If April showers are more like drenching rains, it makes sense to be indoors and away from the mud. Acton’s two Discovery Museums provide activities for kids of all ages, such as rediscovering the classic childhood activity of making mud pies. You can channel your inner chemist by using laboratory glassware to do experiments. Or take advantage of sunny weather by making suncatchers or flying kites. The Museums’ calendar of events offers all kinds of fun, no matter the weather.

Grades K through 8 can experience a myriad of creative experiences at the Danforth Museum of Art’s School Vacation Workshops using a variety of mediums. A special visit from Adam Gustavson on Thursday explains the process of making a book from drawing to finished painting. His book tells the true story of a Passover meal shared by a Yankee soldier and a Confederate family, who celebrate the things they have in common.

Another option with indoor venues is Mass Audubon, whose vacation week day camps at Broadmoor in South Natick give 2nd through 5th graders farming, exploration and other experiences. Drumlin Farm in Lincoln also has new baby lambs and goats to visit.

If the vacation days are giving us a glimpse of summer sunshine, take advantage of the outdoors at Natick’s Community Organic Farm and their special events during vacation week. Elementary school ages can check out the newly arrived kids, lambs, bunnies and piglets along with making nature crafts. Older students can join the farm staff to get the greenhouses and gardens ready and help care for the animals.

Vacation week also includes the holiday of Patriot’s Day and there’s no better place to be to learn about historic events relating to the Revolution and to see battles reenacted that initiated the war for independence. The fighting that began on April 19, 1775 and lasted for more than eight years is memorialized in the Minute Man National Historical Park in Concord with events planned every day between April 15-19.

Also in Concord is the Walden Pond State Reservation, open for hiking, picnicking, and educational programs.

Nearby in the town of Harvard is the Fruitlands Museum, whose season begins on April 15. Kids and adults can discover heritage, nature and art in an outdoor museum offering Native American artifacts, a Shaker collection and early American paintings.

The New England Wildflower Society’s Garden in the Woods also opens on April 15 for tours and offers an Earth Day celebration on the 23rd.

MetroWest Legal Services began more than 30 years ago by helping people with benefits, housing, and domestic relations issues. Over the years, the organization has expanded. It now has 10 full-time attorneys, and has expanded its priorities to include education, immigration assistance, health advocacy, assistance to senior citizens, and victims of domestic violence. They have also focused on spreading the word about their services to the community at large and other service providers, offering dozens of presentations and clinics across the region.

The organization continues to evolve and adapt to the times and new challenges. Language and cultural barriers to justice increase as diversity increases. Workers face insecurity in employment at the same time as government benefits and affordable housing are reduced, having to choose among the most basic needs, unable to meet them all. You can learn more about them at www.mwlegal.org.

Advocates founded their Advocacy, Benefits & Legal Services (ABLS) program in 1995 to secure housing for homeless mentally ill people. ABLS focuses on addressing the causes of homelessness and serves approximately 1,000 individuals and families each year, providing them with housing related services, assistance with benefits applications, referrals to support programs, and legal assistance for appeals.

ABLS provides services in Framingham, Waltham, and Marlborough, in the same offices where clients can receive outpatient mental health and substance abuse clinics. This is intentional, since untreated mental illness can often lead to homelessness, and treatment can be derailed by housing-related issues. Similarly, medical care can be constrained by legal issues, also resulting in the co-location of medical and legal assistance during walk-in clinic visits. Ultimately, health outcomes for patients and their families are improved at the same time as ending or averting homelessness.

For more information visit their website.

For more than 30 years, Framingham Court Mediation Services has used mediation to resolve disputes, reduce violence and improve the safety and well-being of MetroWest residents. Volunteer mediators are recruited, trained, supervised and evaluated by the organization to offer free or sliding fee scale services to those appearing for small claims, minor criminal and eviction cases in the Framingham, Marlboro, Natick and Concord District Courts. No one is ever turned away for inability to pay and support is given to parents and children, husbands and wives, and neighbors across the region. Last year volunteers served more than 1000 residents, donating more than 500 hours of their time.

In the current economy, Framingham Court Mediation Services is seeing increases in foreclosure and bankruptcy cases. They also work on cases involving victims of domestic violence, families facing eviction, workers collecting back wages, neighbors in confrontation, and custody disputes.