‘A bunch of busy earthworms’

Curiosity blooms at Discovery Place KIDS

By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com

ROCKINGHAM — Abby Shaw’s favorite bug is a cricket, she said, because of the way it chirps.

Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeepost.com Gabriel Phillips, 2, of Clinton, Md., observes some worms Sunday afternoon at Discovery Place KIDS.

Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeepost.com
Gabriel Phillips, 2, of Clinton, Md., observes some worms Sunday afternoon at Discovery Place KIDS.

On Sunday afternoon, however, the 6-year-old Aberdeen girl was just as happy with wormds. Abby was one of nine children who sat in on the Squirmski presentation at Discovery Place KIDS in downtown Rockingham to begin the end of the nonprofit museums “Bloomin’ Science” month of programming.

They were “slimy,” Abby said, but that was A-OK with her.

“She’s into all kinds of bugs and critters,” said Abby’s grandmother, Dale Jay, of Wagram. She was escorting Abby with her husband, Mickey Jay. “We haven’t found anything she’s scared of yet.”

The only house rule? “No spiders allowed,” Jay said.

Program coordinator Wayne Webb and some two dozen worms met with the children in the Blue Room in the lower level of the two-story building on East Washington Street. He started with a brief slide show that taught the kids some basic things about worms — such as, for example, worms have no eyes.

“They’d just see dirt all the time,” Webb explained. “They don’t need eyes.”

Worms don’t eat at McDonald’s, Webb said, but they do eat soil, sand and mud. Webb said he tried that once.

“It wasn’t very good,” he said. “I wouldn’t suggest eating dirt.”

Worms usually tunnel at least 20 centimeters each day.

“They’re busy little rascals,” Webb said.

Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeepost.com Abby Shaw, of Aberdeen, happily drops a worm into her hand.

Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeepost.com
Abby Shaw, of Aberdeen, happily drops a worm into her hand.

The highlight of the 15-minute program was the first-ever — “I’ve never done this before” — worm race. With approximately a half dozen worms placed in the middle of what appeared to be a modified cookie sheet, the worms raced to see — er, feel — which could reach the perimeter of the tin first.

Though not captivating for a PeeDeePost.com video, there was, indeed, a winner.

 

 

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