A Visit to Dinosaur World Live

We were delighted to be offered the chance to visit Dinosaur World Live for free, courtesy of Let’s Go with the Children.

We attended this show at G Live in Guildford. There were free stickers for all the children plus a range of dinosaur merchandise available to purchase. Son2 had come prepared with 3 of his cuddly dinosaurs, but he still managed to persuade us to buy another for his menagerie, this time a triceratops.

Leading lady Miranda played by Elizabeth Mary Williams is supported by a team of puppeteers who skilfully control the dinosaurs. These range from small handheld puppets to the huge 10m long T-rex. Miranda draws in the audience right from the start when she places a dinosaur egg at the corner of the stage, asking everyone to call her name if it looks like hatching. Of course there are plenty of false hatching alerts throughout the performance. Miranda weaves her magic, telling us about the dinosaurs she grew up with who have come from a far-off island, introducing each one in turn.

The large triceratops was son1’s favourite whilst the huge T-rex was his Dad’s favourite. We did get to meet baby versions of both of these earlier.

A few children are invited up onto stage to participate in activities like feeding or tickling a dinosaur. It was nice to see that they weren’t all from the front row. We all got the chance to roar. And at the end of the show, there was the opportunity for all children to meet and touch some of the dinosaurs – a large one on stage and 2 small ones in the foyer.

It was a fantastic interactive performance and dinosaurs looked so realistic, that you almost forgot the puppeteers standing there. Miranda had the whole audience mesmerised, even the youngest children were watching in awe.

The audience were actively encouraged to take photographs during the performance, although mine were shared afterwards as I had already discovered before the start that there didn’t seem to be any internet connection in the venue.

Suitable for all ages from 3+ and just under an hour long. Not too scary or loud, although I did notice some small children in front of us wearing headphones. With some lighting effects and smoke.

This show is touring round the country and I do highly recommend that you take your children to see it.

Son2’s favourite part was when the dinosaur egg finally hatched just before the end and then its mum turned up. He loved the tiny voice of the baby as the two communicated together. In fact, the puppeteers all had marvellous ventriloquist skills with different sounds for each species.

And G-Live is a very nice modern venue, with a large tiered auditorium. It does have it’s own carpark, but there were only a few spaces left when we arrived half an hour early, so do allow plenty of time before the performance. It also has its own cafe which we didn’t sample as well as a bar. We checked that drinks could be taken into the show.

I’d love to hear what is your favourite dinosaur. Mine is the brontosaurus.

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This review also appears on https://letsgowiththechildren.co.uk

Disclosure. This post is a review of a show which we saw for free.  All opinions are my own.

Our Shadow Puppet Shows

We didn’t watch much television this time last year apart from CBBC, as it was just weeks after son1’s diagnosis of leukaemia. So I didn’t see Attraction win Britain’s Got Talent 2013 with their shadow dancing.

Swinton Insurance has recently teamed up with Attraction, to develop an advertising campaign employing the group’s specialist shadow dancing skills to bring the Swinton brand to life with an emphasis on ‘people’ rather than just ‘product’. You can view the latest TV ad here.

Swinton have now challenged bloggers to create a shadow puppet story. They sent us a free shadow puppet kit to use.

Son1 got really into this and it was amazing seeing him come up with his storyline to accompany the puppets. No preparation, just straight off the cuff. Maybe he has a future career on the stage. Meanwhile son2 and dad held the theatre curtain, while mum did the filming.

Our shadow puppet show

And son2 joined in for the second shadow puppet story. We found a better solution for the theatre curtain, hanging it across 2 door handles, although it was a bit of a tight squeeze backstage for the boys, puppets and lamp. This one is 7 minutes long. Son2’s puppets appear a little blurry as he hadn’t quite the hang of how best to position them.

I then realised that Swinton only wanted us to send them a 1-2 minute video, so here is take 3. A different story theme this time.

Also it inspired son2 to make his own Mr Punch puppet. He wanted to colour his puppet in, but this isn’t necessary for a shadow puppet show. All you need is to cut the outline from a piece of cardboard and attach it to a stick. The stick is so that you can easily hold your puppet without your fingers getting in the way and spoiling the shadow shape of your puppet.

Son2 made a Mr Punch puppet

The boys love these shadow puppets and are having so much fun putting on shadow puppet shows. All you need is a lamp and a dark room. The latter was a bit tricky at this time of year, as even with the curtains shut, the brightness of the sun still sneaks in.

All we need now is a more receptive audience than a row of teddies!

Disclosure.  This post mentions a product I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.