Early Ears
Listen to Fill Your Boots, our wonderful Early Ears Commission by musician Hannah Fredsgaard.
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Early Eyes
Our Early Eyes 2022 commission was Oxford in a Spin, a magical automaton by Chris Michael with mooing cows, roaring dinosaurs and a twizzling shark on a roof!
Thursday 28th September
11am - Bloom by Tiny Ideas Festival with Tiny Light Theatre and Wild Boor Ideas
Directed by Katy Costigan
For 0-3 year olds and their grown-ups
Come and play in the garden! We’ll wander down the path and meet the Gardeners who look after it all year round. Together we’ll grow some flowers, meet some insects and learn about the other creatures that call the garden home. An ideal introduction to theatre for babies and very young children, Bloom is a multi-sensory gentle adventure into nature with puppetry and music, and is followed by a stay and play.
Created as part of Tiny Ideas 2023
Tickets: £9 per parent & child
At The Story Museum
2.30pm - Seed by Ensonglopedia
For 0-3 year olds and their grown-ups
Come and join Ensonglopedia in a celebration of nature and creativity! Tiny Ideas is proud to present a brand new scratch performance commissioned especially for our 2023 festival. Be the first to experience this short interactive & multi-sensory puppetry performance including a follow up stay and play session, perfect for under 3s.
Commissioned as part of Tiny Ideas 2023
Tickets: £9 per parent & child
At the Museum of Oxford:
10.30am and 1.30pm - Mini MOX
Story-songtime & sensory play for under 5s and their carers!
Join us to hear the story of one of Oxford’s famous historical characters and then enjoy 45 minutes of sensory play!
For 0-4 year olds and their grown-ups
Tickets: 1 child-£4 / 2 children-£6 / 3 children-£10
At Modern Art Oxford:
10am - 5pm - Make Your Mark
Running from Tuesday 26th September is our interactive art exhibition for 0-7 year olds, featuring work by Abigail Horn, Mills Brown and Leah Miller-Biot. Exhibition pieces ‘I Did It’, ‘Melinda Becomes a Tree’ and ‘Squishies’ are playful, immersive artworks designed to inspire and involve children, and reflect their creativity. Bring the whole family!
Free, no booking required
Friday 29th September
At The Story Museum
11am, 12.30pm, 2.30pm (SEN focus) & 4pm - Looking After Nature by Star Bright Arts
Come and learn how to nurture nature! A sensory story time for little ones aged 2-5 that looks at the power of friendship, growth, and change! Using sensory props, high quality children’s picture books and music, the audience will go on a journey of discovery into the world of nature. Children and their grown-ups will also get the chance to supercharge a seed ball to take home and grow too!
Tickets: £9 per parent & child
At Modern Art Oxford:
10am - 5pm - Make Your Mark
Running from Tuesday 26th September is our interactive art exhibition for 0-7 year olds, featuring work by Abigail Horn, Mills Brown and Leah Miller-Biot. Exhibition pieces ‘I Did It’, ‘Melinda Becomes a Tree’ and ‘Squishies’ are playful, immersive artworks designed to inspire and involve children, and reflect their creativity. Bring the whole family!
Free, no booking required
At The North Wall:
10.30am and 1.30pm - Kindred by Luminelle
Supported by Dancin' Oxford and The North Wall
A moving, interactive family dance experience about connection and relationships for 0-5 year olds.
Tickets: £6
With a free Stay & Play between 12 & 2.30pm - a space to get crafty, play and dress up!
At Pegasus:
11am, 12.30pm & 2pm - The Rainbow Builder
Moulded Theatre and Discover Children’s Story Centre present The Rainbow Builder, a sensory experience for 0-2s and their grown-ups.
How will The Rainbow Builder find the colours when everything is so dirty? Can The Rainbow Builder clean up in time and restore the environment around them to full colour?
Told through storytelling and sensory interactions, The Rainbow Builder is an accessible production for curious minds and budding explorers. Together, looking around, can you find a rainbow too?
Tickets: £11/£8
At The Museum of Natural History:
10.15am, 11am, 12.30pm & 1.15pm - Little Look at Tours
10.15am & 11am
A Little Look at… Pattern
From dots and spots to stripes and swirls, look at patterns in nature on this guided walk around the Museum. Includes storytelling and specimen handling. For 2 to 5 years.
Tickets: Free, booking recommended
At The Museum of Natural History:
12.30pm & 1.15pm
A Little Look at… Colours
Can you sing a rainbow? Hunt for colours in nature with us on this guided walk around the Museum. Includes storytelling and specimen handling. For 2-5 years.
Tickets, Free, booking recommended
Saturday 30th September
At The Story Museum:
10.30am, 12.30pm & 2.30pm - Babble by Flibbertigibbet
Mik and Kin are sound collectors, Boxes of their favourite sounds have been checked, all ready to take home. But the boxes are not behaving – naughty giggles slip through the cracks and are causing chaos. Storms are raging and the sounds are unleashed. Mik and Kin need your help to soothe the troubled storm with a lullaby and lure the giggle with new, enticing sounds. Your voices will help create a new & unique piece of music that you get to take home!
Babble is a theatrical experience for Early Years audiences, aged 3-5 years. Part performance, part workshop, part recording session, Babble puts the voice of the child centre stage.
Tickets: £10
At Modern Art Oxford:
10am - 5pm - Make Your Mark
Running from Tuesday 26th September is our interactive art exhibition for 0-7 year olds, featuring work by Abigail Horn, Mills Brown and Leah Miller-Biot. Exhibition pieces ‘I Did It’, ‘Melinda Becomes a Tree’ and ‘Squishies’ are playful, immersive artworks designed to inspire and involve children, and reflect their creativity. Bring the whole family!
