Book Festival Opening this weekend !! 9th August

I LOVE the Book Festival – I love the atmosphere within the gardens and how i’ts such a different calm space from the Fringe festival going on elsewhere…I love the bookshop and the children’s book shop is even more fantastic with lots of space to sit down and get lost exploring new books…I also totally love the fact that everyday they have a room dedicated to children filled with storytelling, arts and crafts, face painting, books to read and activities to get stuck into all for FREE! This means that even if you haven’t managed to get tickets to some of the events, you can still comfortably while away a morning or afternoon there and the kids will be fully entertained…

The Book Festival opens this weekend and as usual Julia Donaldson will be doing some events – she is always fantastic, performing some of her well known books and singing songs – it’s great fun for the whole family – you may still be lucky enough to get tickets on the day if there are returns :

Flumflums and flying baths – this event on Saturday 9th includes live drawing with illustrator David Roberts – there will be trolls, fish, dinosaurs and possibly even the Gruffalo.

From Superworms to Scarecrows – this event on Sunday 10th is with illustrator Axel Scheffler and will feature Room on the Broom in Scots with translator James Robertson.

 

Over the opening weekend the storybox which is the childrens area will feature ‘The Secret Stories of toys’ – with toys from the Museum of Childhood, each toy has a story to tell, drop in to discover toys from the collection and create some of your own. Both Saturday and Sunday 1.30pm till 4pm.

 

 

 

Brilliant BBC tent fun….

BBC at the Edinburgh Festivals  I’m not sure if any of you made it down to the BBC tent this weekend – we made it today and it was once again a fantastic family friendly venue with loads going on. Amazing facepainting for the kids, lots of hands on workshops and demonstrations and there were tickets available to events happening in the blue tent – we had a great time there and its fantastic to have a venue that is so welcoming for families….

I have just seen some of the free things going on in the BBC area tomorrow and they look great – its worth adding the BBC at the Edinburgh Festivals on facebook if you use it as they update it daily and you’ll always know about the free childrens events going on there which is brilliant !!

So, for tomorrow – Monday 4th they have :

11.30am – 12.30pm / Edinburgh Museum / Family Fun / Pink Tent / Drop-In
Join Edinburgh Museum’s hands on workshops

2pm – 4.30pm / Puppet Soup / Family Fun / Pink Tent / Drop-In
Join theatre company Puppet Soup as they bring a hands on crafty workshop on dragons, trees and other marvels from their new show Land of the Dragon

Tuesday 5th looks entertaining too :

1pm – 1.20pm / The Snow Queen / Family Fun / Pink Tent / Drop-In  A taster performance of this magical adventure based on Hans Christian Andersen’s enchanting tale of one girl’s quest to save her best friend

2pm – 2.30pm / Mil’s Trills / Family Fun / Pink Tent / Drop-In   Come and sing along with Mil’s Trills and her ukulele

2.30pm – 3pm / Brooke Laing / Family Fun / Pink Tent / Drop-In  Story telling from the Enchanted Forest Adventure

Supreme Summerhall…

Summerhall is a fantastic venue….the cafe is great, its an interesting building to explore and the courtyard is a lovely place to sit in the sun and there is always an exhibition or two to discover on a visit. Not only all this but they have a great little room where they have ‘Animal Antics‘ – a place where you can play with your child, do arts and crafts and generally have lots of fun. Sadly this space is closed from July 3rd but they have an alternative and very exciting sounding room instead for the festival :

Jolly JungleJollyJungle_Logo Summerhall’s Fringe Play Space – this is for 0-6 year olds and looks ace…a perfect space to play with the children and find some peace and quiet inbetween all the shows ! Featuring toys, soft play, arts and crafts and a story corner for little-ies.

August 5th – 24th  Tuesday – Sunday (closed Mondays and also closed Friday 8th and Staurday 9th too).   Costs £2 per child for 1 hour of play / 6months £1  Open 11am – 4.30pm

On top of all this, they are hosting some great sounding children’s shows too ! Here are my top picks :

Duck, Death and the Tulip – A duck strikes up an unlikely friendship with death…using mime, magic and puppets to deal with a dfiifcult subject.

August 5th – 24th (not 11th/18th)   10.00

Kid Box Kid explores the relationship between mother and kid through lighting and sound design and Box breaks the barrier of dream and reality – ‘ A powerful double bill of dance transforms poetry into body language.’

August 5th – 24th (not 11th/18th)    13.00

The Worm – An Underground Adventure – Join Wilma and William, two nature lovers, on a journey underground as they discover a family of friendly, musical worms and their colourful miniature world.  The Worm is a fun filled musical tale guaranteed to make everyone giggle, wiggle and love the squirmy wonders beneath our feet.

August 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 16th, 17th           10.30

 

 

 

Farm Fest 2014 !!!!!!!!!!!

I just discovered this great event yesterday – I LOVE Gorgie Farm and we’re so lucky having a city farm here and especially one thats free to visit….

Along with hosting some free fringe events, I’m very happy to hear they are celebrating their lovely wee farm and having a Farm Fest on Saturday 9th August from 11am – 4pm.

It will be a day of fun at the farm – including fairground games, music, arts and crafts, trails, facepainting and much more…if you’re lucky you may even be able to squeeze in a quick ‘hello’ to all the animals too !

BBC tent opening day…

BBC at the Edinburgh FestivalsThe much loved BBC area is opening today – Friday 1st August and they’ve just released a timetable for the day which looks great and features lots of family friendly things to do , including….

11am – 12noon    Authors Live: Draw along with Nick Sharratt
Sharpen your pencils and join award-winning author and illustrator Nick Sharratt for a fun packed draw-along. Nick will share how you can draw characters such as Tracy Beaker and Daisy for yourself. Aimed at 6 – 11 year olds

2pm – 3pm    Dinosaur Zoo -“Meat and greet” roaming puppets from the hit west end show Dinosaur Zoo

2pm – 4pm    Commonwealth Games – Gymnastics / Big Screen & Garden / Drop-In
Watch the BBC’s Commonwealth Games coverage on the Big Screen in our Garden

3.30pm – 4.30pm    BBC Family Fun with Iain Stirling
An afternoon of fun from across the Edinburgh Festivals, suitable for all the family! Featuring some of the biggest names in family entertainment, including silly sing-alongs with Dean Friedman, Bec and Tom’s Awesome Laundry and a visit from Dinosaur Zoo

………..I saw Dinosaur Zoo yesterday with the kids and they loved it – so if you have a chance to check them out at 2pm I would highly recommned it !