Kid-Friendly Performances at the Rochester Fringe Festival 2026
*The event has already taken place on this date: Sat, 09/26/2026
Please help us keep this calendar up to date! If this activity is sold out, canceled, or otherwise needs alteration, email mindy@kidsoutandabout.com so we can update it immediately. If you have a question about the activity itself, please contact the organization administrator listed below.
Three Short Stories - A Puppet Show: Sept 15, 26 (times vary): Blackfriars Theatre
Step into a world of mischievous puppets with "Three Short Stories!" Buencanto Productions brings "The Fisherman and His Wife," "King Midas and the Golden Touch," and "Anansi and the Pot of Wisdom" to life in humorous, cautionary tales about the dangers of greed and vanity. With clever tricks, lively puppetry, magical storytelling, and playful characters, this family-friendly show delights and teaches timeless lessons for all ages.
- Length: 60 Minutes
- Tickets: Required
- Venue: Blackfriars Theatre
- Genre: Kids Fringe
Craft Roulette: Sept 16, 17, 20 & 26 (times vary): Century Club at the Strathallan
Take a new craft for a spin as you step into a hands-on maker experience where creativity rules the room. Guided by teaching artists from Teaching Artists ROC, you can explore a variety of craft stations throughout the hour, trying different art forms, techniques, and materials at your own pace. Drop in, experiment, make something unexpected, and discover the joy of creating alongside others in this playful Fringe-style art experience.
- Length: 60 Minutes
- Tickets: Required
- Venue: Century Club at the Strathallan: Century Club At Strathallan - First Floor
- Genre: Kids Fringe
Freeze Frame: A Juggling Experience!: Sept 18 & 19, 6pm: Gibbs Street (between Main & East)
Freeze Frame with John and Ted is a high-energy, family-friendly show where you are the star! With wild juggling, hilarious magic, and nonstop laughs, these two comedic pros put volunteers right in the heart of the action. It’s all about creating unforgettable, picture-perfect moments—live and on stage. Forget selfies—Freeze Frame is your time to shine!
- Length: 30 Minutes
- Tickets: Not Required
- Venue: Gibbs Street (between Main & East)
- Genre: Kids Fringe
Cirque 101 Workshop: Sept 19 & 26, 1pm: Joseph Ave Arts @ Lincoln Library
Have you always wanted to run away and join the circus? Or maybe just learn some of those great circus skills? Here's your chance! You get to skip the hardships of living on the road! Who knows, maybe this will launch your own "cirque" career!? Ted Baumhauer of Red Tie Variety will host these two fun sessions on the basics of balancing and juggling. Come to either one or both sessions for beginners or intermediate jugglers!
- Length: 45 Minutes
- Tickets: Not Required
- Venue: Joseph Avenue Arts and Culture Alliance: Joseph Ave Arts @ Lincoln Library
- Genre: Kids Fringe
Fairy Magic: Sept 19 & 26 (times vary): School of the Arts: Club SOTA
A fairy themed magic show including bubbles, flowers, beads and bells! A unicorn puppet will help entertain, given the mystical bond between fairies and unicorns, and the natural affinity between children and puppets. No magic wand needed here: pixie dust reigns supreme. Bubbles will turn into orbs, flowers appear from nowhere, individual beads will magically adhere and grow. A bell will mysteriously ring: a clear sign fairies are near. Attend in fairy attire for free admittance!
- Length: 40 Minutes
- Tickets: Required
- Venue: School of the Arts: Club SOTA
- Genre: Kids Fringe
Marcel Lucont: Les Enfants Terribles - A Gameshow For Awful Children: Sat, Sept 19, 2:30pm: Spiegeltent
The award-winning Marcel Lucont (Comedy Central) presents a wild family gameshow, in which kids get to be pests, politicians -- and worse! -- to compete to be crowned the most awful child of the day. See what happens when international insouciance meets infantile exuberance. Voted Top 10 Kids Shows of the Edinburgh Fringe 2022 by Time Out. Winner of Best Kids Show at the UK Kids Comedy Festival 2022.
- Length: 60 Minutes
- Tickets: Required
- Venue: Spiegeltent
- Genre: Kids Fringe
National Day of Play - Parcel 5: Sept 18 & 19, 5pm, Parcel 5
Celebrate National Day of Play with Healthi Kids and the Western New York chapter of the International Play Association with the biggest play day Rochester has ever seen! Want to build a fort with Jenga blocks? Create a masterpiece with sidewalk chalk? Invent a new game? Awesome! We’ll have lots of activities and supplies to get your imagination going. Whether you stop by on your way to another show or spend the whole day playing with us, there will be fun for all ages.
- Length: 120 Minutes
- Tickets: Not Required
- Venue: Parcel 5
- Genre: Kids Fringe
Port-a-Globe Punch and Judy: Sept 19, 20, 26 (times vary): School of the Arts Commons: FREE
Back at Fringe for its fourth year by popular demand, the legendary Punch and Judy Show, the funniest puppet show in the history of English puppetry. It's the story of the bungling Mr. Punch, his smarter wife Judy, their baby, and characters including a clown, a doctor, a crocodile, a swarm of bees, and several others. This is a laugh-out-loud show in which the audience is invited to shout out advice to the puppets. "One of the best options for kids"—CITY Magazine.
- Length: 30 Minutes
- Tickets: Not Required
- Venue: School of the Arts: Commons
- Genre: Kids Fringe
Rich The Magic Man Total Pandemonium Magic Show: Sept 19, 26 (times vary): JCC CenterStage Theatre
Get ready for "Total Pandemonium!" Rich The Magic Man brings 40 years of high-energy, interactive magic, comedy, audience participation, surprises, and nonstop laughs to the Rochester Fringe Festival! Kids and adults will learn magic tricks, become part of the show, and have the best day ever! A one-of-a kind, must see experience! Limited tickets available, so get yours before they disappear!
