A number of Maine museums are offering an array of programs and events throughout school vacation week, from Feb. 16 through 24, including several within easy driving distance of the Bath-Brunswick region.

— Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, Bowdoin College, Brunswick

“Horns, Hooves, Flippers and Fins” Family Day celebration

From 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 23, the museum will offer the chance to view polar bear cubs who love to tumble and play in the snow, and allow participants to make their own tumbling polar bear cub toy to play with at home.

The seagoing narwhal, with his long, twisted front tooth, has unique spotted gray skin, and museum staff will teach a special painting technique with bubble wrap to re-create the texture in any color.

The Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum is located in Hubbard Hall on the Bowdoin College campus. Family Day is free and open to the public.

For more information, call 725-3416.

— Pejepscot Historical Society, 159 Park Row, Brunswick

Pejepscot Historical Society’s “Brunswick and the Civil War” exhibit is now open at 159 Park Row, Brunswick, from Wednesdays to Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. On Thursday, Feb. 21, from 2 to 4 p.m., PHS will offer a special program for children: a discussion of the importance and meaning of maps, at the time of the Civil War and today, followed by a map-making project.

Later that night, at 7 p.m. at Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, TIME film critic Mary Pols and Bowdoin professor Patrick Rael will discuss “The Civil War and the Movies.” Cost is $3.

For more information, call 729-6606 or visit www.pejepscothistorical.org.

— Maine Maritime Museum, 243 Washington St., Bath

Students 18 and younger will be admitted free to Maine Maritime Museum when accompanied by a paying adult between Feb. 18 and 22. There is a limit of two students per adult. Adult admission is $12.

In addition to the museum’s signature exhibits, students can view the museum’s 50th anniversary exhibit, “Ahead Full at Fifty: 50 Years of Collecting at Maine Maritime Museum,” with more than 150 objects from the museum’s collection selected because of their historical importance, their beauty or because of the story behind the object.

Among the artifacts on view are paintings, tools, clothing, documents, photographs, games, heirlooms, scrimshaw, boats, ship models, figureheads, banners, a rat trap and more.

For more information, call 443-1316.

— Lincoln County Historical Association, Wiscasset

“Anatomy of an Old Chimney,” lecture and demonstration by mason and restoration expert Richard Irons, will be offered Sunday, Feb. 24, at 2 p.m.

This lecture is part of the Lincoln County Historical Association’s annual series of talks by local historians and artisans, held in the Communications (or “911”) Building behind the Lincoln County Court House in Wiscasset. Suggested donation is $5. For more information and for the full schedule of the lecture series through March, visit www.lincolncountyhistory.or g .

— Vaughan Homestead, Hallowell

“Show and Tell: Family Game Day,” will be offered Wednesday, Feb. 20, from 10 to 11 a.m. at Hubbard Free Library, 115 Second St. Featured games are from mid- 1800s. Appropriate for ages 5 and up. For more information, contact Bob Fagan at 622-6582 or Tracy Weber at 622-9831, or visit www.vaughanhomestead.org.

— Museum L-A, 35 Canal St., Bates Mill Complex, Lewiston

“What Shall I Wear to Work Today?” will be held at Museum L-A, Wednesday, Feb. 20, from 10:30 a.m. to noon.

In conjunction with “The Way We Worked” exhibition from The Smithsonian, Museum L-A will present a vacation program for 7- to 11-yearolds answering the question: “Why do people wear special clothes to work?” Participants will tour the exhibit, investigate uniforms and work clothes from occupations in the Lewiston-Auburn region, and design uniform or clothing for a job that they can envision in their own future. Cost is $8 per child and pre-registration is required.

For more information, call 333-3881 or email jbeal@museumla.org.

— Washburn-Norlands Living History Center, 290 Norlands Road, Livermore

A Cabin Fever Reliever: Living History Day at Norlands is planned Saturday, Feb. 23, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Stop by for some old-time fun. Activities provided by interpreters in period clothing portraying people of the 1800s Norlands’ neighborhood. Meet the schoolmarm in the one-room schoolhouse. Take a tour of the 1867 Washburn mansion. Participate in oldfashioned chores and games in the farmer’s cottage, such as washing and churning butter, making a journal, and exploring how to use mystery artifacts. Something delicious will be cooking on the woodstove. Cost is $5.

For more information, call 897-4366, email norlands@norlands.org or visit www.norlands.org.

— Cumberland Historical Society/Skyline Farms, 95 The Lane, North Yarmouth

A free evening tour and reception is planned Thursday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. Skyline’s collection of carriages and buggies will be on view. Refreshments will be provided before and after the program. The reception room is warm but the museum is unheated, so dress warmly.

For more information, contact Carolyn Small at 829-4423, 415-4589, or csmall1943@mainerr.com.

— Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum, 58 Fore St., Portland

Train rides will be offered Feb. 16 to 24 on the hour from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The museum is closed much of the winter, but will be open during vacation week. In addition to train ride along scenic Casco Bay there will be activities inside the museum. For more information, call 828-0814 or email info@mainenarrowgauge.org.

To find other museum events, visit www.mainemuseums.org/eventspublic.