Taking kids? Any hidden gems/must do's?!

[Stu H]

This will be my 10th year, 4th with kids. Took a 3 month old in 2017, and this year it'll be a 7 year old and nearly 5 year old.
There's obviously the Kidz Field and we spend a lot of time around Circus/Theatre and into Bella's Fields, always a lot going on.

Anything else you have found that are good for kids?!

We try to do a bit of everything to be honest, they'll watch bands, make clay sculptures by the bridge, do drum circles up in the Tipi Fields, Punch and Judy on the Pier, my 7 year old even helps me at the Bar now! 🙂

[Guest]

Greenpeace field has a lot for kids

[snailcheeks]

Also interested in this thread. Taking my 10 year old (soon to be 11) for the first time so all advice welcome!

[gherkin8r]

19 minutes ago, Stu H said:

This will be my 10th year, 4th with kids. Took a 3 month old in 2017, and this year it'll be a 7 year old and nearly 5 year old.
There's obviously the Kidz Field and we spend a lot of time around Circus/Theatre and into Bella's Fields, always a lot going on.

Anything else you have found that are good for kids?!

We try to do a bit of everything to be honest, they'll watch bands, make clay sculptures by the bridge, do drum circles up in the Tipi Fields, Punch and Judy on the Pier, my 7 year old even helps me at the Bar now! 🙂

Other than kids field and arts and crafts etc it looks like Arcadia are doing some proper cool stuff this year.

From the area page:

 

[Dizzy2012]

My kids third this time - they bloody love it!

we left G&R last year within. 30mins and wandered up to Arcadia and honestly all four of us (44, 43, 10 and 7) had the best time! The music was on point from our era of early naughties, the lights, the fire - the boys loved it! Well def do it again this year x

[bob323]

3 hours ago, Ommadawn said:

Greenpeace field has a lot for kids

my kids are obsessed with the sock wrestling - they have a guy commentating on the match he makes it amusing for the adults

 

the greenfield crafts have a happy hour around 10ish when everything is free, great for the kids to try out stuff - you may have to book some of the crafts before hand though

Edited June 10, 2024 by bob323

[Neil]

do the kidz field.

[Another eforum account]

LO loved the Arcadia spider & we spent time up there till it got dark (just walked a long and crowd free route back to the tent when it started to get busy). The woods are lovely too & the green fields in general plus the dragon! 

[Ayrshire Chris]

Green fields craft is good for kids.  F you take kids to Basil Brush get there early for a spot at the front, otherwise their view will be obstructed by mums and dads reliving their own childhood!

[tedmaul]

@Stu H I think this is my 19th Glastonbury, my 8-year-old’s 5th and my 5-year-old’s 3rd.  They really enjoyed the pinball machines on The PIer, and also the crazy German guy’s slightly scary, flailing about pneumatic robots.  The teepee in the Kidz field where you stick leaves to photographic paper and expose it to sunlight is brill too - the pictures they created are genuinely nice!  The wooden walkways up by Woodsies were pretty good too, as were the interactive music installations in the woods there.  As we’re in the camper van field we enter the site via the Circus area and so spend a lot of time there and regularly stumble across some really entertaining/freaky/funny walkabout acts.  Some of the actual circus acts in the big top were very very good too - the three death-defying motorcyclists somehow zooming around inside a spherical metal cage without hitting each other was brilliantly terrifying and the quick change artists totally bamboozled us.  How can you go from wearing a swimsuit to wearing a ballgown in half a second, just by chucking some glitter in the air in front of you?!!  Still mystified by that one!

 

I love that your 7-year-old helps you at the bar!  How does it work out, taking kids and working?  Every year when we almost fail to get tickets we wonder whether it would be possible to work and take the kids.  My partner and I would have to work different shifts I suppose, and I’m not sure I’d be able to get a camper van ticket as I wouldn’t have a ticket to log it against.

[dirtysteve]

9 hours ago, bob323 said:

my kids are obsessed with the sock wrestling - they have a guy commentating on the match he makes it amusing for the adults

 

Ha, yeah, the Sock Wrestling is great. Back in 2017 I think, my boy had a few goes at that, he'd actually been training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for a few years by that point so absolutely dominated it... heh. The guys running it are jiu jitsu guys too and after his first round they were like "Dude, you train, right?" lol

[Miathedog]

Loving hearing all these. I’m not sure if he’s partaken in the sick wrestling and I missed it or not but will be looking out for it to make sure as my son would love it.

