Art & Activities

‘Walking With Dinosaurs’ The Arena Spectacular Review
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‘Walking With Dinosaurs’ The Arena Spectacular Review

Dinosaurs are completely flavour of the month it seems with children from zero to ten at least. The prehistoric giants capture the imagination with little effort – my two year old can recognise most of the common ones from triceratops to brontosaurus or is it brachiosaurus these days? There are lifelike models, cuddly dinosaurs, roaring [...]

The Royal Ballet presents Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
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The Royal Ballet presents Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

What a treat! Next week, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland hits Covent Garden with The Royal Ballet’s production returning for the third time in as many years.     The magic of the classic fantasy tale is recreated in Christopher Wheeldon’s production, which showcases Lewis Carroll’s menagerie of colourful characters including an anxious White Rabbit, a terrifying Red Queen, [...]

Hervé Tullet at London’s Imagine Children’s Festival
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Hervé Tullet at London’s Imagine Children’s Festival

Spread the word! The wonderful Hervé Tullet, creator of the ‘Press Here’ paper interactive book, is appearing in person at the Imagine Children’s Festival at the Southbank this half term. If you’ve not come across ‘Press Here’ up to now you are missing out. A New York Times Bestseller and winner of numerous awards, Press Here [...]

Spinningfields Ice Rink
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Ice Skating at Spinningfields and Somerset House

Nothing feels more quintessentially festive than a spot of ice-skating. And there are numerous ice rinks appearing around the country to fulfil the need. Not so much your traditional Victorian experience and certainly no skating on lakes or rivers these days, but the modern rinks are sure to get the adults and the children excited. [...]

Rats Tales – Festive theatre by Carol Ann Duffy
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Rats Tales – Festive theatre by Carol Ann Duffy

The impressive surroundings of Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre will host Rats Tales – a wonderful festive treat for families this Christmas.     Rats Tales mixes traditional European fairy tales with some brand new stories written by Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. The combination promises to be a particularly exciting performance where old meets new, [...]

Adventure of the Missing Manuscript
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House of Fairy Tales – Eyes Wide Open art this summer

Children have their eyes wide open to just about everything, with the only restriction perhaps being their parents own open-mindedness in letting them experience new things. But flip the coin, and having children is a great opportunity for parents to do stuff that being ‘grown up’ meant they would never do again – or to [...]

Camp Bestival – the perfect festival for kids
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Camp Bestival – the perfect festival for kids

Camp Bestival is the nom de plume when it comes to summer festivals designed for families with kids. This year’s festivities may just be your Olympics saviour from 26 to 29 July. Let’s pray for some sunshine…or at least not too much of a mud bath then!     Do festivals and kids go together? [...]

On the Sly (A Pas de Loup) – Kids Film Review
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On the Sly (A Pas de Loup) – Kids Film Review

On the Sly (A Pas de Loup) sees Olivier Ringer direct his daughter Wynona Ringer in the role of Cathy, a little girl who is convinced her parents can’t see her. To prove she is right, she decides to disappear and begins an extraordinary adventure.   Fluxling #1 is a film addict. Her favourites include [...]

The Value of the Paw – Cathie Pilkington – London Art Show
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The Value of the Paw – Cathie Pilkington – London Art Show

Bethnal Green’s Museum of Childhood has always been a queer, wondrous hall of curios. Since Cathie Pilkington’s characters moved in, the mood has grown ever more strange – and her art has, she says “enthralled and appalled” children and adults alike at this new London Art Show. Cathie, a graduate from the Royal College of [...]

The Snowman Live Stage Show Version
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The Snowman Live Stage Show Version

The Snowman live stage show based on Raymond Briggs’ original book. Music and lyrics by Howard Blake We ran last minute into the hustle and bustle. It seemed everybody was running late. We grabbed our tickets and hurried forth into the auditorium. We’d been given superb seats, 10 rows or so back from the centre [...]

Pick and Mix at the Chill Factore
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Pick and Mix at the Chill Factore

Having seen the striking architecture of the Chill Factore from the motorway near the Trafford Centre, Manchester, I must admit to being curious as to what went on inside. So when we were invited to try our luck on this giant indoor piste it was an easy decision. The dressing area / preparation side felt [...]

Arrietty – New animated film of The Borrowers
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Arrietty – New animated film of The Borrowers

Arrietty (Saoirse Ronan) is a member of a race of thumb-sized people called Borrowers, so named because they sneak out of the nooks and crannies of human houses in order to ‘borrow’ whatever they need to survive. It’s a perilous existence, since the smallest, most benign object to humans can be a life-threatening hazard to [...]

Andrea Crews makes fashion
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Andrea Crews makes fashion

“The idea of our workshops with kids is to sensitize them to fashion, and more generally to art as well as to ecology by recycling and customizing clothes, in a funny, playful and colorful way.” Andrea Crews – fashionista’s fashionista; band of pirates; performance guerillas! The Paris based collective led by Maroussia Rebecq are located [...]

Momocreatura kids jewellery
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Momocreatura kids jewellery

Creative designer Momoko Tamura, is the brains behind innovative kids jewellery brand, Momocreatura. With a natural love for drawing and art that stemmed from her childhood, it was inevitable Momo would use her creative talents to do good in the design world, going on to study fine arts and jewellery making in Japan and then [...]

My Drawings for Saatchi
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My Drawings for Saatchi

At the moment, our 5 year old is just getting over her ‘ “That’s RUBBISH!” followed by screwing the paper up and throwing it across the room in response to an art masterpiece that went a bit wrong’ stage. And for someone who can quite easily go through 50 sheets of paper a day that [...]

Jo Paterson
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Jo Paterson

Jo Paterson is a brilliant fashion photographer who has been inspired to move into children’s fashion and portrait photography by the sheer energy and imagination of her subjects. She has been working on this wonderful series of images of children – who she speaks to in depth to get a real representation of their whimsical inner [...]

Watch Me Move – Summer animation at the Barbican
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Watch Me Move – Summer animation at the Barbican

The Animation Show [slideshow id=6] ‘Watch me Move’ is an exhibition / festival that’ll appeal to anyone from a serious animation junkies to young families. At the Barbican this summer alongside the 170 actual animations, there will be stage sets, storyboards and puppets split into themed sections – Apparitions, Characters, Superhumans, Fables, Fragments, Structures, and Visions. [...]