- Length: 60 Minutes
- Tickets: Required
- Venue: CenterStage Theatre at the JCC: JCC Ballrooms
- Genre: Kids Fringe
It’s About Time!: Sept 20, 23, 24 (Times vary): Century Club at the Strathallan
Time travel, magic, and bubbles bigger than your head. Using their combined performing experience of 50+ years, Doug Rougeux and John Wolfson curate unforgettable moments by blending magic, fleeting bubble sculptures, juggling, and hilarity. At this show the egg definitely comes before the chicken so buy your ticket before it is too late to find out how half past bubbles and watermelon o’clock can be the same moment.
- Length: 60 Minutes
- Tickets: Required
- Venue: Century Club at the Strathallan: Century Club At Strathallan
- Genre: Kids Fringe
LIKAH!: Sept 20, 2:30pm: ROC Cinema Theater
Be the first to experience LIKAH! (LEE-Kah.) A Puppy Musical Movie! Filled with toe-tapping songs, family-friendly humor, and engaging performances, this special screening will feature sing-a-longs and live puppeteers — with their nutty squirrel puppets! And - meet the real Border Collie who inspired the musical tool! LIKAH!’s enchanting spirit inspires audiences of all ages to greet each new day with the joy of new adventures.
- Length: 60 Minutes
- Tickets: Required
- Venue: ROC Cinema: ROC Cinema Theater w/stage
- Genre: Kids Fringe
SleepyTime Concerts: Sun, Sept 20, 11:30am: The Hochstein School: The Chapel
Shh! Step out of the noise and daily busyness. Come to an oasis, where classical music will be performed on the quiet, gentle toy piano. Delight in hearing music of great composers on this tiny, magical instrument. Sit, lie down, dance! Perfect for the young, young-at-heart, and those who like quirky! Pianist Paula Rodney Bobb has performed on toy piano in concert with dancers and a Mozart concerto with the RPO.
- Length: 40 Minutes
- Tickets: Required
- Venue: The Hochstein School: The Chapel
- Genre: Kids Fringe
Click here for details and tickets
Sub-Zero Science: Sat, Sept 26, 1pm: School of the Arts: Ensemble Theatre
Join presenters from the Rochester Museum and Science Center for an explosive dive into the extreme science of liquid nitrogen! At -320.5°F, this show reveals the mind-blowing effects of temperature on matter through dramatic phase-change demonstrations. Watch solids shrink, hot dogs shatter, levitating fog, and a gas-powered ping-pong ball take flight—culminating in a volatile liquid nitrogen explosion that’s as educational as it is unforgettable.
- Length: 50 Minutes
- Tickets: Required
- Venue: School of the Arts: Ensemble Theatre
- Genre: Kids Fringe
Kids Chalk Art: Sat, Sept 26, 12pm: Spiegelgarden, FREE
The kiddie fun continues with street Chalk Art, one of the most popular, FREE, family-friendly events at the Rochester Fringe Festival. Kids transform the central Dawn's Spiegelgarden into one giant, colorful tapestry of color during this artistic extravaganza. We bring the chalk, you bring the creativity! Fun for all ages, including parents, of course.
- Length: 180 Minutes
- Tickets: Not Required
- Venue: Spiegelgarden
- Genre: Kids Fringe
Disco Kids: Sept 26, 12pm: Spiegelgarden, FREE
Back by popular demand. Big party for pint-sized dance machines takes over the Spiegelgarden at One Fringe Place. The next generation of club kids is here, popping and pouting up a storm. Disco Kids is a nonstop, fun-filled dance extravaganza that is the talk of kid town. Lights, music, and glow sticks. Welcome to the Fringe's not so silent disco.
- Length: 120 Minutes
- Tickets: Not Required
- Venue: Spiegelgarden
- Genre: Kids Fringe
National Day of Play: Sat, Sept 26, 12pm: Spiegelgarden, FREE
Celebrate National Day of Play with Healthi Kids and the Western NY IPA with the biggest play day Rochester has ever seen! Want to build a fort with Jenga blocks? Create a masterpiece with sidewalk chalk? Invent a new game? Awesome! We'll have lots of activities and supplies to get your imagination going. Whether you stop by on your way to another show or spend the whole day playing with us, there will be fun for all ages.
- Length: 180 Minutes
- Tickets: Not Required
- Venue: Spiegelgarden
- Genre: Kids Fringe
Pumpkin Painting: Sat, Sept 26, 12pm: Spiegelgarden, FREE
Celebrate the beginning of fall by painting your own Fringe-tastic pumpkin. From faces to crazy designs, from spooky to silly, we want to see what your creativity brings to these pumpkin pallets. Fun and kid-friendly, this is an activity for the whole family to join in on. Paint your pumpkin and then bring it home to show off your skills!
- Length: 120 Minutes
- Tickets: Not Required
- Venue: Spiegelgarden
- Genre: Kids Fringe
Twinkle twinkle little star: Sept 26, 12pm: School of the Arts: Allen Main Stage Theatre
A fun children's theatre show. A little girl is trying to go to bed, she reads her favorite book with her friend "little star." With her book she meets your favorite nursery characters. The cow and the moon, Kittens and Mittens and more. In the end our favorite little girl dreams while dancing among the stars. Written and choreographed by Joshua Lang. Most appropriate for children ages 4 to 12.
- Length: 60 Minutes
- Tickets: Required
- Venue: School of the Arts: Allen Main Stage Theatre
- Genre: Kids Fringe
*Times, dates, and prices of any activity posted to our calendars are subject to change. Please be sure to click through directly to the organization’s website to verify.