Free summer fun activities for children in Preston

Children in UCLan's Young Scientist Centre — Children in UCLan’s Young Scientist Centre

To help families from breaking the bank and keep children entertained in the summer holidays, the University of Central Lancashire has created a range of free, fun activities for youngsters.

There will be interactive sessions on fashion, forensics, cosmetics, art and design, and creative technology which are split between two age categories, nine to 11, and 12 to 13.

The workshops will take place between Tuesday 2 August and Thursday 4 August, from 10am to 3pm, at the Preston Campus. All activities include a free lunch.

Dr Liz Granger, UCLan’s Head of Widening Participation and Public Engagement, said: “We know children love doing hands-on activities and we appreciate that times are hard for families so these fun free sessions are ideal to keep nine to 13-year-olds entertained for a few days in the summer holidays.”

For the nine to 11-year-olds, on Tuesday 2 August, the Art and Design class will see them create life-size drawings of people in groups, with each person being responsible for a particular body part, hoping they all come together at the end.

On the same day, the Fashion event will allow the children to explore various fashion illustration styles and embroidery techniques and they will create artwork to be printed on to keepsake canvas tote bags.

The activity-packed days Cosmetic Chemistry will take place on Wednesday 3 and Thursday 4 August, allowing youngsters to make their own bath bombs and lip balms.

They’ll get to experiment with acids and alkalis and make their own personalised bath bombs. They will also investigate the properties of materials and states of matter whilst making their own bespoke lip balms.

For the 12 to 13-year-olds, on Tuesday 2 August there will be a hands-on Forensics session. This will give the children the experience of what it would be like to work in a forensics lab by investigating a fictional murder and carrying out experiments to process evidence from the crime scene.

On Wednesday 3 August, a Fashion event will allow young people to explore various fashion illustration styles and embroidery techniques and they will create artwork to be printed on to keepsake canvas tote bags.

Creative Technology is the topic for the final event on Thursday 4 August. The day is perfect for creative and tech-enthusiasts as the workshop will explore the current trend of connected toys, the privacy and security issues related to them and the role of digital toys within play.

The children will generate ideas to prototype new toys, using a mix of physical and digital materials. They will also learn how to use music, coding, maths and physics to create a magical aura effect.

To book your child’s place on any of the sessions, click on the links below and complete the online application form.

Activities for nine to 11-year-olds

Activities for 12 to 13-year-olds

For more information, email Dr Liz at egranger@uclan.ac.uk or call 01772 894286.

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