it was a waste of time.

Normally I *love* the Original London Walks, but I'd choose carefully for the British Museum walk.

Gayle

Personally, I think the tours run by the museum itself are more geared to children/families than the London Walks ones.

The Museum's website has a ton of free resources to help families enjoy the museum. It also has a lot of free family events, though no-one seems to have updated its website recently.

Whenever I'm there, especially at weekends, the place is swarming with children who seem to be enjoying themselves with the trails and contests. Or making a jolly good pretence, which is something British children are generally genetically incapable of.

None of them seem to be on a commercial tour.

The London walks tour is fine, but it is very superficial. They cover everything quickly, so you spend a lot of time on things that may not interest you and little time on things that do. The guide that I had was very academic My guess is that it would bore children to death. Lastly, the tours are very large, so it might be difficult for children to get a good view of things.

Thanks for your helpful replies. You make a great point about spending time on things that interest us, I would hate to see something spark my child's curiousity and then have to tell him we have to move on to keep up! I will look into the kid's resources from the website. Your insight is really appreciated.

I hear that London Walks is a fine organization, but I thought the British Museum's own highlights tour was a good and relatively brief introduction, leaving plenty of time afterwards to go back to revisit items that were of interest. Schedule is on the website.