Independent play space

How does your child navigate the world around them? Why do they play? Why is play so important for them? And us adults, parents, professionals, how do children perceive us? How can we support a child’s healthy development through play? At the centre of Agora court at Neumünster Abbey, we are inviting you to come and discover, explore, share, and gain new perspectives on the ever-so enthusiastic world of childhood, through our interactive and fun stand.

Activities for children and discovering this form of professional childcare

On this stand, come and see the childcare that parental assistants can offer you. What’s special about this form of professional childcare, intended for children aged between 0 and 12 years old, is the family environment. Throughout the weekend, parental assistants will take it in turns to present to you, in the best way possible, what their day-to-day experience with children involves. Some short activities will also be provided for children.

Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.: Experience sport

In this workshop, you have the opportunity to test your balance using different types of games based on the trending sport slackline. Children can briefly discover the techniques of this alternative sport, as well as how to practise it, with a wide range of exercises and games. This workshop focuses on balance, coordination and concentration. Children can try out and discover different variants of slackline with their parents.

Saturday 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.: Experience creativity

Using robots to take your first steps into the world of programming and computational thinking.
In this workshop, children will guide Dash robots through a maze to freedom.

Beginner: Learn the basics of sewing and embroidery by creating a felt keyring charm!

Advanced: You will make a little light-up monster, that you can attach to your keyring. You will also learn how to sew and to use LEDs.

Sunday 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.: Experience media

In our workshop, you will discover the principles of stop-motion animation, using two different techniques.

Sunday 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.: Experience nature

The “Experience Nature” team will help groups of children and young people to discover the fascinating nature’s beauty and diversity to gain a better understanding of nature and a greater appreciation of its environment. In our workshop, children can express their creativity and build their own small world with different natural materials.

Sunday 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.: Experience the children’s rights

In this workshop, you will find out about the children’s rights, through fun games such as the “The children’s rights dominoes”. The image on each domino will need to be placed next to the child’s right that it refers to. You can play it alone, in a team or against an opponent.

Saturday and Sunday 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.: Olga Reiff “Bim & Anna”

Audience: children aged 2 to 4 years

A book reading in Luxembourgish, a workshop in Luxembourgish, French, German, English, Russian, Slovakian and Italian.

Free-choice drawing/painting workshop on the themes of the story: the forest, animals or on the emotions that little Bim feels during his adventure.

Description: Little Bim goes through his first experiences at crèche to “grow up”. It isn’t always easy, because there’s still so much to learn! Of course, Bim already knows how to do so many things himself, because he’s a big boy already. And when someone wants to help him, even if it’s his best friend Anna, he gets cross! How will Bim have a nice day with his friends? This is what Olga Reiff tells us about in her book “Bim & Anna”.

Saturday and Sunday 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.: Andy Genen – illustrator

Audience: children aged 8 to 12 years

Two 30-minute workshops in Luxembourgish, French, German, English.
Number of places limited to 15 children per session.

Creation of a character that represents happiness and sadness.
The children will learn to create their own character and how to draw it from the front and the side view.

Saturday and Sunday 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.: Thimothy Jenon – illustrator

Audience: children aged 6 to 12 years

Workshop in French
Illustrate a story yourself.

Saturday and Sunday 2:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.: Roland Meyer – author

Audience: children aged 6 to 11 years

Workshop in Luxembourgish

“De klengen Här Bellibimbam an de Monsieur Lugaru”

“De klengen Här Bellibimbam souz bei sech doheem an e war immens zefridde mat sech a grad esou zefridde mat der Welt. An dunn huet et un der Dier geklappt.

Dobausse stoung de groussen Här Lugaru, ma de klengen, couragéierten Här Bellibimbam léisst hien eran an zerwéiert him all Méigleches z’iessen an ze drénken a léisst en iwwert d’Nuecht bei sech raschten.

Den Dag drop gi mir gewuer, dass vill Leit am Duerf Angscht virum Här Lugaru hunn, an den Här Bellibimbam versteet net, firwat.

Den Här Lugaru, duerch seng Stäerkt an Hëllefsbereetschaft, ka lues a lues d’Vertraue vun den Duerfleit gewannen, ma nach laang net vun allen…

Ob den Här Lugaru sech dann elo awer erëm muss op de Wee maachen? “

Saturday and Sunday 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.: Il était une fois (Once upon a time)

Audience: children aged 0 to 8 years

Il était une fois... non-profit organisation is a multilingual library for children aged 0 to 8 years old (with 6,154 books in 34 languages). Created in 2004, it welcomes the public (crèches, foyers and schools) for an inclusive multicultural exchange.

