Across 28–29 March 2026, venues right around the city, including libraries, museums, departments, and lecture theatres, will transform into playgrounds of possibility, where children can build planets, battle beasts, dance molecules into motion and even crawl inside a giant carnivorous plant. Whether you’re raising a future scientist, writer, archaeologist or eco-hero, this year’s programme promises something to spark every imagination.
The weekend features hundreds of events and begins on Saturday 28 March at the University Centre, Granta Place – which will serve as a bustling hub of activity – with many of the programme highlights running across both days.
Step into Planet Laboratory, an immersive sci-art experience where young world-builders can design their own ecosystems using colour-coded tiles. As overhead cameras scan their creations, planets come alive with sound and light, a magical fusion of creativity and climate science.
Just a few steps away, families can take part in Stitch and Code, blending traditional Japanese hitomezashi stitching with modern binary coding. Participants will create unique textile patches that will later form part of the Cambridge Festival Community Quilt, a beautiful symbol of creativity stitched together across the city.
Throughout the day at the University Centre, time travellers are invited to drop into Writing Time!, where poetry, storytelling and playful prompts encourage children to leap across centuries and imagine alternative futures. Meanwhile, nature lovers can explore Weird and Wonderful Plants, meeting extraordinary botanical specimens, including carnivorous plants, and discovering how flora can be fierce, fragrant and full of surprises.
There’s even more festival fun, when families can roll up their sleeves for Hands-On Archaeology. Budding archaeologists can handle real artefacts, meet researchers and discover how clues from the past help us understand the present.
Also running across Saturday and Sunday is Destination Restoration II: Join Our Journey to a Flourishing World, an inspiring, interactive experience exploring how landscapes can be restored and how communities can build a greener future.
On Saturday morning, creativity meets mathematics at the Department of Pathology on Tennis Court Road, during Islamic Geometry. Families will uncover the mathematical principles behind breathtaking geometric art and create their own dazzling patterns inspired by centuries of design tradition.
Meanwhile, at the Pitt Building on Trumpington Street, the energy rises with the Dancing Science Movement Workshops. Taking place on Saturday and Sunday at 11:40, 12:40 and 15:10, these lively sessions explore the science of emotional regulation through movement. Expect rhythm, reflection and plenty of joyful motion as science quite literally leaps off the page.
Sunday 29 March continues the adventure at the Pitt Building.
Even More Impossible Questions is a mind-bending session packed with curious conundrums and surprising experiments. Why is water wet? What exactly is the point of snot? No question is too strange in this delightfully thought-provoking event.
Later that afternoon, Battle of the Beasts promises an hour of laughter and lively debate. In this interactive, Top Trumps-style showdown, families will champion their favourite animals as experts reveal astonishing facts about the natural world. Expect fierce competition, and plenty of roaring fun.
Across two action-packed days, the Cambridge Festival Family Weekend proves that research isn’t confined to laboratories, it lives in dance, in stitches, in soil, in stories and in the questions children dare to ask.
As Jennifer Williams, Cambridge Festival Families Coordinator, puts it: “The Family Weekend is basically our excuse to turn Cambridge into one giant playground of ideas. We want families to come along, try something new, ask silly questions, get stuck in and maybe even surprise themselves. Whether you’re building a tiny planet, digging up the past or dancing your way through science, it’s all about having fun together.
“And don’t stop here – make sure you dive into the full Cambridge Festival programme! There’s even more to discover, from robotics workshops and explosive chemistry shows to live gameshows and brain-teasing escape rooms. There are fantastic events for children and families happening all weekend long and right across the Festival dates. This is just a sneak peek of the fun we’ve packed into the Family Weekend, so come along, explore, and see what sparks your curiosity!”
All events are free, with a mix of drop-in activities and bookable sessions. Full details can be found at festival.cam.ac.uk.
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