Free Family Fun Day at Jacob’s Well Natural Area

The crowd of young children oohed and aahed as a Virginia Opossum was pulled from its cage at the end of an educational presentation at Jacob’s Well Natural Area over the weekend.

It was the first Family Fun Day of the year at Jacob’s Well, which will run once a month through April.

“Our goal is to provide a few hours of educational activities, games and information to families,” Katherine Sturdivant, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the Hays County Parks Department, said. “We are trying to connect families to nature, and our main goal is to provide education for free. We are trying to give people a space where they can get outdoors, learn a little bit and have fun with their families.”

The January Family Fun Day was called Wild For Wildlife with a presentation from All Things Wild Rehab, and Hays County Master Naturalists were on hand to walk children through multiple activities.

“We have our presentation on the Virginia Opossum,” Sturdivant said. “We are also doing an investigation on scat, tracks, skulls and pelts. We have all kinds of other items to investigate. We are trying to learn which animal goes with which scat, track and skull. We’ve got a couple of other games and activities as well.”

The next free Family Fun Day will be a Paleo adventure on February 1 at Jacob’s Well where children will have the opportunity to learn about fossils and geology.