Il était une fois: see description number 5 on the map

Workshop Stories

Stories are told using “tapistoires” (story quilts and puppets) in Luxembourgish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

The world of games: carpentry and wooden games

The Centre d’animation pédagogique et de loisirs (CAPEL) gives you insight into how to create a world of games and experiences based on the “Aktioun Bambësch”* model. A topic, a story, games and DIY workshops will enable children to access different worlds, interact with other children and make friends. During the children’s festival at Neumünster Abbey, there will be various activity and relaxation zones available.

*The “Aktioun Bambësch” which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, is organised three times a year and is aimed at children in cycles 1.2 - 4.2 that live in Luxembourg City. Leisure activities are provided in the afternoons, during the school holidays and are offered by the City free of charge.

Carpentry workshop

Carpentry workshop with saws, drills, wood-carving knives, nails and hammers. You can create different objects out of wood off-cuts, discover different tools and learn how to use them.
There are no imposed designs, it’s just about “making something with your hands” using the wood and shaping it as you see fit. All you need to do is “to create something beautiful for yourself or for someone else” and to decide for yourself how you want to manipulate wood (“self-efficacy in manipulating wood”).

Workshop “The joy of colour”

Pieces of wood can be painted and fixed onto palettes. All of these pieces of wood will create a colourful artwork that is visible on the entire playing surface. Learning: “manipulating the paint, paintbrush and water”, “immersion in a sensory activity”, “making the connection between your work and the finished piece”.

The world of wooden games

Prefabricated wooden shapes (boxes, rollers, bars, planks, blocks) can be used to build and to play. And the objects created in the wood workshop may also find their way there. “Creating a world”, thinking about gravity and balance when building. Immersing oneself in an imaginary world through play.

Rest area

There is a rest area next to all of the workshops, where any child who needs to can have a rest, chat with people, watch and observe or simply stop.

Bibliobus

A cosy space dedicated to discovering books adapted to early childhood. Children and parents will benefit from a large selection of multilingual books on a variety of themes and with different textures.

Writing workshop: the past, the present and the future of writing

Calligraphy, the typewriter, the computer, tablet or even a writing machine offer a large array of options for doing the same thing: writing a word, phrase or even a text. There are several different methods, which have evolved over the years, to achieve the same objective. In our writing workshop, children and their parents can follow the evolution of writing over the past few centuries.

Knitting, sewing, crocheting

There are several different ways to knit or sew. For example, with a sewing machine, using small needles for intricate designs or large needles for larger-scale designs, you can even knit without needles, using just your hands. The materials used for knitting or sewing can be equally varied: cotton thread, fine wool, thick yarn or paracord. Here, children and their parents can try out various methods of sewing, knitting, crocheting or even knotting bracelets, for instance.

The magic of light

In this workshop, things and objects are shown in a new light. Our light tables encourage free discovery and exploration. It’s quite unusual for a table to have an illuminated surface. But with the right material, such as glass beads or coloured paper, you can explore the entire colour spectrum. When combined with sand, the illuminated table even allows you to paint. We can spend hours studying how the light passes through the different objects and seeing what happens when we combine them. There are no right or wrong choices. Our curiosity can give us a new perspective on things.

Spillmobil

The Spillmobil lets children discover new toys. They can choose to play with a skipping rope or a ball, or get creative and draw, build something or play a board game.

Kamishibai theatre workshop

A narration workshop, followed by discussions with children and their parents. Workshop offered in French, Luxembourgish and potentially in English.

LEGO® robot

Every hour, length of the workshop: 45 minutes

Children will build and programme a LEGO® robot.

Culinary workshop

We will make delicious waffles with the children.

Games and workshops around movement

Games and workshops around movement

Sensory box

We are offering a journey of discovery in an enclosed space, for a different perception of our senses. The children will wear a blindfold or simulation goggles to explore this circuit that’s full of surprises, which will show us that we are not fully aware of our senses.

Journey of discovery

Workshops with simulation goggles that will allow children and adults to test their kinaesthetic awareness. We will also show them that children who are partially-sighted or blind can participate in games and sports.

Eltereforum photo booth

Parents and their children can take their photo together. The photo will be printed instantly.

Nature, a source of sensations and discoveries

Nature at the heart of learning. Through our workshop, children and parents will be able to discover the earth and its benefits. Smelling, touching, manipulating, learning to plant seeds, using gardening tools, looking after plants... They will make so many discoveries!

Seeds and compost are provided and each child will be able to choose what they plant in their own personalised pot.

Our social environment, a source of emotions and feelings

Social relationships and emotions are part of everyday life for everyone. Through a world made up of symbolic games, a variety of materials and objects, children and parents can recreate scenes from everyday life, or make up their own stories. All while building relationships with others, learning to experience their own emotions and discover those of other people.

Snoezelen workshop: the sensory igloo

“I relax and wonder.” A relaxation space will allow the children to develop all of their senses. Lights, sounds, textures… Everything they need for a moment of true relaxation!

