PlayLab: What will you create?

PlayLab: What will you create? is at Salisbury Arts Centre on Tuesday 16 February, a full-day creative workshop for children aged 7 to 11. It's set for the February half term, so it's one of those things that can take up a whole day while the schools are out.

The day is built around three different ways of making: craft, drama and performance. The craft side is about working with materials, the drama is about games and acting, and the performance is about getting those things in front of people. The PlayLab describes it as a space to experiment, discover and unlock the imagination, and they put the three together rather than keeping them separate. The idea is that the craft feeds into the drama, and the drama leads to a performance, so the kids get to see a project through from a pile of materials to something they can actually show off.

They talk about it as a world of colour, creativity and curiosity, and they say the combination of craft, drama and performance is what sparks the big ideas. It's less about following a set plan and more about seeing what happens when you let children play with these different tools at once. If you've got a child who loves making things but is a bit shy, or one who loves the spotlight but doesn't know where to start, this is the kind of session that lets them lean into both.

It runs from 10am to 4pm, and there's an option to extend the day to 9am to 5pm for an extra £10.00, which is handy if you need a bit more breathing room around the school run. They ask that everyone brings a water bottle and a packed lunch, so you'll want to have those sorted before you drop them off. The workshop is for 7 to 11-year-olds, and it's held at Salisbury Arts Centre on Tuesday 16 February.