The Imagine Children's Festival is in full swing at London's Southbank Centre. We made a beeline down there as soon as we could. This is a festival for children that's run in part by children. I call it a celebration of fun, books, art and performance. The Book People are involved too so you can bet ya we weren't going to miss it!
With free events galore, a chill out zone for workshops and a dedicated arts space taken over by children, there are discoveries to be made in every nook and cranny, inside and out, of this concrete palace.
We ran into the Beastie while outside looking at boats, and inside we had a hard time choosing between live music, book readings, drawing, cardboard sculptures and theatre. The Southbank is filled to the brim with hoards of delighted children and it cheered me to no end to be a small part of all the excitement generated by books, books, books. E had a blast - admittedly at times just running the length of the fifth floor - and selfishly I wished I could have set up residence for the week.
E was lured down on day 2 to meet 'George' from one of our very favorite books by Chris Haughton. We listened to Haughton read Oh No, George! and A Bit Lost before George came to life in front of us on Haughton's easel.
We also crept in to Salvatore Rubbino's workshop where he had the group busy creating a 3D Thames scape with bridges and boats form his beautiful book, A Walk in London. E was fascinated by the set up and spent quite a lot of time playing with the creations after everyone had left.
We carried his enthusiasm home with us and later made an amateur version of Salvatore Rubbino's Thames scape using E's toys:
What struck me most about our time at the Imagine Children's Festival was the excitement generated by activities involving books and art. What a treat for the kids and adults to discover together how much fun all these cultural activities can be. For more about the Imagine Children's Festival visit: http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/festivals-series/imagine-childrens-festival.
We're back next week with a review of E's current favorite book by Nick Sharratt.
How perfectly delightful and encouraging to see children engaged in that special world where the imagination expressed in a book or other piece of art becomes the happy catalyst for the child's creativity. Wonderful.
ReplyDeleteYou've put your finger on it exactly!
Deleteahh... I'm just the tiniest bit envious (slight understatement!) - not living in London we couldn't take part in Imagine, but the programme looked amazing, and it's great to hear about it from you.
ReplyDeleteIt may just be pay back for that amazing Tiger Who Came to Tea exhibition in Wolverhampton that you wrote about! Seriously though, I thought the programme was great too - especially the options for free events. Too bad it can't be a touring festival but the SB is especially well set up for this sort of event.
DeleteIt really does look fantastic-wish we were closer to London too!
ReplyDeleteYes, it was the highlight of my week and hopefully E's too. I do feel fortunate to have access to these London happenings. I suppose E just thinks it's business as usual?
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