Toy Reviews: Hasbro Marvel Thor: Ragnarok Toys

With the new Marvel film, Thor: Ragnarok being released later this month, we’ve been taking a look at some of the toys and merchandise from the film. Hasbro have recently unveiled their range of toys to coincide with the release; including the Hulk Out Mask, Hulk Smash Fx Fists and Thor Rumble Strike Hammer.

Toy Reviews: Marvel Thor: Ragnarok Toys from Hasbro

The Thor: Ragnarok Hulk Out Mask (£24.99) is a heavy duty Hulk mask with chin activated eyebrows. The mask has really good adjustable straps and is suitable for children aged 5+. I have quite a small head so it could fit me too. There is padding around the eyes and a chin paddle which you operate by opening your mouth. Pressing the paddle down with your chin opens the mouth and wiggles the eyebrows.

The wiggly eyebrows are what makes this mask for me. When you wiggle them, Hulk looks really angry, which makes me giggle. The mask doesn’t make any noises and doesn’t require batteries, so you do need to make your own Hulk sound effects, which is the best part.

My son (aged 6) loved the look of the mask but wasn’t that keen on wearing it, saying it squashed his nose a bit. I tried it on and it was fine for me and I have a much bigger nose and face than him. I do think it looks cool and would look brilliant if worn as part of a Halloween costume.

Toy Reviews: Marvel Thor: Ragnarok Toys from Hasbro

The Thor: Ragnarok Hulk Smash FX Fists (£33) set includes 2 fists which are perfect for Hulk smashing. There is one standard fist and one electronic fist which has three ways to smash and activate Hulk sound effects.

You can punch the air to set off the motion-activated whooshing and punching sounds, or punch down on a hard surface to activate the smash sounds and growling. If you continue to punch the surface repeatedly you will make the smash and roar effects noisier and wilder.

The Hulk Smash FX Fists are suitable for ages 5+ and come with demonstration batteries included, so they’re good to go as soon as they’re out of the box (you’ll need 2 AA batteries at some point to replace them though).

There is a warning (which bears repeating), not to punch or swing at people or animals and to use away from breakable objects. Although these are made from robust foam, if swung with enough force they could do a bit of damage. The battery compartment on the electronic fist is disguised as a glove which Hulk wears in the Thor: Ragnarok film

The fists come with an internal strap which you grip. Obviously they’re designed for children, but I had no trouble using them and didn’t find them too small (maybe I just have tiny presidential hands). The Hulk Smash FX Fists were a really big hit and we all really enjoyed playing with them. Out of the three Thor: Ragnarok toys, this was by far our favourite!

Toy Reviews: Marvel Thor: Ragnarok Toys from Hasbro

Lastly there is the Thor: Ragnarok Thor Rumble Strike Hammer (£19). This hammer is designed to look like the mighty Mjolnir from Thor: Ragnarok. It features spring-activated sound effects, which means there are no batteries required.

The Rumble Strike Hammer looks very similar to Thor’s Hammer but has rubber ends; so in theory it should do no damage if you get bashed with it. However if you get accidentally thwacked with the hard plastic sides of the hammer, it does hurt (speaks from experience).

The hammer is really sturdily made and the crashing sound effect is good, if a little samey. It is great for role playing and my son loved it; I just felt it was a little one dimensional, especially for the price.

Hasbro have some really interesting Marvel Thor: Ragnarok Toys available. Each of us liked different toys for different reasons. I loved the mask and my son and husband loved the Hulk Smash fists and Thor’s Hammer, so there really is something for everyone. Any one of these would make a great present for a Thor or Hulk fan this Christmas.

If you love Thor, you might also like this – Meet the new Schleich Marvel Thor Figurine.

Disclosure: We received these Hasbro Marvel Thor: Ragnarok Toys for the purposes of writing this review, all opinions and images are our own. Contains Amazon affiliate links.

