IMAGINE CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL : Southbank Centre : All Ages : FREE & TICKETED( Sponsored by the Book People) This year’s Imagine Children’s Festival is all about the kids taking over! Southbank Centre will be transformed BY children FOR children, as well as hosting the top names in children’s literature, dance, theatre and art. Enjoy free activities throughout the festival or just take in the atmosphere as children run the show!Their is a huge rang of activities on offer from screenings, workshops, talks, performances, tours, and even a chance to see a real farm hanging out next to the Imagine Children’s Festival Real Food Market (not at weekends). You can see calves, lambs, pigs, piglets, cockerels and hens, and the kids can join in with feeding duties, but no riding of the pigs is allowed, You must check out the schedule online, as there is a whole host of other things going on from graffiti classes (17 Feb), Family Workshops (17 Feb), a Dinosaur Petting Zoo (18-20 Feb), StreetDance workshops (19 Feb), Readings with Michael Rosen and Laura Dockrill (16 Feb) and Funharmonics Family Concerts (10 Feb) and that is a select few to give you a flavour of the festival.
Check the website for tickets and timings. It runs between MONDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2013 – SUNDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2013
SIR JOHN SOANE’S MUSEUM : EXHIBITIONS & Architect & Design workshops : Age 7+ :FREE & TICKETED
We think this ‘in house’ museum is one of London’s hidden treasures. Even if you don’t fancy or secure your place on one of their workshops or talks, you should make time to visit if you are in the area, as it’s great just to walk around Lincoln’s Inn Fields and, you are a stone’s thrown away from Covent Garden, Somerset House, Coram’s Fields, and all there is to offer around the Southbank and the Thames. You could also download the ‘Explore Soane’s London’ trail from the museum website, and explore Soane’s London from churches, mausoleums, The Bank of England, No 10 and 11 Downing Street, the Law Courts at Westminster and his own ‘country villa’.
This ½ term you can enjoy either half- or full-day children’s workshops. Develop a skill or explore Soane’s treasures with specialist guidance.
Prints, Patterns and Paints : Wednesday 20 February (am or pm) | £12
Reinterpret a Soane Museum and his room interiors as an abstract fabric collage and turn it into a wall hanging. ( Rosie Fuller )
Reflective Rooms : Thursday 21 February (am or pm) | £12
Design your own version of a room in the Museum, using ultra-reflective card. Adorn the walls with your own artworks and design and make miniature furniture. (Caroline Dorset).
Tickets & Times : Workshops are suitable for children aged 7+ • Whole-day workshops run from 10:30am until 3:00pm • Half-day workshops are repeated morning and afternoon. They run 10:30am-12:30pm or 2:00pm-4:00pm (please specify your preferred time-slot when booking) • All materials are provided • Children must bring their own lunch for whole-day workshops
Booking is essential – Please use the pre-booking form, or contact the Office Manager on 020 7440 4263/admin@soane.org.uk. Please make a note of the date and title of the workshop(s).
RAF MUSEUM : HELICOPTERS : All Ages : FREE
Maybe this is an option that will get all the boy’s hearts racing, but putting the fairies and the pirates aside, if you have imagination, and a slight interest in British History, and like to get the kids thinking about the ‘big picture’ then taking the 30-min trip out of town to the RAF museum is a must. You get the chance to see over 100 historic air craft, the 3D Cinema, the sound and light show, a life-sized F-35 Joint Striker Fighter Get and listen to Winston give his ‘Battle of Britain’ speech in Battle of Britain Hall.
During the ½ term you can also learn more about the history of the museum’s Helicopter Collection through a series of fascinating and fun interactive workshops. Children can make their own simple paper helicopter to take home and keep free of charge. This activity will be situated just outside the Museum’s Dermot Boyle Wing towards the far end of the Museum’s Helicopter Collection.
Dates : 18th – 22nd February 2013 Tickets : Free & Session times are 11.00 – 13.00 and 14.00 – 16.00 daily.
VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM : THE IMAGINATION STATION : All Ages : FREE
The V& A run the Imagination Station, which is a drop in activity that you will find run by very a friendly and helpful team by the education centre. The kids take an art pack full of crafty bits (glue, tape, paper, pencils, scissors), and they are sent on their way around the museum to find inspiration to create their work of art. This ½ term the project is : make some mini furniture and add it to a fantasy room. It suits all ages, and the staff are very accommodating to all the kids getting in amongst it all around the museum (apart from touching all the exquisite sculptures which are so very tempting for teeny hands …!). We do this activity a lot, and always come back with something memorable.
Dates : 16th to 24th February 2013
ROALD DAHL MUSEUM & STORY CENTRE
This is top of our list for a fun and easy family day trip out of the smoke. The Roald Dhal museum is so much more than it says on the tin. It is well situated in the very sweet Buckinghamshire leafy village of Great Missenden. You can catch a train there from Marylebone (4o mins) and enjoy the walk down the village street to the museum. Or drive down the M40, and park in the council car parks (the museum does not have dedicated parking). If the sun is shining, there is also a fun adventure playground and skate park near the station.
The museum is full of brilliantly curated mini galleries, which are totally hands-on, interactive and full of easy to digest facts about Dhal’s life and the journey he took to become an author. At the moment they have the BOY GALLERY, which is about his child hood, and tales of his pranks as a school boy, As well as the SOLO GALLERY, which is a replica of his famous writing hut, and then the STORY CENTRE, which the kids all feel instantly at home in, as it has an area for dressing up, writing your own stories, and silly words, reading books, drawing and decoration pictures of his characters, and they run mini reading sessions in their through the day. There is also the very sweet cafe TWIT, where the menu is well devised to cater for both adults and kids, lots of chocolate cake, and toasties, and baked potatoes.
They have some great free and very cheap events lined up for ½ term, from making Wonka Hats (8+) Miss Honey’s Kindness Certificates (All Ages), Heart Decorating for Valentines Day, and Scandinavian paper heart making (All Ages). Check the website for more events, and enjoy.
TICKETS : Adults £6.60 : Children 5 to 18 £4.40 : Children under 5 free : Concessions £4.40 (Concessions are for students, people aged 60 or over or for those with disabilities) Family ticket £21.00* (*For 2 adults and up to 3 children.)
Creative Bus Stop 