COLORADO SPRINGS — Anyone is welcome to wander around the Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site on Colorado Springs’ westside, but there is also a concerted effort to increase active participation opportunities. A lot of those are happening in the area of education for young people.
One example is Barnyard Buddies, an event held every first Thursday. Recently, kids gathered for a story time in a barn on the topic of frogs.
"Poisonous frogs and snakes," one little girl said when asked what she learned.
While she won't find any poisonous frogs in the ponds at Rock Ledge Ranch—in fact, there are no frogs at all—children are encouraged to look for turtles, dragonflies, and cattails right after the story time.
"They pick really great themes that are really local where we can go out and we'll go look for frogs later because we had frog story time," said Tanya Kilipsco, a mother of two.
"It just like brings everything to life," said Stephanie Schreiner, a mother of four.
Moms who read to their kids at home see added excitement about learning when stories relate to the surroundings at the ranch.
"My kids come home from Barnyard Buddies or from School at the Ranch, and they're like I didn't really feel like I was learning all day, but I've learned so much," Schreiner said.
"I think that's the beauty of it is that they get to enjoy learning and when you enjoy and want to learn, you can learn so much more," Kilipsco said.
History, animals, and nature on the ranch are considered tools in a toolbox for supporting learning.
"So that we are building a generation of people who are the next stewards of this place and love nature and want to take care of it," said Melissa Keown, Rock Ledge Ranch historical interpreter.
The expansion programs were initiated after a call to encourage more reasons to visit the site.
"Our friends group, the Living History Association, challenged me to find ways to engage the community outside of our 11 week Living History season during the summer," Keown said.
Some of these kids and their families are now considered regulars for education events and just coming to experience the ranch.
"I think that when you learn to love learning as a child, that becomes a lifelong pursuit. And I think that we just have an amazing opportunity to use Rockledge Ranch and Garden of the Gods Park to do that," Keown said.
For some of the programs, all you have to do is show up. There are others where you do need to register, and some have small fees. Visitors can see what is going on by checking online at the Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site website.
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