Active Poetry

Ideal for 6-12-year-olds

The Event
Active Poetry with poet and children’s author Juli Frances Taylor is a fabulously noisy and energetic session based around rhyming, word games and poetry. It will include:

- Run-and-Rhyme: think musical statues but with hidden cartoon pictures and rhymes.
- Silly Sentences: children are encouraged to draw, write or tell a story about a nonsense sentence.
- Wacky Wordplay: children will choose their own rhyming words to complete a short poem.
- Build-a-Poem: work together to find the couplets of a unique acrostic poem then assemble them in the correct order to find the hidden message!
- The Rhyming Tree: a tree has a key word on each branch – work out the clues and attach the rhyming words correctly.

Along with the games, Juli will read several of her own poems. The children will be encouraged to participate by shouting out the refrain, offering their own ideas and discussing content.

About Juli Frances Taylor
Juli Frances Taylor writes poems and stories in rhyme for 5-12 year olds and runs a free wordplay and creative session called Active Poetry in primary schools and libraries. Her first book, Amazing Albert The Hero, was published in 2023 and she’s planning to have a book of children’s poems out in October 2026.

Juli appears regularly on BBC Upload – she was the only children’s writer to be selected for the national BBC Upload Festival – and occasionally gives interviews on creative writing, poetry and children’s imagination on BBC Oxford and BBC Gloucester. She contributes to print and online papers and magazines and has a number of poems published on The Dirigible Balloon website. Her work covers many subjects from silly wordplay to more serious matters such as separation and bereavement

Tickets
Children under 12 must have an adult with them at all times. Babes in arms do not require a ticket.

• Adult or Child Financial Aid Ticket: £4
  For anyone who would otherwise be unable to attend on a standard ticket

• Adult or Child Standard Ticket: £5
  The regular ticket price, covering the cost of your place at the event

• Adult or Child Pay It Forward Ticket: £6
  If you're able to pay a little more, your extra £1 helps subsidise Financial Aid tickets

About Storytale Festival

Since 2019, Storytale has run its annual children’s storytelling festival right in the centre of Bristol. We believe that all children should have the chance to be inspired by the power of stories, whether told, heard, read or watched. Our festival aims to be affordable, diverse, and supportive of our amazingly talented local writers and artists.

To find out more about Storytale Festival, and any other events and activities we’re cooking up, visit our website at https://www.storytalefestival.com/

Directions
We The Curious is in Millennium Square in the centre of Bristol. There is plenty of cycle parking, it is a short walk from many city centre bus stops and 20 minutes from Bristol Temple Meads. You could also get a ferry!

If you are travelling by car, the venue is within the Bristol Clean Air Zone so you may incur a fee if you use a vehicle. There is a car park directly underneath the venue, with 22 blue badge spaces and lifts for access. Use BS1 5LL to get to Millennium Square Car Park.

More details of how to reach the venue are here Getting here | We The Curious

About the venue
We The Curious is an interactive science museum, with a cafe, shop and main entrance. Storytale Festival is on the top floor, accessible from the side door that opens out onto Millennium Square, very near the shiny metal Planetarium. Look out for our signs and volunteers who will show you where to go.

Once you are in the door, there is a lift to the top floor, with accessible toilets and a large main room (The Rosalind Franklin Room). There will be buggy parking, a cloakroom and activities in that space. The events will mainly be taking place in rooms that immediately join onto the main room. There is also a balcony space outside. You can see photos of the spaces and take a virtual tour on the We The Curious website: Rosalind Franklin Room | We The Curious and The Annexe | We The Curious

We will have headphones and a sensory space.

Storytale Festival tickets DO NOT allow you entrance into the museum itself. You can buy museum tickets here Ticket information | We The Curious

You can see more details about the venue, entrance, facilities etc here AccessAble - Your Accessibility Guide

Location

We The Curious, BS1 5HL