Fill your spring break with these free or budget-friendly activities in Wichita

Looking for some ideas to keep the kids busy during the upcoming spring break? Here are just a few things they — or even the whole family — can do: Watch a parade, explore a new playground with 10 themed areas, learn some skills for a side hustle, climb towers and walls, get a birds-eye view of the city, take in a runway show, learn about critters and more.

Several of the activities are free, while a few things have some admission costs that won’t stretch your wallet too much.

Explore new playgrounds

Opening day for the 6.5-acre Adventure Playscape at Exploration Place is Friday, March 13. The multimillion-dollar project incorporates 10 themed areas with equipment and activities you won’t normally find on a playground, such as an iconic Staggerwing biplane with an accessible cockpit that is 30 feet off the ground, a 45-foot tall rocket with a slide, a 20-foot bison that visitors can climb into and explore its innards, swings that look like irrigation equipment, a harvest combine to climb on, a maze of ropes and membranes and two ziplines.

Exploration Place is extending its hours during spring break and will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. March 13-21. Regular hours will resume March 22. The Adventure Playscape is included with admission to all of the science center’s exhibits and activities. Cost is $20 for ages 12-64; $15 for ages 3-11 and 65 and older; and free for all members, ages 2 and under, and those with a SNAP/EBT card. Savings tip: Buy tickets online for a $2 discount per ticket. More info: 316-660-0600, exploration.org

Wichita Park & Rec opened a new adaptive playground in June, so if you haven’t yet checked it out, go during spring break. The playground is just one of the many new or upgraded amenities at L.W. Clapp Memorial Park, 4611 E. Harry, including a dog park, walking trails and public art.

A parade and more for St. Paddy’s

Put on some green and head to Delano on Saturday, March 14, for a day of St. Patrick’s festivities from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. During the noontime Delano Paddy Day Parade, line the sidewalks of Douglas to watch floats and listen to a local marching bagpipe-and-drum band. The parade route goes west on Douglas from McLean Boulevard to Walnut Street and then turns north on Walnut toward Pacific Street. Kids zone activities are available from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., while DJ Dugger will provide music from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. Food trucks will be available. More info: delanopaddydayparade.com

Scale the walls or at least look like you are

Kids as young as 4 can climb the walls at Bliss Climbing and Fitness, 11114 E. 28th St. North, which includes bouldering and rope climbing walls. Adult supervision is required for kids 14 and younger. A single-day pass is $22, with additional costs for equipment rental. Waivers are required for all climbers; save time and fill one out online. More info: 316-831-1497, climbbliss.com

If you want it to look like the kids and your family are climbing the walls or wandering around warped rooms, check out the “Illusions” exhibition currently open at Exploration Place. There are several mind-bending, interactive things to do that will have you wondering if you can believe your eyes.

Climb towers, too

You can climb the 170-foot historic clock tower atop the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum, located at 204 S. Main in Wichita’s old City Hall built in 1892, during three docent-led tours Sunday, March 15. Added in 1917, the tower houses a 1,500-pound bell and the museum’s landmark clock. Admission to the museum is free on Sundays; hours are 1-5 p.m. The docent tours to the fifth-floor tour will happen hourly between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. Elevator access goes to the fourth floor, so stairs are necessary to get to the fifth floor. The museum’s second spring break program, which has visitors curating their own mini exhibit, is on Sunday, March 22. More info: 316-265-9314, wichitahistory.org

To get a birds-eye view of the entire city, head to the Kansas Aviation Museum, 3350 S. George Washington Blvd., and climb its control tower, which will be open during spring break. The museum is housed in what was Wichita’s first airport terminal. Admission during spring break has been reduced to $5 for ages 4 and older. Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Wednesday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, noon-5 p.m. Sundays and closed Thursdays. Savings tip: Kids 12 and under get in for free between 10 a.m. and noon Fridays, when the museum has its Little Aviators weekly program. More info: 316-683-9242, kansasaviationmuseum.org

The Doc is in

One of only two flightworthy World War II B-29 Superfortress bombers remaining, the plane known as Doc will be on display in the B-29 Doc Hangar, Education and Visitors Center, 1788 S. Airport Road, for three days during spring break: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, March 14, and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday, March 17, and Thursday, March 19. Admission is $10 per person with a $5 add-on for cockpit access, or $20 for a family of five with a $10 add-on fee for cockpit access. More info: 316-260-4312, b29doc.com

Have close encounters with critters and nature

The Great Plains Nature Center, 6232 E. 29th St. North, is having four days of spring break programming from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 16-19. Each day is focused on a different group of animals: reptiles on Monday, mammals on Tuesday, amphibians on Wednesday and birds on Thursday. Crafts, games and education stations will be set up daily, with naturalist programs at 11 a.m. and guided nature walks at 11:45 a.m. The programming is geared more toward elementary-aged kids, but all ages are welcome; children must be accompanied by an adult. More info: 316-683-5499, gpnc.org

