Teenagers are pretty much the most complicated demographic going: it’s safe to say that a 13-year-old and a 19-year-old will have little in common with regards to how they want to spend their weekends. And indeed for that matter, neither will any two given teens of the same age.
What unites them, however, is that they’ve more or less moved on from classic kids’ days out: most kids’ theatre is pitched too young for them; the dinosaurs section in the Natural History Museum is unlikely to hold quite the same wonders it once did; the playground is simply a place to annoyingly hog the swings and gossip.
Of course, as they get older teenagers are increasingly capable of finding their own fun, and Time Out’s many guides to doing stuff in London as an adult are increasingly applicable. Nonethless, while they live under their parents’ roofs, said parents will probably still have some responsibility for entertaining and amusing their offspring.
And that’s what this guide is mostly intended to be: a series of ideas for family trips out that won’t prove too cringe for over-12s, combined with some more wholesome ideas for things teens might like to do together than ‘drink White Lightning in the local park’.
Alternatively, see our full 50 things to do in London with kids
