THERE'S no excuse for boredom this half-term, no matter what the weather as theatres all over the area have lined up children's events by the bucketload.

Pershore's Number 8 arts centre has a choice of activities. Professional artist Rachel Higgins is inviting youngsters to make a Mechanical Animal on Tuesday and to enjoy a shadow workshop on Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, there is a welly-stomping session planned in Put on Your Gumboots and Dance, led by a South African dancer who is performing in a show on Thursday, called The Ugly Eagle. A collaboration between the Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company and Moving Hands Theatre, it combines the tale of The Ugly Duckling with an African folk tale with the help of puppets, animation, dance and theatre.

In Chipping Norton, The Theatre's half term family programme is called Ugly Bugs and Jungle Adventures. On Monday and Tuesday, eight to 11-year-olds are going to attempt a play in two days - The Jungle That Time Forgot. On Wednesday, they are able to sit back and watch The Gardener, a play aimed at three to seven-year-olds about Uncle Harry and his plants.

Clay workers can Create Your Own Secret City in a workshop on Thursday and on Friday there's drama and dance fun promised in Welcome to the Jungle! On Saturday there's also a special Incredibles Craft Workshop for five to sevens before a showing of the film that evening.

Stratford Civic Hall is staging The Mole Who Knew It Was None of His Business, which has performances on Monday and Tuesday, aimed at children four and over. They will see Mole go on his travels to met all kinds of characters with their own types of music - like a line-dancing horse, an operatic pig and Poop Doggy Dog the rapper.

At Tewkesbury's Roses Theatre, Gloucestershire Dance is inviting youngsters to Dance a Loopy Love Story on Monday, to create a bag puppet and a sheet puppet on Tuesday, to Make Your Own Felt Bag on Wednesday and to enjoy a Hungry Caterpillar workshop on Friday.

On Thursday, the youngsters have a chance to relax and watch a show laid on at the theatre for them. Imagination Productions are presenting Spud Pirate and The Pot of Gold (1pm and 3.30pm) which is billed as 'a sensational, sea-faring story of sword fighting, heroism and friendship on the high seas'. The show is for children aged three to eight.

In Malvern, there is a Funny Bones Dance Project on Monday and Tuesday. It will see Professor Perkins looking at how things work in the body, with youngsters joining in. There are two sessions, for seven to nines and ten to 13-year-olds.

To find out more or to sign up for a workshop or show, call the box office numbers below:

Number 8, Pershore: 01386 555488.

The Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury: 01684 295074 (www.rosestheatre.org).

The Theatre, Chipping Norton: 01608 642350 (www.chippingnortontheatre.co.uk).

Malvern Theatres: 01684 892277 (www.malvern-theatres.co.uk).

Stratford Civic Hall Box Office: 01789 207100 (www.civichall.co.uk).