Hundreds of people attended the first ever Children and Families Festival at the University of Worcester over the weekend.
The free event, which took place on Saturday (31st May) was organised by staff and students and was held at the University’s Lakeside Campus.
Attractions included a pop-up play area, book nook, mini-beast hunting, seed planting, outdoor games, forest school, yoga, small animal encounters and much more.
Visitors were also able to take canoes and kayaks out on the lake, take part in archery, and even use the site’s zip wire.
Parent Julia Cook, who attended with her family, said: “It has been a really nice, wholesome family day. We’ve learned more about play, and about the different companies in our community.”
Mitchell Payne was there with his family and said: “It’s brilliant. Our son has had an amazing time and it’s good to see it so busy with so many families from around the Midlands.”
He added: “Our son has been on the bouncy castles, he has done arts and crafts, he has looked around the fire engine, he’s having an amazing time.”
Throughout the day talks were being held by experts from the University and other organisations covering topics ranging from nature connectedness to paediatric first aid and emotional coaching for children.
More than a dozen local organisations also attended to host stalls and meet festival goers. Attendees included the police, fire and rescue services, Scouts, local charities and more.
Charlotte Paterson, third-year student on the University’s Early Childhood course, was one of the organisers. She said: “We’ve worked really hard together to set up this amazing day, and it’s great to see children and families having this opportunity with so much to do.”
She said: “We’ve developed team working skills, organisational skills for the different activities, we’ve had to explore different ways of doing things, and we’ve built our confidence as well while working with our community.”
Emma Laurence, Course Leader, BA (Hons) Early Childhood, said: “It has been an excellent day. It has been so busy and everyone seems really happy!”
She continued: “The students have put so much work into this over the last six months.”
She added: “They can see the impact they’re having on their community, and they can see that they can be changemakers in society.”
The team had originally planned to offer 250 tickets but increased the capacity after they were all snapped up with 24 hours of being released.
If you’d like to find out more about the Early Childhood BA (Hons) course, visit our website.
For information on courses at the University of Worcester visit www.worcester.ac.uk or for application enquiries, telephone 01905 855111 or email [email protected]