The countdown to Christmas gets a hands-on stop downtown this year. Capitol Park Museum is hosting Discovery Day: Christmas at the Museum on Saturday, Dec. 12, from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

What the kids will make

The morning centers on two holiday traditions. Families will make their own Christmas ornaments and write letters to Santa. The museum invites the whole family to try the hands-on activities and then explore the galleries.

What it costs

Admission for Discovery Day guests drops to $5 a person, and kids 6 and under get in free. All the craft activities are included in that price, so there's nothing extra to buy once you're inside.

Make time for the galleries

Once the ornaments are finished, there's plenty to see. Capitol Park Museum, part of the Louisiana State Museums system, has two permanent exhibits, Grounds for Greatness: Louisiana and the Nation and The Louisiana Experience: Discovering the Soul of America.

Some of the biggest pieces are hard to miss. The museum displays a 48-foot wooden shrimp trawler, a two-row sugar cane harvester and a rare Civil War submarine. Music fans can see Pete Fountain's clarinet, Clifton Chenier's Grammy award and the bugle Louis Armstrong played as a boy at the Colored Waif's Home. Interactive stations play Cajun, zydeco, swamp pop, Baton Rouge blues and New Orleans jazz.

The museum also covers harder history, including exhibits on slave markets, resistance and Jim Crow, and a display on the 1953 Baton Rouge bus boycott.

Plan your visit

Capitol Park Museum is at 660 N. Fourth St., in the shadow of the State Capitol. Normal hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and the last tickets are sold at 3:30 p.m. The museum is closed Sundays, Mondays and some state holidays. It's fully wheelchair accessible, with elevators to every floor. Questions? Call 225-342-5428.

If your crew is up for a full day, it's an easy morning before the rest of the season's events around town.