The EMF team strives to make every event better than the last; more accessible, more fun, and easier to attend for a broad range of people. We’ve always wanted to provide childcare for those with young childrenbut the costs were prohibitive, and until recently we thought it would be impossible.

This year UCL have stepped in to make it a reality and we’re pleased to announce that EMF 2014 will have a full programme of children’s activities, and free childcare available for tiny engineers. We dubbed them the Nanotechs.

From 10am to 8pm up to forty children between the ages of 0-12 can be left under the supervision of professionals from Nipperbout, an Ofsted registered childcare provider.

Nipperbout will be keeping them entertained with all kinds of activities, and everyone comes away with a Nanotech certification. A limited number of very little ones (0-2) can be accommodated - they’ll be looked after separately in the Startup Incubator.

You don’t have to leave your children there all day - simply check them in and out whenever needed as long as there’s space available.

We’ll also be running activities and classes for all young people throughout the event in the Nanotech Lab next door - everything from soldering lessons, to kite mapping, to making your own robot! If you’d like to run something for our young attendees, get in touch.

At lunchtime on Saturday UCL will also be hosting a family-friendly Geek Showoff on one of the main stages. Expect to see UCL researchers and festival participants sharing funny tales of mistakes, science, and engineering suitable for all ages.

Tickets for EMF 2014 are on sale right now - under 5s get in free, and tickets are just £40 for under 16s! All this would be impossible without the support of UCL Engineering, and we can’t thank them enough. We hope that this makes the festival more accessible and enjoyable for families.