Review: Milkshake! Brand New Besties DVD

When it comes to children’s DVDs, for me compilations are always a winner. There’s a little bit of everything they like and enough variety to keep them interested. My son loves these kind of DVDs too and was super-happy to get his hands on the new Milkshake! Brand New Besties DVD.

Giveaway & Review: Milkshake! Brand New Besties DVD

The Milkshake! Brand New Besties DVD features the biggest and brightest stars in pre-school television from Channel 5’s Milkshake! The Milkshake! Brand New Besties DVD guarantees over two hours of fabulous fun, magical mischief and awesome adventure.

This new DVD collection by Abbey Home Media is released on Monday 23rd October. The Milkshake! Brand New Besties DVD features some real pre-school heroes, including PAW Patrol, Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom, Peppa Pig, Fireman Sam, Poppy Cat, Noddy, Toyland Detective and Bob the Builder.

Episodes featured in the new Milkshake! Brand New Besties DVD include…

PAW Patrol – In ‘Pups Save the Paw Patroller’, Mayor Humdinger has swiped the PAW Patroller! The pups need to get it back and save that meddling mayor too.

Bob The Builder – In ‘Where’s Pilchard?’, when Muck has to shoo Pilchard out of his way, she suddenly vanishes. Leo and the machines run around trying to find her before Bob realises she’s disappeared.

Peppa Pig – In ‘Playing Pretend’, when Peppa’s bike gets a flat tyre and needs fixing, Peppa and her friends have fun riding their imaginary bikes and jumping in pretend muddy puddles.

Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom – In ‘Lucy’s Elf & Fairy Party’, Lucy celebrates her birthday with an Elf and Fairy party. Lucy’s Dad does a magic show but things get a bit out of hand when Princess Holly and her friends join in…

Fireman Sam – In ‘Best Sleepover Ever’, Norman, Mandy, Sarah and James are having a sleepover at Mandy’s house. Norman is determined that it will be the ‘Best Sleepover Ever’. 

Puffin Rock – In ‘Mossy Impossible’, Oona is in danger. She’s tangled up in fishing twine near Seagull Cliff and the seagulls will be back soon! Mossy and Bernie try to free her, but they need help from Mama and Papa Puffin.

Noddy, Toyland Detective – In ‘Broken Crystal Memory Game’, Noddy needs to find out who broke the Crystal Memory Game before the start of the Daredale Challenge Obstacle Race!

Thomas & Friends – In ‘Toby’s New Friend’, Philip spots Toby and assumes that he is a diesel boxcab just like him. Convinced that they will become best friends, Philip rushes up to introduce himself, but Toby finds him rather overwhelming.

With a run time of 133 minutes and with a U Rating, this is a brilliant DVD for Milkshake! fans. You can dip in and out as you wish, or watch it all in one go. There are 14 different shows on the DVD, so there’s plenty to keep young ones occupied and interested, especially as it’s currently available for just £5.99 on Amazon! At that price it’s the kind of DVD that would make a great little gift or stocking filler for a pre-schooler!

Giveaway & Review: Milkshake! Brand New Besties DVD

Veeno Manchester Selezione Wine Tasting Experience

 We were invited guests of Veeno Manchester and we were not asked to pay for our experience. All images and opinions are our own. Please note that Veeno Manchester is now closed.

Last week I visited Veeno in Manchester with a friend to try their Selezione Wine Tasting Experience. Veeno is an Italian Wine Café which first opened in Manchester in 2013 and now has 15 cafés across the UK. We went along to try one of their wine tasting experiences, but what did we think?

The tasting experience we opted for was their Selezione wine tasting which costs £26.90 per person. This features five wines from their family vineyard in Sicily. Each wine is paired with a range of spuntini appetisers; an array of meats, cheeses and other appetisers imported from strictly selected Italian producers and presented on a sharing platter.

