A Hands-On Art Festival in La Habra for Children

Today’s ninth annual Children’s Art Festival Day at the La Habra Children’s Museum is too big to be contained within museum walls. Not with a 300-foot-long inflatable snake as part of the action. So workshops, dancers, mimes, clowns, even Mickey and Minnie Mouse, will be in adjacent Portola Park. Everything, including museum admission, is free today.

Children can walk right up to the art workshop tables, push up their sleeves (parents can dream, can’t they?) and try their hands at puppet and mask making, wood sculpture, face painting, easel painting and computer art. There’s also a chalk walk, where children can draw on the sidewalk with colored chalk.

There will be shows every half hour on two stages. Performers include the “Checkered Chicks” (square-dancing grandmothers), The Orange County Chinese Cultural Club and Rowland Heights Dance Troupe, mime Ruben Gerard and the Kreps Marionettes. The Orange County Philharmonic Society will roll up its Music Mobile, open the doors and display and play musical instruments from around the world.

Last, but not least, there will be hot dogs, cold drinks, popcorn and ice cream for sale. Festival hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The museum is located at 301 S. Euclid St. in La Habra. Information: (213) 905-9793.