What to do for spring break in Wichita? We’ve got a few ideas that won’t bust your budget

If you opted to forgo a destination family trip during spring break, there are plenty of wallet-friendly things to do locally that will keep boredom at bay.

Kids can picture themselves on TV, look at lizards, follow a fashion fad, paint pictures, meander around museums or partake in parade-watching, all without breaking the bank.

Here’s a list of some free or budget-friendly (costing $15 or less) activities to do.

What’s up, Doc?

Wichita is home to one of only two flight-worthy B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers, a plane that was used by the U.S. during World War II. During spring break, you have a couple of chances to check it out on the ground at the B 29-Doc Hangar, Education and Visitors Center, 1788 S. Airport Road.

Doc is at the center of a tug-of-war competition that kicks off at noon Saturday, March 9. During the third Pull a Plane event, teams of 25 people will be challenged to see who can pull Doc’s 40 tons by rope in the fastest time. Admission for the event is $10 per person or $25 for a family of five and includes STEM activities in the hangar and tours of Doc’s cockpit — when it’s not being pulled, of course.

Doc can also be seen in the hangar from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday, March 12. Admission is $10 per person, with a $5 add-on fee for cockpit access, or $20 for a family of five with a $10 add-on fee for cockpit access. More info: b29doc.com or 316-260-4312

Art abounds in Wichita

Check out some outstanding exhibitions on display in galleries around Wichita, including two major museums and an arts education center.

The Wichita Art Museum is free to visit from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday with extended hours until 9 p.m. Friday. Don’t miss the special traveling exhibition, “Making American Artists,” which features some famous and iconic American works created in our nation’s first 200 years that are usually only seen in history or art books, like “Washington Crossing the Delaware” and Homer Winslow’s “Fox Hunt,” The traveling exhibit, which costs $12 for adults, is free for students. Also be sure to check out WAM’s newly renovated family interactive area called Play. More info: wam.org or 316-268-4921

Make your way to the Ulrich Museum of Art on the Wichita State campus to check out its current exhibitions that tie into WSU’s well-regarded outdoor sculpture collection and area murals. The exhibitions make use of some augmented and virtual reality technology accessible with a mobile app and headset, respectively. The Ulrich is free and open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday. More info: ulrich.wichita.edu or 316-978-3664

Admire abstract art made by local, regional and national artists, including three Wichita Public Schools art teachers, on display in a current exhibition at Mark Arts, 1307 N. Rock Road. It’s free to visit from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday. The Abstract National Exhibition ends March 23. More info: markartsks.com or 316-634-2787

If you’d rather make art, Paint the Towne, 1635 S. Rock Road, #13, has some low-cost options: $8 paint kits to take home or in-studio classes. Guided painting classes, with specific themes, run from 10-11 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday during spring break and are $15 per class. Paint the Towne also has open, self-guided studio times from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 6-9 p.m. Wednesday and Friday, where you can do either paint or pottery projects. The cost depends on what you do, with canvas projects being $15, and pottery projects starting around $10. Make paint kit purchases or register for in-studio options online. More info: paintthetowne.com or 316-425-1941

From friendship bracelets to drones

Add to or start your friendship bracelet collection, pretend you’re a TV show host or weather forecaster and dive into drone technology at the PBS Kansas Cochener-Garvey Children’s Education & Discovery Center, 8710 E. 32nd St. North during spring break. The center, which is free to visit from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays, has several interactive and hands-on areas, including a new farmers’ market and café station. Special spring break activities include friendship bracelet making at 10:30 a.m. Monday, March 11, and Friday, March 15; a visit from the Wichita Public Library’s Book Bus from 1-3 p.m. Monday, March 11; a tour of the PBS Kansas TV studios at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 12; and a drone demonstration at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 13. Don’t forget to check out the vintage TV technology in the adjacent PBS Kansas Museum. More info: kpts.org/family/CEDC

Book it to the Book Bus or library

The Book Bus — a former Wichita Transit bus retrofitted with shelves of books — will make some other stops, besides the PBS center, during spring break, including at a couple of Wichita public parks. The Advanced Learning Library is also hosting several different programs, suitable for kids of all ages including teens, during spring break, such as a Teen Open Mic Night on March 8, a gardening workshop for kids ages 3-8 on March 9 and art-making and information sessions on the upcoming solar eclipse event for both younger kids and teens on March 11. For a full schedule of events and to register for programs, visit wichitalibrary.org.

Climb historical towers

The Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum, 204 S. Main, is offering free, drop-in activities and guided tours from 1-4 p.m. Thursday-Sunday, March 14-17. Each day will feature a topic and tour of specific exhibits of Wichita’s history and a take-home activity. The topics include the Keeper of the Plains, which turns 50 this year, Victorian Wichita and the Wichita flag. On Friday, March 15, spring break visitors can tour the museum’s clock tower. The museum is free to visit on Sundays. More info: wichitahistory.org or 316-265-9314

