Youngsters can enjoy fun art activities in the comfort of their own home this Easter and earn a qualification at the same time.

Durham County Council’s Durham County Record Office is using funding from Arts Council England to give children and young people the chance to get creative online. Next week families can sign up for two free online craft workshops for inspiration towards gaining their ‘Arts Award Discover.’

Children and young people can gain the qualification by downloading a logbook from the record office website at http://www.durhamrecordoffice.org.uk/article/25320/Arts-Award-Discover-at-Home The website also includes a series of short videos filmed by record office staff, guiding families through the award.

Children and young people can then work through the suggested creative activities, including designing an illuminated letter and creating an illustrated diary entry, both inspired by real examples from the archive collections.

Youngsters who fill in the logbook should return it to the record office. It will then be submitted to Trinity College London (TCL) and children will receive an official certificate.

The Arts Council England funding will allow the first 50 children and young people to return their logbooks and have them moderated free of charge.

After this, a fee will be charged, to cover TCL’s normal moderation costs.

Families can sign up for two online craft workshops, aimed at primary school aged children, over the Easter holidays.

‘Snippets from the archives: Investigating Easter in the past’ will look at examples from the record office’s archive collections to show how Easter was celebrated in the past. There will also be a craft activity.

The workshops will last about 30 minutes and run on Tuesday 6 April at 10am and Thursday 8 April at 2pm.

The sessions are free but places must be booked in advance, online at: https://recordofficeshop.durham.gov.uk/pgEventResult

Education archivist Dawn Layland said: “The activities in the Arts Award logbook are a great way for children and young people to get creative while enjoying themselves over Easter, and all can be done from the comfort of their own home.

“The same goes for the workshops which offer primary school aged children the chance to find out what Easter was like in the past.

“We’re grateful to Arts Council England for the funding we’ve been given and pleased to be able to use it to help young people gain a useful qualification.”

Further information about Arts Awards can be found at www.artsaward.org.uk.