A Boys Trip to London: a 3-Day Itinerary of Sports and Gaming

I recently took my two eldest boys on a short trip to London during the school summer holidays. We know London well, but don’t go as often as we would like, and since we’re usually with our youngest (still a toddler) we’re also restricted on what activities we can do.

Aged 8 and 10, they’re obsessed with football, sports and gaming – all the typical tween boy activities. I worked out a 3-day itinerary to get in as much action as we could, adding in some downtime to rest their weary legs.

Boys Trip to London: Day 1

We arrived in Victoria so we spent the morning at Battersea Power Station. There’s a Lego store here and a big play area outside, as well as heaps of pedestrianized paths so the kids could run around a little after the train journey.

We ate at Gordon Ramsay Street Pizza which the kids loved as they could eat as much as they wanted – kids can have bottomless slices for £10.

In the afternoon we checked into our room then walked around all the cool street art and graffiti areas in East London: Old Street, Shoreditch, and Spitalfields. (We spotted the 2 Banksy works within the hotel at Art’otel Hoxton.)

Then we headed to Immersive GameBox near Liverpool Street and played ‘Floor is Lava’ as a family. It’s an augmented reality experience in a box, where you each wear a hat which tracks your movements and play with touch screens on the wall, so it’s very interactive and physical. They had loads of other different games to choose from too.

Day 2

We jumped on the tube to Camden where we explored all the different markets and street foods around Camden Town. We were there for our first visit to Babylon Park, the underground amusement park. The kids absolutely loved this! We booked unlimited gaming wristbands so they could play unlimited arcades for an hour – this was their favourite part of the trip. There’s also have a few theme park rides in there and soft play areas for younger kids.

After some street food in Camden Lock, we walked along the canals to Regent’s Park and played football on the grassy areas next do the Gloucester Gate playground.

Our feet were aching so we took the bus back to Shoreditch and headed to Bounce to play ping pong in the afternoon. (Children are allowed in there until 6pm).

Day 3

After breakfast at The Breakfast Club, the boys were too tired to do much walking around, so we watched a movie at Everyman cinema, where they loved sitting in the super cozy sofas.

We were so lucky to have great weather, so we visited the Lego Wall at the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park for one last run around before heading home.

More Ideas for a Trip to London