The luscious bright green fake grass, the brightly coloured deck chairs, the pink and blue tents, the ping pong table and the yummy food and drink…yes, it’s all returning ! And this year BBC at the Edinburgh Festivals is back in the rather grand location at George Heriot’s School again with the wondrous Edinburgh Castle for a backdrop…what more do we all need ??

It will be open from Friday 4th to Friday 25th August.

Readers of this blog will know this is one of my favourite places to hang out during the festival, to sit and watch the big screen, get involved in the daily kids activities and sample some of the tasters of shows from all the venues.

Every year the BBC tent hosts a fantastic variety of children’s events and activities and I’m certain this year the programme will be bursting with fun yet again. They have just released a list of their children’s activities for this year here and it’s looking great ! – author events, arts and crafts, dance workshops, mini beasties, geology, dragons, storytelling and much much more !

This weekend, the opening weekend is jam packed full of family friendly activities including:

• Circus Open Toybox (Ages 5+)   Fri 4th 9.30am – 1.30pm and Sat 5th August 12pm – 4pm

Run away with the circus! Come and try out some circus skills including hulahoop, juggling, spinning plates, balancing feathers, flowersticks and more with Circus Alba.

• RSPB (Ages 4-10)  Sat 5th August 10.30am – 4.30pm

The RSPB will be running mini beast hunts searching for lots of creepy crawlies as well as going on a wild treasure hunt to see what things we can find. You can also make a solitary bee home with us.

• Animal Magic (Ages 3+)  Sun 6th August 10.30am – 4.30pm

Come along and have a Close Encounter with Animal Magic! Animal Handler Laura will be on site with a selection of her exotic creatures on display for you to see, learn about, meet and even touch.

All this and free arts and crafts and storytelling sessions throughout the weekend too ! See you there….