Young

Your 3 day nature fix: Den-building, story-making, story-telling, singing, dancing, shouting, laughing, yoga, crafting and build-a-rafting! Freedom to roam, participate in dedicated workshops and activities, and join the nighttime parade in our spectacular site.

Tales from the yoga mat is a fun fitness and storytelling experience for children from 0-7 years. Led by their yoga teacher and chief storyteller, the children become voyagers of literature and are transported through time and space to great adventures using their bodies to act out each tale. 

"Let’s go fly a kite, up at the ALSO site!" Yes, for 2019 we’re running a kite making workshop where you’ll get to build your own traditional diamond kite. 

As the lights begin to shine and twinkle, bring a blanket and join Kate for stories of the moon, stars and a little Prince and his rose.

To celebrate our theme of 'Out of the Woods' we are pleased to present for our youngest ALSO-ers a chance to draw and explore the forest creatures inspired by folklore from all over the world together with an award-winning animation director and illustrator, Evgenia Golubeva.

Discover your glitter look! Learn how to apply glitter for a festival makeup look. Try out a few different styles, great to do with a friend but also suitable for individuals. We use Earth kind Plastic Free biodegradable glitter and natural gels to fix the glitter, so suitable for sensitive skin.

ALSO Festival's Origami Master-in-Residence Mark Bolitho will be holding a Friday night origami workshop experience for those who'd like to create their own origami paper lantern.  Mark is a world renowned origami artist and author and he's designed an introductory lantern workshop for anyone who wants their Friday night to unfold with some top notch origami. Thanks Mark!

Baby’s first festival? Mine too! Join first-time parent, Pauline and her little one Ronnie for a playful start to the day. Featuring plenty of squishy crinkly toys and rattles-a-go-go, we’ll be building to a crescendo of old fashioned sing-along classics incl ‘wheels on the bus’ and ‘row row your boat.’ Babies not included. (0 - 18 months)

Put Archimedes' Displacement Theory to the test whilst learning how to escape being shipwrecked! Our instructors will give you some tips but it will be up to you to turn a pile of poles, rope and barrels into a raft - to keep you and your crew afloat. Minimum age 8.

‘Have a go’ is at the very heart of ALSO - so why not get head off down to the kids tent to get your hands dirty by creating your very own mini masterpiece from paper and glue? We are so pleased to have local Artist Susan Watt in the field to help you craft your collage picking up skills and arty ideas as you go! 

If you go down to the woods today...make sure you play with clay! A fun family workshop for children and adults to create your own ‘out of the woods’ animal. With the option of ceramicist Ros to fire your creations and send them on. 

Ever wanted to send your children away to join the circus? Here’s your first step. They will learn the art of comic timing, improvisation and comedy stagecraft from two former students of renowned master clown Philippe Gaulier.

If you go down to the woods today look out for secret fairy and elf dwellings. Can you create your own fairy houses to take home? Festival creative director, Judy Reaves, will provide you with everything you need to build your very own fairy kingdom.

This interactive workshop by the Speakers' Trust is for 12 - 18 year olds. Learn to speak with confidence and charisma. Sarah Steed will show you exactly how to capture and keep an audience's attention through speech making, fun and throwing yourself in at the deep end…  Using skills from performing arts, oration and psychology The brave and willing will have the chance to address their own audience on stage … ‘TED talks in a field’ for the up and coming or the just plain curious! 

Firework: Also Festival's Extravaganza. A key festival moment to bring everyone together before the procession to and lighting of the bonfire and the lighting of the Firework. Want to be involved? Join one of the dance sessions by our in festival choreographer Fiona Ring. 

Kids! Get lost in music and learn authentic samba rhythms, fusing African beats and South American grooves, with Brazilian maestro Marcos Santana and his amazing Tribo drummers. A regular fixture at Europe's biggest Caribbean street party, the Notting Hill carnival, Tribo bring tradition, energy and knowledge together in an uplifting drumming workshop. No experience necessary.

At ALSO we like to open up big ideas to developing minds - you may remember we were the first ever festival to do quantum theory for toddlers. So this year, for 2019, we are pleased to present AI for Kids. Don't miss this opportunity to ask the experts the biggest questions you can think of gaining an understanding of what the future may hold and your potential role in sculpting the future. Hosted by Juliet Russell with Michael Wooldridge and Robert E Smith

Get festival-ready and adorn yourselves with fabulous floral-with-a-hint-of-Frida crowns! We love our ALSO audience to express themselves...say it with flowers.

Always wanted to try out a classical gladiatorial approach to combat sports whilst ALSO wanting the fitness of a martial art. You – my friend, are in luck – for 2019 ALSO Festivals are working with LED Lightsabre combat company Silver Sabres to set up our own Combat Academy. In our atmospheric Bunker - there will be three short yet brilliant taster sessions for this unique experience, teaching discipline and mindfulness through physical exercise and games and of course LED Lightsabres. Inspired by popular science fiction, participants are welcome to compete in full costume!

Be procession ready by booking on our lantern making session in the kids' tent. You'll get to make your very own willow lantern ahead of the procession Saturday evening at dusk. All materials provided. No age limit but young children may need support from a grown-up.

