KID'S - TIME WELL SPENT AWARD WINNERS

AG
Aug 26
5 min read

Announcing the WINNING Kid's Attractions and Events in the Time Well Spent Awards 2025

YOU have spoken, via tens of thousands of votes over the past six months, to crown London's BEST kid's attractions and events, for the Time Well Spent Awards 2025.

And the winners are...

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BEST ATTRACTION FOR BABIES & TODDLERS

WINNER: Discover Children's Story Centre

If you’ve ever wondered how it feels to climb inside a child’s imagination, Discover Children’s Story Centre is it.

Creep through caves, find fairy worlds within magical trees, explore hidden ships, perform in a puppet castle, leap over alligators and man your own spaceships and rockets across two floors and its Story Garden, or check out its immersive, book-inspired theatre production downstairs.

This remarkable venue has been capturing imaginations and winning the hearts of our voters.

Discover Children's Story Centre, 383-387 High St, London E15 4QZ

2025 Nominees: Horniman Museum & Gardens, Greenwich Maritime Museum, The Science Museum, Princess Diana Memorial Playground, Coram's Fields, Hackney City Farm, The Magic Garden - Hampton Court Palace, SEA LIFE London Aquarium, Bubble Planet. Read more

BEST ATTRACTION FOR 5-12 YEAR OLDS

WINNER: Science Museum

There’s a huge difference between reading about the world and experiencing it. And that’s what the Science Museum does so powerfully - big and little guests can see, smell, hear and touch these wonders, leaving the museum to head back into a world that feels bigger, more extraordinary and worth caring for.

It's brimming with free (and paid) galleries, events, activites, and exhibitions and particular hits are the excellent Wonderlab and Power Up interactive galleries. One of our capital's most shiny gems.

Science Museum, Exhibition Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD

2025 Nominees: The Paddington Bear Experience, Natural History Museum, The Young V&A, Madame Tussauds, Warner Bros Studio Tour London, Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue, Kedi Studio, Chislehurst Caves, Horrible Histories: Terrible Thames, Centre of the Cell. Read more

BEST KID'S THEATRE

WINNER: Little Angel Theatre

The puppet alchemists at this magical North London destination have been delighting families since the Sixties.

Alongside their endless succession of inventive and inspiring marionette productions, they also offer fabulous puppetry workshops, the Children's Puppet Festival, tours, and community outreach programmes.

And they have pushed the boundaries of what puppetry is, and what it can inspire in young people with London's only purpose built puppet theatre.

Little Angel Theatre, 14 Dagmar Passage, London N1 2DN

Little Angel Studios, Community Centre, 132 Sebbon St, London N1 2EH

2025 Nominees: Unicorn Theatre, Polka Theatre, Puppet Theatre Barge, Half Moon Theatre

BEST KIDS EVENT OF THE YEAR

WINNER: The Paddington Bear Experience

There is no greater escapism than leaping into the perfect, joyous London of The Paddington Bear Experience, where the biggest life troubles revolve around a lack of oranges for the Marmalade Festival.

The immersive, theatrical experience is forensically faithful to the three much-loved Paddington films, with a series of actors, special effects and magical sets inspired by the franchise’s iconic locations, across 26,000 square feet of Southbank’s County Hall taking you on an adventure from Paddingto Station, through the Brown's iconic house, onto Peru and culminating in the big Marmalade Festival.

The Paddington Bear™ Experience, London County Hall, Westminster Bridge Road, SE1 7PB

2025 Nominees: Imagine Festival,Tutankhamun: The Immersive Exhibition, Children’s Puppet Festival, Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue, Batman Unmasked: The Exhibition, The Art of the Brick, Replay: A Limitless Recycled Playground, Brigit's Bakery Halloween at Hamleys Afternoon Tea Bus Tour, Bella the Tower Bridge Cat Trail. Read more

BEST ATTRACTION FOR NEURODIVERGENT CHILDREN

WINNER: Quiet At the Aquarium - SEA LIFE London

Voters loved the fact that kids with autism and other sensory requirements can discover more than 6,000 creatures including a colony of Gentoo penguins, two adorable Green Sea Turtles, and the UK’s largest jellyfish display in a more comfortable environment.

