Out and about

University of Cambridge Festival of Ideas - Wednesday 22nd October to Sunday 2nd November, various venues around the city

Much like the annual Science Festival sets out to make the subject fun and accessible through a variety of workshops and experiments, the first ever Festival of Ideas promises to do the same for humanities and the arts.

That's nowhere near as dry as it sounds. Over 200 (mainly free) events have been set up to appeal to all ages and interests from highbrow philosophical discussions to the noise and excitement of Latin American drumming workshops.

As it runs over the October half-term, there are obviously lots of activities for families and children. Why not try some of the activities being run as part of The Big Draw such as The Quangle Wangle's Hat, at the Museum of Zoology on Monday 27 October 2008? As the name suggests, this workshop is inspired by the words and pictures of Edward Lear. It runs from 11am - 1pm and 2pm - 4pm, is suitable for all ages and it's free!

Or, what about a seismographics session at the Sedgwick? Discover how earthquakes inspire art through talks and hands-on activities suitable for ages 6+. It's on Saturday 25th October from 10am - 4pm. Talk start times: 10:45am, 11:30am, 12:15pm, 1:15pm, 2pm, 3pm. You can book places in advance on 01223 766766.

There are lots more arty activities and some of them start before the festival's official launch, so look at the website for full details of all of the events:

Plus, buck the trend and find out why texting really is GOOD for you! Learn how to write a mystery story, film your own soap opera, write some poetry, discover something new about the Fens, try some Brazilian drumming or paint an image using tiny body movements to control as on-screen pen - magic!

You can download the Festival programme from the website, and here you'll find over 40 pages crammed with more events than we can possible list here - so plan carefully as it's a packed programme and you won't want to miss this!