Events for Children and Young People

Our 2024 Families programme invites children and young adults to explore their creativity, curiosity and connection with authors, poets, illustrators, performers, scientists and environmentalists. Find all your favourite authors plus some new discoveries.

To find more events and workshops for students visit our Education page

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Event F1

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Hereford College of Arts Vocal Ensemble

Popular and Traditional Songs

– Bookshop Garden
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Come and enjoy some music in the Bookshop Garden. The Hereford College of Arts Vocal Ensemble perform their dynamic repertoire of four-part harmony arrangements from popular and traditional songs.

Hereford College of Arts is a dedicated arts college with a specialist focus on art, media, design, popular music and performing arts.
Family, 7+ years
This event has taken place

Event F2

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Hereford College of Arts Theatre Students

These Violent Delights

– Bookshop Garden
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Sparks fly in this fast-paced and fiery production in the open air. Hereford College of Arts theatre students present These Violent Delights, a visceral exploration of the relationships found in Shakespeare, from Hermia and Helena to Beatrice and Benedick.

Hereford College of Arts is a dedicated arts college with a specialist focus on art, media, design, popular music and performing arts.
Family, 7+ years
This event has taken place

Event W1

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Pizza-making Workshop

Kitchen Garden Pizza

– Family Garden
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Come to the Family Garden for a pizza masterclass with Kitchen Garden Pizza. In this one-hour session your imagination and creativity will be fed along with your belly! You’ll get your hands messy with freshly grown and foraged ingredients, make and top your own dough and observe the pizzaioli at work at the wood-fired oven. And while you wait for your pizza to cook, you can decorate your own pizza box!
Dairy-free and gluten-free options available

4+ years
Parents/carers must attend but do not need a ticket.
This event has taken place

Event W2

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Pizza-making Workshop

Kitchen Garden Pizza

– Family Garden
Read more

Come to the Family Garden for a pizza masterclass with Kitchen Garden Pizza. In this one-hour session your imagination and creativity will be fed along with your belly! You’ll get your hands messy with freshly grown and foraged ingredients, make and top your own dough and observe the pizzaioli at work at the wood-fired oven. And while you wait for your pizza to cook, you can decorate your own pizza box!
Dairy-free and gluten-free options available

4+ years
Parents/carers must attend but do not need a ticket.
This event has taken place

Event F3

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Hamza Yassin

Ranger Hamza’s Eco Quest

– Global Stage
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Did you know that something as simple as planting a sunflower can provide food for insects and birds? CBeebies’ Hamza Yassin explains how everyday nature heroes play a crucial part in our ecosystem, and how you have a role to play too! From the smallest seed to the tallest tree, everything in nature has a purpose. Come on your own Eco Quest and find out how to make your nature walks an interactive journey of discovery. Can you find some lichen on a wall or tree, earthworms in the ground or a dandelion growing through a crack in the pavement?

3+ years
This event has taken place

Event F4

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Waldo Pancake

How to be a Genius Kid

– Spring Stage
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Get super brainy with zero effort thanks to Waldo Pancake, aka Jim Smith, the author and illustrator behind the Barry Loser books. Why is misspelling stuff a sign of grate intelly-genz? What have the hours in the day got to do with finger bones? Why does rain on a pavement smell so delish? Zany and laugh-out-loud bonkers, Jim introduces his new graphic novel and teaches you how to be a Genius Kid!

Please bring your own sketchbook and pencils to draw along in this event.

7+ years
This event has taken place

Event W3

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Ready, Steady, Music! Workshop

– Creative Hub
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Get your Hay day off to a brilliant start with our daily Ready, Steady, Music workshops! With different activities each day, these interactive, fun-filled sessions for mini musicians will have you tapping sticks, roaring like dinosaurs, flying with unicorns, dancing with scarves, playing with parachutes and much more. Come and meet our puppets, explore our instruments and be accompanied by the beautiful sound of the cello.

0-4 years
Parents/carers must attend but do not need a ticket.
This event has taken place

Event W4

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Pizza-making Workshop

Kitchen Garden Pizza

– Family Garden
Read more

Come to the Family Garden for a pizza masterclass with Kitchen Garden Pizza. In this one-hour session your imagination and creativity will be fed along with your belly! You’ll get your hands messy with freshly grown and foraged ingredients, make and top your own dough and observe the pizzaioli at work at the wood-fired oven. And while you wait for your pizza to cook, you can decorate your own pizza box!
Dairy-free and gluten-free options available

4+ years
Parents/carers must attend but do not need a ticket.
This event has taken place

Event MT1

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Make & Take Crafting

Saturday Morning Session

– Make & Take Hub
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An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials. Get messy and creative: your imagination is the limit.

