London

Lewisham

Roll up your sleeves and step right into the circus ring in this fun-filled children’s workshop creating playful papier-mâché circus animals! Inspired by the colourful world of the big top, young makers will sculpt, layer, paint, and decorate their own imaginative creatures. Through hands-on making, children will explore shape, texture, and character while learning traditional papier-mâché techniques in a creative and supportive environment. This workshop encourages imagination, experimentation, and messy artistic fun, with every child taking home their own spectacular circus creation.

This is a drop off class

Papier-mâché Circus Animals

Step into the imaginative world of fashion and design in this hands-on children’s workshop inspired by legendary designer Elsa Schiaparelli (exhibition now in at the V&A).

Young creatives will explore fashion illustration techniques, experimenting with colour, texture, shape, and bold artistic ideas to design their own couture-inspired looks. Taking inspiration from Schiaparelli’s iconic nature-inspired jewellery, participants will also recreate a striking pinecone necklace using mixed materials and creative embellishments.

This fun and engaging workshop encourages self-expression, confidence, and imaginative making while introducing children to the exciting world of fashion history and wearable art.

This is a drop off course

Fashion Illustration and Craft your own Jewellery

Ukulele is a fantastic first instrument and a wonderful stepping stone to other string instruments. Our friendly tutors will help you play your first song, have fun making music with others and learn skills in rhythm, pitch and notation as part of fun musical games! All levels are welcome. Bring your own instrument or borrow ours! 

This is a drop off class

Uke & You (3-5 yrs)

Spend a fun three days with a team of enthusiastic professional musicians, developing your playing ability and confidence, having fun and making friends!

Activities include musical games, instrument tasters, percussion workshops, and playing as an orchestra and in chamber groups. Whether you are completely new to The Conservatoire, or a current student or a graduate of our popular Play! and Roundabout programmes, this summer school is perfect for you!

This is a drop in class

Play! Summer School (6-10 yrs)

Can you remember what you dreamt last night? Inspired by everyone from the Surrealists, to Leonardo Da Vince, and most importantly, the children themselves, we will visualise these intriguing and colourful stories in a wide range of artistic media.

This is a drop off class

Draw Your Dreams

A fascinating combination of photography and painting; photo batik creates intriguing contrast pictures of bleached light and dark. Create your own montage inspired by your favourite film, programme or local legend.

This is a drop off class

Photo Batik - Combine Painting and Photography

Enter a colourful world of cute culture in this playful mixed media workshop inspired by iconic characters and aesthetics from kawaii art, anime, Pokémon-style creatures, Care Bears, and all things adorable!

Children will experiment with painting on canvas using a variety of techniques, from bold brushwork and sponge printing to layering colours and textures. They’ll also create vibrant collages using mixed materials to build dreamy scenes, expressive characters, and imaginative designs full of personality and charm.

Perfect for young artists who love cute characters, bright colours, and creative self-expression. This workshop will require x2 printed images of your chosen character(s).

This is a drop off class

CUTE! (6-12 yrs)

Do you like shoes? From Cinderella's glass slipper to platforms of the swinging 60s, to the fantastical works of Costa Magarakis, shoes tell a story. Working with our skilled tutor this is a chance to focus on crafting an eye-catching shoe sculpture from recycled materials, collage and plaster bandage.

This is a drop off class

Spectacular Shoe Sculpture - Specialist Focus

Take creative family time and learn all about hand-building techniques to create and decorate your own pot. All work will be professionally glazed and fired after the class so your pieces can become genuine family heirlooms!

Please note that adults and children each need a ticket. One adult can accompany two under 10s (and more children if they are over 10)

Ceramics - Family Class (5+)

Spirit Animals have a rich history in literature, art, and cultural traditions. We will design and model our own totem poles of the Pacific Islands and North Americas, highlighting their exaggerated features. In music we will explore the sounds, dynamics and rhythms of our various chosen beasts - will you be a soaring, legato eagle; roaring fortissimo bear; or staccato pointy porcupine? This class blends together art and music in a uniquely Conservatoire way, taught by specialists in both practices.

This is a drop off class

Art and Music Workshop - Spirit Animals

Learn how to create beautiful blue and white cyanotypes from natural resources and digital negatives, including one created from a selection of plants, leaves and flowers. Using pre-made digital negatives create a newly imagined creature, which we will then collage to create a beautiful and harmonious nature-scape.