Veeno Manchester Selezione Wine Tasting Experience

We arrived at Veeno Manchester and we were shown to our table by Sam, our wine guide for the afternoon. We were offered a glass of prosecco (£6 each) and we chatted and looked at the list of wines we were going to try during the next two hours. All of the Veeno “family wines” come from Caruso & Minini, the family vineyard in Sicily and the wine list is extensive and well considered.

Sam soon came over with our Italian nibbles. He explained that each element on the platter would be paired with a wine, so we resisted the urge to eat the whole platter in one go. A remarkable show of restraint on our part.

Veeno Manchester Selezione Wine Tasting Experience

We began with a small glass of Grillo, a soft, buttery white wine which paired beautifully with the mozzarella and was dangerously easy to drink. Next up was a glass of Zibibbo, a delightfully and surprisingly floral wine which reminded us both of Turkish delight, which was a good thing. This was one of my most favourite wines from the afternoon. Again this was matched with a cheese, this time a delicately smoked scamorza affumicata.

Moving on to the Syrah Rosato Tasari, I’m not a great fan of rosé. I worry that all rosé is cheap, nasty pink stuff made for people who don’t really like wine. I need to get over that prejudice and this helped. The Syrah Rosato Tasari was matched to the parma ham; which as a veggie I couldn’t eat but made an approximation from the mozzarella and olives.

Veeno Manchester Selezione Wine Tasting Experience

Our next tipple was a glass of Perricone, a hearty but not heavy red with beautiful black cherry flavours. This was matched with some bresola, which again I couldn’t sample but nibbled at the cheese and olives instead.

Last of the wines was the Nero D’avola which I described as “not shy”. This was rich and fruity, almost like Christmas cake fruits. This was paired with Gorgonzola and walnut which was almost a revelatory experience. The Nero D’avola was so intensely flavoured, it felt like it needed to be sipped in front of a roaring fire. What a find!

To finish off our Veeno wine tasting experience we were given a large portion of tiramisu to share and a small glass of Marsala wine each. The tiramisu was a great end to the meal and the Marsala sent us out into the cool autumn chill with a nice warm glow.

Veeno Manchester Selezione Wine Tasting Experience

The experience took around two hours. It was nicely paced without either of us feeling pressured into downing our drinks to move on to the next one. Each glass was a 70ml measure, which was plenty. The experience costs £26.90 per person and we felt it was a fair price; especially given the quality of food, drink and expertise on offer.

Sam was excellent, very helpful and knowledgeable. He took us through each wine; explaining about the grape, how the wine is made, what kind of things we should be getting when we taste the wine and also what foods work well with each wine variety. The experience was excellent and all the better for having Sam talk us though it all.

We had a very pleasant afternoon at Veeno. I tried some excellent wines and ate some lovely food. I learned a few things about wine and wine making and we managed to have a gossip and a catch up whilst watching the world go by. We liked it so much that we’ve booked to go again next month!

For more information about Veeno and their wine tasting experiences, visit their website.

How to organise a successful charity bake sale

Over the weekend I organised and ran a successful charity bake sale. We raised £275 in a little over an hour for a worthy cause. I really had no idea how to go about organising a charity bake sale, but with some help and organisation, what we did was a success.

Here’s my guide to organising a charity bake sale…

Enlist the help of keen bakers who are sympathetic to your cause.

As soon as I realised I had been put in charge of organising the bake sale I contacted a group of my friends and asked them (begged them, I actually begged them) to help. They all very, very kindly offered to bake crumbles, cakes and gingerbread men for the big day. I also asked for someone to help manage the stall during the sale and my kind friend Sarah offered her services.

How to organise a successful charity bake sale

Sell little bit of everything.

If you can, try to have a good variety of cakes, bakes and biscuits on sale. I baked 50 butterfly cakes which I sold for 50p each, a low-cost item will sell well, especially to children who want a little treat. Individual bakes sold well; flapjacks, brownies, buns, cupcakes and gingerbread men all disappeared quite quickly.

