This summer the Garden Museum will be transformed into a wonderland of circus, storytelling and magic for the Festival of Fairytales, perfect for children aged 4 – 10 with big imaginations and a love of magic, mystery, bugs and nature.
Set against the magical backdrop of the Garden Museum’s home of a medieval church and lush green gardens, join us to travel through a world of bees, bugs and creepy crawlies.
Children will be free to explore the Festival of Fairytales and enjoy pop-up performers, cooking and craft workshops, storytelling, live music and circus performances, or get their hands dirty with a gardening activity lead by the museum’s gardening team.
There is an optional dress code: come dressed as your favourite insect friends!
Festival Highlights
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The Ugly Bug Ball with Originary Arts
The Ugly Bug Ball with Originary Arts
What will your Ugly Bug Ball alter-ego be? Make masks and develop moves inspired by insects, arachnids and creepy crawlies featured in global fairytales, folklore and fables. Play with paper and colour to make unique masks with Originary Arts. Then get ready to proudly parade what you’ve made around the festival!
Explore the strange beauty of mini-beasts and their mythology. Take inspiration from creatures who feature in stories from around the world, from Anansi the Ashanti arachnid trickster to grumpy snails from Danish fairytales. All ages can get ready to wriggle, wiggle and waggle dance at The Ugly Bug Ball, with insect-inspired moves and grooves.
Originary Arts is a Brighton-based collective of creatives, led by Nikki Shaill. Specialising in leading learning, participation and playful projects across the UK and beyond. Originary Arts invite curious adults and children to explore their imagination together in wild and wondrous ways. From poetry and printmaking, to puppetry and paper theatre performances, they dream up and make happen experiences for all ages. They’re excited to be back at the Festival of Fairytales again for more joyful making and shaking! -
The Beetectives: The Case of the Vanishing Bees
The Beetectives: The Case of the Vanishing Bees
Storytelling with Lauren Grierson
Get ready for an un-BEE-liveable adventure! When Pollie and Buzzby, two bee-crazy friends, notice that all the bees are disappearing from their garden, they set out on an investigation to find out why. Armed with magnifying glasses and boundless curiosity, they become Bee-tectives! But when the fate of their favourite pollinators hangs in the balance, will they crack the case before it’s too late? And can you help them? Join them on their buzz-worthy mission and help solve the mystery of the missing bees! -
Professor Slug’s House of Bugs
Professor Slug’s House of Bugs
Professor Slug’s House of Bugs is a show all about bugs. Professor Slug is an eccentric expert on invertebrates who helps bugs out with their buggy problems – and you can too!
Get as strong as an ant! Teach a bee how to buzz! And help a dung beetle make a pooey perfume for its big date…
The House of Bugs is fully booked with all sorts of bugs seeking help from Professor Slug and his fellow bug experts (that’s you, the audience!) But can all these buggy problems be solved before the Queen Bee arrives, or will a swarm of honey-hungry wasps wreak havoc?
From the co-creator of the award winning One Duck Down, this interactive show is packed full of colourful puppets, catchy songs, and educational info about the wonderful world of bugs.
“Silly and little bit raucous, this was a total crowd pleaser” ★★★★ Children’s Theatre Reviews
The puppets are designed by Georgia Hill (CBeebies) with music written by Catriona Gisby (Elle & the Pocket Belles).
The show is also partnered with wildlife conservation charity Buglife. -
Buzzing Bangers: creepy crawly singalong with The Smokin’ Mirrors
Buzzing Bangers: creepy crawly singalong with The Smokin’ Mirrors
Bridget Walsh and Meg Cavanaugh are The Smokin’ Mirrors, two best singing buds who conjure up fun and interactive musical performances of all shapes and sizes. Whether it’s jazz for grown-ups, singalongs for kiddos, pop songs by request or anything in-between, The Smokin’ Mirrors bring their fresh and friendly energy to every stage, with a guitar, a keyboard and a little something for everyone.
Beyond the combo, both Bridget and Meg write and perform their own music with other clever bands and artists, performing at venues and festivals all over the world. This summer at the Garden Museum, they will be conjuring you a set of some of their favourite buzzing bangers inspired by creepy crawlies, fairy stories and the real life magic of music!
You can find out more about their art and adventures on instagram by searching @thesmokinmirrors, @megxcavanaugh and @lovefrombridget. -
The Wiggly Wild Show
The Wiggly Wild Show
Get up close to some giant minibeasts with the Wiggly Wild Show. Participants will have the chance to stroke a giant millipede and a real dragon – see if you can get the Madagascan cockroaches to hiss and spot the stick insects!
Learn more at: https://www.wigglywildshow.co.uk/ -
Storytelling with Matthew Biggs
Storytelling with Matthew Biggs
Join author and broadcaster Matthew Biggs for an interactive presentation of his stylish and informative new book 'A Home for Every Plant'. Journey across 40 incredible habitats around the world and discover the biggest, boldest, and stinkiest plants! Without plants there would be no life on Earth, but most people are blind to their impact. Matthew’s stylish and informative introduction to plants sets out to cure ‘plant blindness’ by introducing children to 66 amazing plants from the six major climactic zones around the world.
Author Matthew Biggs, a graduate of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is a well-known British gardener, broadcaster and author of fifteen gardening and plant related books. He is a panel member on BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time.
Time and location: 12.15 – 12.45 in the Nave
