What's On This Summer in West Berkshire
- Aug 5, 2025
- 9 min read
Updated: Sep 6, 2025
Summer is here! There’s plenty to keep everyone entertained: Summer clubs, beach outings, splashing around at the lido, outdoor adventures, a brand-new soft play centre, and of course, some amazing arts and crafts activities
GROUPS AND CLASSES:
Boogie Mites: Every Tuesday Morning at the Waterside Centre | £6.50. Additional Child – £3.25| Family Music sessions are suitable for all children up to 5 years old . An activity that you can all enjoy together! Catchy songs, homemade instruments, actions & movement, and exciting themes to support all areas of a child’s development.
Blaze Trails Family Walks: Various dates throughout the summer. (see website). Free to attend, and a great way to get out and about and meet other parents.
Fitter Mother Yoga Classes. 25th July, and 1st, 8th, 15th and 29th August – Fridays at 12.15pm | Victoria Park, Newbury | £9 per session or £40 for all 5 . These 45-minute classes are designed to support your postnatal recovery, boost your wellbeing, and help you feel more like you again — all while your baby relaxes nearby or little ones join in.
Hartbeeps: 18th, 20th, 21st, 27th, 28th August: Various locations in Newbury and Thatcham. £8.50 per session and £4 for siblings. Magical multi-sensory classes for babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers and their grown-ups too!
Moo Music Summer Sizzler: 28th and 30th July and 4th,-7th and 11th, – 14th, August. Various locations in Newbury, Thatcham and Kingsclere. £8. Fun, interactive music classes for babies, toddlers and preschool aged children.
Sing and Sign: 7th and 14th August | 11am.| £10.50. Summer Special is suitable for new families with babies 5 months – 24 months and current Sing and Sign families.
Baby College: 12th August | £9.25.| Thatcham Memorial Hall. Spark curiosity in your little ones with these engaging classes!
Chuckles Baby Group: Hampstead Norreys | 28th July, 18th August and 1st September. | £3 for 1 child, £5 for 2 or more children. Lovely play group to attend with little ones.
ARTS, CRAFTS AND THEATRE
Wildlife Photographer of the year: 6th June – 20th July | £10.95. Under 5’s free | Featuring exceptional images that capture fascinating animal behaviour, spectacular species and the breathtaking diversity of the natural world.
Holiday Art Club – 23rd-25th July | 10am | £20 per session Join the art club for a fun filled adventure. Try out exciting new mediums and work on your own project.
Festival Flowers: 28th-31st July | 10am – 11.30am & 2pm – 3.30pm | £8 per group of 4 | Suitable for all ages, children must be accompanied by an adult. Using upcycled and sustainable materials, create floral displays and brightly coloured placards as a family.
Wild Walls: 1st August-6th September | £7, under 5’s free | Suitable for all ages, but made with families with children 5 – 9 in mind. Make your mark on the huge gallery doodle wall, complete guided activity sheets, and enjoy creature-spotting opportunities, wax-rubbing, papercrafts and colouring.
Song and Stories in the Gallery: 14th and 23rd August | 9:30am | £7. Under 5’s free. | Explore the Gallery and creative spaces of The Base through songs, stories, sensory play and movement for the Wild Walls exhibition
Alice in Wonderland: 1st-3rd August | 1pm and 6pm. | £17.25. Concessions. £14.75 | Follow Alice down the rabbit hole into the wondrous world of Wonderland, meeting peculiar characters along the way.
Create and Make: 26th-29th August | £37.50- £40 | Drama, Arts and Crafts. Your child will get to work with professional practitioners to explore the creative arts, develop new skills and make new friends.
ARLINGTON ARTS
Out of the Box: 23 July | 14:00 | £10 child £11 adult | A family-friendly circus comedy show, which sees an unlikely character and his box bring audiences together through joyful awe, never knowing what to expect next.
West Berkshire Museum:
Messy Museum Mornings: Fabulous fossils | 25th July | 10:00 – 15:00 | £2.50 | Make a cast fossil using clay and foil. Carve a dino footprint or press a small plastic figure of an insect or dinosaur into the clay to make an indentation and then pour in Plaster of Paris and leave to set.
Messy Museum Mornings: Let’s go potty! | 1st August | 10:00 – 15:00 | £2.50 | Make a Stone Age pot from air-drying clay and decorate with wooden modelling tools. There will be a replica Neolithic pot to view as well as a free museum adventurer trail called Go Potty! to complete.
Messy Museum Mornings: Magnificent mosaics. 8th August | 10:00-15:00 |£2.50 |Make a Roman-inspired mosaic from a wooden base, square clay tiles and grout. See pieces of real Roman mosaic on display and do the free museum adventurer Picture It! trail.
