By Kate Hodges
06th October 2017
EVENT Quick on the Draw
Every year, October’s Big Draw festival brings hundreds of events to families across the country, encouraging everyone to sharpen up their pencils and get sketching for a whole month. Find our pick of the best events here. This year, the mission is Living Lines - the depiction of motion via the medium of drawing, so you’ll find stop-motion workshops, flip-book making, shadow puppetry and cutting-edge animation classes being held at galleries, museums and public spaces across the country. Find hands-on sessions at the Apple store in London, awful animation workshops at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, or special family events at Somerset Art Weeks 2017 Full line-up of events here
EVENT Party Time
The Fun Palaces campaign was dreamt up in the ‘60s to create a community-based ‘laboratory of fun’, places for people of all ages to get creative with art and science. This weekend, you’ll find community-led events taking place across the country, from an Apple Day in Swindon to net making in Helston. We’re very excited about the Museum of London’s Festival of Radical Fun, where you can build a large-scale model of the city, try parkour, urban bushcraft and energy harvesting, learn about self-love, write Victorian monster stories, try laughter yoga, get a free mini manicure, get your broken appliances mended, party with Disco Loco and perform with an all-woman Fall karaoke band! Alternatively, skip over to Camden for their Huge Fun Palace with the Idiot Olympics and Dolls for Peace workshop
LEARN and EVENT Moth Rah!
Moth Night is an annual celebration of moths and moth recording. Why not see how many different kinds you can spot. One of the very easiest and effective ways is simply leaving your curtains open when you’re inside; moths will come to rest on your window pane. Alternatively, open your bathroom windows, throw on the light, wait and watch the fluttering creatures come into your house (it’s probably best to check that all of your family are happy to have a few winged visitors swing by). Submit your findings here or find an organised event near you
LEARN, MAKE and RECIPE Red or Dead
This month marks (or ‘Marx’) the centenary of the Russian Revolution. Find out GCSE-friendly facts about the overthrow of the Tsar here or watch Horrible Histories’ take on the story here. Immerse yourself more fully in the culture by eating a bowl of borscht (we love Martha Stewart’s mother’s recipe) or vegan blinis and wearing a free printable paper crown
EVENT Hit Me Up
One of the greatest things about heading into autumn is conker season. Shiny brown chestnuts stud the ground of our parks and pavements, and it’s lovely to use them in some way. See how the experts do it this Sunday, in Southwick, Northamptonshire, home to the World Conker Championships. Teams from around the world meet yearly to play on podiums and compete for the title of World Conker Champion. There’s also a special junior championship for talented nut-knocking kids, plus live music, stalls and morris dancing.
