The Kids Zone Information

The Kids Zone is a magical area filled with fun & entertainment to delight children & parents alike. Come and experience this relaxing & inspiring environment where our talented crew are dedicated to showing you and your family a good time!

This year our Rainbow Stage will feature new performances from Keith Donnelly, singer, storyteller and "kids entertainer par excellence", and Ursula Holden-Gill, storyteller, clog–dancer and actress. Together they will also be performing their "Bear Show". We'll have two different magicians for your delight, Huxley Hunt and young magician Roly Botha will confound you with magic and silliness, leaving the kids giggling, mystified and amazed. You can also expect our regular "Circus Show" from Ryde Extreme Performers – let's hope the Ninjas make another appearance this year! - and our massively popular Kids Talent Show & Kid's Catwalk. At the end of the day we'll have a Solar-Powered Reggae sound system so that the kids can have a little boogie, before settling in to some bedtime stories with fabulous story-teller Sue Bailey.

In the Arts & Craft Marquee there's always a varied programme of workshops running each day, as we love everyone to be able to go home with something they have created in the Kids Zone. This year we have Caz & Jo's Creative Crafts, Badge-making, Island 2000's "Festival Dolls", Forest Schools with Woodland Crafts, The Carnival Centre crew will be making headdresses /flags and Stonk Knots knotting workshops featuring "Ropes and Critters","Jewellery" and"Keyrings/Decorative knots". Jo Johnson will be repeating her Straw Animals Workshop from last year, and Sam Elliott will be running a recycling workshop creating wonderful things from 'fused 'plastic bags. They'll also be Kaleidescopes and Dream-catchers and other surprises.

The Dressing-Up Tent, will be back, rammed with hundreds of outfits and accessories so that kids can transform themselves into characters from stories & imagination, or just mess about & try everything on! And our Face-Painting Marquee is now combined with a Make-Up/Tattoo Parlour where funky kids can be glammed up for festival fun with hair-braids, tattoos and nail varnish.

The fantastic Ryde Extreme Performers will be helping kids to develop new talents in our Circus Skills Workshops, where they can learn to juggle, spin plates & throw diabolo. Island 2000 will be back with their mega mural paper doodle & we'll also have our favorite rides - the fabulous people-powered Swingboats & Chairoplanes, local entertainers Ignite, who will be running sessions of organised fun & games, Lego play sessions, the Cardboard Castle, bubbles, stilts, & our Wishing Line Fairies to help all your dreams come true!

Little ones will love our Toddler Area, where local toddler group, Niton Tots, will be providing mini art & craft workshops & bringing lots of toys & games. We'll also have music workshops with Rhythm Time, a little library, story-telling, a colouring area & a mother & baby chill out, with changing facilities.

Please remember that the kids' area is not a crèche and that children must be supervised by a responsible adult at all times.