Kids

Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2012: Kids highlights

CBeebies' Andy Day, Tall Stories, Sesame Street Live and more

Andy & Mike’s... Tick Tock Time Machine. Andy and Mike’s 2011 Fringe show, Big Box of Bananas, was a genuinely funny affair that entertained both wee ones and their adult companions. So we’ll expect great things from the CBeebies presenter’s return.

Family activity Treasure Trails helps you rediscover your city

Follow the clues to solve the mystery in your town

Think you know the city you live in? Me too. Or rather I did, until question four on the New Town Murder Mystery Treasure Trail totally stymied me. Happily, the organisers of these fun, accessible and varied trails know what it’s like to find yourself…

PG Tips Monkey-man brings Peppa Pig to life

Beloved puppet pig tours the country with her oinkish friends

What links a small pink pig loved by pre-schoolers, a tea-swilling monkey and the entire British Cabinet made of latex? The answer is Nigel Plaskitt, a man who has worked on Spitting Image, operated the PG Tips monkey, and is currently the go-to guy for…

Top Cat: The Movie

Unfaithful to the original cartoon but this adaptation still retains a cheeky charm

Also known as Boss Cat during his regular BBC television outings, to avoid giving advertising to a popular brand of cat food, Top Cat remains one of the most fondly remembered characters in cartoon history. Despite living in a dustbin in an alleyway…

Highlights from the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe programme

Daniel Kitson, Billy the Mime and Paolo Bianchi set to appear

The Fringe madness is looming on the horizon and as long as the nation isn’t holed up with Olympics fever, this could well be another record-breaking year. You’ll be less than surprised to hear there’s a massive amount of comedy on show, including a…

Parents Like Us offers a new approach to entertaining children

The festival offers free events and de-stress massages for parents

The journey from the box office to the auditorium can be an expensive one these days. Even the most charming children’s shows have a plethora of merchandise to tempt tiny hands (and grown-up purses) as you struggle to take your seat. Since its…

Scottish Ballet's Family Challenge Day

A fun event for the whole family to try out some basic ballet steps

‘When you’re a parent, quite often you’ll do things with your child that you wouldn’t do on your own,’ says Catherine Cassidy, associate director of education at Scottish Ballet. How very true. Or at least that’s what Scottish Ballet is banking on, when…

Giants in the Forest: The natural art project putting sculpture into Scotland's woods

Massive project undertaken as part of the Year of Creative Scotland

In a country where much of our creativity is inspired by the incredible natural environment around us, what better year to launch our unique project, Giants in the Forest? Looking down on us from tree tops will be massive wicker heads, seeded and…

The Magical World of Mackintosh makes the famed designer accessible to kids

The architect is the subject of a Festival of Museums activity day

It went from a place of learning, to a place to learn about learning – but whatever its use, the brilliance of its architect shines through. Designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1904, Scotland Street School Museum has many of its creator’s signature…

Aerial for Kids provides high-flying excitement for youngsters

Sessions led by aerial company All or Nothing on a weekly basis

Two teenage girls are hanging from a bar, their legs twisted around a rope, heads upside down. This may not sound like the most comfortable of positions, but the smile on their faces suggest they’re having a ball – and they are. As is the young boy who…

New Brave trailer showcases Emma Thompson and Billy Connolly's roles

A new trailer for Disney-Pixar's Brave is available, revealing a little more of the Highland-set story line. In it, we see a lot more of the dynamic between impetuous heroine Merida (Kelly Macdonald), her indulgent father King Fergus (Billy Connolly…

Interview: Tony Reekie - director of Imaginate children's festival

Children's theatre festival has a strong international flavour

He may spend most of his life scouring the world for quality children’s theatre, but even Tony Reekie finds time for a bit of Killing. The Killing, that is, not cold-blooded murder. A big fan of the Danish television crime series, Reekie was less…

Top ten things to do for Easter 2012

Family activities throughout the Easter holidays, featuring Galoshins, The Gruffalo and more