Mark Arts’ free monthly Art Together program on Saturday, March 14, called “Critters and Cadence,” will also feature a naturalist from Great Plains Nature Center, along with an animal visit. A story time and animal visit will happen from 10 to 10:30 a.m., followed by interactive art activities influenced by patterns and sounds in nature. The cadence concept will continue at 11:30 a.m. with a performance by the ICT Youth Drumline. More info: 316-634-2787, markartsks.com

Learn skills for a side hustle

The American Red Cross offers a four-hour babysitting basics class for kids ages 11 and older that can be taken anytime online. Cost is $45. More info: redcross.org/take-a-class/babysitting/babysitting-child-care-training

Putt, paddle and ride at Watson Park

After being shut down for the winter season, the rides and games at O.J. Watson Park, 3022 S. McLean, will open just in time for spring break, with special hours. The train and pony rides, along with mini golf, pedal boats and kayaking activities, will be open noon-7 p.m. weekends and 10 a.m.-7 p.m. weekdays. Tickets, available only digitally, start at $5 with discounts for bundle purchases. Purchase through the Wichita Park and Recreation mobile app or online. More info: 316-529-9940, wichita.gov/641/OJ-Watson-Park

A Library of Things and events

The Wichita Public Library has put together several programs for all ages for spring break. The programs, planned for various library branches all over Wichita, are all free and last from 60 to 90 minutes. Here are just five examples. On Saturday afternoon, March 14, kids ages 4-11 can practice reading aloud to teens at the Advanced Learning Library. Kids ages 8-18 can put together Peeps candy dioramas on Tuesday afternoon, March 17, at the Angelou branch. Evening programming on March 17 includes a Bonding through Board Games session for all ages at Evergreen, while youth ages 12-18 can create zig zag (specialized accordion-style) books at the Walters branch. Kids in kindergarten through second grade can make suncatchers on Wednesday, March 18, at the Rockwell branch. Don’t forget to check out the other things besides books that are available through the Library of Things, which includes items like bird-watching kits and microscopes. For a complete list of items available through the Library of Things or for events, go to wichitalibrary.org.

Gladiators, mummies and more

The Museum of World Treasures, 833 E. First St., is featuring twice-daily themed activities sessions between March 16-20. Live experiences will kick off the morning sessions at 10:30 and the afternoon sessions at 2:30. For example, watch a gladiator battle demonstration on Mediterranean Monday, see a mummification demo on Tutankhamen Tuesday or take part in a Constitutional Convention on 13 Colonies Thursday. Archaeology is the focus for Wednesday’s events, while fossils and dinosaurs will finish out the week on Friday. Self-guided tours and hands-on history projects happen during each session, as well. The spring break activities are included in regular museum admission: $11.95 for adults, $10.95 for ages 65 and older, $9.95 for ages 4-12, and free for ages 0-3 and museum members. A family day pass for two adults and two youth is $39.95. More info: 316-263-1311, worldtreasures.org

Backstage takes centerstage at WAM

This month’s free Family ArtVenture programming from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 21, at the Wichita Art Museum is taking its cues from a major traveling exhibition called “Alex Katz: Theater and Art,” that is on view now until May 10. The special exhibition is free for everybody from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. that day as well (regular adult admission for touring exhibits is $12). During the March 21 Family ArtVenture, you can be entertained or part of the entertainment during activities that include watching dance performances, being cast in a shadow puppet play, and clowning around with a clown. Katz, 98, has been making figurative art for about 75 years. With big, bold, minimalist compositions, his works have been called precursors to pop art.

The programming for three afternoons of WAM Camp during spring break is drawn from three exhibitions currently on view. “(im)permanent,” which displays works from the museum’s collection, is the inspiration for the March 18 program, while the “Safer Waters: Picturing Black Recreation at Midcentury” exhibition, which features vibrant quilts and paintings, will inspire the March 19 program. The March 20 program is inspired by the Katz exhibition. WAM Camp, open to kids ages 6-12, is held 1-4 p.m. Each day of camp is $30 per child with a $10 discount for WAM members. Advance registration is required. More info: 316-269-4921, wam.org

Enjoy ‘A Second Stitch’

For the second year in a row, a free, hour-long youth-led fashion show will hit the runway during spring break at Mark Arts, 1307 N. Rock Road. Called “A Second Stitch,” the Saturday, March 21, show, which starts at 2 p.m., will feature clothing sourced from Goodwill. More info: 316-634-2787, markartsks.com