Events for Children and Young People

An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials. Get messy and creative in these interactive sessions delivered by artists and discover that your imagination is the only 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.

We’re having a party to celebrate Pooh turning 100! Come and join us for this special Winnie-the-Pooh family show, hosted by Waterstones Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce, co-writer of the film Goodbye Christopher Robin.

We’ll enjoy readings from special guests including: actor and Winnie-the-Pooh fan Emma Thompson; How to Train Your Dragon author/illustrator Cressida Cowell; Wonka actor Paterson Joseph; and Jane Riordan, author of the Winnie-the-Pooh prequel and sequel story collections written in the style of AA Milne.

Ottoline and Goth Girl author/illustrator Chris Riddell, who was inspired by the illustrations of E.H. Shepard, will be live illustrating throughout. This is a heartwarming show for the whole family to celebrate all things Winnie-the-Pooh in his 100th year.

Ever wondered what aliens really look like? What do they wear, how tall are they, are they really green? Decide for yourself when you design your very own alien in this event with sci-fi fanatic and creator of The Unexplained series, Adam Allsuch Boardman.

Get your creative cogs turning with the intriguing ‘exquisite corpse game’, then move on to building your alien’s backstory. Using prompts from real-life UFO sightings and folk art, you’ll imagine their history and form your own intergalactic tale to share with your friends. Adam will also explore the science behind supernatural research and suggest how spectacular sightings link to popular culture.

An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials. Get messy and creative in these interactive sessions delivered by artists and discover that your imagination is the only 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.

Tom Gates and his hilarious homework diary are celebrating 15 years in 2026. Come and enjoy this laugh-out-loud event filled with his adventures, doodles, friends, foes and caramel wafers! You’ll be kept busy with everything from games and storytelling to a live draw-along with much-loved author/illustrator Liz Pichon, where she’ll show you how she brings her best-loved Tom Gates and Mubbles characters to life.

Whether you’re a fan of the books, love the TV series (or both!) or you’re new to Tom and his friends, this event will be pure fun.

Come and learn how to make willow stars using willow grown in Herefordshire on the farm where The Cart Shed Charity operates. Simple weaving techniques will be taught and all participants will take home a star they have made from this beautiful, sustainable material.

The Cart Shed supports young people aged 10–25 and adults of all ages experiencing poor emotional wellbeing. Creative activities and emotional support given by skilled practitioners and clinicians empower people to overcome challenges and live life well. On Friday 29 and Saturday 30 May they’ll be demonstrating some of the techniques they use, on the Festival site.

Join the much-loved author/illustrator of Ottoline and Goth Girl to dip a toe into the underwater secrets of his new fantasy adventure. In A Mermaid’s Diary, we meet shy mermaid Atalanta Scrimshaw, who lives a quiet life in the backwater of Sleepy Cove. But Atalanta must break out of her comfort zone when unscrupulous developers threaten to transform her home into a seaside golf resort.

The former Children’s Laureate will share insights into this tale full of his stunning illustration and signature allusive wit. Can Atalanta enlist her friends’ help to stop the development from destroying her home?

Discover more about Black British history with actor and author Paterson Joseph, as he takes us back in time to meet ten inspiring, rebellious and brave children. Goddaughter to the Queen of England. Human rights activist. Librarian and author. Former slave… The ten were all born when slavery was still legal, but went on to change the world for the better, helping to secure their own freedom and the freedom of so many. Paterson will tell the stories of the ten aged ten, and answer the question: how did these inspirational people change the world?

Paterson is one of Britain’s best-loved actors (Vigil, Noughts & Crosses, Wonka, Peep Show) and author of award-winning historical novel The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho. Ten is his first book for children.

An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials. Get messy and creative in these interactive sessions delivered by artists and discover that your imagination is the only 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.

How can you use art to protest injustice and galvanise others to resist? Caryl Lewis has imagined some answers, in her suspenseful new YA novel about teens finding their voices in the darkest of times. Join Caryl as she discusses dystopia, destruction and defiance, and shares advice for young writers embarking on their own creative journey.

Caryl takes us into the near-future of The Danger of Small Things, a world where all the bees have died and young girls are taken to camps and made to pollinate by hand. Against this frighteningly real scenario, she explores how art and literature might yet save us.

Just Visiting is a heartening and humorous piece of theatre, woven from real memories and explored through storytelling and puppetry. A gentle dance through grief to discover joy and meaning.

About Face is a professional learning disability theatre company based in Herefordshire, which has developed a reputation for highly creative, unusual, and thought-provoking work. Created from the actors’ own stories, this show captures grief from many angles; personal yet universal, poignant and funny. Audiences are invited to laugh, cry and connect with the most human experience which unites all of us.

An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials. Get messy and creative in these interactive sessions delivered by artists and discover that your imagination is the only 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.

Get ready to be inspired, amazed and totally fascinated by the incredible human body with the nation’s most-loved doctor! Dr Ranj will guide young curiosity seekers on an exciting adventure exploring every nook and cranny of the wondrous world within us: from the powerhouse of the heart to the bustling networks of the brain.

The BAFTA-award-winning TV presenter, musical theatre star and best-selling author will share fun facts about what makes us tick from his new book Dr Ranj’s Human Body Encyclopedia, top tips on wellbeing and keeping your body healthy and happy, as well as reminders of everything that makes every single one of us special.

An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials. Get messy and creative in these interactive sessions delivered by artists and discover that your imagination is the only 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.

Embark on an epic animal adventure with the award‑winning historian and television presenter (Digging for Britain) as she introduces the jaw-dropping sequel to her highly acclaimed debut novel Wolf Road. Professor Alice Roberts bases her stories on real archaeological discoveries, and in this event she takes us on a stunning journey through the prehistoric landscape.

In Wolf Mountain, the seasons are changing and Tuuli, along with her faithful wolf cub Lupa, is on the move. Leaving her tribe behind, she sets out across the Tundra to discover a new world and find the family of Andar, the friend she has lost. With danger everywhere, will Tuuli find who she is looking for?