Child-Friendly Art Lives at Laguna Festivals : Diversions: Parents can browse through the exhibits while the young ones participate in creative pursuits or just watch.

Taking the children to a pricey art gallery can be about as soothing as a visit to the oral surgeon. If Muffy’s brush with that crystal vase doesn’t do you in, a glance at the price tags will.

Fortunately, there are a couple of ways around this. Art-ogling moms and dads can hire a baby-sitter, up the limit on the Visa and go nuts, or pack up the family and visit one of Laguna’s three outdoor arts and crafts festivals.

Through Aug. 26, the Festival of the Arts, Art-A-Fair and the Sawdust Festival (all within a short hike or trolley ride of each other along Laguna Canyon Road) offer varied children’s events and entertainment that allow parents to breathe easy as they browse among the works of local and national artists. Most activities are free with admission. Children 12 and under are admitted free with an adult at all three sites.

At 58, the venerable Festival of the Arts (650 Laguna Canyon Road) is the granddaddy and features works by 164 local artists in a lush, park-like setting. The Pageant of the Masters, a tableaux of “living pictures” featuring hundreds of area volunteers, is presented each night at 8:30 in the adjacent Irvine Bowl. Pageant tickets range from $9 to $35. (A festival spokeswoman recommends the show for ages 4 and up, but perhaps add two to three years to that, just to be safe.)

In the Junior Art Gallery, 150 works by children across the county are on display, ranging from kindergartners’ finger-paintings to sophisticated oils by high-school students.

If a glance at the gallery stirs those creative juices, children ages 2 and up can toddle over to a free art workshop, held daily from 1 to 4 p.m. on the main lawn. Projects include brown-bag hand puppets and crayon drawings; materials and encouragement are provided at no charge.

Or, if your kids prefer watching to doing, they can catch one of the print-making or ceramics demonstrations held throughout the day.

Family entertainment includes Alturas, a band of Bolivian instrumentalists that appears each Saturday at 5 p.m., and “Dance America,” a showcase of U.S. dance styles through the ages presented each Sunday at 5 p.m. by Ballet Pacifica. Mime Sharon Hallingdal will stroll the grounds today from 1 to 4 p.m.

The Festival of the Arts is open 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. daily. Admission: $1 to $2. Call (714) 494-1145.

The World’s Largest Kaleidoscope, a 30-foot scope with a room-size walk-in viewing area, is one of the kid-pleasers at the Art-A-Fair (777 Laguna Canyon Road), which showcases the works of 150 local and national artists.

In free workshops at the Childrens Activity Center, exhibitors offer hands-on instruction in watercolor, clay modeling and paper-making to dabblers 2 and up. Visitors can buy an unfinished ceramic piece, apply their own glazes and watch it be fired in the Art-A-Fair kiln. Prices range from $2.50 to $28; available on weekends only.

Folk singers and instrumentalists provide most of Art-A-Fair’s entertainment. Look for the most eclectic mix on Saturday nights. Art-A-Fair is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Admission: $2.50 to $3.50. Call (714) 494-4514.

On the entertainment deck at the Sawdust Festival (935 Laguna Canyon Road), the lineup can include anything from award-winning jugglers to marionettes. Headliners include Passing Zone, a pair of juggler/comedians who recently took top honors at the 1990 international Juggler Festival. The duo will make its final appearance today from 11 a.m to 5 p.m. On Sunday, it’s the Scott Land Marionettes, at noon and 2 p.m., followed at 5:30 p.m. by the Thunder Mountain Boys bluegrass band. (Check the performer’s board near the deck for a complete schedule.)

Weekdays are a little quieter, but you can usually catch a least a couple of acts during your visit. On Tuesday and Thursday, for example, the California Juggling School will hold a free juggler’s workshop.

A booth for young artists offers a special preschoolers session each weekday at 10:30, where ages 6 and up can participate in daily classes that run from 11:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Activities include painting, toothpick sculpture and jewelry-making. Face-painting is also available for a few dollars, and glass-blowing demonstrations are held periodically.

The Sawdust Festival is open Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Admission: $3 to $4. Call (714) 494-3030.