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Book Festival Opening This Saturday – 11th August

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Image result for edinburgh book festival 2018Festival season is in full swing, and yet another one opens this weekend – The Edinburgh International Book Festival – bringing with it a host of fantastic events, free arts and crafts activities, two beautiful bookshops and a gorgeous space to hang out in Charlotte Square…

There are lots of free arts and crafts activities every day in the fabulous Story Box area and the opening weekend has the following brilliant sounding drop-in events :

Sensational Science with Edinburgh International Science FestivalSaturday 11th August – Sensational Science With Edinburgh International Science Festival – Drop into Story Box to experience mind-boggling experiments and dazzling demonstrations from a team of spectacular science communicators. The Edinburgh International Science Festival takes learning beyond the classroom to an exciting new level where anything is possible and everything is fun. Come along to witness explosions and expect plenty of mess from their Street Science team.  11 – 16.30 Story Box

Join the Super Power AgencySaturday 11th and Sunday 12th August– Join The Super Power Agency -Hop aboard the Super Power Agency Bus and become a literacy superhero! Special agents show you how to take a book out of your head and onto the page, where it can change the world, with fun bookmaking and storytelling activities. (11 – 16.30 On George Street)

Sunday 12th August – The Big Book Of Brilliant Ideas – Join theatre-maker Hazel Darwin-Clements to create a huge book filled with all of your amazing ideas. Big or small, all ideas are welcome! But this is not just a book – it’s whatever you want it to be: a spaceship, a den, or a puppet theatre perhaps. Drop in to transform enormous pages into exciting creations that will become one giant, unique, brilliant book. 1.30 – 16.30 Story Box

Full listings of all the free events for children and young people can be found here ….enjoy!

 

 

First day…

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Phew..we’ve been super busy and have got fully immersed in festival fever already ! Our first full day out and about was lots of fun and we zipped about town on our bikes, soaking up the atmosphere and planning lots more festival adventures….

Our first stop was to see the fantastic Showstoppers Kids’ Show – we really enjoyed this one, especially the interactiveness of it and the cast had us up and dancing a ‘poo dance’ and other various madcap things !! It looks like this is starting to sell out again like in previous years, so make sure you book !

Whilst at the Pleasance we stopped in at the wonderful Kidzone and the kids got stuck in making shrinkie keyrings – they’ve got lots of templates as usual and a wide variety of very reasonably priced arts and crafts activities and free colouring in too ! They even take suggestions, so my son was delighted that someone had been in the day before asking about Ninjago templates and there were already two for him to choose from (there may be a few more too next week after our chat with them yesterday !!)…

Next up we whizzed to Summerhall to check out the delightful Duckie ! An extremely charming reimagining of the story of The Ugly Duckling, which opens up some important conversations about self acceptance and inclusion – some great song choices too ! Leaving Summerhall on a high note, we were super happy to see the return of the ‘hot donut’ stall in George Square gardens….

A short trip to the High Street to watch some fun street performers doing magic, lead us nicely to our final destination of the day – Assembly to watch the spectacular Attrape Moi – we were blown away by this. Absolute jaw dropping, mesmerising acrobatics, juggling, hula hooping and even trampolining !!! We loved every second…….

…….and then home to relax ! And for the kids to start practising for their grand plan of running away with the circus…..

 

Pleasance Kidzone 2018

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Image result for pleasance kidzone 2018We all surely LOVE the Kidzone at the Pleasance – with the picnic tables, the toys, the puppet theatre, the fabulous arts and crafts that keep our kids busy and entertained whilst we grab a coffee at the cafe – it’s an oasis amongst the chaos and I for one, spend alot of time there during August !!!

This year, as ever, it’s back and jam packed with activities for children up to 10 years old, including the popular shrinkie badges and key rings, decopatch animals and foam clay goodies!

As always the arts and crafts are very reasonably priced and the tent is family run by such lovely people that you will just want to keep on returning!

 

 

A trip to the Kidzone can be combined with seeing one or two of the brilliant children’s shows at the Pleasance this year – they have 17 this year for us to choose from, so there is bound to be something for everyone !! Some top picks are :

Cat In The Hat – This lovable character is back to entertain us with his rhyming wit and mischievous exploits ! Energetic and fun, this is great for the wee ones !