Get a view of the entire city when you visit the air traffic control tower at Wichita’s first airport terminal, which now houses the Kansas Aviation Museum, at 3350 S. George Washington Blvd. Admission will be just $5 during spring break. In the airport’s heyday of the 1940s, the tower guided a busy schedule of incoming and outgoing commercial flights. Now the terminal serves as a repository of Wichita’s aviation history with more than a dozen planes on display on the tarmac and other memorabilia commemorating important local aviators, like the 1960 Mercedes-Benz owned by Lloyd Stearman, whose early manufacturing company in Wichita merged with Boeing in 1929. The museum is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and noon-5 p.m. Sundays. More info: kansasaviationmuseum.org or 316-683-9242

Go for a spin on skates

Carousel Skate Center, 312 N. West St., will open daily at 11 a.m. during spring break. Admission is $9.99; skate rental is free Monday-Thursday, and $3.99 Friday-Sunday. More info: carouselks.com or 316-942-4505

Explore nature in Kansas

The Great Plains Nature Center, 6323 E. 29th St. North is holding special spring break activities from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday-Thursday, March 11-14. Activities — billed as being ideal for elementary students but open to all ages — include crafts, games, education stations, a naturalist program at 11 a.m. and a guided hike at 11:45 a.m. Programming will focus on the food webs that connect different food chains, including herbivores, omnivores, carnivores and decomposers. Admission is free, no registration required. More info: gpnc.org or 316-683-5499

Do some time travel

Go back in time with Wild West-themed activities at the Museum of World Treasures in downtown Wichita or way back to prehistoric times at Field Station: Dinosaurs in Derby.

Make popsicle-stick harmonicas and paper plate cowboy hats, do a cow scavenger hunt and other activities during spring break programming at the Museum of World Treasures, 835 E. First St. The activities will run from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday, March 11-Friday, March 15; the museum closes at 5 p.m. Some specific daily activities include a story time at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. March 12 and a reptile demo with staff from Exotic Pets at 11 a.m. March 13. Admission is $10.95 for adults with discounts for seniors and children; family passes for two adults and two youths are $35.95. More info: 316-263-1311 or worldtreasures.org

Field Station: Dinosaurs is drawing inspiration from the Olympics for its spring break programming. The attraction’s T-Rex Games, with tests of skill, knowledge and creativity, are set among the more than 40 life-sized dinosaurs at the park, located at 2999 N. Rock Road in Derby. The programming starts Saturday, March 9, and runs through Sunday, March 17; hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $12 per person and free to members and those ages 2 and under and includes various live shows, a raptor maze and a round of Jurassic golf. Admission is $12 for ages 2 and older. More info: kansasdinos.com/spring-break

Look at lizards

Check out lizards, spiders and an albino alligator at the Wichita Reptarium, located inside the Exotic Pets store at 6254 E. 37th St. North, Wichita. It’s open noon-7 p.m. daily; admission is $5 per person, free for ages 2 and younger. More info: 316-440-0666

Wear the green for St. Pat’s

Whether you’re Irish or not, celebrate St. Patrick’s Day a day early with one of Wichita’s longtime traditions: a parade through the city’s historic Delano neighborhood. The parade, which kicks off at noon Saturday, March 16, runs west on Douglas from McLean Boulevard to Walnut Street. Other activities include a kids zone open from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. in the northwest parking lot at Douglas and Osage Street, and a street party and food truck rally from 10 a.m.-6 p.m., with music by DJ Dugger from 1:30-5 p.m. More info: delanopaddydayparade.com

An exhibit built around Legos

Exploration Place’s current traveling show, “Bricktopia,” involves three different exhibits related to Lego building blocks. The “Brick Dino” exhibit, which takes up most of the display space of “Bricktopia,” features 15 Jurassic-era dinosaur displays built by a Lego master artist. A smaller exhibit, “Adrift: Lost at Sea,” tells through visual images what happened in 1997 when a shipping container carrying five million Lego bricks spilled into the ocean off the coast of Cornwall. The third exhibit, “Million Brick Madness,” is an interactive one where visitors can create Lego sculptures themselves. Admission is $12 for ages 12-64, $10 for ages 3-11 and 65 and older, free for members and ages 2 and under for all exhibits. Other packages including admission to other Exploration Place activities are available. More info: 316-660-0600 or exploration.org

Visit with the animals

If you’re looking for a special splurge activity, check out the stingray cove opening at Sedgwick County Zoo or head out to Tanganyika Wildlife Park to feed the animals.

March marks opening season at the zoo’s Stingray Cove, a specially constructed 17,000-gallon, 2 1/4-foot-deep saltwater pool that is home to multiple stingrays and about a handful of sharks. Admission is an extra $5 ($4 for zoo members), and you are allowed to carefully touch the backs of the stingrays and sharks as they swim. For an extra $2, you can feed the rays. A sheep sheering event happens at the farm from 10 a.m.-noon on Saturday, March 16; it’s free with zoo admission. Zoo tickets are $25 for ages 12-61, $20 for ages 62 and older and youth ages 3-11. Buy your tickets online to save $2 per ticket. More info: scz.org or 316-660-9453

There’s still time to take advantage of Tanganyika Wildlife Park’s annual season pass sale, which ends March 14. With the basic season pass of $24.99, you get unlimited visits to the park, 1000 S. Hawkins Lane, Goddard; add-ons and upgraded packages are also available. With the unlimited pass, you can do a variety of feedings, where visitors can get close to a pygmy hippo, an African tortoise, lemurs, giraffes and other animals. More info: twpark.com