Brighton Museum and Brighton Dome Foyer
Pavilion Gardens, Brighton, Sunday, October 27, 1pm to 4.30pm, free, 03000 290900

DIWALI, the Hindu festival of lights, is being celebrated with a drop-in session for all the family this weekend.

Among the activities on offer at Brighton Museum are Bollywood dance classes, henna tattoos and traditional Indian arts and crafts, accompanied by the chance to try on a sari and hear tales from Hindu epic, the Ramayana.

Hove Museum
New Church Road, Hove, Monday, October 28, to Friday, November 1, various times and prices, 03000 290902

WITH the Into The Blue exhibition continuing into the New Year, Hove Museum is hosting a trio of workshops based around colour.

Monday’s free drop-in event for three to eight-year-olds, Blue Make And Do, is a two-hour drawing and badge-making session from 10.30am and 1.30pm.

Youngsters aged eight and over should appreciate How Does A Bee See? – a tour of the exhibition accompanied by fun facts about the natural world – from 11am to noon on Tuesday, and art workshop Shades Of Blue from 2pm on Friday. Both sessions cost £5/£4 each.

The Observatory Science Centre
Herstmonceux Castle Estate, Boreham Street, near Wartling, 10am to 5pm, £8.80/£6.60, 01323 832731

HERSTMONCEUX is marking the start of half-term with a family open evening, complete with Halloween costumes and activities.

The observatory will be open from 6.30pm to 11pm, with one child free with every paying adult.

During the week the Zany Zone will be holding drop-in activities from 11am to 4pm on Monday, with half-day telescope workshops on Tuesday for £9.95 per child, and an afternoon workshop from 2pm on Wednesday about the natural world, before the chance to look through the centre’s giant telescopes. The workshop, which runs until 8pm, costs £20.95 per child.

Redoubt Fortress And Military Museum
Royal Parade, Eastbourne, Friday, October 25, to Tuesday, October 29, various times and prices, 01323 410300

REDOUBT Fortress’s Halloween programme opens tonight with a classic horror movie courtesy of Bloody Cuts Films – John Landis’s terrifying 1981 masterpiece An American Werewolf In London (18, 97 mins).

Tickets cost £5 including a free silver bullet to protect from the forces of the night.

The Fortress also has a spine-chilling twilight tour tomorrow from 6.30pm, to 8.30pm, costing £4.50/£3.25.

And potential Dr Jekylls can make their own pungent potions and secret spells on Tuesday from 10.30am to noon for four to eight year-olds and 2pm to 3.30pm for eight to 12 year-olds, tickets £3.

Newhaven Fort
Fort Road, Newhaven, Saturday, October 26, to Sunday, November 3, 10.30am to 5pm, £6/£5, 01273 517622

FROM paintball shooting ranges to a Ghostbusters screening there’s plenty to keep youngsters amused over half-term in Newhaven.

Hands On History is hosting the paintball firing range this weekend, as well as giving an insight into gruesome operations in years gone by in Medicine Through The Ages on Sunday.

There’s more spooky fun during the week, with a series of Halloween craft workshops on Wednesday, animal handling sessions with Jaws ’n Claws on Thursday, and the Filmspot screening of the 1984 New York-set supernatural comedy Ghostbusters (PG, 105 mins) on Saturday, November 2, from 2pm. Tickets cost £6/£4.