Photo of the Art & Entertainment Cart courtesy of the Silver Spring Arts & Entertainment District.

A cart featuring board games and arts and craft projects debuted this weekend on Veterans Plaza in Silver Spring.

The Art & Entertainment Cart offers visitors and residents the opportunity to borrow a free board game, card game, or art and craft project to enjoy or play while visiting the plaza, according to a press release.

The cart offers more than forty board and card games for both adults and children, from Candyland and Uno to bunco and pinochle. In addition, the Planning Department, Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning donated several giant outdoor games, including oversized chess, checkers, and Connect Four, as well as some of the board games for young children.

Coloring pages for adults and children are always available, and the art project will rotate each day. The first craft project was a penguin, the unofficial mascot of Silver Spring.

The cart will be available during the week or other quiet times on the plaza, and also will be available during Silver Spring’s family-oriented Thursday night concert series beginning in June. The cart schedule is available online.

The idea for the cart came from Reemberto Rodriguez, director of the Silver Spring Regional Center.

“Veterans Plaza is our neighborhood living room,” he said in a press release. “What better place to play a game with your family or friends?”

Rodriguez also donated a new set of dominoes, his favorite game, to the cart.

The cart is a project of the state-designated Silver Spring Arts & Entertainment District; Maryland’s A&E districts help develop and promote community involvement, tourism and business revitalization through tax-related incentives that attract artists, arts organizations and other creative enterprises.

Silver Spring is now home to more than 150 popular entertainment venues, arts and humanities organizations, attractions, interactive public art pieces, and entertainment businesses, which attract hundreds of thousands of visitors.

The Regional Center is looking for volunteers to help manage the cart; interested residents can sign up to help online.

Penguin craft project photo courtesy of the Silver Spring Arts & Entertainment District.