 

He loved the floating pipe things you can play in the Woods last time, spent ages making beautiful sounds there. The woman running it told him there is a similar thing in the glade that only opens late at night and he desperately wanted to do it but we were always elsewhere then too tired last time, so will try and get him there this year. 

[Miathedog]

Sock wrestling! 😂 not sick 

[tedmaul]

8 hours ago, tedmaul said:

@Stu H I think this is my 19th Glastonbury, my 8-year-old’s 5th and my 5-year-old’s 3rd.  They really enjoyed the pinball machines on The PIer, and also the crazy German guy’s slightly scary, flailing about pneumatic robots.  The teepee in the Kidz field where you stick leaves to photographic paper and expose it to sunlight is brill too - the pictures they created are genuinely nice!  The wooden walkways up by Woodsies were pretty good too, as were the interactive music installations in the woods there.  As we’re in the camper van field we enter the site via the Circus area and so spend a lot of time there and regularly stumble across some really entertaining/freaky/funny walkabout acts.  Some of the actual circus acts in the big top were very very good too - the three death-defying motorcyclists somehow zooming around inside a spherical metal cage without hitting each other was brilliantly terrifying and the quick change artists totally bamboozled us.  How can you go from wearing a swimsuit to wearing a ballgown in half a second, just by chucking some glitter in the air in front of you?!!  Still mystified by that one!

 

I love that your 7-year-old helps you at the bar!  How does it work out, taking kids and working?  Every year when we almost fail to get tickets we wonder whether it would be possible to work and take the kids.  My partner and I would have to work different shifts I suppose, and I’m not sure I’d be able to get a camper van ticket as I wouldn’t have a ticket to log it against.

Forgot to mention Rimsky’s Yard, down in the T&C field.  You probably know Ollie Rimsky as the guy who trundles about riding on / playing a mobile piano, and this is his little area full of circus types.  The kids loved it there as they could explore and chill out on the bed.  The Pirate Taxi show was a particular highlight and we still remember the song… “Love is the answer when it all goes wrong…”

[Stu H]

On 6/10/2024 at 11:18 PM, tedmaul said:

@Stu H I think this is my 19th Glastonbury, my 8-year-old’s 5th and my 5-year-old’s 3rd.  They really enjoyed the pinball machines on The PIer, and also the crazy German guy’s slightly scary, flailing about pneumatic robots.  The teepee in the Kidz field where you stick leaves to photographic paper and expose it to sunlight is brill too - the pictures they created are genuinely nice!  The wooden walkways up by Woodsies were pretty good too, as were the interactive music installations in the woods there.  As we’re in the camper van field we enter the site via the Circus area and so spend a lot of time there and regularly stumble across some really entertaining/freaky/funny walkabout acts.  Some of the actual circus acts in the big top were very very good too - the three death-defying motorcyclists somehow zooming around inside a spherical metal cage without hitting each other was brilliantly terrifying and the quick change artists totally bamboozled us.  How can you go from wearing a swimsuit to wearing a ballgown in half a second, just by chucking some glitter in the air in front of you?!!  Still mystified by that one!

 

I love that your 7-year-old helps you at the bar!  How does it work out, taking kids and working?  Every year when we almost fail to get tickets we wonder whether it would be possible to work and take the kids.  My partner and I would have to work different shifts I suppose, and I’m not sure I’d be able to get a camper van ticket as I wouldn’t have a ticket to log it against.

 

Sorry, when I meant helping me at the Bar, I didn't mean working, I meant carrying drinks, haha! 

[Blabes]

My girls (6 and 11) favourite thing last year was definitely the midnight playground in the theatre and circus field, they loved hoola hooping in the dark.

 

They did their own blog about the weekend if any newbies with children want to see a glimpse at what to expect.

 

[watsonjm]

On 6/10/2024 at 5:18 PM, gherkin8r said:

Other than kids field and arts and crafts etc it looks like Arcadia are doing some proper cool stuff this year.

From the area page:

 

 

They do this at Valley fest.  If its the same there'll be wood and metal work building a stage or play area - lots of sawing and hammering.  My 3 YO was a bit young last year but will be perfect for your 7 and 5yo.  

