York Festival of Ideas is back for 2024 and promises to spark children’s imaginations with lots of FREE and fun hands-on activities (including the Little Vikings I Spy Trail as a recommended free family activity!). The Festival continues to inspire and nurture young people’s creativity and curiosity with events ranging from nature activities to an interactive family fun afternoon. Many of the activities are free, and some are popular and need pre-booking so don’t delay if you’d like to take part in one (or more). Download the full programme here. Family-friendly highlights include:
– Discovery Zone at New Earswick Folk Hall (free!) – Activities include: exploring the cosmos in the Cosmodome, taking a spacewalk and flying past other worlds in VR, driving your own space rover, getting hands-on with a meteorite from space and discovering the night sky! Thursday 30 May 2024, 1pm to 4pm – Visit the website.
– Discovery Zone at Acomb Explore (free!) – Have a go at a range of hands-on, interactive activities. Meet robots, have fun with numbers and get crafty decorating a brain hat, extract DNA from fruit or find out some fun facts about British animals. Come along and meet York researchers and find out how their cutting-edge work is improving the world we live in. Thursday 30 May 2024, 11am to 2pm – Visit the website
– Festival Fringe Family Fun Afternoon (free!) – An afternoon of energetic, crafty, puzzling, scientific and historical fun with University of York postgraduate students and staff at this year’s Festival Fringe Family Fun Afternoon. Saturday 8 June 2024, 1pm to 4pm, University of York – Visit the website
– Curious Minds Discovery Zone – Come along to York St John University for some family-friendly fun as they introduce children to the wonders of psychology-related research in a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere. Solve puzzles, play a friendly computer game and discover interesting facts about the human mind and brain. Saturday 8 June 2024, 11am to 4pm, York St John – Visit the website
– Letterpress printing workshops (free!) – Enjoy printing a one-of-a-kind poster at a hands-on workshop at Thin Ice Press: the York Centre for Print. Learn about York’s fascinating history of print, experiment with colours and hand-inking, and operate the beautiful proofing presses. Leave us with a passion for print and your own poster inspired by letterpress printing and its histories in York. 9th June, various times, York Centre for Print – Visit the website
– War Horse: The Concert (free!) – Enjoy a powerful performance of War Horse, one of the most beloved books by renowned children’s author Michael Morpurgo. First published in 1982, the bestselling novel was adapted for the stage in an award-winning production by the National Theatre and for the screen in a Steven Spielberg film. 10th June 2024, University of York – Pre-booking required – Visit the website
