A Little Wonderland for Little Wonderers
Fun fact: did you know that Nozstock is actually a children’s festival? We just added all the extra stuff when we realised the mums and dads were starting to get bored…
Okay, that’s not strictly true – but you could be mistaken for believing it. As a family-run festival, we’ve always had family at our heart (if that’s not too cheesy to say) and we believe that festivals can be a great place for everyone from 9 months to 99 years – maybe bring a pair of ear defenders for great-grandma, though.
In fact, we have our very own dedicated children’s area, the Little Wonderland in the Dingle, and every year go above and beyond to provide the very best in workshops, classes, games and crafts for your little’uns – as well as state of the art facilities and all the comforts of home, even in a field! Little Wonderland is run by the amazing team at Spare Room Arts, who have been involved in outdoor events and music festivals for over nine years now, and have even won awards for their arts and crafts areas – so you know you’re in safe hands. This year they’ve gone all out to plan a jam-packed timetable of fun for children of all ages: you can learn how to beatbox, practise your DJing skills, get loopy with hula-hooping workshops, or express yourself through slam poetry. We’ve got yoga classes to help you wind down after a busy day at the festival, the Theatre of Parallel Worlds, where the possibilities are literally endless, or become the next Aardman with our plasticine animation workshop! On top of that, we’ve got every kind of craft under the sun, from clay pottery to kite-making, groovy headgear and dino-tails, vinyl record upcycling and glitter face-painting (always 100% biodegradable, of course)! Come join our Amazing Amazon workshop, learn to make puppets inspired by the depths of the ocean, and write a message in a bottle while you’re down there. And of course, our annual (and extremely popular) tie-dye t-shirt classes… Best of all, it’s all completely free, because the best bits of a festival are always the memories – and the armfuls of arts and crafts you bring home!
It’s not all fun and games – we’ve got the practical side covered, too. We know that getting kids off to sleep can be challenging at the best of times – let alone in a field with 5000 other people! To help counter this, we have a dedicated Mamas and Papas Family Camping field. It’s further away from the action (but not so far that little legs will struggle getting back and forth every day!) and has extra showers and toilets to keep those teeth-brushing queues down. Only families with children can camp there, so the vibes are much more chill and everyone is after an early(ish) night: there’s even a dedicated families-only live-in vehicle field, as well, if that’s more your style. For the first time ever, we’re offering a Save your Space scheme, where you can reserve a patch big enough for your family-size tent and paraphernalia, which means you can save time looking for a camping spot and get ready to jump into the festival pronto. Down in the Dingle, we’ve even got baby-changing and bottle-warming facilities, as well as our Lost Kids area: a dedicated meet-up spot where any wandering bambinos can wait safely to be reunited with their family.
If you’re a regular Nozzer, you already know the score, but if you’re thinking of bringing your brood along to a festival for the first time this summer, why not make it the Hidden Valley? 12 and unders come free – and they’ll want to come again year after year. Don’t take our word for it: check out what our intrepid parent reviewers had to say about Nozstocks of yore here, here and here.
