With the summer holidays now just around the corner, parents looking for fun, creative and affordable ways to keep their children entertained over the break need look no further than the new 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, stone carving, pottery, puppetry and more!
Kicking off the programme in the Piddle Valley on 20th July, mix up your own palette of coloured paints using a variety of soils and sand, then with natural tools such as fingers, sticks, feathers, stones, shells and leaves, create a modern day wall painting with an ancient twist in Painting with Nature!
Have a go at Puppet Making this summer with two leading puppeteers. Join Tessa Bide at Cerne Abbas on 24 July and using just newspaper, masking tape and objects you have at home, produce your very own puppet to star in a brand new show! Puppeteer Holly Miller will be at Sixpenny Handley on the 19 August creating Bouncing Puppets using card, paper, paints and elastic! Let your imagination run free and build an animal, monster, alien or person!
Join artist Darrell Wakelam at The Exchange in Sturminster Newton on 28 July and build your own 3D Pesky Pirate sculpture from card, paper, glue, and complete with its very own weapons and treasure!
Crafty children can get hands on with clay in Sandford Orcas on 31 July in Ancient Pots and Planting. Make and decorate a unique clay pot, then fill it with soil and plant a seed before taking it home to watch it grow.
Inspired by animals found living on the South Dorset Ridgeway use pieces of ceramic tiles, bits of china and found objects such as stones, shells and curios to design your very own Ridgeway Mosaic with Judy Baker at Toller Porcorum on 3 August.
Have a go at Stone Age arts and crafts at Litton Cheney on the 4 August as Dorset Forest Schools step back in time along the South Dorset Ridgeway in Stone Age Explorers! Have fun with clay, create your own cave painting and have a go at willow weaving and leathercraft! Then enter Hardy’s woods near Portesham for an interactive day of Tribal Hunting on the 27 August. Recreate traditional hunting tools using flint, wood and other natural resources, then learn the key skills for fire lighting and shelter building.
Chucky Taylor is back with another exciting Urban Expressionworkshop, this time looking at urban music production and DJing. Write and produce an urban track then try your hand at mixing and scratchingat Winfrith on the 5 August and Cerne Abbas on the 8th August!
Inspired by the chalk figure of King George III on his white horse at Osmington, join artist Sarah Butterworth and create a beautiful Willow Horse Head Lantern at Milborne St Andrew on the 6 August. Then at Martinstown on the 10 August, create stunning Ridgeway Shadow Puppets and bring to life some of the secret (and not so secret) stories of the Ridgeway.
Learn to use traditional carving tools and bring to life some of the wildlife found living on the Ridgeway in Ridgeway Stone Carving with award-winning sculptor Bec Freiesleben at Burton Bradstock on 10th August.
Put technology aside and have fun creating Felty Selfies with Penny Blogg at Sixpenny Handley on 12th August. Learn how local sheep’s fleece is turned into felt then create a felt outline of your face, and use coloured fibres, fabrics and textiles to add hair, glasses and a happy smile!
Come on an adventure packed with culture dance, music and theatre in ‘Surprising Handa’ with Justine Fry, based on the delightful children’s story ‘Handa’s Surprising Day’ by Eileen Brown. Full of song and dance, join in and bring this story to life at Sturminster Newton on 14th August and Piddletrenthide on 28th August.
Beep Beep – hop in with Rosie the Little Red Car at Milborne St Andrew on the 18th August; she’s waiting to take you to meet all her friends at Cherry Tree Farm! Parents and toddlers can join Playsongs Plus for an interactive session of fun-filled songs, rhymes and musical instruments.
Shiver me timbers! It’s time to grab your parrot, pop on your eye patch and head down to the sea for a swashbuckling adventure with Pirates and Mermaids at Sturminster Newton on 19th August! This fun storytelling session by Kathy Kelly features a whole host of beautiful hand made puppets inspired by the sea.
Go hunting under logs, amongst the leaves and in the grass for creepy crawlies with Karen Hansen at The Kingcombe Centre, Toller Porcorum on 24 August and Milborne St Andrew on 26 August. Bring to life your own bugs using wood, wire, cloth and colour, learn to use drawknives, shaving horses, drills and gauges then create your very own bug hotel to take home and put in the garden in Insect & Bug Hotels!
Kathy Kelly’s Fiddlesticks Toddlers Session at Sixpenny Handley on 25th August is perfect for those with little ones; with singing, story-telling, baking bread and sharing food together, parents can enjoy getting hands on and enjoying some simple crafts with their children.
Run, run as fast as you can to keep up with The Gingerbread Man at Sandford Orcas on 25th August. Join Treehouse Theatre for an exciting and interactive hour of making music, dressing up and creating stories. Then at The Exchange in Sturminster Newton on 27 August they present their brand new family show ‘Timeliners’. Can you help Charlie get his historical timeline in order and find his way back to 2015?
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
