Galway's Baboró international arts festival has grown up into something full of magic and fun. Lorna Siggins went along with a selection of under-sixreviewers

'You should change your clothes!" "She needs to brush her hair!" "It doesn't matter if you break her - she's only a puppet and she's boring!" Not the sort of response you'd anticipate at an international theatre festival, but then anyone hearing the unrestrained roars, shrieks, howls and screams emanating from several Galway venues last week would know that Baboró was in town.

Now in its sixth year, the festival has become an established autumn fixture on school calendars in the west, along with Sonas in Louisburgh, Co Mayo, and Roola Boola in the Linenhall in Castlebar. Lali Morris, Baboró's executive director, has a job that many would envy. Or so it would seem. Not only does she travel widely in pursuit of events, but she does so in the knowledge that everything will be booked up weeks in advance, no matter what its quality.

Quality there was plenty, though, this year; and it is a measure of Baboró's own standing that it is now in there with Toronto's Milk Festival, a plethora of children's events in Denmark, and the Edinburgh Children's Festival as a "must" for other featival directors. The rich feast prepared by Morris for this sixth annual event included several Irish productions - Lazerballet with Move Over Ghostily; Veronica Coburn's Blowfish by Barabbas, the Company; the Graffiti Theatre Company's An Paiste Caillte (The Lost Child) by Mike Kenny; and the Dowtcha! Puppet Theatre with Mick an Cnoic during Saturday's free jamboree.

However, there were also Irish premières from Germany, north America and Scotland, with an Asian flavour added in workshops run by the Chester Beatty Library. Focus for young Irish Times critics this year were those shows in the six-and-under age group, as our team ranged from just over three-years-old to six. Several workshops were also booked for Saturday's Jamboree, when most events are free, but passes to same are precious.

First off, after the opening balloon-sausage-sandwich reception on Monday evening in the Ardilaun Hotel, was The Queen of Colours in the Black Box Theatre. The Theatre Waidspeicher Puppentheater Erfurt production is based on a clever combination of art forms - music, puppeteering, painting and video projection. The story is based on a German picture book tale about a little queen who lived in a castle. As my critics explained (this reporter being absent due to boring adult commitments), her world was very black and white and lonely, until she discovered colours that she liked. There was red, then blue, and "the best best bit was when all the suns came out". And "aaarrr" roared the queen when she sat in the sun, because it was too hot . . . And so "aaarrr" was the catchcry all the way home in the car.

The Irish première of Catch Your Breath by Theatre-Rites and the Lyric Hammersmith had been billed as one of the highlights. The venue for this was the Druid Theatre, and our team had booked for one of the few public shows. (A constant problem for many pre-school and junior infant parents is that too many events are pre-booked for schools.) However, Jack, Sophie and Cian - along with pre-school friends Kate and brother Jack - found themselves outnumbered in the stalls by a very vocal band from Scoil Idé in Salthill.

For "stalls", read large, long duvet, on which the audience sat, rolled, stretched, somersaulted. Billed as a story about a child with a wild imagination, the set literally grew out of a stack of mysterious black bags. Gradually, all sorts of elaborate and fabulous constructions emerged - a little wooden puppet who could turn herself into a house, large steel rods, which could be twisted and turned into all sorts of shapes, and canvas hangings, supported by an intriguing system of pulleys.

The central character was a puppet named Bel, and the plot was a loose interpretation of a familiar tale, with a house that was just waiting to be blown down by a passing wolf. There was much emphasis on audience participation, and an invitation to crawl through one of the final creations - was it a lily pad, or was it a big banana? All great fun, but for marks out of 10 it didn't quite match up in our team's estimation to The Queen of Colours. Suspecting the response might have been coloured by the noisy company in Druid Lane, we asked Oisín Hamilton (8), of Rosscahill, Co Galway, for his impressions. "Brilliant," he said, "and a teenchy weenchy bit like The Three Little Pigs."