 

The Bear – Adapted by Pins and Needles Productions, this looks fab – a big white bear climbs int Tilly’s bedroom – but she’s not scared. Featuring beautiful puppets, this looks set to wow…

 

Wilde CreaturesWilde Creatures – From the talented Tall Stories team, Oscar Wilde’s classic fairy tales are brought to life- we see the  pompous mayor, the petulant princess and the love-sick student compete to become the new town statue.

The Showstoppers' Kids Show The Showstoppers Kids Show – Embracing the mayhem that can occur when the kids get to decide, this improvised musical adventure is bound to be great fun !

 

BBC at the Edinburgh Festival 2018 – a bit of a let down

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I was hoping to share my usual enthusiasm for this great space during the festival, but whilst the BBC at the Edinburgh Festivals tent is now open and inviting you in to sit on the lovely deckchairs, lie on the bright green fake grass, play ping pong to our hearts content and eat delicious snacks ….. all from the 3rd – 27th August !!! – I have to share my HUGE disappointment that this year there are NO specific kids activities or shows, or their fabulous CBeebies weekends and arts and crafts …yup, not a single child specific activity this year folks…..speaking to one of the team they mentioned budget costs, streamlining blah blah blah…I’ve already tweeted them and will email them via their website too….such a shame.

It has returned to the luscious site at George Heriot’s School though which means great views of the Castle, especially with the fireworks ! And is still a great place to hang out, to get a bit of peace from the chaos on the streets – – it does have giant connect 4 and ping pong still – it was just much more friendly and inviting with the kids being catered for too !!

You can check out their Facebook page here for regular updates about events and (adult) shows!!

 

Amazing Assembly….

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Image result for assembly helter skelterAssembly have kicked things off with a bang this year ! We were lucky enough to attend the Assembly Gala last night and we LOVED every minute – Assembly have brought some fantastic programming to the Fringe this year, added even more venues and let’s not forget about the rather fun helter skelter on George Street so we can all ‘sip and slide’ !!!

The gala was a sensational showcase of some of the brilliant shows Assembly are hosting over this festival – and such an awe inspiring reminder of the breadth of acts and performers we are being treated to and the wide variety of talents !! We saw jugglers, cabaret stars, acrobats, comedians and clowns! I know this blog is for the kids events, but it’s nice to add a few top tips for all the parents too if any of you are lucky enough to get a night out ! …

  • The fabulous Le Gateau Chocolat – what a fab compere, we were crying with laughter and what a voice ! I’m super excited for his kids show Duckie, but I’m going to make sure I get along to see Icons too – it’ll be fantastic !
  • I was super excited to see the return of Lady Rizo who I’d seen a few years ago in the upstairs of the old forest cafe, and been utterly captivated by her voice and presence – she wowed the crowd last night and her show is set to wow too !!
  • I missed The Choir Of Man last year but can see why it was something of a hit – high energy, feel good and sing-a-long-able too…I can imagine my nine year old daughter enjoying it alot !!

And not forgetting of course, the showcase piece from 7 Fingers with Reversible, which we went along and saw tonight. Much gentler and more evocative than their hit show Traces back in 2015, Reversible is a journey of remembering- family, friends and loved ones and reflecting on what they’ve given to the young people who flip, dance, juggle, hoop and spin themselves around the stage. A simple set and fantastic lighting, with dramatic shadows filling the huge venue add to the ambience of the piece and let the raw talent and skill of the performers shine. Moments of humour and high energy acrobatics add energy to the performance and balance emotions out ! It was particularly great to hear the front row, consisting of mainly children giggle wildly at a somewhat harassed looking bride squeezing herself out of the smallest of spaces and wriggling about the floor  – I’d highly recommend seeing it yourself !

The very best thing of all is the generosity Assembly have shown in the locals discount – it’s great that one of the venues is taking this approach and making themselves far more accessible for everyone….the locals discount only last till the 5th August so get in there quick and snap them up !!