On selected mornings for the events, music is switched off until 10am, lighting reduced to a static mode and televisions turned to a minimal volume.

SEA LIFE London Aquarium, Riverside Building, County Hall, Westminster Bridge Rd, London SE1 7PB

2025 Nominees: Dawnosaurs at Natural History Museum, Early Birds at the Science Museum, SENsory Sailors at National Maritime Museum, Sensory Sound Tour - St Paul's Cathedral, Relaxed Opening at The Golden Hinde, Families with SEND at London Transport Museum, The RAF Museum. Read more

BEST NEW KID'S ATTRACTION

WINNER: Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue

The European premiere of the new Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue invites fans of all ages to team up and become heroes, rescuing a village under siege from zombies, in an interactive adventure through seven Minecraft zones.

Adventurers are given glowing, vibrating and colour-changing orbs to gather vital ingredients for a life saving potion to save villagers; battle blocky Creepers, and craft buildings.

The high octane quest has made quite the impression on our readers, with a highlight being a real-life “the floor is lava” game, leaping across molten magma to reach the fort.

Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue. Corner Corner, Maritime Street, London, SE16 7LL

2025 Nominees: Tumbling Bay Playground, Paradox Museum, Kedi Studio, Paddington Bear Experience, Hamleys Dress Up Boutique, Vintners Lanes

BEST FAMILY FESTIVAL

WINNER: Greenwich + Docklands International Festival

From death-defying vertical dances on St Paul’s Cathedral, to engulfing the streets with technicolour foam and sinking a house for a rooftop dance, Greenwich + Docklands International Festival (GDIF) never disappoints.

And last year was no exception, with THAW, an eight-hour, aerial performance on a suspended 2.5 tonne block of ice in Newham; a synchronised pram party, plus 50 theatre, circus, dance and performance art shows across the the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Newham and the City of London across 17 days. The festival is running this year from 22 August - 6 September.

Greenwich+Docklands International Festival. Multiple locations across Royal Borough of Greenwich, Newham and the City of London

2025 Nominees: The Great Exhibition Road Festival, Imagine Festival, Children’s Puppet Festival, The Islander Festival, Colourscape Music Festival, Totally Thames Festival. Read more

BEST MUSEUM FOR KIDS

WINNER: Natural History Museum

This world famous museum is free and brimming with 80 million specimens, from dinosaur skeletons, to a jaw-dropping life-sized blue whale model, giraffes and gorillas. Kids love its interactive learning opportunities, from earthquake simulators, an animatronic T-Rex you can stomp with and the extraordinary Visions of Nature, Mixed Reality show, to explore the natural world in 2125.

Natural History Museum, Cromwell Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 5BD

2025 Nominees: The Science Museum, Discover Children's Story Centre, Horniman Museum and Gardens, Greenwich Maritime Museum, Paradox Museum, The Young V&A, London Museum Docklands, London Transport Museum, The British Museum, Read more

BEST ATTRACTION FOR TEENAGERS

WINNER: Phantom Peak

The world's first, fully immersive open-world adventure is a huge hit with teens, who can explore a fully realised, 30,000 square foot Steampunk town inhabited by quirky characters and brimming with mysteries and stories.

Over four plus hours, they can go on adventure of their choosing, perhaps strolling along the canal getting the gossip from locals, or even launching a career as the town’s resident criminal? Then enjoy food and drink in the Wild-West themed Thirsty Frontier Saloon, interact with immersive sets, technology, and live actors.

Phantom Peak London, Surrey Quays Rd, London SE16 7PJ

2025 Nominees: iFLY Indoor Skydiving, The London Dungeon, Madame Tussauds, The Twist Museum, Crystal Maze LIVE Experience, The Clink Prison, Zip World London, Go Ape Battersea Read more

BEST SOFT PLAY

Hullabaloo at The Sherriff Centre

This utterly unique soft play is set within the spectacular surroundings of West Hampstead's St James Church.

For a more zen and aestehtically pleasing foam fun experience, parents can enjoy the gothic setting alongside cake and coffee from the cafe - the church also houses a Post Office and stationery shop. It even serves booze...

Hullabaloo, St James Church, 2 Sherriff Rd, London NW6 2AP