Events

FREE FAMILY FUN DAY

Jacqui’s FREE FAMILY FUN DAY will run at Belper Community Hall on Sunday 28 June 2026, 10.30aM – 4.30pm and everyone is welcome.

This day will be an opportunity to celebrate 20 years of Twistin Tots, say goodbye to Jacqui and raise some much needed funds for Belper Community Hall.

Everyone welcome.

 

On the day, there will be:

FREE

• Forest school activities with Sunshine Forest School 
• Parachute games
• Twistin Tots songs and music (at certain times)
• Puppet shows
• Limbo games
• Hoola hoops
• Bean bag toss games
• Scavenger hunt
• Coconut Shy
• Face Painting (small charge)

And to raise money for Belper Community Hall

• Tombola
• Raffle
• Refreshments (including cake stall)

Ad hoc Activities

• Two family friendly stalls
• Twistin Tots Toy Sale

The event will be running all day (as above) and everyone is welcome.

We are hoping to raise much needed funds to help install patio doors at the Community Hall via tombola, raffle and refreshments so if you do come along, please do support these activities!

 

Other Events throughout the year

We have lots of different events going on at Twistin Tots throughout the year, which include Easter and Christmas activities; and all sorts of fundraising activities. Scroll down below to see a selection of the activities that our children and parents get involved in.

 Xmas Parties

Every year we have our annual Xmas events where we have a special Xmas set of Christmas songs, including Jingle Bells and When Santa Got Stuck Up the Chimney, plus a visit from Rudolph and Santa. Dates are already set for this year’s events, and in addition to the usual Twistin’ Tots music session, there will be a presents for each child, a fancy dress competition, photos from our Photo Shoot area and reindeer dust to sprinkle on Christmas Eve!

Easter Celebrations…

Every year at Easter we hold a competition for the children where we give children and parents the choice of making an Easter bonnet or Easter egg. Everyone gets into the spirit of the occasion, there are usually some fantastic creations at all classes and prizes abound.

 

Twistin Tots Birthday Celebrations

Twistin Tots is 15 years old in June 2021. Each year, we hold a birthday celebration in honour of our anniversary – usually at a Belper session as this is where we started – and prizes are awarded to children for the best fancy dress costumes. Cake is usually enjoyed by all!!

 

We also celebrate any of the children’s birthdays that are happening each week at classes. All children attending classes on their birthday receive a gift from Twistin Tots to make their birthday extra special.  They get to wear the Birthday Hat (sometimes for as long as 3 seconds!); and the class sings them Happy Birthday. They also get to select a song for the class, so don’t forget to visit us when it’s your child’s birthday, and get your thinking cap on as to what song they would like!

 

Fundraising for Charity

Musical Picnics

Since 2011, we have run musical picnics in the park, which raise money for worthy causes. Twistin Tots runs free music sessions at selected venues (you need to bring your own picnic and rug) and asks parents who come along to make a donation for the session. All the money raised goes to charity and is split between Rainbows Children’s Hospice in Loughborough and another selected charity, which has varied from Alzheimer’s to Multiple Sclerosis research. Since their inception, the picnics have raised over £10,000, and we hope to be adding to this again in 2021.

Comic Relief

In the past we have raised money for Comic Relief. Initially we asked all parents to donate any spare change and Twistin Tots matched whatever was collected as a Comic Relief donation – enabling us to send between £30 – £40 to the charity. We have now changed our approach and if mums and children come in fancy dress, we donate half their class fee to Comic Relief.  Over the years we have donated about £700 to Comic Relief in this way.

Children in Need

Each year we raise money for Children in Need by asking parents and children to come in fancy dress and if they do, we donate some of the class fee to the charity. We have had a variety of themes, including spots; fairies and pirates; and dress in red. For all events Twistin Tots  donated £1 of the class fee if people came to classes dressed in spots. We have also run sweepstakes to find out what Pudsey was doing for this fundraising activity. To date, we have managed to raise about £600 for CiN in this way.

Chatterbox Challenge

In 2014, we introduced a new fundraising challenge – the I-Can Chatterbox Challenge, which aims to help young children with speech and language difficulties.

 We asked the children to perform a series of new songs (Doh Rae Me with our Handbells and If you Ever Saw a Penguin) and get sponsored for performing them at classes. It was not a compulsory challenge, but our parents pulled out all the stops and we raised almost £200 in sponsorship which will go towards training a teacher for children with these difficulties. Well done Twistin Tots parents!!