School vacation means busy week at Children’s Museum of Holyoke

HOLYOKE, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- It is February school break for many across western Massachusetts with Monday marking the Presidents Day holiday. We found some families spending some time at the Children’s Museum of Holyoke, which has expanded its attractions this year.

There was a wonderful sight to see in downtown Holyoke as families spent the start of February vacation week at the city’s children’s museum. Debra Breor from Shelburne brought her two kids, while Tinesha Wallace from Windsor, CT took her daughter.

“She just finished playing with the water, so she’s a little wet. She likes to draw, too,” Wallace said.

“There’s so much experience they can have with getting on the ambulance (or) the fire truck. It’s a full day full of fun for any child of age,” Breor added.

While not normally open on Mondays, Presidents Day was an exception for the museum with kids out of school. The museum’s interim director, Juli Colon, said the week is a very exciting time.

“This is one of our first opportunities to really kind of showcase one of our new positions. That is a programming coordinator. We’ve really been able to expand our selection for our community,” Colon explained.

From playing with the tubes to being in a firehouse to even pretending to cook, it was all about giving the kids something to smile about. The parents Western Mass News spoke with felt great about not doing any work and enjoying some parent-child time.

“It’s a lot of work, so it’s nice to get her energy out here and it’s a nice museum to take her to,” Wallace added.

“It’s wonderful, especially as he (my son) gets older. It’s nice to spend extra time with him, too. We’ve had a great time here today,” Breor noted.

Colon told us that kids will be able to take advantage of many activities during this period, such as story time sessions, Zumba, and face and finger painting and, while we deal with some cold temperatures, she said the museum is making sure everyone stays healthy.

“My staff routinely sanitized throughout the day. We understand any community that has a lot of kiddos means a lot of germs, so we do our best to stay on top of routine sanitizing,” Colon said.

There will be lots of programs throughout the week at the museum. You can CLICK HERE to find out what’s happening.