Five-year-old Asher McLaine lay down next to a 24-foot-long drawing of a reticulated python, a life-size representation of one of the largest snakes in the world.
His assessment from the ground? “It’s ginormous!”
About 20 Ashers could fit in that one snake, he guessed. That calculation may be generous, but the excitement behind it was palpable and the ultimate goal of the first in a series of events put on by the Water Resources Education Center.
“Science in the Park” is an ongoing summertime program that brings hands-on education to local kids. This summer’s theme is “Face Your Fears: A Journey into Nature,” and it spotlights all of the creepy-crawlies that kids love to get the heebie-jeebies from — snakes, spiders, bacteria and more.
The aim of the program, which has been running for about a decade, is to get kids engaged with science while providing fun and free activities for parents looking to fill the summer days.
If You Go
• What: Science in the Park -- Face Your Fears: A Journey into Nature.
• When: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., July 18 (bees), July 25 (sharks), Aug. 1 (spiders), Aug. 8 (bacteria) and Aug. 15 (bugs).
• Where: Esther Short Park, West Eighth and Esther streets.
• Cost: Free.
• Contact: Water Resources Education Center, vanwrec@cityofvancouver.us.
“Free events can be hard to come by so at the water center we try to promote not only using water wisely and understanding your environment, but do a lot of activities that are free and easily accessible for parents,” said Brooke Porter, the outreach coordinator at the center.
“Really, the focus is on water, but other education is also important, looking at the environment and how everything goes together,” she added.
Throngs of boys and girls, from toddlers to school-aged kids, flocked to the booth upon its opening late Wednesday morning at Esther Short Park.
The tent featured a handful of different activities.
On one side, curious kids colored their own snake masks and learned about camouflage. At another, they mimicked the movement of a snake using a paper model and examined the reptile’s unique skeletal structure. A third activity let visitors feel shed skins and try to match individual snakes to their appropriate environments in the desert, swamp, ocean and rainforest.
The event was the brainchild of center intern Rebecca Missildine, a snake aficionado with six ball pythons at home and a black and red serpent tattoo winding across her forearm.
“They’re not as scary as they seem,” said Missildine, who’s been an intern with the center since February.
While Missildine’s expertise made her the natural mastermind on all things snake-related, she said the final event was a team effort.
“That (process) was a lot of talking to my other interns and thinking what I wanted to get across and making interactive ideas out of it,” Missildine said. “As a team, we came up with these four ideas, and they’re actually going really well.”
The center will host six total Science in the Park events this summer. The next will take place 11 a.m. July 18 with a spotlight on bees.
“It’s hands-on, educational activities — they’re not only fun, but they’re learning something as they’re doing it,” Porter said.