[stuart_ainslie]

Mine always enjoy exploring the late night areas during the day.

[Stu H]

2 hours ago, Blabes said:

My girls (6 and 11) favourite thing last year was definitely the midnight playground in the theatre and circus field, they loved hoola hooping in the dark.

 

They did their own blog about the weekend if any newbies with children want to see a glimpse at what to expect.

 

 

Just skipped through that, fantastic, you got around pretty much all of the site, which is impressive! 🙂

[Pipine]

On 6/11/2024 at 7:45 AM, tedmaul said:

Forgot to mention Rimsky’s Yard, down in the T&C field.  You probably know Ollie Rimsky as the guy who trundles about riding on / playing a mobile piano, and this is his little area full of circus types.  The kids loved it there as they could explore and chill out on the bed.  The Pirate Taxi show was a particular highlight and we still remember the song… “Love is the answer when it all goes wrong…”

Another vote for Rimski’s yard, our 7 and 9 year olds haven’t been to Glastonbury yet but they spent a lot of time a Rimski’s yard at camp Bestival.. making up crazy games with all the random junk with some of the guys working with rimski, it felt like a real life mad hatters tea party and we all loved it.

[gherkin8r]

2 hours ago, watsonjm said:

 

They do this at Valley fest.  If its the same there'll be wood and metal work building a stage or play area - lots of sawing and hammering.  My 3 YO was a bit young last year but will be perfect for your 7 and 5yo.  

Sounds good. My older two are 10 and 11 this year but sawing and hammering sounds pretty perfect.

[Toilet Duck]

Looking for some advice!

 

Normally, I just go to the festival with my mates. We don't get to hang out as much as we used to, so it's a time to catch up and just generally relax together for a few days. This year, Saturday is the 12th birthday of one of the group's young lads. He's thinking about getting him over on Saturday for the last two days...that triggered me into thinking I might bring my 9 year old daughter over as well! 

 

Now, she loves music (really likes Coldplay (prefers the more modern, upbeat stuff), absolutely loves Fontaines DC though so would be gutted to miss them the night before!)...she's not generally great with crowds though (however, partly that's because my wife is not good with crowds, so we avoid them). We brought her to Disneyland and lasted less than an hour before we had to leave. However, the Animal Kingdom wasn't as busy and was more interesting for her ("I'm just not that into princesses" was her assessment of the Magic Kingdom!) and she was fine, happy out all day, ditto at the Hollywood studios with all the Star Wars and Toy Story stuff. She's also not mad on very loud noises, wears her ear defenders in the cinema and when we go to see musicals (before that she hated going to both, now loves them). She's never been to a gig, but has been asking repeatedly can she come along to one. 

 

Anyway, we're staying in Holt Farm, so I presume the camping will be fairly ok (though she doesn't like insects of any sort either and I can see her freaking out over a fly in the tent!). I can get her over on Saturday afternoon (either I go and get her on Saturday morning or my wife flies over with her and then just chills in Bristol for the night!). 

 

I'd love her to experience the festival, I've had my standard Glasto experience umpteen times and I'm ok with it being completely different, would be worth it to get to share it with her. If she didn't like it, I'd just take her out of the festival and go somewhere that she was happy.

 

Anyway, has anybody any experience in taking a child of a more anxious disposition along? Are the kid-friendly parts of the festival a bit less manic than other parts? 

 

She knows my mate's young lad since she was a baby and gets on great with him. Her uncle (who is one of her favourite people on earth) is coming with me. So, I think she's surrounded by a bunch of people she is comfortable with. I can see her either absolutely loving it and having the time of her life, or hating it very quickly and having to leave. 

 

Anyway, what would you do? Better to try a local, smaller festival first or just jump into the deep end?

 

 

[Parched]

Having a last minute panic that kids need tickets! First time for us bringing the kids, they are joining us for the Sunday. Both age four and two, do they just stroll in with us?

[bob323]

33 minutes ago, Parched said:

Having a last minute panic that kids need tickets! First time for us bringing the kids, they are joining us for the Sunday. Both age four and two, do they just stroll in with us?

 > do they just stroll in with us?

 

yep - everyone just ignores them

 

tip: put a wristband on them with your telephone number on it and let them run free

Edited June 22, 2024 by bob323