Travel in time Galoshins The Scottish Mask and Puppet Theatre resurrects the ancient Scots drama of Galoshins for Easter, complete with wise magicians, beautiful princesses and courageous knights. Performed with the aid of live folk musicians, singers…

The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists 3D

An enjoyable, if occassionally laboured, family animation from Aardman

(U) 88min Aardman's Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists is the most ambitious undertaking yet from the Bristol-based clay-mation specialists but while often enjoyable it's not all plain sailing. The madcap story of a pirate captain, who…

Teaching kids French through puppetry

Bilingual puppetry company Le Petit Monde present their Easter show, Lapin Wants an Easter Carrot

As any adult who has undertaken a language class will tell you, it goes in quicker when you’re younger. Learning French as a child, when that little sponge-like brain is firing on all cylinders, isn’t just easier, it’s a lot more fun since Tania Czajka…

CBeebies Live brings TV stars to stage

Mister Maker, Mr Tumble, Postman Pat and LazyTown's Robbie Rotten star in live show

If enthusiasm could be bottled and sold, then Phil Gallagher would be a very wealthy man. Better known as Cbeebies’ Mister Maker, Gallagher has been creating works of art from bits and bobs in his ‘Doodle Drawer’ for the past four years. Endlessly…

Decembrists singer Colin Meloy writes children's book Wildwood

The novel is the product of collaboration with his wife Carson Ellis

Wildwood is the debut illustrated children's novel from husband-and-wife creative double act Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis. Meloy is probably best known as the lead singer of US indie-folk group The Decembrists (for whom Ellis supplies album artwork).

Edinburgh International Science Festival 2012 - highlights

Derren Brown and giant eyes among the top events at this year's EISF

Illusions, experiments, fire-walking and food are just some of the treats in store at this year’s Edinburgh International Science Festival. With events in more venues than ever before, 2012’s programme welcomes scientists, comedians, psychologists…

Parent-and-toddler group Dads Rock provides a musical outlet for fathers and tots

Edinburgh playgroup for fathers and children aged 0-4

Walk through the doors of any parent and toddler group in the land, and chances are most of the males in attendance will be wearing nappies. Such gatherings are notoriously female affairs (adult-wise at least), with the odd – and I mean occasional…

Visible Fictions to revive Zorro

The theatre company's popular swashbuckler to play at Scottish Youth Theatre

In case you didn’t know, the word ‘zorro’ is Spanish for ‘fox’, and that’s exactly what this cunning fictional hero does – fox those around him, not just with his deeds but his entire persona. Starting life as a serial in a 1920s US magazine, the tales…

The Muppets' most memorable moments

A gallery of clips from our favourite frog and his friends

The Muppets have a string of movies to their names already, including The Muppet Movie, The Muppets Christmas Carol, The Muppets Take Manhattan, and The Great Muppet Caper. Never ones to shirk away from serious film, darling, they’ve also had cameos in…

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery want your children to become Portrait Detectives

New events to get kids interested in the refurbished Gallery

Under wraps for the past two and a half years, the newly re-opened Scottish National Portrait Gallery cuts quite a dash. But for younger visitors, the wow factor generated by a £17 million spend can be hard to see. Which is why events like Portrait…

Preview of 2012 - Brave

Pixar’s highland fling has a lot of heart

After dropping the ball with Cars 2 last summer – the only one of their 12 feature-length releases so far to have been deemed a bit lacklustre – the award-winning animation house will be looking to score big again with Brave. Set in the misty and…

The Hot 100 2011: 100-50

The definitive list of Scottish creative talent

100: Gordon Ferris. Kilmarnock crime author makes good. The already packed Scottish crime writing field has finally found a bit of elbow room for another burgeoning talent. Joining the likes of Rankin, Brookmyre, McDermid and co is this Ayrshire-born…

Lost Sock Princess

A puppet theatre performance that lets you join in – all you need is an odd sock

Try as you might to wash and dry them together, socks have a way of parting company somewhere between the laundry basket and underwear drawer. It’s at that point you need the Lost Sock Princess to help you reunite the estranged pair. Or do you? One…