Museum of Docklands’ Mudlarks Gallery is just spot-on for toddlers

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Looking for things to do for kids around Canary Wharf? Museum of Docklands’ Mudlarks Gallery is a free interactive area packed with hands-on galleries and displays for children of all ages. The museum tells how London’s maritime trade developed through the centuries, with Docklands at its epicentre.

2 brilliant areas for kids at the Museum of Docklands

Hidden away from the main tourist route, this is a treasure for families visiting London with children. Here are two galleries within the museum we recommend:

1. Mudlarks Gallery: Perfect for babies and toddlers

The Mudlarks Gallery in the Museum of Docklands is one of London’s best free indoor play areas for babies and toddlers under five years old! And indeed, a lot more fun than it was back in the days when the original mudlarks were sifting through filth along the Thames foreshore to try to find something of value… Sessions are free but need to be reserved in advance. Free tickets to Mudlarks are free to book from 10 am the day before you visit. The Mudlarks tickets also include (free) general admission to the Museum of London Docklands.

The Mudlarks gallery is one of our favourite spots, being very interactive and engaging for the younger kids. One of my son’s favourite activities is loading cargo on and off the boats and playing with the ships in the water play area. Living by the Thames, it’s also great for us parents to learn more about the rich history of the Docklands.

2. Sailortown Gallery: Brilliant for school age children

In the Sailortown gallery, you can get a feel for how a typical street would look like in the docks back in Victorian London. It’s a reconstruction of Wapping’s murky underbelly in the mid 19th century. It features narrow alleys on dimly-lit cobbles where you can peer into the kinds of alehouses and abodes that once would have been crowded with sailors.

Our daughter loves dressing up in costumes and visiting during Christmas we got some moody shots. On the same floor, you can also find lots of other interactive elements, our toddler enjoying the wooden railway most of course! This brilliant re-imagination appeals to the child within and serves as a potent reminder of how far museums had come since the ‘museum-legs’ days when they were seen as a chore.

Showing London’s Murkier Side

At the time of the British Empire, Docklands was the epicentre of global trade. Museum of Docklands tells the fascinating story of the port of London from Roman times until today. Also, the museum doesn’t shy away from the murkier sides of London’s past, dedicating much of its space to documenting invaders, pirates (including a real example of a gibbet cage which their dead bodies would hang in over the river as a warning!), slums, sewage and disease. The transatlantic slave trade is now, quite rightly, honoured with a new permanent gallery called London, Sugar & Slavery, which captures the twisted ideology and the tragedy of the triangular trade through objects, visuals and music.

The Blitz, which did much to demolish the area whilst Britain’s empire was likewise being eroded forever, is brought to life through air raid shelters, photographs, film and oral histories. As we know, the area was never the same again as it ceased to become London’s port and the livelihoods of the East End ‘dockers’ diminished with it.

Straddling the wealth of Canary Wharf on one side and the East End on the other, the location perfectly connects the polarised worlds which are at the heart of the Docklands’ history. The building is even an artefact in itself: a 200-year-old warehouse that once stored the exotic cargo that had been shipped over from the West Indies and beyond.

Inside, the Museum of Docklands gives a chronological history of London’s relationship with the Thames, which is just as coloured by the people whose lives were entangled in its story as it is by the objects it exhibits. Starting with the Roman settlement and surging to its regeneration as a financial district, the Museum of London Docklands brings to life the powerful forces of trade, immigration and commerce that moulded so much of London and the East End, confronting both the glory and the suffering that lies within these themes.

Although there are artefacts a-plenty, don’t expect rows and rows of old coins dulled behind glass. Instead, the museum makes a tremendous effort to use the space in imaginative and innovative ways, from using cinema, audio and interactive screens to building life-sized replicas of places as they once were. Smells even supplement the sights and sounds, giving you a genuinely sensory experience of the history of the life that grew up in the Docklands area around the river Thames.

Why they had to create the docks

The rise of Docklands took off in the 18th century. London had seen tremendous growth in trade, with more than 10 000 vessels arriving and departing every year. Ships anchored up in the Thames, with smaller barges helping unload goods over to wharves and warehouses along the river. There was simply no more capacity left with the river crammed full of ships and cargo handling taking too much time.

Museum of Docklands is located in an old warehouse from 1802 by the side of West India Docks. This is one of the first docks built at the beginning of the 19th century to support the lucrative sugar trade from the West Indies. The docks helped London continue the expansion in trade, providing large, secure and sheltered anchorage, increasing the port’s capacity.

Scandinavians in the Docklands

With all the international trade, Docklands was where many nationalities met. In the 1860s, a thousand Norwegian ships arrived in London every year, many unloading their cargo at Surrey Commercial Docks on Rotherhithe, which specialised in timber imports. A Scandinavian community formed in the area, establishing churches like the Norwegian Seamen’s Church (where our children are christened). If you’re interested in the city’s Scandinavian historic connections, check our post about the Viking sites of medieval London!

Pick up a Museum Adventure Bag

Also, make sure to check out the adventure bag that you can pick up for free from the front desk when you arrive (£5 refundable deposit). In addition, there are word games, activity sheets and trails to be explored. Also, make sure to check their website for events being organised.