Fringe By The Sea – North Berwick 4th-10th August

We have been blessed with a great summer lately…long sunny days and warm summer evenings and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it stays this way well into August to make festival season even better !

Fringe By The Sea in North Berwick is a great combination – you can have a lovely day out on the beach and see a show with the sand still between your toes !

There are a few bits and pieces for children during the festival that are worth checking out :

Mr Boom – Festival veteran Mr Boom will be back again to entertain children with his one-man band from the moon ! This promises to be an exciting mix of song, dance and audience participation !    August 5th at 3pm and August 6th at 11am.  Tickets from £6

The other childrens events are more your usual kids classes/workshops running special festival events :

Sparkle Arts : Sparkle arts offer children performing arts classes and will be bringing a fun mix of music, drama, dance and storytelling to the festival. Workshops are suitable for 2-5 year olds.    5th August 11am/1pm,  and 9th August 11am/1pm             Tickets from £6

Jo Jingles – ‘Summer at the seaside’ is the theme this year and they will be hoping for sunshine with this singing, music and movement class for babies and children. Suitable for 1-6yrs old.      7th August 11am/1pm.                Tickets from £6

Bookbugs – This is a great FREE event run by East Lothian’s library service – its a mixture of rhyme, story and song accompanied by a good selection of puppets and instruments to make it as interactive as possible!                   8th August 11am  FREE

Beautiful Botanics….

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is a great place to get away from it all – especially during the busy festival season in Edinburgh. There’s plenty to do – feeding ducks, spotting squirrels and walking through the gorgeous gardens. Luckily there’s also a few childrens shows/events going on there too during festival season, so its a great excuse to make a day of it !

Calvinball – Lively, musical and slightly wild, this is an outdoor performance that draws on wee ones’ natural curiosities and the bigger ones’ wish to join in. There will be three performances daily at 11:00am, 12:00pm and 2:00pm. Please note this event takes place outdoors.                                                  From 4th – 17th August

Invisible People –   This sounds like a fun event for the family – ‘Pick up your pack of counters to exchange for one-to-one performances around the Garden of poems, scenes from plays, short stories, jokes, conjuring tricks and good advice’.                                 August 13th and 14th   11am – 4pm

A Sunday In The Park – Albert and Friends Instant Circus bring some fun, frolics and fabulous family circus from London’s premier Youth Circus. Bring a rug ! And its free     August 17th – 24th  1.00pm – 1.45pm daily.

My top five picks for childrens shows at the Fringe Festival 2014…..

Every year I pick up the Fringe brochure and I am so excited, but also totally overwhelmed by the number of shows available to see and the huge amount of choice and variety….and maybe it is because I’m a libra, or it’s actually down to the fact there are sooooooooo many good things to go see and so little time to see them all, but I find it very hard to make any decisions….

So, this year I’ve had a little look and have narrowed it down to this list (give or take a few extras !)…

  • Emily Brown and the THING –   Tall Stories are the company that brought us all The Gruffalo  which I thought was fantastic, so I’m hoping this new production will also be just as fun. Based on the Cressida Cowell’s much loved book, its about Emily’s night time adventures and promises to be a magical, musical show……….From 30th July – 24th August (not 7th).

 

  •   Pirate Gran – ‘She knits, she bakes, she drinks sherry’ – all sounds good so far ! This production is brought to you by Scamp Theatre who are the team behind Stick Man and the fantastic Tiddler. Based on the Pirate Gran series of books, this looks to be a swashbuckling show !                     31st July – 25th August (not13th)

 

  •   Dinosaur Zoo – Direct from the West End, this looks like an awesome live show with fantastic puppets – perfect for any dinosaur loving little ones….                               30th July – 25th August  (not 2nd )

 

  •  Red Riding Hood – For the past two years I have been to see puppet shows during the festival at the Storytelling centre and they have been amazing and a total highlight. The venue is small and cosy and you feel fully engaged as the audience and can really appreciate the gorgeous puppets – this show looks to be just as enchanting with a retelling of this classic tale.                               31st July – 17th August (not 11th)

 

  •          Big Red Bath (and The Snow Dog) – So I am kind of cheating by having these two productions, but the are by the same theatre company – Full House- and are performing on alternate days and both look great ! Big Red Bath  are on a bubbly, barmy bath time adventure in a vibrant adaptation of the book, and The Snow Dog  looks to be a playful exploration of love and loss with a real husky on stage which sounds exciting!                        30th/31st July – 23rd/24th August

BBC at the Edinburgh Festivals…

As I write this, the grass is being laid out and the huge blue and pink tents are being erected for the BBC area at Potterow which returns this year. If you read this blog last year, you’ll know I’m a huge fan…..the BBC area is FANTASTIC !! They have lots of free events for children and its a great space to go and hang out during the day as there is a ping pong table, a huge screen showing films/performances etc, deck chairs, food stalls, ice cream and kids activities….

As before, there are a number of events which are ticketed and you can apply for free tickets here but a limited number of tickets are also available on the day for events should you not be successful in the ballot.

A few of the family events have been announced and look great, and you have until this Sunday the 27th July to apply for tickets :

Fingers crossed !

 

Playday 2014 – Wednesday 30th July

This year playday is back on the Grassmarket, which is actually pretty good as last year’s venue on the Royal Mile was all a bit hectic and too much of a squash and a squeeze !

If you’ve never been to Playday before, its great – very simply its a playday organised for free by the council to give parents and carers some ideas for play that you can do easily back at home.

This year will include all the favourites, such as waterplay, giant sand pit, magic potions, a cardboard city, junk drumming and much more….

Its totally worth checking out and is a fun packed afternoon for the kids !

Wednesday 30th July from 12.30….