KIDS
KIDS list.co.uk/kids
HITLIST THE BEST KIDS STUFF
Events are listed by city, then by type. Submit listings at least 14 days before publication by using our ‘Add an Event’ service at list.co.uk. Listings are compiled by Rowena MacIntosh. ✽ Indicates Hitlist entry GLASGOW
Activities & Fun FREE The Games We Play Wed 9 Jul–Sun 17 Aug, 10am–5pm. Scotland Street School Museum, 225 Scotland Street, 287 0500. An exhibition looking at the culture of game playing across centuries and countries. FREE Games Inside Out Thu 10 Jul, 17 Jul, 24 Jul & 31 Jul, 1–3pm. Cranhill Development Trust, 109 Bellrock Street, 774 3344. Old games with a twist for kids aged 5–11. Dance with Babies Thursdays, 1.30– 2.10pm. £5 (four classes £15). Kelvinside Hillhead Parish Church, Observatory Road, 334 2788. Dancing workshop for parents and newborns. FREE Toddler Time Fridays, 11.30am. Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Argyle Street, 276 9599. Songs, stories and fun for under 5s inspired by museum exhibits. FREE Balanceability Taster Session Fri 11 Jul, 1.30–3.30pm. Library at The Bridge, 1000 Westerhouse Road, 276 9712. Urban Fox staff help banish the stabilisers as they teach kids aged 3–5 how to balance on a bike. FREE Saturday Art Club Saturdays, 10.30am–12.30pm. Gallery of Modern Art, Royal Exchange Square, 287 3050. Art activities and games relating to the displays. Ages 3–12. FREE Sheep Shearing Sat 12 Jul, noon–2.30pm. Tollcross Park, 254b Wellshot Road, 763 2345. See how to get wool from sheep at this shearing demonstration. FREE Arts & Crafts Mon 14 Jul, 21 Jul & 28 Jul, 1.30–3pm. Royston Library & Learning Centre, 67 Royston Road, 552 1657. Holiday arts and crafts club for children aged 5–11. Tweeting Toddlers Tuesdays, 11.30am–noon. £4 suggested donation. Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Argyle Street, 276 9599. Songs, stories and outside exploring. Ages 0–3. FREE These Charming Worms Fri 18 Jul, 11am–1pm. Parkmanor Green, 577 4053. Try different techniques to catch the worms in a worm charming competition. Blue Block Studio Wed 23 Jul–Sun 27 Jul & Tue 29 Jul–Sat 2 Aug, 10am & 11.15am. £6 adult & child (extra adult £6; extra child £4). Tramway, 25 Albert Drive, 0845 330 3501. Creative space for adult and babies under 24 months to create, learn, build and experience.
✽FREE Scotch Hoppers Thu 24 Jul–Sun 3 Aug, 1–5pm. Parnie
Street, Merchant City, glasgow2014.com/ culture. See preview, page 83. Part of Culture 2014. FREE Family Extravaganza Day Sat 26 Jul, 10am–3pm. Pollok Library and Leisure Centre, 100/106 Peat Road, 881 3540. Fun-filled sports themed days with sports, games, arts and crafts as well as activities specially for under 5s.
✽ The Spokesman Pull on a helmet, climb on a mountain
bike (both provided) and whizz through Pollok Park with the always entertaining Visible Fictions theatre company (pictured). Pollok Country Park, Glasgow, Tue 15– Sat 19 Jul.
✽ Family Fun Day for CCLASP Fundraising fun
with bouncy castles, rides, local DJs whipping you into a frenzy and side shows to frustrate you, all for a good cause. The Meadows, Edinburgh, Sun 20 Jul.
✽ The Pokey Hat With over 30 performances in
16 locations between now and 3 Aug, you’ve no excuse for missing Grinagog’s witty and engaging new show set in an ice cream van. See review, right. Various venues, Glasgow, until Sun 3 Aug.
✽ Scotch Hoppers Forget computer games and
iPhones, this cornucopia of outdoor games is here to remind adults, and educate kids, on how folk used to have fun in the (not so) olden days. See preview, page 83. Parnie Street, Glasgow, Thu 24 Jul–Sun 3 Aug.
✽ Scotland’s National Airshow A grand day out
for the whole family, with fun and excitement on the ground (fairground rides) and in the skies (aerial displays). National Museum of Flight, North Berwick, Sat 26 Jul.
✽ Scarecrows, Superworms and the
Gruffalo A new Julia Donaldson book is always cause for celebration, especially when she’s there to read from it in person. Get ready to discover her latest triumph, The Scarecrows’ Wedding. Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Sun 3 Aug.
82 THE LIST 10 Jul–21 Aug 2014
FREE Family Extravaganza Day Mon 28 Jul, 10am–3pm. Springburn Leisure Centre, Kay St, 557 5878. See above.