Sculpture workshop

“I develop my creativity and strengthen my self-confidence.” A free-sculpture workshop that allows children to create their own work of art and take it home with them.

Planting and discovery of aromatic plants workshop

“I respect nature and enjoy its benefits.” Discover aromatic plants and create your own herb garden to take home!

Culinary workshop - Cereal bars and fruit juice

“I top up my energy with fresh, local produce.” Children can create their own cereal bar and special “immunity” fruit juice.

Ecolo builders of tomorrow

With the help of their parents, children can create temporary constructions with recovered materials according to their wishes. They will be offered a photo of their masterpiece to capture this time spent together as a family.

Aktiv’Bus stories

Stories will be read in several languages, on the theme of nature and eco-responsibility, intended for families

N’airgym Psychomotor skills course

N’airgym’s objective is to support and strengthen the sensory-motor development of the children who come to us. Our pedagogy is based around the planning of activities that allow children to increase their motor, cognitive and social skills, which are essential to good development.

Here, children learn about their body, balance and coordination of movements.

Snoezelen multisensory space

This is about creating an outdoor, multi-sensory discovery space for children: a Snoezelen space in the open air! Various materials will be available to children and their parents to stimulate their five senses: fabric to touch, visual and auditory stimulation (bells), scent boxes, etc.

10:30 a.m. – Collage workshop

Collage is about combining, linking, classifying, contrasting ideas and supports. This fun technique allows everyone to explore, and to express themselves freely.

In particular it will be possible to produce a colour chart, to create lettering using writing or by filling in shapes; or to juxtapose little pieces of paper (mosaic).

12:00 p.m. – A show with musical accompaniment

Maud the Adventurer’s journey. Fly away with Maud and her flying machine on the hunt for an incredible treasure: happiness.

2:00 p.m. – Interactive show

The internal journey: let’s go on a quest to find some answers to our questions. During this interactive show, children will be able to create artistic performances that will be incorporated into the final theatre piece.

3:30 p.m. – A show with musical accompaniment

Maud the Adventurer’s journey. Fly away with Maud and her flying machine on the hunt for an incredible treasure: happiness.

4:30 p.m. – Modelling activity

Adults and children can “stretch, squash, flatten, kneed, assemble, cut out and roll the modelling dough” to develop muscle tone through play and pleasure! Similarly, they will be able to “animate a surface” using a scraping technique or by imprinting objects onto it.

“Fire” workshop

A fire-fighting game: extinguishing paper flames with water

“Earth” workshop

Come and discover mounds of earth with windows to see, smell and touch, then sew some seeds.

“Water” workshop

Water games and the construction of a water circuit

“Air” workshop

Soap bubble painting on canvas, a jumping-spider race, and kite making. Visit from a magician.

Clay figurine creation

Workshop organised by the crèche Schoos

With their parents, children can create figurines from clay and natural materials, within a limited space of time. They will then be able to take them home

Treasure hunt in the sand

Workshop organised by the crèche Reuland

Children will take part in a treasure hunt with their parents. The treasure (stones, figurines, shells, etc.) will be hidden in sand. The children then try to find the treasure using a sieve. Each child will receive a pretty stone as a prize for taking part.

Reorganisation of the external space

Organised by the Lorentzweiler SEA

Parents of children in cycle 1 (children aged 3 to 5 years) can reorganise the space and get involved.

Create your own world

Have you ever wondered what the world would look like if you’d created it yourself? Who would live in this world and what would happen there? In our workshop, you can invent your own world using materials of all sizes and the Kannermusée PLOMM will be there to listen to your stories.

Saturday: music and felting workshop

Music and felting workshop

Sunday: felting and a brief illustration of the open learning workshop

felting and a brief illustration of the open learning workshop

De grénge Vëlo

Pedal, mix, and taste, with the Smoothie Bikes.

Workshop to experience inclusion

"Experience inclusion" is a workshop organised by the Luxembourg-City Childcare Department Operational Centre that aims at triggering playful and inclusive situations at the Children's Festival. Through role-playing, short animations and interactions between families and the staff of the childcare department, the aim is to make families perceive and appreciate "diversity".

Valuing diversity is the key element of successful inclusive education, which has to recognise the individuality and needs of all learners.

HiHaHutte - Sunday, 14 May 2023 at 2 p.m.

A table, clouds, a man, a woman and a lot of imagination. This is what HiHaHutte offers us, a show in which objects transform, appear and disappear. In the middle of these objects, the main characters. They do not speak, they are dancers. And yet they are great storytellers: from a table, they make a house, from the house a mountain, everything transforms according to the story and the imagination. Everyone knows that things are what you want them to be. The children participate directly in the show and, at the end, there is only a space as full as a very large drawing where a thousand adventures imagined by all the children would have taken place.