Free, no booking required
At The North Wall:
11am and 2pm - Winnie the Witch, Spooky Story and Monster Puppet Making! With Wild Boor Ideas
(Inspired by the brilliant books by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul)
Recommended for ages 3-7
Join in with Emma Boor as she performs the exciting story of ‘Winnie the Witch’ with puppets, songs, silliness and lots of wand waving! Then get creative making your own marvellous monster rod puppet inspired by the amazing creatures illustrated by Korky Paul.
Tickets: £6
With a free Stay & Play between 12 & 2.30pm - a space to get crafty, play and dress up!
At the Museum of Oxford:
11am & 2pm - Save Odd Socks by Puppetship
Join Mildred Mangle and Annette L’Aunderette from the Save Odd Sock society, giving pesky odd socks a marvellous makeover - but finding and catching an odd sock is easier said than done! Learn the art of odd-sock transformation and create a sock puppet of your own to take home.
Live music, puppetry and odd-sock shenanigans for ages 3-7 and their grown-ups
(Materials will be provided but feel free to bring a special odd sock of your own!)
Tickets: £6
At Pegasus:
11am & 2pm - Pirate Bonnie by Fidget Theatre
A welcoming, music-filled new play for 3-8 year-old pirates and their families.
Pirate Bonnie is looking for treasure - but no ordinary treasure, for she is no ordinary Pirate. The treasures she seeks are stories, the long-lost stories of swashbuckling Pirates.
So, join the crew on board the Good Ship Adventure! Feel the rush of wind in the sails as Bonnie shares her treasure and sings the songs of pirates of old.
Running time approx. 55 minutes
At the Museum of Natural History:
10.00am & 12.00pm - Jasper the Spider by Jules Pottle
Come and hear a science story and learn all about spiders and insects at the same time. We’ll create spider puppets and have a close up look at some of the museum’s amazing collection of tiny beasties! For families.
Free, booking recommended
At the Oxford Playhouse, Burton Taylor Studio:
11am, 2pm & 4pm - Jack and the Beans Talk by Garlic Theatre
A fresh and funny retelling of the traditional story and an ideal gentle introduction to theatre for ages 3 - 7.
Was it a dream or did I hear a talking bean? Jack lives on a small farm with his mum and very little to eat. Imagine his surprise when he swops his cow for some magic beans and starts to hear a whispering in the breeze and a giant rumble in the sky.
Charming and inventive with plenty of interaction, an enormous beanstalk, bags of gold and a smelly old giant Jack and the Beans Talk is a cautionary tale about what might happen if you throw things out of the window!
From the company that brought you Oldilocks and the Three Bears and The Nosy Little Troll!
Duration: 45 minutes - Age Range: 3-7 years
Please note that the Burton Taylor is accessed only by several sets of stairs
Tickets: £10.50 / £8.50
Sunday 1st October
At The Story Museum:
Trunk, Tail, Ears or Wings? - Carnival creates itself from all sorts of things!
This is "Carnival of the Animals" but not as we know it. Dissected for body part potential to create
the "ultimate animal" we take inspiration from the music by Camille Saint-Saëns, a little help from
Charles Darwin and a whole lot of cardboard to mash up a show full of puppet possibility.
Inspiration and delight for everyone from 4 to 104.
Tickets: £10
At Modern Art Oxford:
10am - 5pm - Make Your Mark
Running from Tuesday 26th September is our interactive art exhibition for 0-7 year olds, featuring work by Abigail Horn, Mills Brown and Leah Miller-Biot. Exhibition pieces ‘I Did It’, ‘Melinda Becomes a Tree’ and ‘Squishies’ are playful, immersive artworks designed to inspire and involve children, and reflect their creativity. Bring the whole family!
Free, no booking required
At The North Wall:
First Light by Daniel Naddafy and Marty Langthorne
15 minute slots between 10am and 4pm
Bathe in sound and light with your baby as you explore the wonders of how their senses develop. Sit, lie down or stand while sharing this immersive, intimate experience. Inspired by baby lab research into the expanding vision of children from birth until 18 months, this 15-minute installation distills the world of awakening perception into a unique show. Real-life soundscapes harmonies and echo a newborn’s hearing as lights twinkle and colour slowly fills the performance pod. Co-created by theatre-maker Daniel Naddafy, and artist & lighting designer Marty Langthorne, this performance is designed for a baby between 0-18 months to experience with their adult. Duration: 15 minutes Each ticket will cover a group of up to 4 people (including the baby) to come into the performance pod. Co-commissioned by the Barbican London and developed with support from Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts and, Half Moon Theatre.
Photo by Holly Revell
£10 per slot for up to 4 people (including babies)
10.30am & 1.30pm - FAM JAM by Dancin’ Oxford (link to
Fam Jam is Oxford’s famous family disco party for under 5s and their grown ups. Join us for games, dancing, face painting and adventures and lots of opportunity to do your own thing. All welcome.
Free, booking recommended
With a free Stay & Play between 12 & 2.30pm - a space to get crafty, play and dress up!
At The Museum of Natural History:
10.15am, 11am, 12.30pm & 1.15pm - Little Look at Tours
10.15am & 11am
A Little Look at… Pattern
From dots and spots to stripes and swirls, look at patterns in nature on this guided walk around the Museum. Includes storytelling and specimen handling. For 2 to 5 years.
Tickets: Free, booking recommended
At The Museum of Natural History:
12.30pm & 1.15pm
A Little Look at… Colours
Can you sing a rainbow? Hunt for colours in nature with us on this guided walk around the Museum. Includes storytelling and specimen handling. For 2-5 years.
Tickets, Free, booking recommended
The Tiny Ideas Festival 2022
Gallery
