The Children’s Festival, situated in the beautiful Peacock Lawns, is the perfect place for families of all ages to come and relax and find a space just for them. Throughout the week the Children’s Festival, with new Producers Little Seeds Music, will be playing host to storytelling, dance, music, crafting and some very special surprises.
Download the Full Children’s Programme here.
Peacock Lawn is the place to be for children and families!
A Full Week of Activities
For over 8s there’s a brilliant selection of workshops and performances including Sidmouth’s Songswell Choir, Bollywood dance workshops, beginner’s ukulele, songwriting workshops, and the ceilidh band workshop The Sidmouth Seaside Stompers. All this plus a huge range of crafting activities including the return of the ever popular Story In A Box!
Ages 5-7 can sign up for The Minims Beginners Band, a great way to take your first steps in playing together with other people. The Sidmouth Mini Singers are also back this year, offering little small voices the chance to sing and perform together. Those with a spring in their step won’t want to miss Mini Morris workshops, and will also enjoy traditional songs and singing games from Paul Scourfield.
For ages 0-4 we’ve introduced a brand new space specially designed with small people in mind – The Rainbow Tent. Kitted out with picture books and toys, The Rainbow Tent will host a sensory story playtime session every morning and will also act as a place to feed, change and generally have a bit of quiet time later in the day for parents and their little ones.
We know that families come in all shapes and sizes – and ages! With this in mind, we’ve made sure that there’s lots going on for the whole family to enjoy together. Storyteller extraordinaire Ian Douglas will be delivering morning and teatime storytelling sessions which are guaranteed to have parents and children alike spellbound. We’re delighted to have Thingamajig Theatre back to Sidmouth who’ll be delivering lantern making workshops throughout the week ready for the spectacular torchlit procession. They’ll also be popping up around the festival site with their incredible Flying Dodos, and their A La Puppet Carte theatre shows! We’re also very excited to be introducing the ‘Sidmouth Festival Postal Service‘ – a really fun way for children to post and receive letters to each other throughout the festival.
Finally, after taking a break last year, we’re delighted that the Young Performer’s Stage will be returning to Sidmouth Folk Festival, at its new home in Peacock Lawn. It’s a great showcase of some of the best young talent that the UK folk scene has to offer. Bring your lunch and a picnic blanket and enjoy some brilliant music.
Applications for the Young Performers Stage are now open – find out more & apply here.
For those children looking to tread the boards, 2023 will see the return of the now legendary SeaSide Stompers with Bev & Ray Langton, which takes the form of a series of workshops for children 8 years and over who play any musical instrument, and builds up to a special evening performance of the Seaside Stompers Ceilidh Band as part of the festival ceilidh programme. Children aged 5-8 will also have the opportunity to perform as part of ‘The Minims’, led by Jon Brenner, a daily workshop tailored for beginners, which also leads up to a performance slot as part of the main festival.
Young singers are in safe hands with Bryony Griffith running SongSwell sessions and Jackie Oates leading the Sidmouth Mini Singers.
When The Lights Go Down – Our evening performances are guaranteed to dazzle and amaze.
There’s nothing that quite beats sitting down as a whole family and getting to enjoy an evening of brilliant theatre, music, and dance. Saturday evening kicks off with David Gibb’s Family Jukebox, a live gig experience for families, where wolves roam the school corridors, dragons live under the bed and teddy bears dance the night away at the disco. On Sunday, world famous magical explorer, Professor Jigget, brings his collection of Storytelling Suitcases to Sidmouth. Inside each one is a world of magic and mayhem! The rest of the week includes two brilliant storytelling shows from Ian Douglas and Gacko, guaranteed to bring music and merriment to all. Under The Bed Theatre will be joining us to perform their brilliant musical family show Where The Lost Socks Go, with lots of songs, joining in and, of course, socks! The week rounds off with the world-famous Stomping Ceilidh, featuring the Sidmouth Seaside Stompers Ceilidh Band led by Team STOMPIT!
