Things to do at home this February half term

Looking for at-home entertainment for your family this half term? Bristol businesses have you covered – from Aardman’s brand new Wallace and Gromit augmented reality game to an online Lunar New Year Festival, family-friendly theatre shows and virtual art classes.

Planetarium Nights At Home - Life in the Universe with We The Curious

While the We The Curious silver dome remains closed, their Planetarium Nights are making a virtual return. Launch into space via Zoom with their new show ‘Life in the Universe’. It will explore how astronomers search for planets, explore how and where life could evolve and consider how an encounter with alien life might work out for humanity.

Image - Planetarium Nights, credit Evans & Sutherland Digistar

Lunar New Year Festival: Year of the Ox with Bristol Museum & Art Gallery

To celebrate the Lunar New Year of the Ox, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery have collaborated with KALA CHNG to host an online festival that will run from 12 February to 30 January 2022. Join in at home with activities including dance, music, craft, Chinese yoga, Chinese meditation and a panel discussion on being Asian and South East Asian in the UK.  

Image - Bristol Museum & Art Gallery

Bristol Old Vic At Home

Bristol Old Vic Theatre has a variety of shows you can stream as part of their At Home Season Pass. The pass costs £12.99 and gives you access to five productions, including family-friendly shows such as Swallows and Amazons, A Christmas Carol and The Night that Autumn Turned to Winter, as well as their productions of The Grinning Man and Messiah (both suitable for those aged 12+). 

Younger kids will love Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar puppet show, which the theatre has on demand for £14.50 until 28 February.  

Image - The Night Autumn Turned To Winter, credit Jack Offord

Pongo's Party with Redgrave Theatre

Pongo’s Party is another fun at-home puppet show for kids. Featuring a colourful farmyard of loveable characters and the voice of children’s TV favourite Justin Fletcher, it’s available to stream for 28 days for £9.99.

Lockdown Lambing Live with Avon Valley Adventure & Wildlife Park

Take a peek at how the ewes and newborn lambs of Avon Valley are doing from the comfort of your home via Facebook. Join the supporters page for extra behind-the-scenes videos. 

We Are Family | Let's Make Art Online: Hidden Self with Arnolfini

Contemporary arts centre Arnolfini is helping children explore their emotions during these uncertain times with a free family-focused event called Hidden Self. Co-hosted by Bristol art duo Let’s Make Art, the event teaches children to make a standing cardboard portrait of themselves, exploring emotions portrayed in their inward and outward personas.

Arnolfini is also hosting remote exhibition walkthroughs of Jo Spence: From Fairy Tales to Phototherapy, Photography from the Hyman Collection and another exhibition from Rising Arts Agency film-maker Manoel Akure called A Picture of Health.  

Image - Arnolfini

Half term activities from The New Room

From map making to homemade Georgian-inspired costumes, check out five ideas for projects based around the life of John Wesley, who built The New Room in 1739. 

Virtual tour of Underfall Yard

For children and adults with an interest in Victorian and Georgian engineering, book a free place on the virtual tour of Bristol Harbourside’s Underfall Yard on 20 February. The tour gives an overview of the historic floating harbour as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the yard’s machines in action and how Bristol used to be powered in Victorian days.

Image - Underfall Yard

Junior Drawing School with the RWA

The Royal West of England Academy is hosting an online Junior Drawing School on 15, 17 and 18 February, aimed at children aged 7 years and over. The half term workshops celebrate LGBTQ+ History Month and are themed on Fabric Fun, Mandalas, and The Art of Taking Away (negative space).    

• 6 highlights for LGBT+ History Month in Bristol

Image - RWA

Grow your own herbs with Jekka’s

Introduce some gardening into your half term with Jekka’s Grow At Home herb kits – great fun for kids as well as grown-ups. Look out for new salad and spring kits, coming very soon.

Image - Jekka's

Walking the Somerset Landscape with Martin Hesp & Somerset Rural Life Museum

This online talk on 18 February will explore some of Somerset’s literary heroes including poets, pirates, philosophers and playwrights such as Terry Pratchett, John Cleese and John Locke. Tickets cost between £5 and £10, depending on what you can afford. 

Wallace & Gromit: The Big Fix Up

Join Wallace and Gromit on a first-of-its-kind augmented reality adventure. The duo has a new business venture called ‘Spick & Spanners’ which has won a contract to clean and fix the whole of Bristol. Download the app to become part of their mystery-solving clean-up crew from your home. Famous voices taking part include Jim Carter, Miriam Margolyes, Issy Suttie and Ben Whitehead.

Join #wallaceandgromit in a first-of-its-kind AR adventure, featuring a new story that YOU can take part in! The duo have a new business venture, ‘Spick & Spanners’, which has won a contract to clean and fix the whole of Bristol… There's a LOT do do. Pre-order the app now! 🚀 pic.twitter.com/UzPd96uXm3

— Wallace & Gromit: Big Fix Up (@thebigfixup) December 11, 2020

Big Jeff Johns: Welcome To My World

Jeff Johns aka Big Jeff is a well-known music lover who is often seen bouncing at the front of the Bristol’s best live music shows. Now, he has launched an art exhibition called Big Jeff Johns - Welcome to My World, a collection of 34 of his paintings at Bristol Beacon, all reflecting his love of live music and his struggles living with anxiety. You can view the artwork virtually and buy prints online too.

Image - Big Jeff

Well That Escalated Quickly with Bristol Improv Theatre

Join in with a multiplayer interactive storytelling game, designed and facilitated by Bristol Improv Theatre. No improv or performing experiencing is needed – just an internet connection, your imagination and a readiness to jump in and play.

Enjoy Bristol from Home

We’ve got even more fun things to do in our Bristol from Home hub: games, bingo and quizzes, virtual tours of Bristol attractions, colouring-in sheets, lists of film and TV made in Bristol, ways to beat lockdown boredom at home and a whole cookbook of recipes from the city’s best restaurants and cafes to recreate at home.  

So even though we can’t invite you to enjoy the city in person this year, you can still have a Bristol-themed half term. Let us know what you get up to using #BristolFromHome on Instagram and Twitter.

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