THE school summer holidays are upon us and for parents looking for fun, affordable and creative ways to keep their children entertained during the break, the Artsreach summer programme of activities might just provide the solution.

Whatever your child’s creative streak is, there’s something for everyone to get stuck into this summer including music, dance, theatre, crafts, storytelling and more!

Dorset Forest Schools will host a range of outdoor adventure workshops exploring everything from ancient arts, crafts and open fire cooking to Iron Age hill fort construction and seaside wildlife at Tolpuddle, Sixpenny Handley and The Kingcombe Centre in Toller Porcorum.

Get hands on with tiles and tools in a practical Stone Carving workshop led by artist Bec Feiesleben. Etch, carve, paint and bring to life your very own piece of Dorset wildlife on a tile of Bath stone at Martinstown and Sixpenny Handley.

Parents and toddlers can enjoy a fun-filled session of songs, music, arts and crafts with Fiddlesticks at Milborne St Andrew and Sturminster Newton. For families with newborn babies, Babigloo’s music session at Sixpenny Handley engages parents and babies in a special classical music concert, a really inventive and exciting new workshop offering!

With crafts, storytelling, dance, singing and acting, Justine Fry’s African Adventure workshop promises to be a jam-packed session of fun and games from the world of safari in Milborne St Andrew!

MaidenCrone bring more crafts, storytelling and live music to Piddletrenthide in Dragon’s Hope: A Woodland Adventure. Come dressed and fairies and pixies and create headdresses and percussion instruments from willow and clay for this outdoor family show.

Budding artists have plenty to turn their hands to, with Jeannie Brunskill’s mixed media and watercolour workshop creating fabulous insects and butterflies at The Dorset Wildlife Centre in Toller Porcorum. Fran also leads an Ancient Pottery session at Sturminster Newton, creating and decorating traditional clay pots before planting them up to take home! 3D sculptor Darrell Wakelam returns this summer with sessions creating magnificent 3D owls and birds of the South Dorset Ridgeway at Sturminster Newton and the Dorset Wildlife Centre, whilst storyteller Lizzie Bryant explores and creates an array of animal, bird and imaginary beast masks before embarking on an interactive adventure in Milborne St Andrew!

Finally, PaddleBoat Theatre invite you for an outdoor adventure at Dorset Wildlife Centre in Toller Porcorum with ‘Rustle’. A pre show workshop with campfire stories of mystical beasts and triumphant endings sees the set for the main show created from camping equipment and everyday objects. Then settle down for the greatest campfire story ever told: where sleeping bags evolve into monsters, rucksacks become friends and torches highlight the forest's closest secrets.

It's worth booking ahead as workshops have limited places and often sell out. See full details at artsreach.co.uk