Kids To Do: Celebrate Valentine's Day with 'Zombies in Love'

Walnut Street Theatre (825 Walnut St.)
11 a.m. Saturday, $14 to $16. 

Love is alive, as Gary Wright's Valentine-relevant 1976 hit put it. So what can you do when you're undead? And, even worse, in high school?

In Walnut Street Theatre for Kids' production of Michelle Elliott and Danny Larsen's musical Zombie in Love, adapted from Kelly DiPucchio's fine novel, a typical teen ghoul just wants a date for the big dance, but he can't keep himself together -- whoops, his heart's on his sleeve, then on the floor -- while asking girls out. Is there someone out there for him?

Of course, there is. As the Troggs sang, "Love is all around us." (Though a zombie version of "I see your face before me" now seems a bit icky, we're still romantics.)

Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday through Monday, $17.95; $14.95 seniors and students; $13.95 ages 3 to 12; under 3 free (includes museum admission). 

A young acquaintance of ours once boiled a TV nature show down to its essence: "Stuff eats other stuff."

That's gist of Carnivore Capades at the Academy of Natural Sciences. Kids can learn about the stuff-eats-stuff world with furry, feathery, and scaly live animal shows; big cat make-and-take crafts; owl pellet dissection; and story time with Marty the Moose (who explains how his antlers, and a few jokes, can help him keep from being menu item).

National Museum of American Jewish History, Fifth and Market Streets.
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, free. 

Forget those sales. This is really the time to reflect on the legacy of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, two of the greatest chief executives our nation has ever had. (We'd include Franklin D. Roosevelt, but his birthday is Jan. 30, just missing the cut.) Abe was great, but for us, George will always be the one who set the template -- dropping any royal pretense in favor of being called Mr. President, presiding with care, and stepping down without a fight.

Presidents Day at NMAJH, where admission is free all this month, offers storytelling, arts and crafts, and a chance to meet "President Washington" and examine the letter the original wrote in 1790 to the Jewish community of Newport, R.I, declaring the importance of religious freedom and tolerance, stating that the United States "gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, [and] requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens." Words to remember.