Edinburgh Mela ….

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.

Catch it while you can….

I am totally disappointed that I only found out about this today, but there are some fantastic free play opportunities going on right now at Leith Links….

Play On The Links is being run by the team from The Yard (the purpose-built indoor and outdoor playground for young people with additional support needs) and is a free play space on Leith Links for children aged between 5 and 12 years old (though I think younger children will also really enjoy it too !)…

Children have an opportunity to take part in all kinds of outdoor activities including den building, obstacle courses, water slides, arts, crafts and musical instrument making, using loose parts and recycled materials.

To find the activities, look out for the yellow flags…

Hurry though – its only on tomorrow and friday, so the 8th and 9th     11am to 3pm