Messy Museum Mornings: Beautiful brooches. 15 August | 10:00-15:00 | £2.50 | Make an Anglo-Saxon inspired saucer brooch from air-drying clay, gold paint, acrylic gems, and a brooch pin. You can also complete the free museum adventurer Wear Me! trail
Messy Museum Mornings: Tremendous tygs |22 August |10:00- 15:00 | £2.50 |Design a many handled drinking cup (tyg), made for sharing, from air-drying clay and paint. Be inspired by the replica Tudor tyg in the museum handling collection and do the museum adventurer Drink Me! trail.
Messy Museum Mornings: Fly your flag! 29th August | 10:00-15:00 | £2.50 | Using a printing tile and one colour of ink, make a unique and repeating design for your Civil War inspired flag on an A4 calico sheet, and then add double-sided tape and a paper dowel so you can wave it. Complete the museum adventurer A Woolly Yarn! trail.
Doodle a Dinosaur Day: Drawing Workshop with Tim Furr | 25th July | 1:30 to 3pm |£15 per child (one adult per child joins for free) Join Tim Furr for 90 minutes of dinosaur doodling fun where your child can bring prehistoric creatures to life!
Graffiti Street Art Workshop: 27 July| 10am, 11:15am, 12:45pm and 2pm | £35 per child. This workshop is for children 8 years and older.
Childrens Glass Fusing: Bugs for Bugs House: 31 July 2025 | 10:30am to 11:30am and 12:30-1:30– £35
Creative Colour for Teens: 3 August | 10:30am to 12:30pm and 14:00 – 16:00 | £15 This workshop is for children over 8 to 14 years old. Immerse in this workshop about colour, emotions and feelings
Chalkfest 4th August | 10:00-16:00 | Donations | Enter the Chalkfest competion on the Market Square in Newbury.
Dragon Wings Children’s Workshop: 5th August | 10:30-12:30 | £15 This workshop is suitable for children 4 to 12 years old (Parents/carers must stay with children under 7) Children will design and craft their very own set of dragon wings to take home.
Funky Figures in Clay: 6th August | 10:30 – 12:30 | £30 | Create your own funky character in this fun, creative workshop
Childrens Wheel workshop: 10th August |10:30am to 12 noon | £45 | Suitable for Children and Teens
Decorate a plant pot with Mosaic: 13th August| 11:00-12:30 | £18 | This workshop is suitable for children 8 years and older
Bubblelicios Childrens Workshop: 14th August | 10am to 11:30am | £12.50 | Ages 6-12 | Explore using poster paint, washing up liquid and water to mix your own bubble art paint colours
Summer Printing for Children: 15th August | 14:00 – 3:30pm | £12 | This workshop is suitable for children of any age.Children under 8 need to be accompanied by an adult.
Summer Sun Basking Lizards Clay Workshop: 19th August | 10:30am – 12:30 | £35 |This workshop is suitable for children 5+ years old. Join Susie for a fun filled clay workshop where your child will create a sun-basking lizard.
Naughty Nancy McNoodles Doodles: 22nd August | 1:30 to 3pm, £15 per child (one adult per child joins for free) | n this fun-filled workshop, your child will recreate some of the wild and wonderful doodles from Tim’s book.
Farm Animals in Clay Workshop: 27th August | 10:30 to 12:30pm | £30 | This workshop is suitable for children (8+). | Enjoy a clay morning of sculpting as you create your very own farm animal!
Children’s Glass Fusing Dinosaur: 29th August | 1:30 to 2:30pm and 15:00-16:00 | £24 | This workshop is aimed at children’s 5 – 11 years old. Make a fun and unique glass dinosaur, created using frit (small glass pieces) and coloured glass.
Fairy Gardens: 31st August | 10:30- 12:30 | £15 | This workshop is suitable for children 4 to 12 years old. Let your child’s imagination go wild, as they design and build their own magical fairy garden to take home.
Summer Fair: 20th July. Browse over 60 local stalls located on the Great Lawn For younger visitors there will be creative crafts, face painting, a magic show from Mr Muddle and a bouncy castle.
Family Activity Day: 23rd July Marvellous minibeasts. 10:00-15:00 £2.50. Make a 3D minibeast, real or imaginary, from polystyrene shapes, pipe cleaners, wiggle eyes, sequins and sequin pins, acrylic paint pens and other craft materials.
Family Activity Day: Beautiful Butterflies| 30th July|10:00-15:00. £2.50| Decorate with paint pens and then construct the 3D wooden butterfly hanging decoration.
Family Activity Day: Dancing dragonflies. 6th August||10:00-15:00 £2.50|Using pipe cleaners, a magnet, pony beads and other craft materials, make a dragonfly fridge or magnetic whiteboard.
A Royal Picnic | 8th August | 10:30 – 17:00 | £10 | Suitable for 3-8 year old | Starting with a live show of singing and dancing, you will then be able to meet and have photographs with the magical princesses whilst enjoying your picnic outside.
The Wind in the Willows: 11th August | 18:00-20:00 | Adults £13, Child £9 | Pack your picnics and join Ratty, Mole, Badger, and the fantastically irrepressible Toad as they embark on the adventure of a lifetime culminating in a colourful battle to save Toad Hall from the mischievous weasels!
