If the Mela is not enough excitement for you this weekend, there is also something very fun happening down on Portobello beach -the big beach busk.
From noon on Saturday 31st August, Portobello Prom will be hosting buskers of all varieties in this fun family friendly free event !
‘A mile of promenade, a mile of buskers. Simple.’
The summer festival season just keeps on giving it seems with the Edinburgh Mela just around the corner!! The Edinburgh Mela is fantastic – two days of music, dance, fashion and food – its colourful and vibrant and a great day out with the kids !! Its held at Leith Links and will be taking place on Saturday 31st August and Sunday 1st September ….
This year along with the usual music, stalls and dancing which the kids will no doubt also enjoy there will be another dedicated kidzone, supported again by sponsors Forestry Commission Scotland and Scotland Natural Heritage. There will be four different environments: Forests, Farms, Hills and Mountains and Shore and children will be encouraged to explore all of them…
They will find interactive nature inspired activities and creative arts workshops, environmental educators and wildlife experts will also be present to help young people find out about the Scottish countryside.
Excitingly there will be a storytelling longboat, staffed by a crew of tall tale-telling Vikings, telling stories that span the seven seas!
Tickets are on sale now and are a mere £4 for a whole day !! And, under twelves get in for FREE ! You can buy them via the website here or pop into the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Box Office on the High Street and purchase them there if you want to avoid the queues buying them at the Mela on the day itself.
If you haven’t seen the absolutely fantastic Dr Brown children’s show in the past couple of years at the fringe festival, please do go and check it out…
This year, there will only be two shows at the festival and they are this weekend, the 17th and 18th August at 11.50 at the Underbelly Bristo Square…Dr Brown Brown Brown Brown Brown and his singing tiger is an excellent show for children, with lots of audience interaction and participation and the singing tiger is totally captivating for younger children….
Dr Brown won the Comedy award last year and if you have seen the adult show you may wonder how it can possibly translate into a children’s show, but it does and its great !!
Infact, I think I prefer the kids show even ……don’t miss it !
I keep on hearing more and more great things about the venue Summerhall since it first opened and this festival season it seems it’s the place to be ! Added to this, they have just opened their new children’s play and activity space called Animal Antics …this place looks FANTASTIC and I’m super keen to go check it out: offering soft play, fancy dress, arts and crafts and a library all in one space !! Open Thurs-Sun from September, during the festival its open 11 – 16th August / 18 – 19th August and 23rd August.
As well as providing a cafe and a great space to hang out and keep the kids occupied, there are some great children’s shows happening at Summerhall this festival, lots happening in a yurt, and I’ve heard some great personal reviews about some of them- this show in particular :
L’Apres-midi d’un Foehn -Version 1 – This show involves plastic bags beginning their own life – with beautiful musical accompaniment, the ‘plastic dancers’ are propelled by air currents to dance. A growing number of my friends have been to see this show and both their children and themselves loved it – it states it is ‘strongly recommended for those aged above 5 years’
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These events happening during August also look great :
YurtaKids! UnLeashed_Scatenati – This is a seafaring journey, an adventure with no words: just light, sound and action. A trip for little ones over waves of sound, as cleverly manipulated chains play centre stage in an experience of metamorphosis, discovery and enchantment. Suitable for ages 0-5..
YurtaKids! The Red Bike – Discover the eccentric history of Marta’s family – they make a living by putting toys inside chocolate eggs but their lives are complicated by Mister Moneybags, the villainous ‘owner of everything’(!), of the chocolate egg factory and of the house and also of the moon and the stars. But Marta and her family have a plan…Ages 5+
Crying out loud presents Daydream – This unusual events definitely looks worth checking out – and the whole family could go at once…Come in. Settle down. Close your eyes and listen. Are there bees living in your ears? Has the sea stopped crying? Is the house sighing? Let the music caress you (inside a 40’ shipping container).
The performance runs every 15 minutes in three 4 hour blocks through the day
So – lots of reasons to go and check this venue out – playspaces, events, a cafe, shows, yurts…..I’ll be heading down their way very very soon !
This weekend the theme is science at the BBC tent…both Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th will feature the CBBC science buskers for scientific fun and energetic experiments in the PInk tent from 9am till 4pm !
In the Blue tent there will be the show ‘Absolute Genius’ with Fran Scott delving into genius ideas from the past – expect explosions !! This is a free event and is ideal for 6-12 year olds and their families. The 10.30am show on Saturday has already been ticketed in advance but tickets for the other shows at 12.30pm / 2.30pm / 4pm will be available from the BBC Information Point at Potterow from 9am on a frist-come-first-served basis, these events last for 30 mins.( I imagine the same will apply on Sunday with the 13.00pm / 15.00pm / 16.30 pm shows having tickets available on the day from 9am.)
If you head along I hope it’s lots of fun….
edinburghfestivalsforkids 