The Kiddies and the Fishies
Joyland Extension is a 4-hour Friday educational program that volunteers from our church hold as a portion of our Joyland children's ministry (meal included). Programs range from micro cell biology to world history, all taught by our volunteers. Scientists, teachers, doctors, engineers, college students, or just plain folks like myself who normally don't get a chance to work with the kids.
This past week, three Praxis volunteers and I transformed an ordinary living room and a humble 55 gallon saltwater aquarium into a fully-immersive coral reef ecosystem. I never thought my little fish hobby could actually open up the curious minds of our kids. I had as much of a blast as they did. We learned about 22 species of reef inhabitants in a live interactive video format. We discovered the beautiful but ever poisonous Zooanthid coral, fed the vicious eel and Koran Angelfish by hand, and had a makeshift touch pool for the kids to touch Scarlet Hermit Crabs, Linkia Starfish and an oversized Rhodactis mushroom coral about the size of an alarm clock.
Add in a splash of animated water caustics on the wall and ceilings, cue up the surround-sound ocean ambient soundtrack, and why would you ever need to go to Monterey Bay Aquarium when you got Joyland Extension?!
Indeed, it takes a village to raise one child. I'm really grateful I can be part of a community that values each child; opting to do the hard work of running a weekly enrichment program to expand their range of experiences. Because of Joyland Extension, gone are the days popping in the Finding Nemo DVD for the nth time. By the way, for the record, "Nemo" is actually an Ocelaris Clownfish which is commonly paired with the Green Bubble-tip Anemome ... any of our kids should be able to tell you that now =)