Book for the session and you can drop in at any point during the 1.5 hour duration. Accompanying adults: please stay in attendance at all times, but you do not require a ticket.

3–11 years
This event has taken place

Event W5

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Pizza-making Workshop

Kitchen Garden Pizza

– Family Garden
Read more

Come to the Family Garden for a pizza masterclass with Kitchen Garden Pizza. In this one-hour session your imagination and creativity will be fed along with your belly! You’ll get your hands messy with freshly grown and foraged ingredients, make and top your own dough and observe the pizzaioli at work at the wood-fired oven. And while you wait for your pizza to cook, you can decorate your own pizza box.
Dairy-free and gluten-free options available

!

4+ years
Parents/carers must attend but do not need a ticket.
This event has taken place

Event F5

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Jeff Kinney

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The No Brainer Show

– Global Stage
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Come on down and unlock your brain power! The No Brainer Show is an outrageously entertaining event hosted in person by bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney. You’ll be invited to join Jeff on stage and to face off in brain-challenging game show-style activities to support your local library. Expect an epically fun event that celebrates the latest Wimpy Kid book and explores the outer limits of the brain.

Please bring your own sketchbook and pencils to draw along in this event.

9+ years
This event has taken place

Event F6

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Philip Reeve & Sarah McIntyre

Adventuremice: Mice on the Moon

– Spring Stage
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In Mice on the Moon, the heroic Adventuremice have been summoned by an inventor-mouse. Millie’s Uncle Bernie has built a spaceship and he wants them to fly it. BOOM! Pedro and his friends blast into outer space, where they become the first mice on the moon. Or so they think…

Please bring your own sketchbook and pencils to draw along in this event.

5+ years
This event has taken place

Event W6

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

From Plant to Plate Workshop

With Darryl Gadzekpo & Ella Phillips

– Creative Hub
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You’ll be inspired to get growing, get cooking and get plant-powered eating in this hands-on workshop led by green-fingered duo Darryl Gadzekpo and Ella Phillips. Their passion for gardening and cooking with their children has spurred them to write From Plant to Plate, a visual feast full of all the tips you need to transform seeds into mighty fruit, vegetables, and herbs, and to cook your home-grown ingredients.

7+ years
Parents/carers must attend but do not need a ticket.
This event has taken place

Event MT2

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Make & Take Crafting

Saturday Lunchtime Session

– Make & Take Hub
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An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials. Get messy and creative: your imagination is the limit.

Book for the session and you can drop in at any point during the 1.5 hour duration. Accompanying adults: please stay in attendance at all times, but you do not require a ticket.

3–11 years
This event has taken place

Event F7

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Alice Roberts

Wolf Road

– Discovery Stage
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In historian and broadcaster Alice Roberts’ new children’s novel, Wolf Road, prehistoric Tuuli travels with her tribe through the seasons – making camp, hunting for food and protecting themselves against the hazards the climate throws at them. She knows there’s a bigger world out there, and when she spots a strange boy lurking outside their camp, she realises he might hold the adventure she is looking for. He is from another tribe, and as he and Tuuli strike up an unlikely friendship, they set out on a journey that will influence the rest of human history. Find out about the real anthropological discoveries that inspired this tale full of wild animals and heart-stopping danger.

9+ years
This event has taken place

Event F8

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Alex Wheatle in conversation with Clive Myrie

(Un)scripted: Crongton and Beyond

– Spring Stage
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Award-winning author, playwright and screenwriter Alex Wheatle’s work often explores themes of identity, race and social injustice, drawing on his own experiences as a black British man. Alex was born in Brixton, South London, in 1963. His parents were Jamaican immigrants and he grew up in a children’s home after being placed there by social services at the age of six. In 1981, Alex went to prison for his involvement in the Brixton riots: this transformational period in his life was adapted for screen in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe production. With BBC broadcaster Clive Myrie, Alex discusses his life experiences and how they have shaped his writing, including the final book in his bestselling Crongton series – In The Ends.

12+ years
This event has taken place

Event W7

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

From Plant to Plate Workshop

With Darryl Gadzekpo & Ella Phillips

– Creative Hub
Read more

You’ll be inspired to get growing, get cooking and get plant-powered eating in this hands-on workshop led by green-fingered duo Darryl Gadzekpo and Ella Phillips. Their passion for gardening and cooking with their children has spurred them to write From Plant to Plate, a visual feast full of all the tips you need to transform seeds into mighty fruit, vegetables, and herbs, and to cook your home-grown ingredients.