Books FREE Marathon Storytelling Challenge Wed 16 Jul, Times tbc. Eastwood Park Theatre, Rouken Glen Road, Giffnock, 577 4956. Tam Dean Burn follows the Queen’s Baton Relay on his bicycle with the aim of reading all Julia Donaldson’s books and plays to children along the route. FREE Oh No It’s A Gruffalo Sun 20 & Mon 21 Jul, 12–3pm. Waterstones, 174 Argyle Street, 248 4814. An afternoon of storytelling, face painting and games with a special appearance by the Gruffalo. FREE Summer Reading Challenge Fri 1 Aug & 8 Aug, 11am– noon. Possilpark Library, 127 Allander Street, 276 0928. Take part in different ‘Mythical Maze’ activities and complete the reading challenge over the holidays. Ages 5–11.
✽Scarecrows, Superworms and the Gruffalo Sun 3 Aug, 11am–
noon. £6–£8. Tron Theatre, 63 Trongate, 552 4267. Julia Donaldson launches her latest picture-book The Scarecrows’ Wedding. Part of Culture 2014. FREE Summer Reading Challenge Thu 7 Aug, 11.30am– 12.30pm. Maryhill Library & Learning Centre, 1508 Maryhill Road, 276 0715. See above. Music Tonic Tinies Wed 9 Jul, 16 Jul, 23 Jul, 30 Jul, 6 Aug & 13 Aug, 10.30–11.30am. £3. Merry-Go-Round, 32–34 Nithsdale Road, Strathbungo, 07983 588675. Imaginative play through music and movement.
FREE Glow Arts Traditional Song Workshops Sat 12 Jul, 11am–1.15pm. People’s Palace & Winter Gardens, Glasgow Green, 276 0788. Family- friendly song workshops exploring traditional Scots music. Kelvin Music Summer School for Kids Mon 21 & Tue 22 Jul, Thu 24 & Fri 25 Jul, Mon 28 & Tue 29 Jul & Thu 31 Jul & Fri 1 Aug, 12.30–5pm. £45 for two days. Kelvin Music School, 10 Belmont Lane, 630 5000. Two-day music courses in vocals, guitar, ukulele and percussion. Ages 5–8: Jul 21–22; ages 9–11: Jul 24– 25; ages 12–14: Jul 28–29; ages 15–17: Jul 31–Aug 1. Yellow Valley Wed 23 Jul–Sat 2 Aug, 1.30pm & 2.45pm. £6 adult & child (extra adult £6; extra child £4). Tramway, 25 Albert Drive, 0845 330 3501. Musical storytelling performance inspired by Kenyan children’s book Who’s Calling? by Charity Waciuma.
Theatre & Dance Peppa Pig’s Big Splash Sat 12 & Sun 13 Jul, 10am, 1pm & 4pm. £12.50– £21. King’s Theatre, 297 Bath Street, 0844 871 7648. All-singing, all-dancing puppet show.
✽The Spokesman Tue 15 Jul–Fri 18 Jul, 12.30pm & 6pm. Sat 19 Jul,
11.30am & 3pm. £8. Pollok Country Park, Pollokshaws Road, 276 0924. A theatre experience on two wheels with Visible Fictions. Ages 8+. Bikes and helmets provided.
✽FREE The Pokey Hat Wed 16 Jul, 1pm & 3pm. Free, unticketed. Eastwood Park Theatre, Rouken Glen Road, 577 4956. See review, below. Grimm Tales Tue 22 Jul, 2–3pm. £1–£3. Drumchapel Community Centre, Kinfauns Drive, 944 1009. Playful fairy
P H O T O © T O M M Y G A K E N W E N
SITE-SPECIFIC SHOW THE POKEY HAT On tour, various venues across Scotland, until Sun 3 Aug ●●●●●
Ice cream. If there is a more suitable subject for a theatrical performance on a sunny Saturday afternoon, in a park in the east end of Glasgow, in front of a three-generation audience, I can’t think what it is. Grinagog’s delightful show shoehorns in the history of the Italian
diaspora, the back-court culture of the city’s tenements, the singular pleasures of a beach holiday on Scotland’s west coast, the names of every penny dreadful sweetie ever invented, and lots of excruciating puns. It makes full use of a converted and customised ice-cream van, which becomes the window of a flat, the serving counter of a café and the orchestra pit for a musical interlude performed on Irn-Bru bottles.
There is a structure: three characters who run an old-school ice
cream van receive an important letter informing them that an inspector will be pitching up to test their ice cream experience, a challenge they must make as sweet and cool and delicious as their fine product. The social history and kola cube reminiscence is tied in with this pressing need to come up with a winning way of presenting a cone.
The twist at the end is just delightful. It turns out that one of the children in the audience is the inspector. The cast approach him with a pokey hat (for those not in the know, a Glasgow term for an ice cream cone) and present it to him. He, of course, gives it the thumbs up. They have won. Happy days. (Anna Burnside) ■ Reviewed at Alexandra Park, Glasgow.