Celebrating 10 years of workshops in the ‘World of Children’
I have been part of teams of artists over the past 10 years designing creative activities for children during WOMAD festival. Every year we respond to the set theme and the field is buzzing with creative children making costumes, flags and headdresses. The workshops are a safe, fun-filled couple of hours for the children to play, explore and make and are a core part of the festival.
Children of all ages spend much of their time at WOMAD festival in the ‘World of Children’ field. They can move from dancing to drumming on African drums, to printing tee-shirts, to juggling, listening to stories and many more exciting activities.
We offer 2 hour workshops for children to make costumes, headdresses and flags that they can wear and carry to accompany a large image on the procession that takes place on the last afternoon of the festival. Taking part in the procession is always a joy as we form a very long line of singing and dancing groups celebrating what we have made over the three days of the festival. Families are cheered as we walk through the festival site and the procession is alive with sound and colour.
There are also drop in workshops for children that want to focus on play, making potions, using crafts like weaving, assembling and exploring simple tools that are suitable for families to work together. Sometimes these are possible outside in the sunshine and are a great time for all to relax and find some quiet time in what can be a very busy weekend!
