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Neighbors | Jessica Harker.Parks employee Cody Stall read "Dinosaur Dance," to the children gathered at the Sprout Club event August 16.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker.Children created paper dinosaurs they could take home at the Sprout Club event August 16 at the Fellows Riverside Garden.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker.Children drew outlines of the shapes their dinosaurs made in the play dough August 16 at the Sprout Club event.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker.Cody Stall, a MetroParks employee, read "Dinosaur Dance," and danced along with the books instructions with the children gathered at the Sprout Club event August 16.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker.A child flattened out play dough to make dinosaur tracks during the August 16 Sprout Club event at the Fellows Riverside Garden.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker.Children used play dough to make 'fossils' by pressing their plastic dinosaurs into it at the August 16 Sprout Club event at the Fellows Riverside Garden.
By JESSICA HARKER
Mill Creek Park hosted its monthly Sprout Club event on Aug. 16 at Fellows Riverside Garden.
The event is offered for children who are 3-5 years-old.
“It’s a fun way to introduce young kids to the different aspects of nature,” said Cody Stall, who ran the Aug. 16 event.
Stall said she was filling in for Lynn Zocolo who usually runs the program.
During each event, children are introduced to a specific aspect of nature, and go more in depth into the topics.
The children read a related book with the MetroParks employee, do an activity and enjoy a snack.
This month, the theme of the event was dinosaurs.
The children read “Dinosaurs Dance” along with Stall, dancing along to the instructions in the book.
After reading, parks employees passed out play dough and told children to create “fossils” by pressing plastic dinosaurs into the play dough and seeing what shapes it made.
The children then drew the shapes they made on the board.
Stall explained to everyone that their “fossils” were different because all of the dinosaurs were different.
Stall, who has a degree in geology, said she was particularly qualified to teach this course, which is why she was asked to substitute.
“I’m going to teach you all the cool things I know,” she said to the group.
She explained the differences between herbivores and carnivores, and how scientists can tell what type a dinosaur is by their teeth, the number of toes they have and how many legs they use to walk. She also explained that humans were neither of those things, but were actually both, which is called an omnivore.
After the lesson, children were then given paper cut-outs of dinosaur parts. They glued them together and colored their own dinosaurs to take home with them after the event.
The next Sprout Club event will take place on Sept. 20.
For more information on Sprout Club or any programs at the MetroParks, visit www.millcreekmetroparks.org.