The Slightly Annoying Elephant is the worst and funniest house guest rolled into one.He eats all the biscuits, hogs the TV, snores loudly, gets water all over the bathroom floor, breaks your bike and your bed, invites all his friends to join him and...
Growing up I remember being fascinated by an apocryphal tale about a young boy who fell in love with a penguin on a school trip to Edinburgh Zoo. He sneaked it home in his backpack only for it to be discovered swimming in the family bath tub by his...
Mr Popper’s Penguins tells the story of a man who dreams of Antarctic adventures only to find a penguin delivered to his front door. The children’s fantasy tale originated as a book and won Hollywood’s heart when it was turned into a film starring...
If Pam Adams, author of best-selling children’s book ‘There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly’, was still alive, she would have been 100-years-old this year. Adams lived to be a real old lady, aged 91, and her stories have proved timeless. Based...
Hansel and Gretel is the well-known classic fairy tale of two children who get lost in a wood and take refuge in a cottage where all is not quite as it first appears. Here, kids are still centre stage in the narrative. But for anyone expecting to...
Have you got a Big Imagination? That’s the question Big Imaginations, the North of England’s festival of theatre for families, is asking children this autumn. The festival sees a fantastic range of family-friendly theatre, storytelling, music and...
Disney on Ice is back on tour with its biggest show yet, celebrating 100 Years of Magic. ‘I thought we’d have to go to Disneyland for this!’ says my 7-year-old theatre buddy, wide-eyed as Mouse-ter of Ceremonies Mickey Mouse and his sweetheart...
He’s dressed from head to toe in black Javier Jarquin pounces on stage as the eponymous Card Ninja. To his right is a table stacked with sealed packs of normal sized playing cards. Is this a magic show? A stand-up routine? Or a children’s...
Tabby McTat, the cat with the loudest of meows, is another of author, Julia Donaldson and illustrator, Axel Scheffler’s much-loved characters. The pair behind other children’s favourites like ‘The Gruffalo’ and ‘Room with a Broom’ are master...
Sherlock Holmes meets the Greatest Showman as The Ministry of Lost & Found bring a day of interactive theatre to Manchester Central Library. Youngsters are encouraged to become super sleuths for day, joining Frankie Found on a mission to locate...
Carmel Thomason
Gemma Finkill
Moses Kabunga