The 3foot People Festival 2018

The award-winning 3foot People Festival – the UK’s largest outdoor festival exclusively for pre-school children – is returning to Chelmsford this summer for their biggest year yet.

Three days of fun will descend onto the scenic grounds of Hylands Park on 26, 27 and 28 June for the 3foot People Festival. This hugely popular event will be welcoming over 14,000 pre-school children, parents and carers who can expect to be overwhelmed with wonder as they experience this truly unique festival.

The festival’s beautiful village of assorted tents will create areas jam-packed full of activities, performances and sessions to explore. This year’s line-up will make sure all are entertained from the minute they arrive!

Sports Zone

This year’s sports zone, sponsored by St Cedd’s School, Chelmsford, returns for festival goers to get active. There’s plenty of ‘have a go’ sessions for the little ones to develop their balance and co-ordination skills – these include: athletics, basketball, cycling, football, gymnastics, hockey, martial arts, mini trampolines and tennis.

Play, Make and Do

Exploring creativity, through interactive involvement, is strongly encouraged at 3foot and that’s exactly what goes on in the play, make and do tents. Attendees can expect lots of arts and crafts opportunities and even the chance to create a magical wand, plus lots of hands on sensory messy fun with food play, water play, potion making and den building. Returning is the exciting ‘Boxed In’ tent, creating a truly unique cardboard kingdom. This exciting area is sponsored by Seymour House, Chelmsford, who will be bringing along their own crafting activities and even a chillout zone giving the adults a chance to relax.

Theatre and Storytelling

The 3foot’s performances are sure to entertain whilst letting the imagination of mini festival goers go wild. Whether this be an intimate story time session within a secluded tented village, or one of the spectacular shows in our big tops. Expect a fairy-tale adventure for all the knights and princesses, an immersive experience with the infamous art cannon, lots of wonderful puppet performances, a potato puppet playground and more. In 3foot’s continual work to make the festival accessible for everyone, scheduled shows will include British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation.

Music and Movement

3foot loves to encourage children to get active, and nothing is better for little ones than moving and dancing. In one of the dedicated music, movement or dance spaces there will be lots of musical magic with multi-sensory experiences, such as the much-loved all-day disco and even a baby rave! Movement is encouraged through numerous dance taster sessions and lots of activities to develop balance and agility of toddlers.

Animal Zone

There are more animals landing at 3foot this year than ever before, in the new secluded wooded area, which is sponsored by New Hall School. The mini petting farm will allow you to get up close with some farm favourites like chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep and giant bunnies. The experience doesn’t end there, as the mini exotic zoo will include animals a little more tropical such as parrots, snakes, bearded dragons and parakeets.

Plus, the rest…

Roll up, roll up as the 3foot People Festival introduces Joskins Fayre an interactive carnival zone, one you’re sure to love! Returning this year is the popular ‘Horse World’, a playground of rocking horses and more to be explored and enjoyed whilst providing the much-loved chill out zone for adults. The bouncy castles are back too, with an exciting inflatable helter-skelter for 2018. Sponsors, Fundamentally Children, also return with their interactive play tent providing endless play equipment for all to enjoy.

The 3foot team has lined up more than one or two tasty treats and food outlets for all to stay fuelled throughout the day, with healthy, vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options available. The organisers care about the environment, so the site operates a full recycling scheme for all the waste. Sponsors Essex and Suffolk Water will be bringing along Flo, their vehicle promoting their refill scheme – working together to reduce plastic waste. Plus, lots more!

Join in the fun…

Tickets for 2018 are priced at £2 for 0-1 year olds, £6 for 1-2 year olds, £12 for 2-5 year olds and £12 for adult carers (aged 16 years or over) – all little and big people (including babies) require a ticket to enter the Festival. Car parking tickets are £3 per car, with return bus tickets priced £5 for adult carers, £3 for 2-5 year olds and free to under 2s. Car park and bus tickets need to be purchased in advance.

Tickets are available online at www.chelmsford.gov.uk/3foot or from the Civic Theatre Box Office, Fairfield Road, CM1 1JG, over the counter or by calling 01245 606505.

To keep up-to-date visit www.chelmsford.gov.uk/3foot, or follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/3footfestival and Instagram www.instagram.com/3footfestival

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