FAMILY : Instructional Videos to Keep Vacationed-Out Kids Busy

If you’re hearing a plaintive, “there’s nothing to do,” from your vacationed-out offspring, try one of these entertaining, participatory instructional videos. (Couch potatoes need not apply.)

“Art Lessons for Children With Donna Hugh, Vol. 5: Animals of the Rain Forest.” Break out the watercolors and pastels--art teacher Donna Hugh is back with more projects for kids (and any adult with a secret yen to pick up a paint brush).

Without an ounce of show-biz razzmatazz, Hugh comes off like a comfortable, artsy grandma with a real respect for kids’ intelligence as she leads viewers in three separate art lessons: “The Toucan,” “The Iguana” and “The Tamandua.” Her reassuring, unpatronizing “it’s OK” attitude, her unflashy, easy-to-follow real-time demonstrations, and some brief, informative live-action bits about the animals and the rain forest make for a terrific way to spend some creative quality time.

* “Art Lessons for Children,” Coyote Creek Productions, 58 minutes. $29.95. (619) 731-3184. *

If you’ve been searching for a Spanish-language children’s video for ages about 2 to 8, “Spanish Club: Los Animales!” from Peapod Productions’ “Look, Listen and Learn” series, is chock-full of quality educational entertainment.

Host (and Spanish curriculum specialist) Jennifer Reyes and a small group of multiethnic children use and hear Spanish in an unforced format that includes a comic puppet version of “The Three Little Pigs,” tuneful songs and live-action film clips at the zoo and on the farm.

Children with an interest in learning the language and those who are Spanish-speaking are well-served with this polished bilingual effort. Also available: “Spanish Club: Fiesta!”

* “Spanish Club: Los Animales!,” Peapod Productions, 40 minutes, $19.95. (800) 998-8772. *

“Sign Songs” is a thoroughly engaging music-storytelling video for both hearing and hard-of-hearing children. Humor is the primary ingredient in songs such as “Rhino,” “My Mother’s Snoring” and “Alligator Rag” (“don’t get caught with your pants down when alligator around”). Written and performed by Ken Lonnquist and John Kinstler (a former member of the National Theatre of the Deaf), the upbeat songs offer creative, irresistible word play for expanding vocabularies in both spoken word and sign language.

* “Sign Songs,” Aylmer Press, Box 2735, Madison, Wis. 53701, 29 minutes, $19.98 (plus shipping and handling), or call Silo Inc., (800) 541-9904.