I've always thought vampires were interesting because they live forever, they're always well-financed, they dress well, you know what I mean? And they're, like, cool. Usually vampire - you've never seen a broke vampire. Have you?
Kids want to saute, to cut the pizza, to see how the ingredients come together. If you let them do the fun stuff, they'll develop skills and interests that will stay with them forever.
The paintings may communicate even better because people are lazy and they can look at a painting with less effort than they can read a poem.