Try and have a range of products of different sizes and at various price points which will appeal to different people. Large crumbles and whole cakes sold well, with many people taking them home as a nice family treat. Also, don’t forget to bake some things suitable for vegans and people who are gluten-free or dairy free.

Be organised.

I’ve never done anything like this before so I knew I had to be organised. I made a list of things I’d need. Such as £20 in change as a “float”, aprons and latex gloves, kitchen towel, knives, paper plates, sandwich bags and larger plastic bags, stickers to write prices on and a couple of pens. I also bought a tablecloth, which I forgot on the day. I’m not as organised as I thought!

Ask for extra help.

Although I had my friends baking away for the sale, we asked the rest of the church to help out if they could. Several people brought along excellent cakes, tarts and crumbles. When I laid everything out it seemed like there was far too much and I’d never sell it all. How wrong I was.

How to organise a successful charity bake sale

Advertise your charity bake sale!

Spread the word. People generally love homemade cakes, especially if they’re being sold in aid of a charity or cause they support. In our case the charity bake sale was mentioned in the church newsletter and we spread the word on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Believe!

Reader, we sold the lot! Well almost everything, the very few items that were left I bought and brought home to feed my hungry hoards.

Together we raised £275 in just over an hour of sales after one church service. We had billed it as a one-off harvest festival style bake sale. I think if we ran one on a regular basis it wouldn’t be quite as popular, but we did well. We did really well. Huge thanks to everyone who baked and everyone who bought.

There’s still a long way to go before we hit the £50k target we need to raise before the end of the year, but we did our bit. We baked some cakes, raised some money and spread a bit of cakey joy throughout South Manchester.

How to organise a successful charity bake sale

Days Out: Wild Discovery at Ribby Hall

At the end of August I took the small boy away for five days at Ribby Hall in Lancashire. We had a brilliant little break, but one of the highlights was visiting the small independent zoo which is on the site, Wild Discovery. We’ve been to zoos large and small, but never have we experienced anything like the interactive and hands-on experience we had at Wild Discovery.

Days Out: Wild Discovery at Ribby Hall

From our cottage at Ribby Hall we could see some of the enclosures at Wild Discovery, which is quite special if you’re staying in the village. We set aside an afternoon to spend exploring Wild Discovery. It’s the kind of thing you can whip around in half an hour, or you could easily spend a day exploring and interacting. We went twice during our stay, which tells you how much we enjoyed it.

There are lots of different animals and birds at Wild Discovery; from farmyard animals like rare breed pigs, pretty little calves, a reindeer, chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, sheep and even an orphan duck. There’s an exotic house with bats, insects, reptiles and some fish, as well as tortoise, armadillo and lovely little marmoset monkeys.

The favourites with the children were the meerkats, obviously. The family group at Wild Discovery are great fun, especially at feeding time. We were lucky enough to be there a few times when they were being fed. They are such funny, cheeky little creatures.

Days Out: Wild Discovery at Ribby Hall

There is a safari walk which takes you past all the birds, past the Asian small-clawed otters, the capybara, pelicans, alpaca, wallaby’s, rhea and the porcupine (adorably called Pricklelilly).

My son was particularly taken with the Asian small-clawed otters Ollie and Geoff. During a keeper session we helped to put together an enrichment activity for them, putting live mealworms into a ball for the otters to play with and eat. We ended up spending quite a lot of time watching Geoff and Ollie playing in their enclosure and ultimately adopting them both. (We’re planning to visit them again soon).

Days Out: Wild Discovery at Ribby Hall

There are regular sessions throughout the day which you are free to join in with. The sessions are listed on their website, but they currently include; the Farmyard Talk; an Enrichment Activity; Otter Talk and Feed; Pelican Feeding Talk; Meerkat Talk; Farmyard Talk; Armadillo Talk and Meet the Keeper.

These sessions are what made Wild Discovery so special for us both. We really loved that you could spend time with the staff learning about the animals. The keepers would often let you touch the animals or feed them if appropriate. One of our highlights was discovering a freshly laid (unfertilised) rhea egg and getting to touch it while it was still warm.