OISÍN'S favourite was Tom Chapin in the Town Hall Theatre on Thursday night. Chapin - Grammy award winner and brother of the late Harry Chapin, who penned that immortal song about father and son, wrapped his young audiences round his musical hands.

Using everything from guitar to grand piano, to harp and didgeridoo, he and his fellow performer, Michael Mark, made mischief on the stage with ballads about the boy who wasn't sorry; stegasaures, seagulls, wombats and other birds and animals; and a haunting verse he co-wrote for an Apollo space mission about this "pretty planet".

Saturday, Nice Treaty polling day, and Morris couldn't have arranged better weather for the parade and "free jamboree". Our team (now five, with Ailbe, Maccon, Art, Orlaith and Cian) set out for several workshops in the Black Box.

The first was a henna handpainting session with Claire Barman of the Chester Beatty Library. This turned into an unexpected party as Grainne Kennedy of Salthill was celebrating her ninth birthday.

With her friends from Scoil Rois, and our younger group, she listened intently as Claire spoke about an art which has been practised for 900 years in India, north Africa and various parts of Asia. Ailbe, Orlaith and Maccon were keen to do the business, and so Claire recruited a group of helpers to apply the oil, followed by henna paste spread over a stencil. The practice is still very popular at Muslim weddings in India, parts of north Africa, and Pakistan; and you can tell the bride because she only has her palms done, Barman said.

Behind us, David Boyd was busy creating a drum circle with percussion instruments borrowed from Johnny Donnelly of Macnas. Boyd is a natural communicator who inspired immediate confidence. "Did you know that there are places in the world where there is no word for 'audience' because everyone joins in?" he said, as he leaped around in the middle of the group.

"And did you know that there are some places where there are no separate words for music, dancing and singing, because people do them altogether?" he continued. We were all far too serious, and part of the lesson involved some instruction in smiling. We were far too quiet, and so he had us roaring. Even Tara Buckley from sponsors VHI was letting her hair down. A stint of musical chairs to swap instruments and we were all back thumping, shaking, rattling, rolling and stomping again.

A quick lunch, and then it was time for the wedding. Joey the giraffe and Tiny the 40-ft wolfhound were getting married, and their guest list included a stilt-walking, drumbeating, plane-flying, bishop-blessing entourage from Macnas and schools around the city. Directed by Judith Higgins and Carlos Garcia, the children's parade has become Baboró's answer to the arts festival carnival - and was all the more appreciated this year, given that Macnas opted for a play instead of a parade back in July.

The happy couple made their way from the Spanish Arch, where Joey had tried to chew some of our critics' ears, up the middle of town to the nuptials at the Town Hall. As the drums rolled, there was a chorus of trumpets, vows were exchanged and sealed with a kiss. Cue the confetti and applause. "Brilliant," said Oisín Hamilton, who, being somewhat older, somewhat taller, and having a bit more stamina, saw a bit more than we did.

Sunday morning and we found ourselves being dusted down by Shona Reppe in the Town Hall studio, and the room was soon gasping, giggling and squealing atthe antics of her two ugly sisters. For "sisters", read Reppe's hands, on which she wore clashing, bejewelled, fur-lined gloves. She played the fairy godmother, complete with large handbag, working from a set resembling a dressing.

It was just over 45 minutes of pure magic, and almost secured my critics' overwhelming vote. The final verdict on the week? "Too many adults at the party. We liked the free crisps. Why do the balloons keep flying away? Can we do the drums bit again?"

Baboró returns to Galway in mid-October next year. This week (Oct 21st-28th), Roola Boola Children's Festival continues at the Linenhall Arts Centre, in Castlebar, Co Mayo, with Blowfish, from Barabbas, the Fanzini Brothers, Pipa the Clown and Grandad's Bubble from Little Bigtop, along with plenty of workshops and a parade on Sunday, October 27th, at 7.30pm. For more information, contact the Roola Boola booking office at 094 28886