Family Activity Day: Minibeasts take flight! 13th August|10:00 – 15:00. Minibeasts take flight! Make a wooden flying minibeast of your choice (subject to availability) and colour with paint sticks.
Family Activity Day: Bright butterflies 20th August | 10:00-15:00. Bright butterflies. Decorate a ceramic hanging decoration of a butterfly in bright colours with porcelain pens.
Family Activity Day: Busy bees 27th August | 10:00-15:00 | Busy bees. Make a bee decoration from a craft roll, marker pens sticky felt and foam sheets, wiggle eyes, pipe cleaners and other craft materials
Outdoors and Sports
Only £10 per person for an hour on the water.
Session dates: 29th, 31st July, 1st August and Tuesday to Friday from 5th – 29th August. Ages 8-11. 11:30am-12:30pm
Ages 12+: 3:30pm-4:30pm Book your space: https://widget.eola.co/rh365
Family Trail, Minibeast Marvels | Nature Discovery Centre | 5th and 6th August | Come discover the tiny creatures that buzz, hop, fly, flutter, and scuttle about on the beautiful reserve.
Outdoor Explorers: The Retreat, Elcot Park | 8th August | 14:00-17:00 | Outdoor Explorers is all about exploring nature through play, getting children outdoors and learning through high quality play experiences.
Tots Teddy Bear Adventure: Nature Discovery Centre | 13th and 14th August | £8 |Bring your teddies along to The Nature Discovery Centre to meet Teddy Elsa. She’ll love showing you how some of her wild friends survive in the woods through fun and crafty activities where your little bears will be free to roam!
Family Trail ‘Help Stanley Save the Sea !’ – Nature Discovery Centre | 20th, 26th, 27th August | 10:00-15:00 |Ages 4-11 | £7 | Self-led family trail around the beautiful Nature Discovery Centre followed by ocean themed crafts.
Waterworld – Living Rainforest – 23rd July – 2nd September. Adult – £15.75. 2-14 years £12.95. Under 2 Free. Activity Pack – £1. This summer holiday, explore the wonders of water with Water World at The Living Rainforest! Get creative with water-themed activities and crafts, and meet some of the amazing aquatic residents like the mudskippers
ACTIVITIES:
Magic Show: The Retreat, Elcot Park: 5th August |4pm | £10 | Magic Roly is back, to entertain and amaze your little ones with his wonderful magic show
Waterside Centre: Help to make a sensory garden at a local care home. 4th,. 11th, 18th August. Meet at 10am at the Waterside Centre and walk to a care home.
West Berkshire Libraries: This year’s Summer Reading Challenge is called Story Garden and is all about Adventures in Nature and the Great Outdoors inspiring children to tap into a world of imagination through reading, exploring the magical connection between storytelling and nature. There are various activities on at the libraries through the summer.
Summer of Fun: Field Gate Centre, Kingsclere. 10-2pm. Every Wednesday throughout August. Indoor and Outdoor activities for 2-12 year olds. Free (Donations welcome)
FESTIVALS AND EVENTS
Tot Fest | Windsor Racecourse| 20 July 12:00-17:00|under 6 months free. 6-11 months £13.20. 1-5 £27.50. Adults – £27.50. A mega festival for under 5’s.
The Imagination Festival: The Little Play Lounge | 27th of July |10am to 4pm. |Adult £5. Child £10.| Wander through fantastical themed zones bursting with creative displays and interactive experiences. From playful crafts to imaginative play, even the simplest materials can spark big ideas and joyful moments.
Battle Proms Picnic Concert – Highclere Castle| 2nd August. 2pm. Adult £56.25 | Child £24.25 | Under 5s Free. Immerse yourself in the WWII living history, sing along with the Battle Proms Belles and jive along with the Victory Swing dancers.
Waterside Centre 4th Birthday Celebrations: 2nd August. 10:00-16:00 Brilliant day lined up for the whole family — with canoe rides, arts & crafts, face painting, bouncy castle, live music, multi sports and more!
Waterside Centre Summer Festival |16th August |14:00-18:00 | Free |A vibrant, free-entry festival celebrating community and wellbeing.
Bucklebury Farm- End of Summer Festival: 30th August | 10:00-16:00 | Magical day of fun, food, and family activities.
HOLIDAY CLUBS
Summer Dance School – Corn Exchange Learning Centre. |12th,13th,14th August. |£25 per day. |Ages 11-14 Join the Corn Exchange for their Summer Dance school to move your body, learn routines, make friends and explore your creativity.
Summer Holiday Club | Greenham Community Centre | Monday , Tuesday, Thursday,Friday | 4th-29th August | Free
Day Camp ‘Bushcraft for Fun‘ – Nature Discovery Centre | 21 August | £39.59 | A day camp with bush craft activities on the reserve. Build your child’s confidence in the great outdoors with this bush craft experience.Working with natural materials in a safe, fun and environmentally friendly way. Suitable for 8-12 years, no need for parental supervision. Fully supervised small group.
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