Days Out: Wild Discovery at Ribby Hall

We learned so much at Wild Discovery, it’s such a friendly place and so hands on. It’s still quite new, I know they have plans to build and extend what they have and add new animals over the next few years or so. It’s such a great place to visit, even if you’re not staying at Ribby Hall.

Wild Discovery will also feature on popular the Cbeebies TV programme “Fern & Rory’s Vet Tales” in 2018. The programme will feature Wild Discovery and showcase several of the animals in the zoo. They will also feature a behind the scenes look into the work of the Exotic Veterinary Team. Worth looking out for!

Tickets to Wild Discovery (with unlimited access for one day) are £7 for adults and £6 for children. Under 3’s go free. For more information about visiting Wild Discovery  visit their website.

We paid for our tickets to Wild Discovery. We’ve not been paid to write this post. We are just sharing a lovely experience of a great attraction.

Review: Storytime Magazine for kids

Sometime last year we were given a copy of Storytime Magazine to read with the boy. I was immediately impressed with the beautiful illustrations and the stories which were just the right length for a bedtime story. Each issue was filled with stand alone stories with some related activities. The boy recently picked up a copy and with his new-found confidence with independent reading, read it over and over and over, to the point of near obsession.

At first I wasn’t sure how he would feel about reading a magazine instead of a book (because he can be a bit funny like that sometimes), but he went nuts for it. Every night he would race to bed so we could read several stories together. Each story was the perfect length for a bedtime story and beautifully illustrated. Overnight, Storytime Magazine became a firm favourite with us both.

Giveaway & Review: Storytime Magazine for kids

Storytime Magazine is a kids’ magazine full of great stories. It’s packed with fairy tales, myths, poems, and much more; all of which are beautifully written and illustrated, with puzzles, games and colouring in too. What I really like about it is there are no adverts. I always find adverts quite distracting, so it’s nice not to have to fend off an attack of the I wants when you’re reading together.

I feel like we’ve stuck gold with Storytime Magazine. Every story is interesting, exciting and seems very different to his school books, but at the same time it’s all linked to his curriculum. At this point reading, all reading is great for him and if we can instill a love of reading then it opens up wonderful, fantastical worlds for him to discover.

Giveaway & Review: Storytime Magazine for kids

My son really loves his Storytime Magazine. He likes to flick through and really study the illustrations before picking out a story for us to read. We’ve always enjoyed reading together. These magazines are a bit different and in a world full of school books and reading schemes. Reading these stories together isn’t a chore, or like homework. It just feels like we’re reading for pleasure and that is such a lovely gift to share with your child.

For more information or to subscribe to Storytime Magazine, visit their website.

I contacted Storytime Magazine and told them how much we loved them. They kindly send us two issues of Storytime for the boy with no obligation to review them. All images and opinions are our own.

Meal Planning Monday w/c 16th October 2017

Although I meal plan every single week, I rarely blog about meal planning. I thought I’d share what we’re having for dinner this week at Casa HodgePodgeDays. Our evenings are busy; husband runs, the boy has after school things and homework. Plus I am often finishing off work or going out to things.

Dinner needs to be quick, easy, fairly well-balanced and tasty enough for us all to eat without complaint. It usually falls to me to prepare and serve dinner. I’m trying to persuade my husband to cook once a week for us. I’ve told him it doesn’t need to be fancy. It just needs to be tasty and not something I’ve had to think about or prepare.

To his (sort of) credit, he did go out and buy the ingredients for hot dogs for last Saturday night, he just never got round to actually cooking them, which I ended up doing. The dream would be to have someone do meal prep and delivery every night, but my fairy godmother hasn’t come up trumps with that yet.

Meal Planning Monday – What’s on our menu this week…

Meal Planning Monday w/c 16th October 2017

It’s all pretty simple fayre this week. It’s meals like beef stew or sweet and sour pork which can sit bubbling away gently in the slow cooker for the afternoon. Or quick to cook meals like spaghetti or risotto which I can have on the table in half an hour.