This is a drop off class

Cyanotypes and Collage - Crafting a Natural Utopia

Make a colourful, enormous (but friendly!) crocodile painting inspired by the books by Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake, which will staged as a musical at the Lyric this summer. We will learn drawing techniques, use colourful inks and print rainbow scales!

This is a drop off class

The Enormous Crocodile

At the Horniman Museum, the Octonauts are having an Underwater Adventure. Just another day in the life of the emergency services! We will be looking through a porthole at their activities and learning a range of artistic skills to bring them to life!

This is a drop off class

Octoventure

Do you love cats? The lovely illustrations of Mog by Judith Kerr symbolise the pets of our childhood and will inspire this workshop. We will look at how to create textures to replicate fur and feathers and make our own picture of Mog in the garden with her medal.

This is a drop off class

Mog the Cat

Taking inspiration from the natural forms of some endangered species (including insects, plants, mammals and sea creatures), we will design and make our own special costume. At the end of the day, we will model our creations on a catwalk! No materials are required, but you are more than welcome to bring any old garments you'd like to reuse or recycle.

This is a drop off class

Nature's Fashion Show

Dinosaurs? Ancient Sea Creatures? Preserved plants? Fossils can be all sorts of things and now we can create our own! We will make clay reliefs and imprints with found and natural objects, cast them in plaster and decorate them.

This is a drop off class

Cast Your Own Fossils

Dive beneath the waves and create your own miniature 3D underwater world inside a shoebox. Using paint, collage, simple model-making and origami sea creatures, you'll build a colourful ocean scene full of fish, coral, seaweed and hidden treasures. A wonderfully imaginative day combining art, storytelling and construction.

This is a drop off class

Underwater Seaworld

David Hockney's invention and creativity continued throughout his long career and there is currently a free exhibition of some of his later work at the Serpentine Gallery. A panoramic exploration through the seasons at his home: colourful and full of mark-making. This work was created on an iPad but we will replicate the effects and vitality using brushes, watercolours, inks and pastels.

This is a drop off class

Hockney's Happy Landscapes

Set sail on a creative adventure in this imaginative children’s workshop where participants become castaways stranded on a mysterious deserted island!

Using storytelling and art, we will create our own handmade survival journals filled with discoveries, wildlife observations, secret maps, poems, diary entries, and letters home. Along the way, young artists will experiment with a wide range of exciting techniques including collage, printmaking, paper ageing, image transfer, drawing, and paper marbling to bring their island journals to life. From documenting unusual creatures to recording survival tips and hidden treasures, this workshop encourages creativity, imagination, and immersive world-building through art and writing.

This is a drop off class

Deserted Island Diary

Learn how to make hanging plant holders using macrame, a textile craft that uses knotting instead of weaving or knitting. You can create intricate designs that jazz up your plants and give them some extra style!

This is a drop off class

Make a Macramé Plant Holder - Specialist Focus

Patterns and prints are all around us on posters, textiles and on screens.

You will learn how to create marks and patterns using a wide variety of printing techniques. You will use what you learn to print onto t-shirts and artworks which you can take home and show off to your friends and family.

This is a drop off class

Printmaking Inspired by Nature

Join us for this unique and memorable hands-on workshop where you’ll create a beautiful plaster cast of your hands! Choose individual sets or a joint cast of hands intertwined. Using safe, skin-friendly alginate to make a detailed mould you’ll capture a special moment together before casting it in plaster. Once your sculpture is set, you can get creative decorating and personalising your finished piece with paints and embellishments. A fun, messy, and meaningful activity for all ages - and a keepsake to treasure forever!

Please note that adults and children each need a ticket. One adult can accompany two under 10s (and more children if they are over 10)

Cast Your Hands - Family Class (5+)

The Conservatoire

We are Blackheath's local arts centre. We provide a broad mix of top quality music, art, drama classes to visitors aged 0 to 100!

The quality of the arts that we offer remains at the centre of our mission – all of our teachers are professional musicians, artists and performers, trained at the best schools, and also inspiring teachers.

Papier-mâché Circus Animals

The Conservatoire

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