Shadow puppets

The shadow puppet workshop at the South Bank Centre were based around the stories of Kancjil the Mousedeer; Kancjil may not be the biggest or strongest of the Indonesian jungle dwellers but his brains and cunning get him out of many problems.

The workshop contained kit and instructions for making various characters from the plays and a couple of light boxes to then try them out in, I suspect that the intention was to then put on the plays at the end, if this happened then it was after I left and it didn't look like it was going to! Also provided were a number of story sheets with various stories of Kancjil's adventures.

The puppets were too complex for either Buggy to manage, but the opportunity to cut up pieces of paper is never missed. However, Buggy-D (4 yrs) was engaged enough with the idea to help with sticking and some cutting and things while I told Kancjil and the Crocodile to him. Afterwards he did get a lot out of trying the puppet in the light box; since he could not see this I videoed it on my phone which he enjoyed watching.

Conveniently placed next to the workshop were some lifts in a glass lift shaft, this managed to stave off sufficient boring bits for Buggy-B who, at nearly three, was still to young to really enjoy the workshop.

What: Shadow puppets workshop
Where: South Bank Centre
Getting there: Cross the Thames from Embankment or walk from Waterloo; map
Cost: Free
Again: I'll possibly try making a light box and puppets at home
Try: Plenty of arts and craft activities exist, try the art trolley at Tate Modern

Coram's Fields

Coram's Fields is a large children's playground area in central London. The field contains various playground equipment which is good but not spectacular compared to many other playgrounds, it also houses a number of animals including sheep, goats (which were free to roam when Bug and Buggies visited) and birds. A cafe provides coffee and food (Bug didn't visit so no comment) and finaly there is plenty of space.

Generaly the bigger Buggies found the playground fun, imediatly zooming in on the bigger childrens play ground; there were not many people arround so only the hurdle of climbing up something they couldn't reach got in the way of a great deal of fun. We also looked at the birds
which are housed in a very dated aviary and sheep in an enclosure on one side of the fields. The littlest Buggie slept.

Over all the history of the fields seemed far more exciting to the Bug than the fields themselves but that shouldn't take away what is, after all a large free play area walking distance from King Cross, The British Museum, and various shopping areas; nothing short of an oasis.

What: Coram's Fields
Where: Between Russel sq and Kings Cross; map
Cost: Free
Again: When I'm in the area.

Latitude (out of town)

Latitude is one of Glastonbury's many little brothers or sisters but aiming to provide much more than just pop music and overcrowded camping; offering literature, dance, music, film, poetry, the all important Children's area and, of course, pop music and overcrowded camping. Many people have reviewed the actual event in terms of what it has offered and generally the reviews are very positive; I'll concentrate on what it offered families.

In summary Latitude lived up to its name as a child friendly event with a very relaxed feel and open to all ages; L, aged just 2 months was not the youngest!

Getting there

The festival is in Henham Park, Sussex; it was a sufficiently long drive that, with kids, it was worth stopping on the way. But the drive was simple and reasonably quick beyond that.

Our first mistake was to park in the wrong place and ended up having to carry a lot of stuff a very long way with two children and a baby in tow (not a great start); however wheelbarrow hire and very friendly and generally helpful staff made this much better than it could have been.

Camping

The family area is an area of the camp site only accessible if you have the correct family pass; although this was inconsistently policed (sometimes our friends could come in if they were with us; others they could not) the area was certainly populated with plenty of children of all ages. The camping area also provided some simple children's activities (circus stuff and art material), separate loos (see below) and its own food tent.

The family camping area seemed more crowded than other parts of the campite and overflowed into the caravan park, this could well be as a result of the success in the last few years; but hopefully the organisers will take note and increase its size next year.

One major downside to the festivals are toilets; the family loos were generally cleaner (porta-loos rather than latrenes) but frequently blocked or ran out of water. I would not be too critical however; the organisers did provide extra loos when it became apparent that they were needed.

Family arena

In the arena (separated from the campsite) was another family area, again only allowing families access. This provided the bulk of the family orientated activities which were as good as they were varied. D & B particularly liked the pond dipping and woodland activities; also covered were parachute games, plays, stories, arts and general play stuff with an under fives "parent and child chill out area" providing free refreshments, suncream and nappies.

Sadly we did not make it to a daily performance of Hansel and Gretal; a shame as it is one of both D & B's favourite stories. I think D was worried that the witch would turn out to be real...

General arena

In the main part of the festival the areas were very welcoming of young children, the programme marked where an event was not appropriate. This meant that all of us could see performers that I would not have expected to be able to take them to at any other place, including a Michael Nyman piano concert which D & B both slept through.

There was a daily children's book session in the literary area; sadly we managed to forget this on all three days.

Conclusion

This was a great weekend; through all the problems, tiredness and very frayed tempers by the time we left on Sunday evening all four of those that could express an opinion wanted to come back next year. My only main concern is that our camping holiday in the Isle of Wight might now prove to be a disapointment to D who will be expecting music, drama, pond dipping, etc.

What: Lattitude
Where: Henham Park; sussex
Cost: Adults £130; children free
Going again: Already have tickets
Try: Innocent viliage fate
Top tip: Don't take too much, you probably won't need it. Find out how to get to the closest car park to the family area BEFORE leaving

Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Since moving to London the Natural History Museum has been a regular fixture in days out. It is the ultimate temple of D's (3) major obsession (Dinosaurs) and the venue of one of my favourite proud parent stories:

D, standing in the prehistoric swimming reptiles section spots a curator holding a dolphin skull. She crouches down and shows the skull to him, "do you know what this is?" she enquires; "um... I think its an Opthalmosaurus skull" he retorts.

This trip was to see the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. This was aimed directly at adults, the only real attempt to engage children was a scratch-off-the-answers question sheet asking questions about both nature and photography; also all photos were presented at an adult's height requiring any child to be lifted to get a good view. Fortunately I was in a group of four adults to two children so this was not a real problem.

However, with effort to engage D (the love of my life looked after B) he got a lot out of it; even if he did think that a magnificent shot of a crocodile hiding in the water was a dinosucus.

What: Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Where: Natural History Museum; map
Cost: Adult £7, Concessions £3.50, under 3 free, family ticket £18
When: Until 27th April
Going next year: probably
Similar:

• Animals
• London Zoo
• London Aquarium
• Horniman Museum
• Photography
• to be added...