I am a hider of veg, so every meal will contain several vegetables finely chopped or grated into them. Pretty much anything which goes in the slow cooker ends up with a carrot or two finely grated into the sauce. Once it cooks the carrot disappears like magic. Vegetable magic!

I’m also a veggie, so where meat is mentioned, eg pork, then I portion off some sauce before the meat goes in and add a substitute; maybe tofu, paneer, quorn or just my favourite chunky veg. Sometimes we all eat the veggie alternative, quorn meatballs are brilliant and we have them a lot!

The menu is a little potato heavy. I’ll mix things up with sweet potato mash, or pile extra veg onto their plates and put fewer chips on there. What do you think of my menu?

Is meal planning something you would like to read more about on my blog? Let me know in the comments box if you think I should do this more often. Thanks for reading!

Craft Kit Review: Out Of The Box Pebble Painting Kit

We were sent the Out Of The Box Pebble Painting Kit for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

It’s weird how some craft trends seem to come out of nowhere. Over the summer you couldn’t move for people painting pebbles, so I knew I needed to give it a try for myself. Despite pebble painting being a pretty simple craft, having a craft kit to get you started is always a good idea.

We tried the Out Of The Box Pebble Painting Kit (rrp £8). The kit is suitable for ages 3+ and contains everything you need to transform ordinary pebbles into beautiful characters or creatures.

Craft Kit Review: Out Of The Box Pebble Painting Kit

The Out Of The Box Pebble Painting Kit contains –

  • 5 x pebbles
  • Paint
  • Googly eyes
  • Felt
  • Glue
  • Gems
  • Pipe cleaners

The kit is well thought out with lots of decorations for your pebbles. It’s worth noting that once you’ve painted your pebbles you need to let them dry properly before you can decorate them. We painted them one day, left them to dry and then decorated them the next day.

You can paint and decorate them however you want. I wanted to copy a couple of the examples on the box; specifically the whale and the ladybird. My son wanted to do his own thing and make up his own magical creatures.

Craft Kit Review: Out Of The Box Pebble Painting Kit

These days I’m a complete glu dot convert because they are so quick and easy to use and you don’t have to wait for the glue to dry. So I put aside the glue which came with the kit in favour of some glu dots. This meant we could instantly stick on eyes, gems, pipe cleaners and felt pieces.

Pebble painting is a lovely, easy craft for people of all ages. It’s great for encouraging creativity, developing their imagination and developing hand – eye co-ordination. My son really liked painting and decorating the pebbles and was really enthusiastic about the whole process. I really enjoyed it too. Pebble painting is really good fun. We just need some more pebbles now!

The Out Of The Box Pebble Painting Kit is a great starter kit for this craft. My six year old approved of it and as it’s currently available for just £5 I think that’s excellent value for money and would make a great Christmas present for a crafty kid (or adult like me).

Craft Kit Review: Out Of The Box Pebble Painting Kit

Crafts: Spooky Halloween Pom Pom Spiders

Pom poms are a pretty easy thing to make and with a little imagination you can turn them into all kinds of different creatures and characters. This month I was tasked by Craft Merrily to create a Halloween craft. I’d been wanting to master my new pom pom maker, so I decided to make some pom pom spiders. They’re easier than you think and an easy craft to do with children.

Crafts: Spooky Halloween Pom Pom Spiders

We’ve all made pom poms before using two rings of cardboard you laboriously wind wool around, then cut, tie and you’re done. I’ve bought a set of pom pom makers on the recommendation of my friend Lucy – an expert pom pom maker. She is right, they really are a pom pom game changer!

Lucy showed me how to use the pom pom maker. You wind your wool around two semi-circles of the maker, then wind it around the other two semi-circles, clip them together, cut them and the tie them around the middle and you’re done. Easy. Not just easy, but quick and easy.

