Children can go face-to-face with a full-size dinosaur skull and also make their own pedal-powered smoothie when a two-week community festival opens in London’s East End on Saturday.

East London Advertiser: Grrrr... T Rex ready to snap if you get too close to Queen Mary's life-size replica dinasaur skullGrrrr... T Rex ready to snap if you get too close to Queen Mary's life-size replica dinasaur skull (Image: QM Uni)

A fortnight of events is being staged by Queen Mary University in its innaugural Festival of Communities, which gets under way with a family fun day in Stepney Green Park.

Features include the universe recreated with Lego physics, a pedal-powered bike that drives a smoothie-making machine and a Tyrannosaurus Rex skull where youngsters get the chance to ask university experts questions about it.

“This festival is something for everyone to get involved in,” the university’s Sarah Gifford said. “There is lots to explore and get hands-on learning about the university, hopefully to inspire people to take their interests further.”

Fringe events being staged over two weeks include walking tours tracing migrant lives in Whitechapel, a debate on east London’s Olympic legacy, film screenings and music therapy with 16th and 17th century ballads.

East London Advertiser: Grrrr... T Rex ready to snap if you get too close to Queen Mary's life-size replica dinasaur skullGrrrr... T Rex ready to snap if you get too close to Queen Mary's life-size replica dinasaur skull (Image: QM Uni)

The festival runs till June 4 when Queen Mary’s Mile End campus stages the best of the university’s research—including naked ‘mole rat’ street art, science workshops by the team from Whitechapel’s Centre of the Cell and a circus-themed “carnival of lost emotions”.

The Festival of Communities focuses throughout the fortnight on lifelong learning. It is run in collaboration with the Mile End Community Project, Stepney Green’s Stifford Centre, the Stepney Foundation, Salvation Army, Tower Hamlets Council, Tower Hamlets Homes and Social Action for Health in Hackney, and all supported by Canary Wharf Group.

East London Advertiser: Grrrr... T Rex ready to snap if you get too close to Queen Mary's life-size replica dinasaur skullGrrrr... T Rex ready to snap if you get too close to Queen Mary's life-size replica dinasaur skull (Image: QM Uni)