As the summer holidays fast approach, parents looking for fun, affordable and creative ways to keep their children entertained need look no further than the Artsreach summer programme of activities. Whatever your child’s creative streak may be, there’s something for everyone to get stuck into this summer including music, dance, theatre, craft and filmmaking!
Kicking off the programme in the Piddle Valley on 25th July, Small World Animations bring to life the story of the headless Vikings found on the South Dorset Ridgeway, and invite children to create their own stop-motion animated film about this exciting saga. The workshop will also take place in Fontmell Magna on 7th August and Burton Bradstock on 29th August.
Dorset Forest Schools will be stepping back in time along the South Dorset Ridgeway as Vikings Go Wild in the Woods! Learn to live the life of a Viking raider in Anglo-Saxon territory and prepare for imminent battle in this outdoor adventure at the Discovery Centre, Litton Cheney on 28th July and Hardy’s Monument Woods on 4th August.
Treehouse Theatre present Storybox: an exciting and interactive hour of making music, dressing up and creating stories for children aged 2-8yrs old. Princesses and Pirates will run rampage in the Piddle Valley in ‘Pirates Ahoy’ on 28 July, while The Three Little Pigs try to build their houses at The Exchange in Sturminster Newton on 5th August. Finally in Milborne St Andrew on 19th August children will run, run as fast as they can to keep up with The Gingerbread Man!
New for this year, Treehouse also follow the fascinating journey of brave Prince Theseus in Theseus and the Minotaur at Sixpenny Handley on 5th August and Hazelbury Bryan on 12th August. Dress up and travel through the mythical world of Ancient Greece, culminating with a showdown in the maze with the terrible bull-headed Minotaur!
Children who like to dance will love the workshop based on ‘The Lion King’, taking place at Sixpenny Handley on 1st August, Martinstown on 15th August and the Piddle Valley on 29th August. All the wild animals will come together to celebrate the circle of life in this fun, energetic, contemporary African dance workshop, which ends with a special show for friends and family to enjoy.
Learning the three hand-building techniques of working clay, children can play and create pots featuring portraits of themselves, of friends and family or of imaginary people in Potty Portraits at West Stafford on 4th August.
Using fleece from local sheep and a dash of imagination, our Woolly Tiles workshops at Toller Porcorum on 5th August and Milborne St Andrew on 21st August will see children learn to felt, and use their imaginations to create beautiful Roman mosaic tiles.
Peter Rush, former freelance illustrator for BBC TV’s ‘Jackanory’ will be at Springhead Fontmell Magna on 6th August or at Milborne St Andrew on the 26 August, sculpting an army of Plastic Cutlery Insects. From praying mantis, butterflies and beetles to earwigs, ants and dragonflies! At Burton Bradstock on the 21 August, children can join Peter and create a spectacular wire and paper sculpture, inspired by Dorset Sea Birds such as guillemots, puffins, cormorants and gulls.
Hip Hop is a culture lived by many people all over the world. Join Chucky Taylor for an Urban Expression workshop featuring music, rapping and street dance at Owermoigne on 6th August and West Stafford on 13th August.
Twist, turn, wrap and wind vibrantly coloured wires, adding tissues, string, feathers and beads to create beautiful creatures with Wacky Wire at Winfrith on 12th August and The Exchange in Sturminster Newton on 29th August.
Explore and collect a range of local plants found growing in hedgerows and gardens to dye Dorset sheep’s fleece and create a whole spectrum of colourful naturally dyed wool in Really Wild Wool! at Toller Porcorum on 14th August.
Kathy Kelly’s Fiddlesticks Toddlers Session at The Exchange in Sturminster Newton on 18th August is perfect for those with little ones, with parents and toddlers singing, story-telling, baking bread and sharing food together whilst getting hands on and enjoying some simple crafts using clay, paint, sheep’s fleece and other natural resources.
Inspired by hare stories and myths form across the world, use willow and tissue to create a Ridgeway Hare Lantern at Martinstown on 22nd August. Celebrate the hare as a runner, a messenger, a boxer, a mad March hare of the hare in the moon.
Please note it is always worth booking well ahead as the workshops have limited places and often sell out. Full details on all of the events above, including recommended ages, times, contact numbers and prices, can be found in the Artsreach Summer Activities programme which is available at tourist information centres and libraries. You can also find out more at www.artsreach.co.uk
