Come for a show.
Stay and join in.

Sisters Byll and Beth began writing children’s songs in 2015 when Byll needed help teaching her three-year-old about toilet training. What started alongside their indie-folk band The Little Stevies became Teeny Tiny Stevies: songs about the big and small challenges of childhood, played live for children and grown-ups together.

At the National, they headline our family and youth program with concerts and a special Family Storytime show. Children can also join the Teeny Tiny Choir, learning and rehearsing songs with the sisters across four days before performing in the Farewell Concert. For families who already sing these songs at home, here’s a chance to hear them live, and for children to sing with the people who wrote them.

Canberra’s Warehouse Circus teaches through a cooperative approach to training and exploration, with pathways from first classes to performance and professional circus careers. Its artists have gone on to work with companies including Cirque du Soleil, Circus Oz, Circa and Gravity & Other Myths.

Their new show, Bound, brings acrobatics, aerials, juggling and balance together to explore the leaps we take and the ties that bind. Watch these fantastic young performers, then try circus skills in daily workshops. The Youth Circus Ensemble offers young participants four days of learning alongside the artists, with time to practise beyond a single workshop. Look out for Warehouse Circus in street performances and parades.

Summer McCall first called dances at Alasdair Fraser’s Sierra Fiddle Camp in 2012, while still in her early teens. Her background spans ballet, modern, Irish and Scottish step dancing and tap; she now leads Scottish ceilidhs at festivals and camps across North America, Europe and the UK.

Her Youth Dance Ensemble invites teens and tweens to explore how a ceilidh works, from learning the dances to calling figures, teaching others and working with musicians. Rehearsals run Friday–Sunday, leading to a family ceilidh on Monday that the young participants help organise and lead. Families can join in at the dance on the day and follow instructions from their young folks.

Pico’s Puppet Palace tells the adventure through puppetry and live music, using sustainably made puppets to explore friendship and the natural world. In Pico and the Golden Lagoon, the pilot’s yellow bi-plane runs out of fuel, leaving her stranded on an island. There she meets a naturalist and a dragon: can they help her continue the journey?

Families can watch the show in the Family Tipi, then make their own characters in a puppet creation workshop with Pico at the helm. Children and adults work with recycled and reclaimed materials, creating puppets to carry into the Festival Parade and take home.

Corey Pickett’s juggling and physical comedy meet Emma Price’s singing and multi-instrumental skills in a fast-paced, non-verbal family show. Circus tricks, musical silliness and comic timing do the storytelling.

Find Melody & Mayhem in the Family Tipi and in street appearances around the Festival village. For children and grown-ups who enjoy physical comedy and live music, their show brings both together without relying on spoken dialogue.

The Canberra Youth Orchestra and Woden Valley Youth Choir bring local young instrumentalists and singers to the Festival. Together with Gina Williams and special guests, they present Peter and the Wolf, connecting orchestral music, singing and storytelling. Prokofiev’s musical tale gives its characters distinct instrumental voices, offering children and families a way to follow the story through the orchestra’s sounds.

The Festival’s Instrument Petting Zoo provides another opportunity to meet orchestral instruments. Visit with curious young listeners, then hear Canberra’s youth ensembles perform together.

Four kids and four parents from Naarm make fast, loud punk about late-stage capitalism, pandemics, disasters, bullies and big feelings. Despite being a punk band, they keep getting booked at folk festivals. Want to see why?

Catch Riot Baby in concert or at their acoustic pop-up on the Village Green. Young folks can also join their scheduled youth session in the Family Tipi, and the band will take part in the Festival Parade. Their music gives kids and parents room to speak about the world they’re growing up in—and the world they’re raising children in.

Polly Christie, a choral conductor and educator with more than 25 years’ experience, joins Tasmanian-born soprano and harpist Allison Walsh to share lullabies and their stories, from the Outer Hebrides to Kenya.

Their Family Singing workshops invite parents, grandparents, carers and other singers to learn simple, repeatable melodies and the traditions behind them. Take home songs to sing to the children in your lives, continuing the exchange beyond the Festival. Polly and Allison also present a concert, weaving voice and harp through lullabies from Celtic, African and South American traditions.