Family Events 2023

… and meet a wizard, four cowboys, and a show that’s come direct from the Royal Institution in London. Dr Steven ‘Jake’ Jacobs, aka Wizard IV, former chief scientist for the Discovery Channel, has brought the four members of the legendary country group Riders in the Sky to help him tell stories of science.

Explore the fossilised remains of Lake Orcadie’s ancient fish and work together with artist Mary Grieve to help create a shoal of shadows, designing and building a shadow puppet fish to recreate the water world of Devonian times, in an era before life came ashore leading to reptiles, birds, mammals and us.

See the planetarium. Carry out a mission to Mars. Study starlight. Build a mammoth skeleton. Learn how to control robots. See a 2,000-year-old computer model. Find out about offshore wind and tidal power. Explore a kelp forest in virtual reality. Make a cloud chamber. Model a virus ... and much more!

Thistle Wind Partners invite you to come along for a play and live experiments about the greatest engineering adventure of our time. The play features three of Scotland’s most exciting theatrical and TV actors: Kit Laveri, Stuart Falconer and Stuart Fenwick. Engineers of history, Archimedes and James Watt, challenge the Goddess of the Wind Zephyra to demonstrate that offshore wind engineering can really work! Can we achieve the next generation of floating turbines? Find out in this family show.

Join Cat Martin-Lennie from Historic Environment Scotland to find out about the carvings inside Maeshowe chambered cairn, and have a go at making your own wall art. Explore your creativity through art and self-expression, and continue the Maeshowe tradition!

Thistle Wind Partners invite you to come along for a play and live experiments about the greatest engineering adventure of our time. The play features three of Scotland’s most exciting theatrical and TV actors: Kit Laveri, Stuart Falconer and Stuart Fenwick. Engineers of history, Archimedes and James Watt, challenge the Goddess of the Wind Zephyra to demonstrate that offshore wind engineering can really work! Can we achieve the next generation of floating turbines? Find out in this family show.

Greetings Earthlings big and small! My spaceship will be heading to Earth in September – but I have some problems with my Auntie-Gravity suit. I may materialise from the Space Ship Imagination in a sitting position rather than a standing one. Uncle Gravity has advised that energetic singing and dancing around a Sat-Me-Doon-Boom may help the suit’s power system recover – so your help is needed!

Thistle Wind Partners invite you to come along for a play and live experiments about the greatest engineering adventure of our time. The play features three of Scotland’s most exciting theatrical and TV actors: Kit Laveri, Stuart Falconer and Stuart Fenwick. Engineers of history, Archimedes and James Watt, challenge the Goddess of the Wind Zephyra to demonstrate that offshore wind engineering can really work! Can we achieve the next generation of floating turbines? Find out in this family show.

As part of the Viking Week, Orkney Archaeology Society and Orkney Time Travel invite you to a Family Day at the Earl’s Bu and Round Kirk in Orphir. Orkneyinga Saga Centre will be open. Outside will be a mixture of fun family-friendly activities, including storytelling from Viking mythology and sagas, Viking crafts, fun and games.

Explore the fossilised remains of Lake Orcadie’s ancient fish and work together with artist Mary Grieve to help create a shoal of shadows, designing and building a shadow puppet fish to recreate the water world of Devonian times, in an era before life came ashore leading to reptiles, birds, mammals and us.