More About the Kidzone >

New This Year!

Pleasance is launching a new children's area this year. With story hours, music, fun and games for all, make sure you stop by for an hour or two!

Including activities such as Story Hour and Monkey Music, the Kidzone is open from 10.30am - 6pm, and even when there are no scheduled activities, you can still play. Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

Timetable:
10.30am - 11.15am Monkey Music Workshop (aged 2 -5 years)
11.30am - 12.15pm Monkey Music Workshop (age 6 months - 2 years)
12.30pm - 1.30pm Free Play
1.30pm - 2.15pm Story Hour with special festival guests
2.15pm - 3.15pm Free Play
3.30pm - 4.15pm Story Hour
4.30pm - 6pm Free Play

Story Hour:
Pleasance's unique story hour takes place twice daily throughout the festival for children of all ages. Come and listen to your favourite story tale told by one of our festival special guests underneath the shelter of our giant teepee tent. For 45 minutes, let your imagination run wild!

Please remember that children must be accompanied by an adult at all times in the Pleasance Teepee.

Monkey Music:
Award-winning Monkey Music Workshops combine songs, rhymes and musical games and fun with percussion instruments for children aged 3 months - 5 years. They are held in Edinburgh throughout the year.

Timetable:
10.30am - 11.15am Monkey Music Workshop (aged 2 -5 years)
11.30am - 12.15pm Monkey Music Workshop (age 6 months - 2 years)

*Please note one ticket admits one adult and one child, any additional adults will need a separate ticket. Children must be accompanied by an adult, but adults can bring more than one child*

Monkey Music, the award-winning pre-school music group for children aged 3
months - 5 years across the UK and Ireland, will be running special
workshops in the Kidzone during the Festival. The 45 minute workshops
combine songs, rhymes, musical games and fun with percussion instruments
suitable for 3 months - 2 years and 2 years to 5 years. The children in our

The cult rock’ n’ roll musical for 2 - 7 year olds is back!
Dude returns to Edinburgh following appearances at Glastonbury Festival. BYO Teddy Bear and join in the action.
Dude! Where’s my ticket?

**** The List
**** Sunday Herald

'The children are bouncing to that lost teddy bear beat' Time Out

'Fine example of children’s theatre' Sunday Herald

Musical for children with puppets and actors. Max is moving home but he
doesn’t want to. he has a fear of the unknown. Maybe Duck, Pig, Hare, Rat and Frog will calm his fears? Based upon the ever popular illustrated books, Frog will touch young and old!

'Frog is an inspired creation' Guardian

'Enjoyed by parent and child alike' Mail on Sunday

Suitable for ages 4+

*Please note one ticket admits one adult and one child, any additional adults will need a separate ticket. Children must be accompanied by an adult, but adults can bring more than one child*

Monkey Music, the award-winning pre-school music group for children aged 3
months - 5 years across the UK and Ireland, will be running special
workshops in the Kidzone during the Festival. The 45 minute workshops
combine songs, rhymes, musical games and fun with percussion instruments
suitable for 3 months - 2 years and 2 years to 5 years. The children in our

Gorgonzola! Jump on the second bus, the driver’s saved you a seat. Come and meet a bullfrog blues band, a clapped-out bison, a forgetful wolf – and a most unusual little mouse. A totally full-throttle adventure guaranteed to get you absolutely revved up.

'Dazzling... extraordinarily imaginative' Scotsman

'Brilliantly effective' Guardian

Enter the strange and bizarre universe of a wild balloon tamer where surreal and stupid things happen. Combining circus and comedy, performer and clown Danny Schlesinger creates an utterly joyous experience loaded with surprises and laughs. Warning! Features loud balloon pops!

'A master of his own particular brand of tomfoolery' The Stage

'Charming, poetic and skilful as it is silly, both full of heart and absolutely hilarious' Amanda Huotari, Celebration Barn Theater, USA

The Foodiverse is at war: can Ice-Cream Man and his fruity friends bring peas?!
Smash hit dude! Where’s My Teddy Bear? creators serve up lashings of music, a sprinkling of puppetry and a huge dollop of hilarity in this delicious tale of dietary balance for ages 4 - 400

QUACK! RIBBIT! COCK-A-DOODLEDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Pendulum presents this Olivier Award winning musical from the writers of ‘Mary Poppins’. Based on ‘The Ugly Duckling’, this enchanting tale is sure to delight, surprise and leave you feeling tickled! The family treat of 2009. Also on at 16:00 on the 15th and 16th August.

Swizzfiggling interactive storytelling from Roald Dahl’s famous ‘Revolting Rhymes’ and ‘Dirty Beasts’ by two whizzpopping gentlemen from the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre. One hour of gloriumptious giggles for children or the child in you.

'A couple of energetic young guys acted out tales from Dahl’s Revolting
Rhymes with such infectious enthusiasm… the spellbound audience squealed delightedly' Times

'I wish we could’ve stayed watching all day. Truly amazing!' Museum Visitor

Packing pirates from Long John silver to Jack Sparrow into one madcap hour. After a sell-out fringe premiere in 2008, this swashbuckling piratical adventure returns for a second year of timber-shivering and plank-walking.
Created by CBBC and Potted Potter’s Dan and Jeff, the show’s back with all-new shipmates in search of talking parrots and mysterious buried treasure. On the way they’ll be telling tall tales of the seven seas – and be sure not to miss the full-scale Spanish Armada re-enactment.

CBeebies presenter Andy Day and comedy partner Michael James bring
their much-loved humour to this children’s comedy.
A mysterious, magical box appears, but to open it they must take the
journey of their life!! Come and find out what’s inside!

'Ridiculously silly, I thought I’d get a free banana but I got a lot more
instead... loved it!' CBBC Presenter ‘Ed Petrie’

Who’s that creeping down the street?
Who’s that climbing up the wall?
Who’s that?...it’s Burglar Bill!

Learn that robbery is very bad and crime doesn’t pay in this musical version of the much loved Alan Ahlberg story. Meet Burglar Betty, Baby, Tom Cat & many other colourful characters. ages 3-8.

'Near flawless' Stage - Mister Humbug

'Pandora’s Box really excel when it comes to fast-moving & colourful
theatre… the kids never knew what hit them' Sutton Guardian

Family tickets available at: £24/£28

‘How the cat purred and how the witch grinned, as they sat on their broomstick and flew through the wind...’
The witch and her cat are flying happily on their broom, when a dog, a bird and a frog hop on for a ride. But the broomstick’s not meant for five and it snaps in two – just as a hungry dragon appears...
Following the UK and worldwide success of their much-loved Gruffalo show, Tall Stories brings another classic Julia Donaldson book to life. Magical, musical fun for children aged 3 and up – and their grown-ups.

'Really enjoyable family fun' Maidenhead Advertiser

The young Lionheart brothers, lead the villagers of Nangiyala against the might of Tengil’s army and the fire-breathing monster, Katla in the UK premiere of this glorious tale.

Heroic deeds, wonderful music, heart-stopping action – an absolute must for lovers of Harry Potter, Narnia, Lord of The Rings and other classic fantasy stories.

All seven Potter books in seventy minutes. CBBC’s Dan and Jeff created this fringe classic and starred in three sell-out seasons. Now it returns one last time, with a new cast fresh from an acclaimed world tour. David and John take on the ultimate challenge, with the help of endless costumes, brilliant songs, ridiculous props, and a generous helping of Hogwarts magic.
This fantastically funny show features all your favourite characters, a special appearance from a very frightening fire-breathing dragon, and even a game of Quidditch involving the audience!