Artsy spring break activities to enrich kids' lives

For some kids, a week vacation from school is an invitation to binge on video games, Easter candy and marathon sessions of TV watching. But spring break also can be a time of learning with mom and dad.

"But with children out of school, this is a prime opportunity to spend quality time together doing activities that stimulate curiosity, creativity and learning that support your child's social and developmental growth," said Anna Sayre, operations and education manager at The Hands On Children's Museum in Olympia, Wash.

While the experiences can take place in outings to museums, ski slopes and the like, the home can be a prime place for fun and enrichment.

"I'm a big proponent of doing art projects at home, and not sticking kids in front of the TV," said Angela Hudson, museum educator for youth and family programs at the Tacoma Art Museum. "It's such a perfect time to do a project together. Mom could do part of it, and kids could do some of it. Then it becomes a community-type project within the family."

Hudson recommends parents talk with young children as they work together on activities. Statements such as "We're cutting circles" or "You're picking up scissors" bolster preschoolers' language development as they learn to match actions and objects with words. Parents of older children can mention concepts such as composition, foreground and background.

"The main thing is to have parents repeat what they're doing, even if it's obvious," Hudson said.

Cheryle Bigelow of Spanaway, Wash., found the perfect activity to keep kids occupied while teaching them about wildlife.

"Put the kids to work baking cookies for their winged friends," Bigelow wrote in an email. "The Internet will share many recipes for cookies, biscuits and even gingerbread tailored especially for birds."

Bigelow's recipe includes pancake flour, peanut butter and birdseed, and calls for the cookies to be baked.

She recently supervised her great-grandson Dylan Leeper, 5, and great-niece Jessie May Perry, 7, in baking the bird treats.

Black-capped Chickadees, Chestnut-back Chickadees, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Sparrows and Dark-Eyed Juncos stuff themselves on the cookies in her backyard.

"I think it's a good project because it's not real expensive and it helps the birds. If there's leftover bird seed you can spread it in the back yard and the kids can watch the birds eat it," Bigelow said. "I think they learn something from watching birds."

Here are project ideas for kids to do at home: