Coffee and Crayons is split over two floors, the cafe is on the ground floor and the play area is in the basement.

Parents can relax on sofas with their coffees, read the paper or meet with friends while the children are entertained with painting, colouring, books, toys and games.

We wanted to keep the play area quite traditional. Apart from the fact a huge number of soft play climbing zones already exist in London we felt that traditional crafts and toys makes for a slightly quieter and calmer environment in which the adults can also enjoy themselves and not leave more exhausted than when they arrived! There are books to read, toys to encourage imaginative play, blackboards and colouring as well as easels for painting and a craft table covered in shapes, glitter, glue and stencils. We usually try to tailor the craft activities to the time of year or any appropriate celebrations such as Christmas/Fireworks Night etc but the children are welcome to do as much or as little as they like. Some of the littler ones simply like to play with the toys and rearrange the furniture, while the older ones can undertake as many different craft ideas as we can come up with!

There is no specific age limit for using the play area although we do suggest that until a baby can sit up comfortably by themselves they probably will not really get much out of it. Similarly at the upper age level we do not have a specific cut off as all children are different and enjoy arts and crafts up until different ages, but we suggest that unless they particularly enjoy the company of little ones after age 8 or 9, they may find the company a little young.
There is a charge for the supervised play area of £4 per child (£3.50 under 18 months) and you can stay as long as you like! The play area is supervised from 10am until closing at 6pm.