Crafts: Spooky Halloween Pom Pom Spiders

You can make your pom pom spiders as big or as small as you want (if you’re not sure how to make pom poms, there’s a video you can watch here). Use whatever colours you think would work best.

How to make Pom Pom Spiders

You will need –
Pom pom makers (or make your own cardboard rings)
A ball of wool
Scissors
Pipecleaner
Googly eyes
Bostik Glu Dots

How to make your Pom Pom Spiders –
Wind your wool around your pom pom maker, make sure you are generous with the winding. The more wool you use, the fuller your pom pom will be.

Before you cut and tie your pom pom, cut your spider legs out of the pipecleaners. I used four identical lengths of pipecleaner (which make 8 spiders legs). Twist the pipecleaners together in the middle and put them through the centre of your pom pom.

Cut the wool around your ring and tie you pom pom together tightly with a long length of wool. You should have a pom pom now, it may need trimming up slightly so it is even all over.

Using the Bostik Glu Dots and the googly eyes, stick eyes onto your pom pom spider. Bend its legs to make spiders legs. You pom pom spider is now complete. You can leave the long piece of wool on him or cut it off if you prefer.

Your pom pom spiders are ready for Halloween. Hang them around the house, make a pom pom spider garland out of them or decorate your Halloween party table with them. How would you use your pom pom spiders?

Crafts: Spooky Halloween Pom Pom Spiders

I am a Bostik craft blogger and I was sent the materials to create this craft from Craft Merrily. 

Check out my other craft tutorials here!

October Half Term Craft Workshops in Manchester

During October half term the Manchester Craft & Design Centre have teamed up with the Manchester Science Festival to let you get up close and personal with the chemicals, reactions and elements artists use in their art in a series of interactive craft workshops.

From Monday 23rd until Saturday 28 October 2017 the Manchester Craft & Design Centre will throw open the doors to their public workshop for a week of craft workshops and hands-on experiments.See a range of weird, wonderful and fascinating processes in action as artists create everything from jewellery to vessels sculptures and artworks.

You’ll also be invited to get stuck in yourself, getting to grips with craft workshops that’ll show you just how much science underpins everything in the art world. All the craft workshops are free of charge and there’s no booking required.

October Half Term Craft Workshops in Manchester

October Half Term Craft Workshops in Manchester

Monday 23 October, 2-5pm
Be inspired by glassmaker and jeweller Charlotte Verity and use the rare lampworking technique to melt glass to make your own bead to take away.

Tuesday 24 October, 2-5pm
Join artist Nell Smith to experiment with two methods of printmaking. Firstly using a small modern etching press to print a lino illustration and secondly using a 1950s Adana letterpress to overprint lettering.

Wednesday 25 October, 2-5pm
Give pewtersmithing a bash with Ella McIntosh of This Is Pewter. Test the boundaries of pewter by combining textures, pewter (a very soft metal), and the rolling mill to make your own keyring.

Thursday 26 October, 2-5pm
Gemma Scully specialises in water casting. This is heating different metals until they melt and then dropping them into different volumes of water. You’ll be able to try this fun process where the results are different every time.

Friday 27 October, 2-5pm
Learn about the properties of thermoplastics with Julia Roy Williams of Wonderhaus. We’ll be working with heat guns and perspex, learning how to heat and shape plastic to create wearable art jewellery.

Saturday 28 October, 2-5pm
Have a go at plique a jour enamelling with glass artist Helen Tiffany. Have a go at grinding the enamel and filling your own metal charm. Your charm will be fired for you to take away.

October Half Term Craft Workshops in Manchester

The Manchester Craft & Design Centre is located in the heart of Manchester’s creative Northern Quarter. This former Victorian fish and poultry market is home to 18 independent studio shops. Over 30 talented artists and designer-makers are based there and create and sell their handmade work direct to the public.

All of these craft workshops are free of charge and there’s no booking required.