7+ years
Parents/carers must attend but do not need a ticket.
This event has taken place

Event F9

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Lenny Henry talks to Mic Lord

Clash of the Superkids

– Discovery Stage
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Join the award-winning and much-loved author, comedian and actor for a fun-filled event centred on his action-packed children’s books, The Boy With Wings and The Book of Legends. His latest title, Clash of the Superkids, sees the return of Tunde Wilkinson, an ordinary boy who happens also to be a winged superhero. Lenny chats to compère Mic Lord, a theatre maker, MC and recording artist, all about Tunde’s impossible mission and super powers, and reveals an extract from the book.

9+ years
This event has taken place

Event F10

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Jean Menzies

Goddesses and Heroines

– Meadow Stage
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You’ve heard of Pandora’s box and the story of Mulan, but what about Melusine’s curse or the Wawalag Sisters’ travels? The award-winning Dr Jean Menzies, author of Greek Myths, is back with Goddesses and Heroines – a sparkling introduction to key female figures from cultures all over the world. Discover some of the lesser-known stories of legendary women from across the globe, from Japanese goddess of the dawn Ame-no-Uzume to Tuonetar, Finnish queen of the Underworld.

7+ years
This event has taken place

Event W8

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Creative Writing Workshop

With Sarah Crossan

– Creative Hub
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How do stories start? Where can we find them? And how do we know whether or not what we’ve written is even good enough? Sarah Crossan, award-winning author of The Weight of Water, Apple and Rain, will lead you in a series of poetry and prose exercises designed to build confidence and get your pen moving. This workshop is for all writers, from beginners to experienced.

Please bring your own notebook and pen or pencil to this event.

12+ years
No parent/carer attendance nor sign in/out is required.
This event has taken place

Event MT3

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Make & Take Crafting

Saturday Afternoon Session

– Make & Take Hub
Read more

An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials. Get messy and creative: your imagination is the limit.

Book for the session and you can drop in at any point during the 1.5 hour duration. Accompanying adults: please stay in attendance at all times, but you do not require a ticket.

3–11 years
This event has taken place

Event W9

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Pizza-making Workshop

Kitchen Garden Pizza

– Family Garden
Read more

Come to the Family Garden for a pizza masterclass with Kitchen Garden Pizza. In this one-hour session your imagination and creativity will be fed along with your belly! You’ll get your hands messy with freshly grown and foraged ingredients, make and top your own dough and observe the pizzaioli at work at the wood-fired oven. And while you wait for your pizza to cook, you can decorate your own pizza box!
Dairy-free and gluten-free options available

4+ years
Parents/carers must attend but do not need a ticket.
This event has taken place

Event F11

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Stephen & Anita Mangan

The Day I Fell Down the Toilet

– Wye Stage
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The funniest author-illustrator, brother-sister duo is back to raise the roof with games, draw-alongs and silly stories. The bestselling creators of The Fart that Changed the World present their hilarious new adventure, The Day I Fell Down the Toilet. Find out what happens when timid Timothy Trench is plunged down a toilet into the land where jokes come from and is challenged to find the funniest joke in the land – or else… Laugh-alongs guaranteed!

Please bring your own sketchbook and pencils to draw along in this event.

8+ years
This event has taken place

Event F12

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Marcel Lucont: Les Enfants Terribles

A Gameshow for Awful Children

– Spring Stage
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An unmissable wild family gameshow with acclaimed French comedian Marcel Lucont, in which kids get to be pests, politicians and pétomanes (Google it) in order to be crowned the most awful child. See what happens when international insouciance meets infantile exuberance. A huge hit at Edinburgh Fringe and many other festivals, the award-winning comic channels his acerbic humour and quickfire wit into a series of tasks for the younger generation, which is every bit as entertaining for adults as it is for children. Très funny!

Family, 6+ years
This event has taken place

Event W10

Events taking place live 23 May–2 June 2024

Pizza-making Workshop

Kitchen Garden Pizza

– Family Garden
Read more

Come to the Family Garden for a pizza masterclass with Kitchen Garden Pizza. In this one-hour session your imagination and creativity will be fed along with your belly! You’ll get your hands messy with freshly grown and foraged ingredients, make and top your own dough and observe the pizzaioli at work at the wood-fired oven. And while you wait for your pizza to cook, you can decorate your own pizza box!
Dairy-free and gluten-free options available

4+ years
Parents/carers must attend but do not need a ticket.
This event has taken place

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