Blue Stone Press, August 7, 2015, Page 

Unwanted pets provide learning

opportunity for Rondouts Little Ones
Jillian Nadiak
BSP Reporter
Every year the Little Ones Learning
Center, located at the Rochester Reformed
Church in Accord, hosts the Nature Wagon
event, which introduces and encourages
interaction between little ones and interesting animals. Thanks to a grant from the
Rondout Valley Education Foundation,
Kevin Geraghty came to the Little Ones
Learning Center on July 21 along with five
animals, from amphibians to mammals to
introduce to the children.
The Little Ones Learning Center is a free
early literacy program for young children
in and around the Rondout Valley School
District. Holding over 3,000 books that
are offered to be taken home for extended
learning with parents, the center encourages learning in many ways, and it makes
perfect sense that Little Ones would hold
a program as educational as the Nature
Wagon.
Bringing in several small containers on
Tuesday morning, Geraghty excited the
children who sat in a half moon shape
awaiting to see the mystery animals. He
told the children that they were allowed to
touch the animals but were not obligated
to and could turn down the offer with a
simple No, thank you, but it was obvious from the looks on the majority of the
childrens faces that that probably would
not be happening.
To begin his presentation, Geraghty
asked the children to guess what animal
he would be presenting first based on
some hints. Lowering his voice to gain the

utmost attention of the curious children,

he gave the hints in a way that captured
everybodys notice
Hes very small, but he likes to eat other
animals, he said. He looks around with
big eyes to find wiggly animals to eat. Let
me tell you another thing: Hes very slippery and squishy. Hes also a great jumper.
He jumps around, looks for wiggly things
to eat, then he sticks out his tongue and
grabs them. He gets his dinner. Just like
that.
Various shouts of Its a frog, and A
frog! A frog, echoed through the bright
room.
Yeah! A frog, right? Frogs do that, he
responded. After prompting discussion by
asking the group what they think frogs eat,
the conversation took off, leading to chats
about what a frog shouldnt eat to what its
jumping behavior is like.
We call him Jello because he is squishy
like Jell-o, he said, reaching into the box
and unveiling the mysterious tree frog. He
pointed out specific features on the frog
and gave examples of what they were used
for in the frogs daily life. Then he carried
the small amphibian from child to child.
He taught them the proper technique to
touch the frog, which involved dipping a
finger in a small cup of water before grazing it lightly along Jellos back.
Though the children seemed excited,
when Jello met them up close, there was
some hesitation to touch him. That feeling
quickly diminished as curiosity took over,
however, and they giggled and squealed at
the new experience.
Geraghty also brought along a Russian

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Kevin Geraghty introduces Jello the Frog to the children during the Nature Wagon
program at the Little Ones Learning Center. Photo by Jillian Nadiak.

tortoise, ball python, pygmy hedgehog,

and a Schneiders skink lizard for the
children to observe and touch. Shockingly,
all of these animals are available to be
purchased as pets.
After working for nature centers in the
1980s and 90s, Geraghty decided to do the
same work on his own. He developed the
Nature Wagon program and adopts pets
that have unexpectedly become unwanted
and brings them to schools and programs
to educate children. A kid buys a pet, the
kid goes to college, and the parent is stuck
with the pet, said Geraghty.
Fortunately, these unfortunate situations then allow Geraghty to educate
children while also providing an outlet for

an endless amount of love to be given to

the animals. Its awesome because every
time you go to work you see people smiling or happy to see you, he said. Its great
and they are fun.
Debby Skogman, the program director
at the center, said, Ive been here for 11
years, and I just think that its such a great
event for the kids to get to experience the
animals. Kevin does such a great job.
Geraghty has been coming to the Little
Ones Center for 15 years at least, and
has seen many thousands of children over
those years. Now I meet kids who are 20,
and they say, I remember when you came
to my class. To have that kind of memory
from 20 years ago is pretty cool.

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