Summer Holiday Activities 2019

Visit The Higgins Bedford throughout the summer holidays and enjoy activities and workshops for both children aged 5 and above and teenagers aged 12 to 16 years old.

Places are limited and should be booked in advance by purchasing a ticket at The Higgins Bedford reception desk. We are currently unable to take bookings online or over the phone. Unfilled places will be offered on a first-come, first served basis on the day.

Stories from the Wynding Wixam Tree
Every Wednesday 24th July - 28th August
11am & 2pm, £5 per child (free for accompanying adults)

Step into the world of spectacular stories performed by the Theatre of Widdershins. Gather at the Wynding Wixam Tree in the Round and Round the Garden exhibition, and join in fantastical adventures and traditional fairy tales that are guaranteed to captivate families. Different stories are performed each week including, The Princess & The Pea, Granny Dumpling and The King with Stinky Feet.

Teen Creativity Workshops
Every Wednesday 24th July - 28th August
12:30pm, £3 per person (no parents required)

Enjoy creative writing and arts and crafts workshops for teenagers aged 12 to 16 years old. Teens will be able to meet local artists Lisa Tilley and Kemi Onabuleand, professional author Derek Niemann and Christiana Payne, Professor of History of Art at Oxford Brookes University and have the opportunity to explore different art and media styles and gain insights into the professional arts world.

Sponsored by Oxford Brookes University

Horrible Higgins Histories
Every Friday 26th July - 30th August
11am, 12:30pm & 2pm, £3 per child (free for accompanying adults)

Travel through time and space with Kevin the Platypus, explore the museum’s collections and get creative in horribly historical creative workshops. From Stone Age to Space Age, there is sure to be an activity to delight families. Design and make Stone Age necklaces, Viking brooches, Victorian hats, moon rockets with Little Science Labs and more.

Family Fun this Weekend!

There's lots to do this weekend! Don't miss out on all the great events happening for all the family to enjoy. 

This Noisy Isle
Saturday 22nd June
Performances from 10am - 3pm
Adults: £8 / Child: £6

Get involved in This Noisy Isle, an outdoor treasure-hunt style performance for 7-11 year olds and their families, inspired by William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. This interactive adventure explores the refugee crisis in a new and inventive way and gives viewers the chance to solve puzzles, meet mysterious characters, navigate the choppy seas and more.

Book Tickets Here.

Working in Collaboration with Spun Glass Theatre and The Place Theatre.

Windrush Family Day & Global Kitchen
Saturday 22nd June
12pm - 5pm, Free Entry
Held at A Different Brew Cafe

Celebrate National Windrush Day and Bedford's Windrush Generation with a day of face painting, music, folk songs, dancing, dominoes, food and Windrush stories.

Working in Collaboration with Arise In Bloom, Nubian Teachings, Friends Of Refugees, Urban Adventures (Natures Gifts), Bedfordshire Opportunities for Learning Disabilities (B.O.L.D), Retired Caribbean Nurses of Bedfordshire (RCNA).

Round and Round the Garden Family Afternoon
Sunday 23rd June
2pm - 5pm, Free Entry

Enjoy an afternoon of garden themed activities for families, view the Round and Round the Garden exhibition and discover the Book Nook and Wynding Wixam Tree. Explore with Kevin the Platypus on his new trail. Take part in art and crafts workshops including Scratch Art, Drop-in Floating Flowers and Seed Bombs with Jane Perrone.

Places are limited for Seed Bomb workshops. To book, tel 01234 718618 / e-mail thehiggins@bedford.gov.uk.

What's On this summer at the Art Gallery & Museum

Open publication - Free publishing - More summer

Our new what's on leaflet is out now.

Free Family Event: Earning a Crust - A Victorian Working Day

On Saturday 17th April, from 11am – 4pm there will be a chance to discover how Victorian Bedfordian’s would have lived and worked. Earning a Crust: A Victorian Working Day is a free family day at Bedford Museum.

Come along to have a go at lace-making, rag-rug making and basket weaving. Martin Hazell (pictured) will be showing you how he makes traditional baskets from local Willow and Hazel collected at his smallholding in Gravenhurst.

There will be lots of other activities to try. How about writing with quill pen and ink? Or learning how Victorians washed clothes without electricity or washing machines? There will also be folk music provided by Graeme Meek who sings traditional songs inspired by Bedfordshire life.

The family day is part of ‘Clocking-in: an exhibition of the working day’ at Bedford Gallery. The exhibition is a chance to see the place you live, as you’ve never seen it before. It charts the history of Bedfordshire’s industries and how these industries have changed the lives of Bedfordshire’s residents. The exhibition includes amazing insights into our working day, highlighting what has remained the same but also, how our lives have changed.

‘There were still people in Bedford who believed in what they called gold water, which was the water they washed the gold in, having medicinal properties when they drank it or rubbed it in. His job was to go and retrieve the water that they had washed the gold objects in and hand it out gratuitously to the people of Bedford.’
Richard Stoodley (speaking about his father working at John Bull & Co from 1920 to 1970)

Winds of Exchange Free Family Day

Bedford Museum on Saturday 21st November 11am – 4pm

To celebrate our Winds of Exchange exhibition we are holding a FREE Family Day. Come along and join in with a range of activities inspired by the colour and creativity of Japanese culture.

The activities on offer include:
• Trying on kimonos
• Origami – The art of Japanese paper-folding. Learn to make Christmas trees and other decorations from Origami.
• Japanese writing
• Making Temari balls – Temari balls are a traditional Japanese craft that uses silk threads to make decorative patterned balls. They are often exchanged as gifts or used as Christmas decorations.
• Kumihimo braiding – Kumihimo braids have traditionally been used by Samurai as a decorative and functional way to lace their armour.
• Japanese choir (pm) from Milton Keynes
• Raku pot firing - Glaze your own tea bowl and watch it be Raku fired before taking it home (£2.50 per bowl, one per family) Firing by Andrew Jelly.

Children's half-term activities

Please ring 01234 353323 to book on the following sessions:

26th Oct Poster power! Poster design with Jonny Hannah. 2-3.30pm. Booking essential. 8+ yrs. £5 Bedford Museum

27th Oct Every picture tells a story. 11.15 – 12.30 and 2 – 3.30. Booking essential. £2.50 Bedford Museum

29th Linocut landscape. 2pm – 3.30pm, 8+yrs. Booking essential. £5 Bedford Museum

30th Oct Japanese Fan-tasy 11am – 1pm and 2pm – 4pm. Drop-in, £2 Bedford Museum

Events for children

Sat 3rd October The Big Bawden Draw
11 am – 4pm FREE
Come and celebrate the opening of our Edward Bawden exhibition at Bedford Gallery with a Big Draw event inspired by the creativity of this original artist.

Mon 26th Oct Poster Power!
2pm – 3.30pm, 8+yrs
£5, booking essential. Call 01234 353323
Poster design and illustration at Bedford Gallery with artist Jonny Hannah

Thur 29th Oct Linocut Landscapes
2pm – 3.30pm, 8+yrs.
£5, booking essential. Call 01234 353323
Held at Bedford Museum, come along to cut and print your own lino design (involves sharp tools!)