Let's meet at the Greenwood tree deep in the Forest of ALSO for you never know who else you might find there .. This As You Like It acting session (directed by actor and Director Fiona Ross) enables actors to step into Shakespeare’s  forest of  Arden and explore the characters that find themselves there - whether a banished heroine, a lovesick shepherd or a Duke exiled from a brutal court - master a famous speech, utter  some extraordinary new words and create a  world full of  characters  all on  a  journey  to  find themselves  and  happiness. 1.5 hours -  age eight years to  12 years - bring an adult . ( no adults  without a  child ) 

Firework: Also Festival's Extravaganza. A key festival moment to bring everyone together before the procession to and lighting of the bonfire and the lighting of the Firework. Want to be involved? Join this advanced dance session by our in festival choreographer Fiona Ring. 

Gather under the Storytree for stories with Kate. New and old tales of trickster creatures and brave children, fabulous hats and a whale in a suitcase. The session begins with stories, followed by a craft activity where children use a treasure trove of materials to make whatever they wish.

We’re setting up a boutique pop up roller disco on the Saturday evening – think Studio 54 on wheels. You'll need to bring your own skates and your optional glittery leg warmers and let’s go! 

Using found treasures out of the woods, join the drop-in workshop on Saturday to make our procession figurehead to light up the beginning of Saturday evening’s procession.

Denis Coleman is a a dynamic young singer-songwriter from the USA, based in London. His music blends catchy pop with US R&B and hip hop influences. He released his debut single You last September and is fast becoming an independent pop sensation, catching the attention of the industry by winning the Future Music Songwriting competition. Fresh from The Power of Music schools tour, Denis has been spreading positive messages of anti-bullying through performances and interactive chats with students. Watch him blow up the main stage!

Join Ex-Marine Commando and ALSO’s Production Manager, David Hamblett in creating woodland hideaways in Dave’s Den Building session. 

Join Playbox Theatre’s Circus Director for an action-packed hour of circus skills including plate spinning, juggling, balancing, acrobatics and much more. There will be the opportunity to explore exciting, new skills and learn how to perform them with panache! Playbox Theatre has a flourishing circus arts department, based at The Dream Factory in Warwick, and is delighted to be joining the exuberance of the Also Festival this summer! 

Join Playbox Theatre’s Circus Director for an action-packed hour of circus skills including plate spinning, juggling, balancing, acrobatics and much more. There will be the opportunity to explore exciting, new skills and learn how to perform them with panache! Playbox Theatre has a flourishing circus arts department, based at The Dream Factory in Warwick, and is delighted to be joining the exuberance of the Also Festival this summer!

Decorate rocks and stones scavenged from our gorgeous site to remind you of this special weekend. While you daub, Andrea will help you discover the heritage of our special wood and the nearby unique Roman road, The Fosse Way. Who else in history may have trodden these tracks?

An introduction to mixing natural clays and wild-harvested herbal hydrosol waters to make your own bespoke face mask. Clays work to help draw out toxins from the skin and to help boost circulation helping encourage a glowing complexion. In this workshop, you will discover which natural clays will suit your skin type and under Suzie's expert guidance you will create your own unique mask blend to take home. Then learn how to mix, apply and remove a mask for beautifully rejuvenated naturally healthy skin.

Kids’ Scavenger Hunt. Team up or come on your own, ready with eagle-eyes and senses alert to take part in our unique Scavenger Hunt in the ALSO Woodland, featuring treasure from the Also landscape and nature-inspired poetry.

Climate Change and the coming generations. Understanding the power in your hands and how to use it, featuring UCL climatologist, Prof Mark Maslin, his climate striking daughter, Carl Miller (DEMOS, Death of the Gods) and chaired by journalist Michael Day. 

Join award-winning animation director and illustrator, Evgenia Golubeva to take a walk and a sketch around the festival's grounds. Suitable for all ages, you bring your creativity - we'll provide the stunning backdrop,  sketchbooks, and art materials.

Join author and illustrator Tom Percival (Perfectly Norman, Ruby’s Worry, The Sea Saw) for a whistle-stop tour of YOUR imagination. After offering a few pointers on WHAT to draw and HOW to draw it, everyone is going to come up a with a story—a story that will leap (figuratively) out of the wonderful (and quite heavy) suitcase of props that Tom lugs around the country to schools and literary festivals. Tom will finally turn your story into a song because… well, why not?

Gather around the forest campfire weaving stories and nature onto your own-made frame.

Learn the tricks of the songwriting trade with creative tour de force Sophie Garner.  She uses songwriting as a powerful tool for building confidence and creative expression with children from 7 to 70+! This session is for 11-18 year olds. 

Bring your favourite cuddly and a blanket to feel snuggly. Lie back and let the sounds of the gongs bathe you in a sea of relaxation and dreams. 

Nature and poetry go together like fish and chips, Torvill and Dean, ALSO Festival and fun. So as part of our 'Out of the Woods' theme for ALSO '19 we are so delighted to have poet and BAFTA award-winning writer Myles McLeod in-festival to lead our Haiku Hike. Explore our 50 acres of Capability Brown parkland on foot and write nature-inspired poetry.