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Pleasance Kidzone 2013

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For the 2015 version please follow this link

Every year the Pleasance have a great Kidzone, packed with activities for the kids and a few food stalls so parents can have a well deserved cup of coffee while the little ones run around. Its a great little space in the middle of all the festival hecticness and I like the fact you can bring the kids and let them run around and cause chaos and no one minds !

This year the Kidzone is returning and it’s going to be space themed – there will be arts and crafts activities (for a small charge), and the Cafe on the Green which serves kid friendly food…its open from 31st July – 26th August.

You could make a day of it by spending time in the Kidzone and seeing one the the many childrens shows at the Pleasance this year – my recommendations would be :

  • Aliens love Underpants – I mentioned this in another post – based on the very funny book, I’m sure the show will be great. (Age 3+)
  • The Just So Stories – Again I love this book and the incrediable stories – and this show is bringing four of these stories to life including why the moon pulls the tides and why the elephant’s nose is so long. With two showings a day, it’s worth checking out. (All ages)
  • My Brother The Robot – again I mentioned this in another post – by Tall Stories who have brought great productions to the festival previously – a story about a robot brother who causes a bit of mayhem ! (Age 4+)
  • The Golden Cowpat – maybe its because I like the name, but this show sounds fun – in a muddy magical adventure with songs and interaction.  (Age 4+)

If you’re looking for something a little more interactive for little ones – there is ‘Song Circle’ for 0-2 year olds and ‘My Yellow Ukelele’ for 2-5 year olds – ‘Song Circle’ presents classic nursery rhymes and a hamper of toys while ‘My Yellow Ukelele’ provides dressing up, singing and strumming- both with Scottish Folk singer Gill Bowman which all sounds like it could be lots of fun. Check it out here.

Apply for BBC tickets now !! (closing 22nd July)

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Wowee – my investigations into the BBC area this year at the festival were obviously not that thorough as I missed the page detailing what shows are on and what shows you can apply for tickets for…and it turns out there are lots of great kids shows being filmed at the BBC tent and best of all we can all apply to get free tickets. You have until the 22nd July to apply for tickets and then names will be randomly drawn.

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But if you don’t manage to get any, don’t despair as it says ” On family fun days tickets for additional shows are available at the venue. Please note, these shows cannot be pre-booked and will be ticketed on the day as first come first served. The family fun days are: Saturday 3, Sunday 4, Saturday 10, Sunday 11, Saturday 17, Sunday 18, Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 August.”   Great ! I like the sound of the family fun days and if last year is anything to go by, its definately worth taking a look whats on and bringing the kids along one weekend…

So, shows you can apply for tickets for now include:

That looks like a great bunch of shows and lots of opportunities to be part of the magic at the BBC tent ! If you do apply, fingers crossed you get tickets !

A few of my favourite things…

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I’ve only just managed a quick glance through the festival programmes so far this year – life is a little hectic right now, so I am sure there is plenty I will have missed off this list, but below are a few of the shows that I’m excited to see this year across the various festivals…

  • Dr Brown Brown Brown Brown Brown and His Singing Tiger  Dr Brown Brown Brown Brown Brown and his singing tiger – If you’ve not seen Dr Brown before- he is not to be missed (he does fantastic adult shows too !). His show for children is a delight – children are fully engaged with his rather silly antics as he blunders his way through the day and the singing tiger adds a great musical dimension and ensures that the silent performer is even more accessible for kids. Don’t miss this – in Edinburgh for two days only this year, the 17th and 18th August
  • Julia Donaldson –  Julia Donaldson comes to the Book Festival most years and for the past few has opened the childrens events and every year has been brilliant – we’ve been going to see her each time and the entire family has loved it. This year she has two events in the Book Festival opening weekend and I guarantee both will be excellent; Dolls , Dragons and Dinosaurs on the 10th August and From Worms to Wizards to Weans on the 11th August. Both feature a different selection of her books and will have puppets, songs and plenty of audience interaction.
  • My Brother the Robot My Brother the Robot – This production is brought to Edinburgh by Tall Stories who have previously done The Gruffalo and last year brought The Snail and the Whale to the Fringe which was a delight. This show, about a Robot playmate for a girl living with her inventor father promises to bring music, magic and mayhem. Well worth checking out…from the 31st July to 25th August.
  •    Aliens Love Underpants – Our family loves this book and I’m very excited to see the first stage production of it. Judging by the book , I think it will be a fast moving, lively and funny show.  It does however come with a warning : this show will blow your pants off !  August 7th – 22nd (not 14th)
  • Rumpelstiltskin and the Wheel of Fortune Rumpelstiltskin and the wheel of fortune –  I was fortunate enough to see last years production of Elves and the Shoemaker by Theatre of Widdershins which was totally captivating and the puppetry and details memerising, so I am hoping that Rumpelstiltskin will also be a delight. The Storytelling Centre is a great venue, small and intimate enough that you always feel included as the audience and means you will get to fully appreciate the handcrafted puppets and sets.  30th July to 25th August (not 19th August).
  • Cinderella and the Flower Fairies Cinderella and the Flower FairiesA friend said she had booked tickets for this today, so I looked it up and I think my daughter will love this ! She loves her ballet class and loves the flower fairies book , especially the illustrations – so hopefully we can’t go wrong as this combines both ! August 9th-17th
  • Tilly and friends – Maybe its because my daughter is called Tilly, or maybe because the pictures are so beautiful – but I love these books. Featuring six best friends who all live together in a little yellow house, this event with Polly Dunbar during the Book Festival should be great and it set to include puppets and music too, so should be fun for little ones ! August 13th 10.30am.

And so it begins…

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I LOVE the Edinburgh festivals, all of them, and have worked my way through them through many stages of my life – but since having children, my activities have changed – gone are the beautiful dawn mornings crossing the meadows after a late late night which began somewhere in the Spiegal garden – gone are the spontaneous ‘lets just see whats on right now and buy a ticket’ moments with friends that more often than not ended a little disastrously – gone are the intellectually motivating and inspiring author discussions mid afternoon at the Book festival….now I look out for child friendly venues, free arts and crafts corners, face painting, ice cream stands, space for kids to run around and not cause chaos, free entertainment, buggy parking…….but I still love it. Infact I love it so much I thought I’d write about it ! I’m not the most eloquent or fluid writers but after such a great experience enjoying all the festivals last summer I decided to share some of that joy and also create a space where others could find out what’s on offer in one place including all the fantastic free stuff going on around the city for kids during the festivals….

It also begins as I have just booked some of my first tickets (I am suppressing squeals of excitement as they are for the Book Festival which I absolutely love love love). Every year they have a fantastic array of children’s events and visiting authors and also a huge children’s’ bookshop which is a child’s delight. Not only is there all of this, but every day there is an activity room where children can go and colour, stick, read, do crafts and get their  faces painted – it’s an excellent resource. So even if you haven’t managed to get tickets to any of the events, you can still spend a whole morning, afternoon or even a day at the festival, soaking in the atmosphere, looking at all the books and getting stuck into some of the free activities provided.

I don’t want to ramble on too long in my first post – I’m hoping to get things organised and write a little about each of the festivals and what they have to offer for children and some of the other things you can do around town if visiting for the festivals with kids….

Thanks for reading !