Nothing much more to add other than this fantastic poster for the event itself ! Noon till 6pm, Portobello Prom, lets all cross our fingers for some sunshine !
Edinburgh Big Beach Busk – Saturday 30th August 2025
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Pleasance’s Incredible Primary Schools Initiative !
Pleasance will be opening some of their shows up to a staggering 1,600 Edinburgh Primary School children this week, up until the 25th August…
Shows on offer to schools this year are You’re an Instrument, Norvil and Josephine: Rabbits Out of the Hat, The Little Prince, You’ll See, Chatterbox and Doktor Kaboom. Pleasance provides a Charlie Irons bus for each school from their school gates to the Pleasance Courtyard, where they are met by the Pleasance team and chaperoned to a designated area in the Courtyard before seeing their show. All of this for free. The 24 Schools attending this year are: Roseburn, Dalmeny, Pirniehall, Pentland, Stockbridge, St David’s, Bowhouse, Royal Mile, Brunstane, Gorgie Mills, Craigour Park, Victoria, Granton, Oaklands, Liberton, Royal High, Prestonfield, Longstone, Carrick Knowe, Dalry, St Cuthbert’s, St Catherine’s and St Andrew’s.
Pleasance, a registered Scottish Charity, has run this initiative since 2019 and is the only venue in the history of the Festival Fringe to do this.
All the more reason to keep on supporting all the fantastic work the Pleasance does and the brilliant shows on offer there this year…you’ve got a week left to enjoy them all !
Edinburgh International Book Festival 2025
I am extremely late in writing this post, as the book festival opened this past weekend. As always, the Book Festival is fantastic and offers loads of opportunities to keep the wee ones busy – all of the children’s events are listed here. There is also a dedicated kids area within the festival space and the well loved children’s bookshop..
There are some good drop-in/free events over the next couple of weeks :
Saturday 16th August – Meet Pikachu – Pikachu, I choose YOU! Come along and meet everyone’s favourite electric-type Pokémon for a special appearance at the Book Festival. Don’t miss the opportunity to give Pikachu a wave or pose like a Pokémon trainer for a photo!
Sunday 17th August – Design the Future with Remode Collective – Join Remode Collective for a drop-in sustainable textile session reimagining recycled and donated fabric into bookmarks, keyholder charms, and mini fabric artworks. Explore the world of textiles, get crafty, and learn about the impact of textile waste.
Monday 18th August – Pop in and Play with Dads Rock – In the Children’s Tent today you’ll find Dads Rock with activities to keep your wee ones busy, just drop in between 13:00 and 14:00 to see what’s going on!
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Tuesday 19th August – Pop in and Play with Edinburgh for Under Fives – The team from Edinburgh for Under Fives is back to entertain little ones with a story and art activity to take home. Drop in any time and all are welcome!
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Saturday 23rd August – Meet the Gruffalo – Oh help! Oh no! It’s a Gruffalo! Meet Julia Donaldson’s most famous creation and join in with songs, dancing, and games. Don’t miss the opportunity to give the Gruffalo a cuddle, a high five or take a selfie.
Sunday 24th August – Meet Princess with The Unicorn Experience – For one afternoon only, step into the magic with Princess the Unicorn and the Unicorn Experience, including the opportunity to leave Princess a wish in her very own Wish Jar. Princess will be greeting families between 1pm and 2.30pm so make sure you arrive on time and are prepared to queue. Please note that due to unicorn welfare, Princess may need unexpected breaks. If you arrive too late to meet Princess, we suggest leaving her a wish and heading to our special unicorn craft session.
Sunday 24th August – Letters Fae the Locals with Refuweegee – Pop by and lend your creative brain to writing a welcoming message (or drawing!) to refugees arriving in Scotland. The team from Refuweegee will guide you in creating these heartwarming messages which will then be distributed within their community-built, personal welcome packs to help people feel more at home here.
First Week Highlights…. 2025
It’s been a busy old week already – we’ve had a few of our reviewers out there, sampling what’s on and enjoying the mix of sunshine, wind (!) and usual four seasons in a day that the Edinburgh weather has to offer ! The dumpling stall is back in Assembly Gardens so we’ve been enjoying that also, and our older mini-reviewers are loving the crepes and waffles just outside the gardens too !!
We’ve been busy seeing some incredible shows, from baby shows to magic, to acrobatics to dancing ! Check out our first reviews here ..
Some of our top picks from the last few days have been :
The Listies Make Some Noise – This was the usual chaos and brilliant nonsense from the Listies which kept four mini-reviewers absolutely engaged and giggling non-stop throughout ! Go on a musical adventure with the Listies this year…
All fired up : an 80s Mixtape Musical – This was unexpectedly fantastic, we loved this hour of neon, classic 80s songs and a heartwarming story about a mother finding her spark and joy again…
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Tom Brace Saws Himself in Half – We love Tom Brace in this household and enjoyed this hour of magic and illusions, with a rather fantastic costumed finale act ! Tom is brilliant at keeping both adults and children engaged with his quick wit and tricks..
Circa: Wolf – One for older children – this was absolutely amazing, these ten performers can do incredible things with their bodies and strength. We loved that all genders within the cast were bases too…it was astounding !
A Silent Disco Dance Tour by Silent Adventures – A few of our older mini-reviewers went along to a silent disco adventure and they had the BESTEST time..they were so excited when we met them after – they loved the singing, the runway dancing and had loads of fun! Highly recommended..
For the younger ones out there, our littlest reviewer really enjoyed both toooB and Hello Birds; both gentle shows and perfect introductions to the fringe for babies – with plenty of interaction and props to play with and nothing too overwhelming for little ones.
And please, we are keen to hear any other recommendations as we still have time to get out and enjoy what the festival has to offer, with a variety of mini-reviewers available!
Pleasance Kidzone
The fantastic Kidzone at the Pleasance is back…a perfect place to keep little ones entertained this August with a whole host of arts and crafts activities available. Buggy parking and a cafe with lots of great food and drink options make this a perfect stop off or brilliant place to combine with seeing one of the great children’s shows at the Pleasance this year !
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