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FARM LESSONS
Kids learn science and art through agrarian experiences in North Fort Myers. | STORY AND PHOTOS BY ANDREA STETSON
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hildren happily dash around picking up baby ducks and chickens, petting a cat and scratching the belly of a 600-pound pig. They grab hay to feed goats and cows, while also petting the farm animals. Science on the Farm at Shaker’s Acres South, a family farm in North Fort Myers, features a different hands-on science lesson each week. But before
class begins, the children get to explore the farm and play with the animals. “Holding the animals is my favorite,” stresses Ziggy Tuloa, 9. “There are two baby goats; one is a boy and the other is a girl and the horns feel different.” “I like holding the chicks,” says Lili Webber. “Feeding the animals,” adds her sister Mackenzie. Torie Shaker has been hosting science classes at the farm for three years now and art classes for the past
five years. “It works,” Torie says. “I am home with my three kids. I was a teacher. Rather than put them in day care and go back and work, I can do this and teach and be involved in the home-school community and this is great.” Each week has a theme. On a sunny October morning, the lesson was pumpkins. The children divided into groups and made predictions about its circumference, weight, how far it would roll, how many seeds were inside and whether it would
From left: Titus Mizelle, 8, feeds the goats at Shaker’s Acres South in North Fort Myers. • Ziggy Tuloa, 9, holds a baby chick during the Science on the Farm program at Shaker’s Acres South in North Fort Myers. The children get to play with and feed the animals before the science program each week. • The children pet a 600-pound pig named Esmerelda.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA PARENT & CHILD » DECEMBER 2020 » 21
